Tabla de contenidos para November - December 2016 en Britain

In her 1927 essay Street Haunting, Virginia Woolf claimed the “greatest pleasure of town life in winter” was rambling the streets of London. Doing so in the evening, noted the Bloomsbury Group author, “gives us the irresponsibility which darkness and lamplight bestow.” Almost a century on and, while the gas lamps have been replaced by sodium street lights, many of the sights that so inspired Woolf continue to beguile visitors and locals today. And with the launch of the long-awaited 24-hour Night Tube service providing yet another means for navigating the city, there has never been a better time to explore the English capital after hours. Like many major international cities, London began life as a settlement along a bend in a river and, as a result, many of the…

On the evening of October 5 1843, Charles Dickens took his place on the stage of the Athenaeum in Manchester – a society for the “advancement and diffusion of knowledge”, which had been founded in 1837 specifically to provide a place of education and recreation for the working men and women of the city. However, thanks to a recent economic recession, the club was heavily in debt and Dickens was about to give a speech that, it was hoped, would help raise much-needed funds. What few of that night’s audience would have realised was that Dickens himself was a troubled man. The author was 31 and, for the last seven years, the success of his books such as The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby had seen him rise…

HOGMANAY PARTY, EDINBURGH Last year’s Hogmanay party was truly out of this world as British astronaut Tim Peake broadcast his New Year’s Eve message live to the crowds on “beautiful planet earth” from the International Space Station. So while the absence of gravity allowed Major Peake to finish with a backflip, the thousands of revellers with their feet firmly on Scottish soil still have plenty of reasons to celebrate in 2016. A street party and concert in the West Princes Street Gardens cater for younger revellers, while the Old Town Ceilidh gives a true flavour of more traditional Scottish folk music and dancing. If you’re a ceilidh novice, there are callers on hand to guide you through the necessary moves. For a more atmospheric accompaniment to the end-of-year festivities, head…

In politics the proposition of ‘building a wall’ seems to never grow old. When Hadrian became Roman emperor in AD 117 he set about constructing a wall that was not only practical but also symbolised his strength and power. It was a truly gargantuan undertaking. His aim? To consolidate the Roman gains in England and to keep out the northern threat from the Barbarians in what is now Northumberland and Scotland. To that end he commissioned an epic coast-to-coast structure, spanning 80 Roman miles (73 miles), from the Solway Firth in the west to Wallsend on the River Tyne in the east. A force of 15,000 men, mainly legionary soldiers, completed the task in less than six years, tackling rivers and cutting through rock and woodland in the notoriously changeable…

Saltram is a perfect place to visit during the winter months. Unlike many stately homes, the National Trust-run property near Plymouth in Devon is now open 363 days a year, closing only for Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Likewise, between November and March visitors can visit the West Wing, including the housekeeper’s and stewards’ rooms that are otherwise only visible via guided tours during the rest of the year. The housekeeper’s room, with its cupboards containing silver and china, was designed to hold all the family’s precious collection of ceramics – a function it still performs today. Saltram also offers taster tours touching on family history and other interesting subjects, such as the impact women had on the house and the story of ‘Scandalous Jack’ who had many affairs but…

When the Hereford Mappa Mundi’s creator, Richard of Haldingham and Lafford, was hard at work in 1300 or thereabouts, he could never have comprehended the influence his masterpiece would have. Earlier this year, astronaut Tim Peake used social media website Twitter to send a photograph of a replica map from the International Space Station with the message: “A copy of one of the oldest maps in Britain, now exploring the newest frontier here in space.” He was surely alluding to man’s enduring desire to chart the world, but a peek at the blue planet from ISS’s window in relation to the map will just as readily reveal the vast gulf in understanding between us and the medieval mind who conceived the Mappa Mundi. Hung disregarded for many years in Hereford…

LETTER OF THE MONTH BACK TO MY ROOTS Whenever you feature Cornwall, I am thrilled. It was only three years ago I finally found my grandfather’s roots there. The breakthrough came when I contacted the Parish Registry for Cornwall and was linked to an amazing genealogist who never gave up the search. Thanks to this researcher’s efforts, in combination with my father’s story about my grandfather’s emigration to Canada, the past was revealed. My father was 14 when my grandfather died in 1901, at age 63, in Canada. All my father knew was that my grandfather’s first attempt to leave England by ship resulted in the drowning of his sister, so he went back to Cornwall then sailed to Canada years later with another sister. However, his simple story proved…

The sea dominates life in Pembrokeshire. This westerly outpost of Wales reaching out into the Celtic Sea is famed for its beauty: its beaches rank among the world’s best, while the renowned coast path allows unfettered access to its wild headlands, rocky peninsulas, fishing villages, quays, amazing wildlife and more. Yet while a third of the county is designated as Britain’s only coastal national park, that’s far from the whole story. In fact, Pembrokeshire is a place packed with history every bit as spectacular as its scenery. It is home to more than 50 castles, mysterious prehistoric tombs and Celtic religious shrines – it’s even the birthplace of the Tudors. The county is also characterised by contrast, from the castle-dappled southern lowlands (known as “Little England Beyond Wales”), to the…

