Innholdsfortegnelse for June/July 2019 i Discover Britain

“It is impossible to walk into Temperate House and not feel awed by the ingenuity of our Victorian architects” I work in the Princess of Wales Conservatory at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. I help to cultivate displays of tropical and temperate plant collections. There are 10 different climate zones, so it’s a big responsibility. One in five of the world’s plant species are now at risk of extinction so it’s a race against time. Kew is a very special place to work. It’s impossible to walk into the cathedral-like space of the Temperate House and not feel awed by the ingenuity of our Victorian architects. So many visitors have fond memories of playing in the garden as children and we’ve had three marriage proposals already this year. The art…

In 1578, a French visitor to the UK’s capital wrote: “Rumour of the greatness, prosperity, singularities and splendours of London fly and run to the ends of the whole world.” It wasn’t always so: London under the Tudors – from 1485 when Henry VII defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field until the passing of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603 – changed enormously. During this period, the capital was a city on its way up in the world, as its population quadrupled from around 50,000 people in 1500 to 200,000 in 1600. For centuries, the walled City of London in the east and Westminster in the west had been geographically distinct, but the new Tudor age would unite these two disparate settlements, creating the beginnings of the city…

The award-winning novelist Jeanette Winterson perhaps best described her home city’s unique place within the fabric of Britain when she wrote “Manchester is in the south of the north of England. Its spirit has a contrariness in it – a south and north bound up together – at once untamed and unmetropolitan; at the same time, connected and worldly.” Situated between the glowering peaks of the Pennines to the east and the promise of Liverpool’s port and the Irish Sea to the west, that connectedness was key to the place’s appeal. In the century from 1750, Manchester grew from a town of 20,000 people to become Britain’s third largest city, yet retained a benevolent, forward thinking and democratic spirit throughout. The nation’s first free public library opened here in 1653,…

WHITBY Known as the jewel in the crown of the Yorkshire coast, this picturesque seaport may be small, but it’s rich in history and culture, as well as being renowned for having the world’s best fish and chips – Magpie Café and Quayside are award-winning purveyors of the British delicacy, while Trenchers was named best restaurant at the 2019 Fish & Chip Awards. The town is divided into two by the River Esk with the Old Town in the east and remnants of a Victorian past in the west. Its most famous landmark, the 1,360-year-old Whitby Abbey, sits on a cliff overlooking the harbour and beaches. The Old Town is made up of narrow, cobbled streets, along which you can still buy Whitby Jet, a local mineral used to make…

While American audiences will always imagine a prom to involve a gaggle of awkward high school students in tuxedos and dresses, us Brits will only have one thought in mind: the annual classical music season in London. The name originates from the very first concert performed at the then-newly-opened Queen’s Hall on 10 August 1895. Mr Robert Newman’s Promenade Concerts were so named because of the standing-room only area that meant concert-goers could walk around the venue during performances. This was a deliberate move by organisers keen to encourage a different audience during the otherwise quiet summer months via cheap tickets, mainstream music choices and an informal atmosphere that extended to smoking, eating and drinking. The Proms were so named because concert-goers would often promenade around the venue during performances…

What’s in a name? As always, issue 209 was excellent and a joy to read. However, the article on St Davids, may have left your readers puzzled. It is Britain’s smallest city but why a “city” since it is smaller than a great many towns? Well, it is a city because it has a cathedral. And, a cathedral is not just a church on steroids; it is the church of a bishop. So because St Davids has a bishop and a cathedral, it is therefore a city. Hope this clear things up. Jonathan Hayes, Oregon, USA Crumbling statues The “24 hours in Newcastle” article in issue 208 has me a little curious. The view from High Level Bridge shows statues near the bottom of the picture. But off the fork…

When George Orwell opened his classic novel 1984 with the line, “It was a bright day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen”, he couldn’t have been more economical in signalling that this is a dystopia in which everything we once knew must now be called into question. For clocks, and their defining regularity, have been relied upon to keep order on earth since the first mechanical timepieces were created, by monks, in the 14th century, and long before that in their earlier incarnations as sundials, water clocks, and more. They are the unsung conductors of our daily lives, providing the parameters within which we live, unfailingly keeping the rhythmic beat, getting us up at an appointed hour in the morning and putting us to bed at night. And…

