Sights in England
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Maidstone Carriage Museum
If the old pumpkin-&-mice trick isn't summoning your carriage of choice, then this museum is for you. Horse-drawn vehicles from the magnificent to the mundane, from sedan chairs to ice-cream carts, are here thanks to 12-time Maidstone mayor, Sir Garrard Tyrwhitt-Drake. When his collection went public in 1946 it was one of a kind and it's still among the best.
reviewed
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Leeds Castle
Often tagged the world's most romantic castle, this immense picture-book pile will impress. While it looks formidable from the outside it's really a bit of a 'ladies castle'. Home to a who's who of medieval queens, the castle's last owner - Anglo-American heiress, Lady Baillie - used it as a party pad to invite the likes of Errol Flynn and Douglas Fairbanks.
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Guildford Museum
Guildford's museum can take you back through time from prehistoric finds in Surrey fields through to Stone Age tools, medieval costumes and Roman head-dresses. Strong on local history and with changing exhibitions, the museum is housed in a lovely 17th-century building.
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Guildford Castle
Guildford's medieval castle, used by English royalty, particularly King Henry III in the 13th century, has been restored. The Great Tower opened to visitors in 2005 and a rooftop platform offers views of Guildford and surrounds. The castle gardens are perfect for a stroll at any time of year.
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Festival Leisure Park
Located in the north of Basildon, Festival Leisure Park is a small village in itself. Affectionately known by locals as 'Bas Vegas', it features restaurants, a hotel, a cinema, a fitness facility and lots more, but is best described as basically a huge car park in a sea of neon.
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Farnborough Air Sciences Trust Museum
Built in 1907 as the headquarters for the Royal Engineers' Balloon School, this museum commemorates Farnborough's unique and special place in aviation history. Displays include a working wind-tunnel model, aircraft, jet engines, weapons, models and many photographs. Outside you'll be greeted by several planes and a row of aircraft nose sections.
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Clandon Park
Mansions and stately homes pepper the Surrey countryside and this grand 18th-century Palladian beauty is a fine example. Just outside Guildford, Clandon House is renowned for its two-storey Marble Hall and is packed with antique furnishings, tapestries, porcelain and art. The formal gardens feature a Maori house.
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Brockhill Country Park
With excellent views to the English Channel, Brockhill Country Park is part of an estate dating back to Norman times. A large grassy valley is bisected by the Brockhill Stream as it makes its way to the Royal Military Canal at Hythe. The park has two sign posted trails. The rich mosaic of plants provides shelter for many beautiful butterflies.
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Branston Water Park
Had enough beer and skittles? Take a break at this languid Burton beauty spot. Locals float model boats, fish and windsurf on the park's 16-ha (40-acre) lake. See weekend Burton-on-water, watch birds and walk to woods on a well-surfaced 1.6km (1mi) lakeside path. Serious walkers can visit the park as part of the 35km (22mi) Branston-Jacksons Bank circuit.
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Braintree Working Silk Museum
This intimate museum is housed in an old school building and explains Braintree's textile heritage from the medieval wool trade to the fabrics produced by Warner and Courtauld. Learn how raw silk and fabrics were woven on handlooms and discover Braintree's straw-plaiting past with exhibits of the work of straw masters such as Albert Rowe.
reviewed
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Braintree District Museum
This museum certainly has something for every part of the brain, featuring displays of local history in the fields of archaeology, natural science, costume, textiles, fine art and, just for something different, personalities. It's complete with a Victorian classroom, small apothecary's garden and craft shop - what more could you want from a day out in Essex?
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Biddenden Vineyards
Kent's oldest commercial vineyard was established in 1969. As well as a range of wines, traditional Kentish Ciders have also been made here for over 20 years - together with farm pressed apple juices. There's also a coffee shop open daily.
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Basingstoke Canal
Basingstoke Canal, built in 1794, divides Farnborough from Aldershot and travels from Basingstoke to meet up with the River Thames. Local enthusiasts formed an action group and had it restored to public ownership, renovated and reopened in 1991. There is a visitor centre with an interactive lock model, a picnic and play area, gift shop, tearoom and campsite.
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Basing House
Basing House was once a major five-storey Tudor palace with a mere 380 rooms, rivalling Hampton Court Palace in its grandiosity. That was before it was razed during the English Civil War by Oliver Cromwell himself. Today you can visit the extensive ruins, including civil war earthworks, a re-created Jacobean garden and the foundations of the palace.
