Chester in North West England

23 July 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Northgate Street © geograph.org.uk - John Firth/cc-by-sa-2.0

Northgate Street © geograph.org.uk – John Firth/cc-by-sa-2.0

Chester, is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 119,000 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100. Chester was granted city status in 1541.   read more…

The Narrowboats

15 July 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

Modern narrowboats on the Kennet and Avon Canal © Per Palmkvist Knudsen/cc-by-sa-2.5

Modern narrowboats on the Kennet and Avon Canal © Per Palmkvist Knudsen/cc-by-sa-2.5

A narrowboat or narrow boat is a boat of a distinctive design, made to fit the narrow canals of Great Britain. In the context of British Inland Waterways, “narrow boat” refers to the original working boats built in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries for carrying goods on the narrow canals (where locks and bridge holes would have a maximum width of at least 7 feet (2.1 m); some locks on the Shropshire Union are even smaller). The term is extended to modern “narrowboats” used for recreation and more and more as homes, whose design is an interpretation of the old boats for modern purposes and modern materials.   read more…

The London Stone

6 July 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, London Reading Time:  7 minutes

London Stone © englishhistoryauthors.blogspot.com

London Stone © englishhistoryauthors.blogspot.com

London Stone is a historic stone that is now set within a Portland stone surround and iron grille on Cannon Street, in the City of London.   read more…

The Sherlock Holmes Museum in London

29 June 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, London, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  4 minutes

Sherlock Homes Museum © Jordan 1972

Sherlock Holmes Museum © Jordan 1972

The Sherlock Holmes Museum is a privately run museum in London, dedicated to the famous fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. It opened in 1990 and is situated in Baker Street, bearing the number 221B by permission of the City of Westminster, although it lies between numbers 237 and 241, near the north end of Baker Street in central London close to Regent’s Park.   read more…

Dunvegan Castle, seat of the chief of the Clan MacLeod

15 June 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  6 minutes

Dunvegan Castle and Gardens, home to the MacLeod family for over 800 years © Dunvegancastle/cc-by-sa-3.0

Dunvegan Castle and Gardens, home to the MacLeod family for over 800 years
© Dunvegancastle/cc-by-sa-3.0

Dunvegan Castle is a castle a mile and a half to the north of Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye, situated off the West coast of Scotland. It is the seat of the MacLeod of MacLeod, chief of the Clan MacLeod. Dunvegan Castle is the oldest continuously inhabited castle in Scotland.   read more…

Theme Week Wales – Swansea

8 June 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Swansea Harbour Trust Building © jrw/cc-by-sa-3.0

Swansea Harbour Trust Building © jrw/cc-by-sa-3.0

Swansea, officially the City and County of Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. It is Wales’s second largest city. Swansea lies within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands. The City and County of Swansea had a population of 239,000 in 2011, making it the second most populous local authority area in Wales after Cardiff. During its 19th-century industrial heyday, Swansea was a key centre of the copper industry, earning the nickname ‘Copperopolis’. Swansea can be roughly divided into four physical areas. To the north are the Lliw uplands which are mainly open moorland, reaching the foothills of the Black Mountain. To the west is the Gower Peninsula with its rural landscape dotted with small villages. To the east is the coastal strip around Swansea Bay. Cutting though the middle from the south-east to the north-west is the urban and suburban zone stretching from the Swansea city centre to the towns of Gorseinon and Pontarddulais.   read more…

Theme Week Wales – Barry

7 June 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Barry Waterfront © Cane Giapponese

Barry Waterfront © Cane Giapponese

Barry is a town and community in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales. Located along the northern coast of the Bristol Channel less than 7 miles (11 km) south-southwest of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, Barry is a seaside resort, with attractions including several beaches and the Barry Island Pleasure Park. Once a small village, Barry has absorbed its larger neighbouring villages of Cadoxton and Barry Island.   read more…

Theme Week Wales – Newport

6 June 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Newport Arcade © geograph.org.uk - Robin Drayton/cc-by-sa-2.0

Newport Arcade © geograph.org.uk – Robin Drayton/cc-by-sa-2.0

Newport is a city and unitary authority in south east Wales. It is located on the River Usk close to its confluence with the Severn estuary, 12 miles (19 km) east of Cardiff. It is the third largest city in Wales, with a population of 146,000.   read more…

Theme Week Wales – Bangor

4 June 2013 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

The junction of Farrar Road and the High Street © geograph.org.uk - Eric Jones/cc-by-sa-2.0

The junction of Farrar Road and the High Street © geograph.org.uk – Eric Jones/cc-by-sa-2.0

Bangor is a city in Gwynedd unitary authority, north west Wales, and one of the smallest cities in Britain. It is a university city with a population of 13,725 at the 2001 census, not including around 10,000 students at Bangor University. It is one of only six places classed as a city in Wales, although it is only the 36th largest urban area by population. According to the 2001 census, 46.6% of the non-student resident population speak Welsh, which is low for Gwynedd but despite this, the language keeps a high profile in town.   read more…

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