Wyck Hill House Hotel & Spa is a luxury country house hotel set within 50 acres of grounds in the heart of Gloucestershire, offering breathtaking views of the beautiful Windrush Valley and rolling hills of The Cotswolds. The hotel also makes an ideal base for exploring the many attractions of the Cotswolds, including nearby Stow-on-the-Wold, Bourton-on-the-Water, Broadway and Chipping Camden. And now one lucky reader could win a luxury break for two there. But even if you are not our lucky winner, all readers can save over 30% on a perfect retreat at Wyck Hill House, paying just £80* per person per night for overnight accommodation in a Garden Room, a three-course table d’hote dinner, full English or continental breakfast and 20% off pre-booked spa treatments. The hotel’s excellent restaurant…

For many Londoners, Islington is one of the most desirable districts in which to live. Situated in Zone 2 – that ideal first concentric circle on London’s tube map, that is neither the busy heart of the original city nor the leafy outer suburbs of Zone 4 and beyond – it has everything one might want from contemporary urban living, be it great restaurants and handsome Georgian terraces or simply enough green space to kid yourself that you aren’t in the most populous city (currently) in the EU. While the quality of the local schools is hardly likely to impress a tourist and rightly so, Islington is still perhaps overlooked somewhat as a destination in favour of its West London equivalent, Notting Hill. Nevertheless, Richard Curtis could easily have set…

When it comes to many of the greatest British composers, it is hard to separate their music from a sense of place. On the one hand, some of the most enduring composers of the past few centuries have an immediate association with a particular part of the country in which they lived, performed and developed new works, whether that’s Benjamin Britten and Aldeburgh, Sir Edward Elgar and Worcester Cathedral, or Gustav Holst and Thaxted. In other cases, the beautiful works of these composers serve as an evocation of a certain kind of Britishness. Anyone with a soul can’t fail to hear Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, for instance, and not be transported to an idyllic world of green fields, freshly-cut grass and the drowsy hum of nature in the midst…

THE TOAST OF VICTORIA We have Queen Victoria to thank for our national obsession with taking afternoon tea. Legend has it that Her Majesty got the idea from her lady-in-waiting, Anna Maria Stanhope, the 7th Duchess of Bedford. Unable to wait for a late dinner appointment, the Duchess ordered a between-meal snack of bread, biscuits and small cakes to be delivered to her boudoir. The Queen was so taken by the idea that she adopted the tradition and Britain’s high society soon did too. Following Queen Victoria’s 200th anniversary in May, two London hotels have launched commemorative afternoon teas fit for royalty. The new Botanica tea room at 100 Queen’s Gate Hotel will serve champagne or tea in a space filled with plants discovered during her reign [above], while Hotel…

London is one of the most musical cities in the world, having birthed countless great acts and composers, as well as witnessing some of the most iconic performances in history. Part of that rich tapestry of culture has been possible thanks to the wealth of grand historical venues that dot the British capital and are every bit as impressive as the music that gets played inside them. One of London’s most imposing venues is the Royal Albert Hall. Officially opened as the Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences on 29 March 1871, an 800-foot frieze encircling the building depicts different disciplines under the hall’s remit, covering everything from astronomy to woodwork. The vaulting 20,000 square foot roof was designed to hold around 12,000 people under it, though modern safety…

Palaces of Pleasure by Lee Jackson From football fields and pleasure gardens to music halls and gin palaces, we have plenty to thank our Victorian forebears when it comes to creating places to enjoy mass entertainment. What could easily have been a dry history book is enlivened by tales of parachuting dogs and the baudy, indecent origins of well-known nursery rhymes. (Yale University Press, £20) Ships of Heaven by Christopher Somerville Christopher Somerville is The Times’ walking correspondent and his previous book, The January Man, was a Discover Britain favourite. Here he takes a very personal stroll around his favourite British cathedrals, chatting to bishops and tour guides as he unearths stories of rogue saints and master architects. (Doubleday, £20) Funland by Rob Ball…