Discover Britain

Maybe a year ago I read an article, I believe in Discover Britain, about a still-functioning airfield used by the RAF somewhere in East Anglia. I believe they fly old aircraft from there. We are planning a trip to that area for next year. I’d appreci

While many can claim to show you Winston Churchill as he’s never been seen before, this photograph is perhaps a true first. This Getty archives image shows the young Winston in 1911 when he was still First Lord of the Admiralty. Yet thanks to the ret

In 1882, Oscar Wilde toured America giving one of three lectures at each stop: The English Renaissance, The Decorative Arts, and The House Beautiful. No transcript of the latter lecture, first given in Chicago on 11 March, exists but, by all accounts

The Mayflower’s iconic journey began almost 400 years ago, after it set sail from the English port of Plymouth on 6 September 1620 in search of the New World (although it was technically 16 September, as England didn’t adopt the Gregorian calendar fo

The Art Deco style represented a metaphorical and physical breath of fresh air. It was the intro to the great song of modernism that rang out so potently and so powerfully across the 20th century, providing the world with the greatest buildings, artw

I was born and bred in Dartmoor, Devon. My parents ran a successful folk music night at a 16th-century pub called The Who’d Have Thought It Inn in Milton Combe. It’s still there, now the only B&B in the village. My new album, A Pilgrim’s Tale, is in

Cottages are so quintessentially British that it’s hard to call one to mind without simultaneously thinking about steaming cups of tea, lawn tennis and consolatory conversations about the weather. These small, modest dwellings found in rural settings

History has not always looked favourably on King James I, yet his reign has undoubtedly shaped modern Britain. On 24 March 1603, James VI of Scotland became James I of England and Ireland, bringing together the monarchies in what is now known as the

The 75th anniversary of VE (or “Victory in Europe”) Day was celebrated with a day off work across the United Kingdom as the traditional May Day Bank Holiday was moved to 8 May. It was on this date in 1945 that the Second World War officially ended, a

Piccadilly Circus has long been the nexus of London’s entertainment district, drawing in seasoned locals and fascinated tourists like moths to its bright neon flame. While it perhaps lacks the vaulting scale of similar intersections around the world

Its curving arms look like they’re ready to embrace the families who come here to paddle and splash in the shallow pools. Set in Saltdean, an East Sussex village just east of Brighton’s giddiness, this lido is one of the south coast’s most unique sig

Arrive at sunset perhaps or during a dramatic thunderstorm and the rising, jagged towers of the Barbican Estate can appear like a retro-futurist fever dream, a 1960s vision of what 21st-century London might look like. Architecture buffs will swoon ov

The South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) hugs England’s south coast. It runs east to west from the edge of Brixham (the most southerly of the trio of towns that makes up the so-called English Riviera) to Jennycliff Beach, cut just sh

Brighton first rose to prominence as a destination of choice for London’s upper classes and even royalty, but it hadn’t always been this way. It began as a Neolithic settlement, with the current name a shortened version of the original Anglo-Saxon “B

In 1916, Lord Curzon, the one-time Viceroy of India, got his hands on a long-awaited prize: the deeds to Bodiam Castle, one the country’s best-known and best-loved medieval fortresses near Robertsbridge in East Sussex. As he wrote at the time, “So ra

The London Underground – or the Tube as it is colloquially known – is a real rabbit warren of history and mystery. The first section of the Metropolitan Line was completed in 1863, making it the world’s oldest subterranean railway. London was not onl

Field and track events, piping and Highland dancing competitions, and daring “heavy events” like the tug-o-war, the hammer throw and tossing the caber, all make up a traditional Highland Games. This is not simply a display of brawn (though the compet

Dartmouth Castle has guarded the Dart Estuary and the port town of Dartmouth for 600 years. Originally built to fulfil a far more serious purpose, today, thanks to English Heritage, it offers stunning views of the estuary and the chance to go inside