Table of contents for March - April 2016 in Britain

What could be lovelier this spring than an escape to Britain’s rural paradise that is the Cotswolds? In Pretty as a Picture (p6) , we explore the Oxfordshire side of the Cotswolds, home to thatched cottages, honey-stone villages and one or two familiar Downton Abbey backdrops. In Romantic Retreats (p33), we think we’ve found some idyllic locations across Devon and Cornwall that could give the Cotswolds a run for their money – think windswept moors, secret coves and never-ending beaches and you get the idea. If it’s Britain’s heritage that excites you then Suited to a Tee (p75) is sure to delight. We follow the fortunes of Britain’s oldest tailor, Ede & Ravenscroft, which has been official robe maker to every monarch since King George III and whose exquisite designs can…

GETTING THERE There are direct trains from London Paddington to Ascott-under-Wychwood, which take an hour-and-a-half, but the easiest way to get around the Oxfordshire Cotswolds is by car, with excellent road links from Cheltenham and Oxford. Alternatively, you can ditch the wheels altogether and take one of the idyllic footpaths such as the Thames Path national trail, which goes through villages like Kelmscott. MACDONALD BEAR HOTEL, WOODSTOCK The Bear is a 13th-century coaching inn in the centre of Woodstock with an award-winning restaurant and 54 individually-styled bedrooms. You can walk to Blenheim Palace in minutes, or while away the day in the galleries and antique shops.www.macdonaldhotels.co.uk CHASTLETON HOUSE A fine example of a Jacobean country house, Chastleton has been National Trust-owned since 1991, before which it had been in the…

The future looked bright for the little princess born at Greenwich Palace on 18 February 1516 to King Henry VIII and his Spanish wife, Catherine of Aragon. She was not the longed-for son but Princess Mary was soon being touted around the royal marriage markets of Europe. Showing her off to one French envoy, Henry shouted in delight, “By immortal God, Master Ambassador, this girl never cries!” Mary would certainly make her mark on history, becoming the first crowned queen to rule England in her own right, from 1553 to 1558. Yet it is as a Tudor tyrant rather than a trailblazer that we remember her today. Five hundred years after her much-celebrated birth, ‘Bloody Mary’ is among the most reviled monarchs, her five-year reign responsible for the burning of…

ANNIVERSARY Happy birthday Charlotte This year marks the bicentenary of the birth of much-loved novelist Charlotte Brontë. Born on 21 April 1816, the Jane Eyre author is set to be celebrated with events around her home in Haworth, West Yorkshire, as well as on screen and in print. A new exhibition at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, Charlotte Great and Small, explores the contrast between Charlotte's constricted life and her huge ambition. And, on her birthday, visitors to the museum can hear talks on the writer’s life as well as view her letters, manuscripts and possessions, while the Brontë Society will host a birthday party at the Old School Room in Haworth, where she once taught. Reader, I Married Him, a collection of stories by women writers influenced by Charlotte, will…

Whether you yearn to discover secluded coves with waves crashing as the sun sets, sleepy fishing villages, ancient castles, or soaring, majestic cliffs, there’s a coastal spot in Devon and Cornwall that you’re bound to fall in love with. The unparalleled beauty and remoteness of the North Devon coastline has garnered it a first-class Romantic pedigree; poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth and Percy Bysshe Shelley were all drawn to the area around the turn of the 19th century. The dramatic route along the wild and rugged Exmoor coast became one of Coleridge and Wordsworth’s favourite rambles, sparking their imaginations to the heights of poetic beauty and inspiring Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. At the end of their route lie both the rural town of Lynton and the…

GETTING THERE By train: Direct trains leave from London Waterloo for Gillingham, the nearest station to Shaftesbury, every hour and the journey takes around two-and-a-half hours. www.nationalrail.co.uk By car: Shaftesbury has several large car parks so parking is rarely a problem. The town is approximately two hours from London along the M3 and A303. WHERE TO STAY For a luxurious stay, check into The Grosvenor Arms hotel in the town centre. Its Georgian facade conceals a renovated building with huge rooms and a restaurant serving seasonal dishes. For a cosier affair, check into the 16th-century Updown Cottage on Gold Hill itself, which sleeps six and is brimming with period charm, including beams, a woodburning stove and an inglenook fireplace.www.thegrosvenorarms.co.uk; www.updowncottage.co.uk FURTHER INFORMATION www.shaftesburytourism.co.uk…