Charles Dickens Museum The London home of the author at 48 Doughty Street now houses an archive of more than 100,000 items and stages regular exhibitions.www.dickensmuseum.com Manchester Art Gallery This impressive city venue was formerly the Athenaeum, an intellectual society at which Dickens gave the 1843 speech that inspired him to write A Christmas Carol. www.manchesterartgallery.org George and Vulture Scrooge’s “melancholy dinner” was inspired by this pub off Lombard Street in the City of London, which still welcomes Dickens’ ancestors for Christmas dinner.www.samuelsmithsbrewery.co.uk Dickens London Guided Walks With a host of tours available every week, Richard Jones draws on almost 25 years’ experience to bring the author and his books to life on London’s streets.www.dickenslondontours.co.uk…

From its cricket ground to its venerable parish church, Bray is the quintessential English village. Wander into its heart and you’ll find a delightful hotchpotch of whitewashed cottages, half-timbered buildings and weathered red brick houses. There are blissful walks to be had alongside the Thames, cosy pubs in which to enjoy traditional ales, plus the chance to browse for gifts in Story, a charming homeware boutique. All this is reason enough to visit Bray, but it has something more besides. No other British village, apart from perhaps Cartmel in Cumbria (home of L’Enclume and its sister restaurant Rogan & Co), can claim to be such a dazzling gastronomic destination. It all began in the 1970s, when French chefs Michel and Albert Roux set up the Waterside Inn following their success…

DRINK at the House Of The Trembling Madness. This quirky pub and beer shop is housed in one of the city’s oldest buildings and has an extensive array of beers, ciders and real ales on offer. www.tremblingmadness.co.uk VISIT the National Railway Museum. Best known as the home of record-breaking steam engines Mallard and Flying Scotsman (when the latter is not out working), this international award-winning museum tells the story of one of the greatest inventions Britain ever gifted the world. The permanent display of royal trains through the ages is a particular highlight. Entry to the museum is free. www.nrm.org.uk CLIMB up the steep steps of the mound to admire the view from Clifford’s Tower, while learning about the history of the city from one of the main surviving parts…

Admiral Lord Nelson may have died a hero’s death at the Battle of Trafalgar after proving Britain’s naval supremacy in the Napoleonic wars, but the woman he loved during his final years would suffer a much less grandiose end. Lady Emma Hamilton spiralled into poverty, turned to drink and died of amoebic dysentery less than a decade later – and all this despite Nelson having pleaded with the government to make specific provisions to care for the mother of his only surviving daughter, Horatia. Lady Hamilton’s death in France at the age of just 49 marked the end of a dramatic arc in fortunes across the course of her life. The daughter of a Cheshire blacksmith, Emma was born Amy Lyon on 26 April 1765 – or at least that…

Tour the Cotswolds and you’ll likely tuck into local goodies such as Burford Brown eggs with their large yellow yolks for breakfast, or savour sizzling Gloucestershire Old Spot pork beside a lunchtime log fire in a delightful village pub. Maybe you will drop into Bibury Trout Farm, or pick up herb-marinated Cotswold venison pie, gourmet sausages, cheeses or ciders from farmers’ markets cheerfully channelling the spirit of medieval markets and fairs passed down in local DNA? While times greatly change, the limestone hills, valleys and grassland landscape of the Cotswolds stretching northwards from Bath remains, more than most regions, firmly rooted in its food, drink and farming heritage. Medieval wealth from wool largely built the iconic honey-coloured market towns, villages and merchants’ houses that so beguile modern visitors, and even…

In a career spanning half a century, interior decorator Imogen Taylor put the finishing touches to some of the most illustrious homes in the country. She dined with duchesses and prime ministers, and was granted access to palaces and stately homes, where she observed a rarefied way of life that has changed dramatically during the course of her lifetime. Now aged 90, Imogen has published a memoir of her working life, On the Fringe, which offers a fascinating glimpse into a world of footmen, country estates and true English eccentrics. In 1949 Imogen joined Colefax and Fowler, a prestigious English decorating firm synonymous with the country house style, whose clients included HM The Queen and members of the British aristocracy. She began by restoring furniture and went on to assist…

GETTING THERE York is 30 miles from Leeds-Bradford International Airport, which has daily direct flights to the US, Australia and beyond. There are direct trains to York from London’s Kings Cross station taking around two hours. www.leedsbradfordairport.co.uk WHERE TO STAY Book a room at the newly refurbished Best Western Monkbar Hotel. Despite being outside the City Walls, this four-star hotel, with individually designed rooms, is just a short walk away from the Minster. www.bw-monkbarhotelyork.co.uk Stay at the Guy Fawkes Inn to experience a bit of the city’s history first-hand. It was here, in the shadow of the Minster, the notorious Gunpowder plotter Guido Fawkes was born in 1570. The hotel’s restaurant is still lit by candles and gaslights for an authentically Elizabethan atmosphere. www.guyfawkes innyork.com With a country house setting…