Discover Britain

Do you ever print reader tips in your magazine? My wife and I were visiting family in Leeds recently and made a detour to Halifax – oh my, what a lovely surprise! The architecture of the Piece Hall is astonishing, very open and relaxing, and the town

You’ve heard of TED Talks, so how about Ted Walks? This is the latest venture from Pentillie Castle, a five-star, family-run B&B in Devon and Cornwall. With no affiliation to the US company famed for its inspiring online videos, Ted Walks are instead

There is something delightful about people’s excitement when an old-fashioned British steam train pulls into a station. One toot of the whistle can generate squeals from children and adults alike. Nostalgia plays a part for some, reminding them of ch

At 23 miles long, Loch Lomond is the largest stretch of inland water in the United Kingdom, and the second largest by water volume, second only to its rather more famous sister, Loch Ness. The loch spans three counties and begins just 14 miles northw

On the last Tuesday of January the streets of Lerwick in Shetland come alive with Vikings parading down the cobblestones, blazing torches held aloft, lighting the way through the dark streets. A vast longship is marched through the town before being

Exactly 50 years since the death of John Steinbeck, a small town in Somerset will remember him more vividly than most. The great American author, famous for Pulitzer Prize-winner The Grapes of Wrath and the 1952 epic East of Eden, grew up in Salinas,

Why not start your visit by popping in to one of our many pavement café’s around St John’s Place, and take in the great views of the historic 15th century St John’s Kirk. If Perth’s medieval history appeals, follow the route of the old city walls alo

London’s underground rail network – the Tube – has been an intrinsic part of daily life for millions of commuters since it first opened in 1863. Yet while many of the 1.37 billion journeys taken each year along the 250-mile network have a mundane pur

There’s an enclave of London – a city that sprawls upwards and outwards with shards of gleaming new buildings and the domes of much older ones – which is characterised by no singular feat of architecture. There were no laws passed here, nor battles w

While you can often identify a photo of a London street via one of its many iconic buildings or landmarks, by far the easiest way to tell if you are in the British capital is through the appearance of two things: a black taxi cab and a red double-dec

Out hunting one day Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild first glimpsed the spectacular views that can be enjoyed from the hill where Waddesdon Manor now stands. “There was not a bush to be seen or a bird to be heard,” he later said. The memory must have li

I run Regency walking tours around Bath. The tour concentrates on the history and scandal of the city, from Roman times to modern day. After I moved to Bath I wanted to do walking tours with historical accuracy, but with more of a theatrical element.

Built in the 1880s as the Rothschild family’s retreat in the heart of the Buckinghamshire countryside, Waddesdon Manor is a National Trust property less than an hour from London that boasts some of the finest interiors and objets d’art in the world.

The Peak District may be the largest national park in the English Midlands, but it is hard to escape the sense that descriptions of the landscape sound like they belong in an unpublished JRR Tolkien novel. Like a topographical battle between good and

The name is very fitting here. This monumental redbrick building first opened as the Midland Grand Hotel in 1873, yet it spent the best part of the 20th century serving as railway offices. It wasn’t until 2011 that the five-star hotel reopened follow

As Downton Abbey proved so wonderfully, the “upstairs, downstairs” tension in a stately home makes for a fascinating dynamic. Yet while the exploits of the Crawley family and their staff were entirely fictional, the Yorke family that presided over E

The British are rather fond of a traditional pub. While other cultures will congregate in bars, cafés and diners, we are world-renowned for preferring old, family-friendly establishments serving real ales and hearty food. Ideally speaking, our pubs w