DON'T MISS THE DYLAN THOMAS CENTRE, IN THE MARITIME QUARTER, WHICH HOUSES AN EXHIBITION ON THE POET'S LIFE The powerful urban-marine mix of Wales’s waterfront city, Swansea, comes with some surprise bonuses: coastal joy in the shape of the Gower Peninsula and whimsical boho chic thanks to the cosmopolitan area of Mumbles. Effortlessly, visitors find themselves not at one destination but three: Swansea Bay, Mumbles and Gower. The Welsh name for Swansea is Abertawe, meaning mouth of the River Tawe, the lifeblood of the city, but its English name springs from when the shipwrecked Viking King Sweyn Forkbeard landed and called the place ‘Sweyn’s Eye’. Not only does Swansea sit on its own five-mile beach but it’s also the gateway to Gower, Britain’s first designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.…

OUR FAVOURITE LETTER COUNTING SHEEP What a coincidence. A few days before I received the January 2016 (Vol 83, Issue 6) issue of BRITAIN, which included the Royal Rights article, I received an email from a friend in the UK. After serving Lloyd’s in the City of London for 65 years, he was made a Freeman of the City in 2013. One of the privileges of a Freeman is being able to drive sheep over London Bridge. On 27 September 2015, he and a party of people exercised their right to walk sheep over London Bridge, in an event watched by the Lord Mayor of London and organised by the Worshipful Company of Woolmen. I am sure you are all proud of these old traditions and I hope you do…

The fifth annual Cotswolds Art & Antique Dealers’ Association (CADA) Fair will take place at Blenheim Palace from 21-24 April. The antiques fair, which will be hosted in the Orangery and Campaign Rooms, is the only event of its kind to take place in the home of the 12th Duke and Duchess of Marlborough. This is a fantastic chance to browse furniture (such as this bureau from WR Harvey & Co), silver, clocks, sculptures and statuary, with prices ranging from £100 to £100,000. As the date of the fair coincides with HM The Queen's 90th birthday, St George's Day and the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death, expect associated items on show. You can download an invite that admits two people to the fair and the palace grounds at www.cadafair.com…

Edward II: The Unconventional King by Kathryn Warner (£14.99, Amberley). A biography on one of the most reviled English kings, who drove the country to the brink of civil war several times. The Victorian Treasury by Lucinda Hawksley (£9.99, Andre Deutsch). A delightful look at life in the Victorian era, this compendium covers the minutiae of everyday life as well as the social upheaval and inventions of the time. Corsets and Codpieces: A Social History of Outrageous Fashion by Karen Bowman (£16.99, Pen &Sword Books), is a sartorial journey through British history focusing on the unusual items of clothing people wore. Britain’s Lost Churches by Matthew Hide (£20, Aurum Press). Many of Britain’s churches have vanished. This book brings together the remaining photographs and illustrations that mark their existence. Perfect…

Thought to be the oldest surviving family-owned tailoring firm in the world, Ede & Ravenscroft, as it is known today, is revered for its exquisite designs, worn by everyone from the alumni of our most prestigious universities to members of our judiciary, right up to the highest echelons of the Royal Family. Think of any formal ceremonial attire in Britain, and Ede & Ravenscroft probably designed it. It was in 1689 that the company’s original owners, the Shudalls, who had set up shop in the Aldwych area of London, received their first royal commission to make the robes for the joint coronation of King William III and Queen Mary II. At the time, Aldwych was the centre of the capital’s tailoring trade where tailors, mercers, robe makers, furriers, embroiderers and…

GETTING THERE Frequent train and coach services link major UK cities to Swansea, including airports in London, Bristol and Cardiff. The scenic Heart of Wales railway line runs to Swansea from Shrewsbury, across the English border. Swansea is a three-and-a-half-hour drive from London. A car is useful for exploring Gower, though a Gower Day Explorer ticket gives unlimited travel from Swansea to Gower on Explorer buses, and a Walking by Bus scheme links scenic walks to rides.www.nationalrail.co.uk www.nationalexpress.com www.traveline-cymru.info www.visitswanseabay.com WHERE TO STAY Morgans is a 42-room hotel in the 1903 Harbour Trust building in the city centre, a short hop from the Maritime Quarter.www.morganshotel.co.uk Self-catering Windy Hill is a bohemian style beach chalet located behind Three Cliffs Bay and close to Pennard golf course. With a nautical theme throughout,…