Theme Week Channel Islands – Herm

25 July 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Ferry approaching the Rosaire Landing © geograph.org.uk

Ferry approaching the Rosaire Landing © geograph.org.uk

Herm is the smallest of the Channel Islands that is open to the public and is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey. Cars are banned from the small island just like its Channel Island neighbour, Sark. Unlike Sark, bicycles are also banned. However, Herm does allow quad bikes and tractors for the locals.   read more…

Llangollen in Wales

16 July 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Plas Newydd © Wolfgang Sauber/cc-by-sa-3.0

Plas Newydd © Wolfgang Sauber/cc-by-sa-3.0

Llangollen is a small town and community in Denbighshire, north-east Wales, situated on the River Dee and on the edge of the Berwyn mountains. Today Llangollen relies heavily on the tourist industry, but still gains substantial income from farming. Most of the farms in the hills around the town were sheep farms, and weaving was an important cottage industry in the area for centuries. Several factories were later built along the banks of the River Dee, where both wool and cotton were processed. The water mill opposite Llangollen railway station is over 600 years old, and was originally used to grind flour for local farmers.   read more…

Theme Week Wales – St Davids

9 July 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

St Davids Cathedral © Chrisrivers/cc-by-sa-3.0

St Davids Cathedral © Chrisrivers/cc-by-sa-3.0

St Davids, is a city and community in Pembrokeshire. Lying on the River Alun on St David’s Peninsula, it is Britain’s smallest city in terms of both size and population, the final resting place of Saint David, the country’s patron saint, and the de facto ecclesiastical capital of Wales. St Davids was given city status in the 16th century due to the presence of St David’s Cathedral but lost this in 1888. City status was restored in 1994 at the request of Queen Elizabeth II.   read more…

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch on the island of Anglesey

7 July 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

St Mary's Church © Necrothesp/cc-by-sa-3.0

St Mary’s Church © Necrothesp/cc-by-sa-3.0

Llanfairpwllgwyngyll is a large village and community on the island of Anglesey in Wales, situated on the Menai Strait next to the Britannia Bridge and across the strait from Bangor. It is alternatively known as Llanfairpwll, Llanfair PG, or Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch. The community has a population of 3,100. The name means:   read more…

The Dartmoor National Park in Devon

4 July 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  12 minutes

Dartmoor from Hay Tor © Steinsky/cc-by-sa-3.0

Dartmoor from Hay Tor © Steinsky/cc-by-sa-3.0

Dartmoor is an area of moorland in south Devon, England. Protected by National Park status as Dartmoor National Park, it covers 954 square kilometres (368 sq mi). Dartmoor is managed by the Dartmoor National Park Authority, whose 22 members are drawn from Devon County Council, local district councils and Government. Parts of Dartmoor have been used as military firing ranges for over 200 years. The public are granted extensive land access rights on Dartmoor (including restricted access to the firing ranges) and it is a popular tourist destination. Dartmoor is known for its tors – hills topped with outcrops of bedrock, which in granite country such as this are usually rounded boulder-like formations. More than 160 of the hills of Dartmoor have the word tor in their name but quite a number do not. Dartmoor has a resident population of about 33,000, which swells considerably during holiday periods with incoming tourists. The largest settlements within the National Park are Ashburton (the largest with population about 3,500), Buckfastleigh, Moretonhampstead, Princetown, Yelverton, Horrabridge, South Brent, Christow and Chagford.   read more…

St Paul’s Cathedral in London

20 June 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, London, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  16 minutes

© flickr.com - Mark Fosh/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – Mark Fosh/cc-by-2.0

St Paul’s Cathedral, London, is an Anglican cathedral, the seat of the Bishop of London and the mother church of the Diocese of London. It sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. The present church, dating from the late 17th century, was designed in the English Baroque style by Sir Christopher Wren. Its construction, completed within Wren’s lifetime, was part of a major rebuilding programme which took place in the city after the Great Fire of London. The cathedral is one of the most famous and most recognisable sights of London, with its dome, framed by the spires of Wren’s City churches, dominating the skyline for 300 years. At 365 feet (111 m) high, it was the tallest building in London from 1710 to 1962, and its dome is also among the highest in the world. In terms of area, St Paul’s is the second largest church building in the United Kingdom after Liverpool Cathedral.   read more…

The BBC Broadcasting House in Westminster

6 June 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, London Reading Time:  5 minutes

© Zizzu02/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Zizzu02/cc-by-sa-3.0

Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. The main building is in Art Deco style, with a facing of Portland stone over a steel frame. It is a Grade II* listed building and includes the BBC Radio Theatre, where music and speech programmes are recorded in front of a studio audience, and lobby that was used as a location for filming the 1998 BBC television series In the Red.   read more…

Rugby in Warwickshire

1 June 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Sport Reading Time:  6 minutes

Rugby School © G-Man

Rugby School © G-Man

Rugby is a market town in Warwickshire located on the River Avon. The town has a population of 62,000 making it the second largest town in the county. The enclosing Borough of Rugby has a population of 92,000.   read more…

Theme Week East Anglia – King’s Lynn

30 May 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Custom House © Alienturnedhuman

Custom House © Alienturnedhuman

King’s Lynn is a sea port and market town in the ceremonial county of Norfolk in the East of England. It is situated 97 miles (156 km) north of London and 44 miles (71 km) west of Norwich. The population of the town is 42,800. The town has two theatres, museums and other cultural and sporting venues. There are three secondary schools and one college. The service sector, information and communication technologies and creative industries, provide limited employment for the population of King’s Lynn and the surrounding area.   read more…

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