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Windsor Castle
The largest and oldest occupied fortress in the world, Windsor Castle is a majestic vision of battlements and towers used for state occasions and as the Queen’s weekend retreat.
William the Conqueror first established a royal residence in Windsor in 1070; since then successive monarchs have rebuilt, remodelled and refurbished the castle complex to create the massive and sumptuous palace that stands here today. Henry II replaced the wooden stockade in 1165 with a stone round tower and built the outer walls to the north, east and south; Charles II gave the state apartments a baroque makeover; George IV swept in with his preference for Gothic style; and Queen Victoria…
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Savill Garden
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Eton College
Eton’s main street here is surprisingly hushed as you make your way down to the most enduring and illustrious symbol of England’s class system, Eton College.
Those who have studied here include 18 prime ministers, countless princes, kings and maharajahs, famous explorers, authors, and economists – among them the Duke of Wellington, Princes William and Harry, George Orwell, Ian Fleming, Aldous Huxley, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, John Maynard Keynes and Bear Grylls.
Eton is the largest and most famous public (meaning very private) school in England; it’s only under the current headmaster that Eton has begun to accept applicants from state schools rather than just private…
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The Backs
Behind the grandiose facades, stately courts and manicured lawns of the city's central colleges lies a series of gardens and parklands butting up against the river. Collectively known as the Backs, these tranquil green spaces and shimmering waters offer unparalleled views of the colleges and are often the most enduring image of Cambridge for visitors. The picture-postcard snapshots of college life, graceful bridges and weeping willows can be seen from the pathways that cross the Backs, from the comfort of a chauffeur-driven punt or from the lovely pedestrian bridges that criss-cross the river.
The fanciful Bridge of Sighs (built in 1831) at St John's is best observed from…
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Liverpool FC
Doff o' the cap to Evertonians and Beatle-maniacs, but no single institution represents the Mersey spirit and strong sense of identity more powerfully than Liverpool FC, England's most successful football club. Virtually unbeatable for much of the 1970s and '80s, they haven't won the league championship since 1990, but in 2005 they became European champions for the fifth time and followed it with an FA Cup in 2006.
The club's home is the marvellous Anfield, but plans are afoot to relocate to a new 60,000-capacity stadium a stone's throw away in Stanley Park before 2010. The experience of a live match is a memorable one, especially the sound of 40,000 fans singing 'You'll…
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Brick Lane
Full of noise, colour and life, Brick Lane is a vibrant mix of history and modernity, and a palimpsest of cultures. Today it is the centrepiece of a thriving Bengali community in an area nicknamed Banglatown. The southern part of the lane is one long procession of curry and balti houses intermingled with fabric shops and Indian supermarkets. Sadly the once-high standard of cooking in the curry houses is a distant memory, so you’re probably better off trying subcontinental cuisine in Whitechapel.
Just past Hanbury St is the converted Old Truman Brewery, a series of buildings on both sides of the lane that was once London’s largest brewery. The Director’s House on the left…
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London Dungeon
Older kids tend to love the London Dungeon, as the terrifying queues during school holidays and weekends testify. It's all spooky music, ghostly boat rides, macabre hangman's drop-rides, fake blood and actors dressed up as torturers and gory criminals (including Jack the Ripper and Sweeney Todd). Beware the interactive bits.
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Leicester Square
At the time of research, Leicester Square was undergoing an extensive – and much-needed – makeover to turn it into a lively plaza and glamorous premiere venue. The revamp is much overdue; although the square was very fashionable in the 19th century, in the last few decades it had become synonymous with antisocial behaviour, rampant pickpocketing and outrageous cinema ticket prices (a whopping £18!).
The square will retain its many cinemas and nightclubs, and city planners hope it will attract high-profile film premieres, with all the associated celeb-spotting and publicity.
Works on the square started in December 2010 and were scheduled to be complete in April 2012,…
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Brunswick Centre
This now-wonderful 1960s complex consists of apartments, restaurants, shops and a cinema. A £24-million project transformed it from a dreary, stern space to a lovely, cream-coloured airy square in 2006, and the centre is now packed with people seven days a week. The original architect, Patrick Hodgkinson, worked on the renovations and claimed that the centre now looks like what he’d orginally planned in the ‘60s (but at the time the design was stunted by the local council). For more information and a complete listing of shops and restaurants, check the website.
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Fort Paull
Around 6 miles east of the centre, along the A1033, Fort Paull is a grand, lavishly restored fort. The 1860s structure, with its underground labyrinths, is interesting, while stilted waxworks and warlike stuff document the fort's history from the AD 910 Viking landing onwards.
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