Tabla de contenidos para February/March 2021 en Discover Britain

While actual physical travel has been somewhat restricted of late, there has never been a better time to explore the British Isles vicariously through the pages of Discover Britain. In amongst all of the usual articles on our nation’s history, heritage and culture, we also have a little “food and drink” theme in this issue. We begin with a look at the tradition of kitchen gardens (p20), which kept many stately homes self-sufficient, before Adrian Mourby trawls the picturesque west coast of Scotland to highlight the finest whisky distilleries (p36). Continuing the thirst-quenching theme, London’s historic pubs (p44) reveal the changing tastes of the capital, then we finish the issue with a look at the humble British pudding (p82), a traditional dessert that we take very seriously. I hope this…

In 1799, a young man took on the running of a Scottish cotton mill business in the Clyde Valley in South Lanarkshire. Not content merely to manage the enterprise, he had decided “to commence the most important experiment for the happiness of the human race yet instituted”, though he noted: “My friends smiled at what they called my simplicity and urged me not to attempt such a hopeless impossibility. My mind, however, was prepared for the task.” That young man was Robert Owen, and New Lanark, the purpose-built 18th-century mill village where he determined to pursue his ambition, is nowadays a UNESCO World Heritage Site, acknowledged as a model for industrial communities that would spread across the world. For Owen blazed a trail as a pioneering social reformer, championing everything…

The Prospect of Whitby is the oldest riverside pub in London with a history dating back to 1520 For the French poet Arthur Rimbaud, “Life is the farce which everyone has to perform.” For Londoners, for centuries, the respite has come in the city’s many watering holes. Rimbaud glugged gin and absinthe at the Hibernia Arms in Old Compton Street and across Soho in the 1870s; he was just one of many celebrities, charlatans, deviants and dilettantes who sought solace in the contents of a glass over the centuries in Britain’s capital. A visit to a pub remains a very popular pastime with visitors to London too, as 54% of American tourists alone have said that it was one of their top activities according to Visit Britain research. So where…

Why Rye? Perched on a hill above the lowlands of Romney Marsh, this medieval citadel rises up like a historic beacon at the confluence of three rivers. It has been a favourite destination for royalty and writers through the ages, as well as harbouring criminals who used the port for ill-gotten gains. The High Street is one of England’s cutest, filled with quaint independent shopfronts, while the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve has a new Discovery Centre set to open later this year. The town’s history Rye is situated along the southern English coast between Hastings and New Romney, two of the five coastal towns that made up the original Confederation of Cinque Ports. This Anglo-Saxon initiative saw the towns receive tax exemptions and other privileges in return for maintaining ships…

Kitchen gardens have been a staple of English country houses since medieval times. Land on these great estates was richly cultivated; freshly-grown produce would feed the residents and staff, while cut flowers would decorate the house. For the head gardener, this corner would be the most important and productive part of the estate. As tastes and fashions changed throughout the centuries, kitchen gardens were planted to be ornamental as well as functional. They exhibited the latest growing techniques and often indulged whichever new exotic taste the master of the house may have acquired on his travels. Thankfully, due to the diligence of historians and modern gardeners, many of these kitchen gardens thrive year-round today, just as they did in their historic heyday. In doing so, they provide a beautiful piece…

Famed as a shopping district and entertainment hotspot in 21st-century London, Covent Garden has nevertheless changed more than almost any other part of the British capital. What began as an apple orchard in the 13th century would become the home of the world’s largest Apple store in 2010. It has been patronised by royalty and courtesans, filled with flowers yet overwhelmed by traffic, and cited as both an architectural example and a “mud-salad” disgrace. Nowhere is that changeable personality more evident than at the movies, where the area has provided the setting for both the wholesome musical My Fair Lady and the deadly Hitchcock thriller Frenzy. So, which is the real Covent Garden? The truth is all and none of the above. Covent Garden has become such a hotly-contested area…

TEST VALLEY, HAMPSHIRE Explore the overlooked English area’s garden of earthly delights Sandwiched between Salisbury and Cranborne Chase to the west and Winchester and the South Downs to the east, Hampshire’s Test Valley is often overlooked as a destination. However, the district is home to countless outdoor pursuits and historic gardens. Fly-fishing is popular along the river, with Fishing Breaks helping you to indulge your JR Hartley fantasies, while cyclists often head to Mottisfont’s vast riverside estate. Green-fingered types should head to the 180-acre Sir Harold Hillier Gardnes or the privately-owned Houghton Lodge Gardens [pictured], home to a heritage orchard and a topiary-filled Peacock Garden. To get a true measure of the area, the 44-mile Test Way walking route follows the river down from Inkpen Hill to Eling Wharf. www.testvalley.gov.uk…

HEADS OF STATE A new exhibition at the National Maritime Museum is set to reveal how our collective impression of the Royal family has been shaped by official portraits over the last 500 years. Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits also brings together paintings from London’s National Portrait Gallery which is currently closed for refurbishments until 2023. Taken separately, these paintings are imposing and impressive, yet collected together here the differences between the depictions become more pronounced. Thomas Hawker’s portrait of Charles II [top left] reveals a rather weary king in the last years of his life, whereas Sir George Hayter’s 1863 rendition of Queen Victoria [top right] is relatively stately and optimistic. Bryan Organ’s 1980 portrait of Prince Charles, meanwhile, drops all pretences by showing the heir to the…

On the Victoria Embankment, facing Westminster under the shadow of Big Ben, stands a bronze statue, or more accurately, a group of sculptures depicting two galloping horses pulling a chariot yet uncontrolled by any of the three women who rode within. Boadicea and Her Daughters features the ancient British queen (who is also known as Boudicca or Boudica) and was begun by sculptor Thomas Thornycroft in 1856, yet only erected in its current position by his son John in 1902. The piece was commissioned by Queen Victoria and intriguingly Boudicca’s facial features resemble those of the former monarch. Its position so close to the Houses of Parliament – the nucleus of British political power – is fascinating, too, especially when you consider the urgent and forceful stance of the subject…

The Welsh estate of Dyffryn was built on coal. The Cory family had been quick to capitalise on the world’s increased demand for the black stuff at the height of the Industrial Revolution. John Cory took over the family business in 1882 and moved to Dyffryn nine years later, due to its proximity to the burgeoning port of Barry. John’s wealth was such that he was able to donate £50,000 to charity every year, while still having a great wealth to spend on building the house and gardens at Dyffryn. The estate dated back to the 7th century and there was already a Tudor manor house on the land. A Victorian equivalent was designed by architect EA Lansdowne, albeit with an ornate stained glass window depicting Elizabeth I, an acknowledgment…