The seaside town of Deal in South England

29 March 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Seafront © Shantavira

Seafront © Shantavira

Deal is a town in Kent, England. It lies on the English Channel eight miles north-east of Dover and eight miles south of Ramsgate. It is a former fishing, mining and garrison town. Closely associated with Deal are the villages of Kingsdown, Sholden and Walmer, the latter being where Julius Caesar first arrived in Britain.   read more…

Plymouth in South West England

23 March 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Barbican and harbour © flickr.com - Bex Ross/cc-by-2.0

Barbican and harbour © flickr.com – Bex Ross/cc-by-2.0

Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the south coast of Devon in England, about 190 miles (310 km) south-west of London. It is situated between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound. Since 1967, the City of Plymouth has included the suburbs of Plympton and Plymstock, which are situated on the east side of the River Plym. Today the city is home to around 250,000 people, making it the 27th most populous built-up area in England and Wales. It is governed locally by Plymouth City Council and is represented nationally by three MPs. Plymouth’s economy is still strongly influenced by shipbuilding, but has become a more service-based economy since the 1990s. It has the ninth largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students, the University of Plymouth, and the largest operational naval base in Western Europe – HMNB Devonport. The city has ferry links to France and Spain.   read more…

Theme Week Cornwall – Bude

17 March 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Beach and canal © Scott14/cc-by-sa-3.0

Beach and canal © Scott14/cc-by-sa-3.0

Bude is a small seaside resort town in north Cornwall, in the civil parish of Bude-Stratton and at the mouth of the River Neet (also known locally as the River Strat). It was formerly sometimes known as Bude Haven. It lies southwest of Stratton, south of Flexbury and Poughill, and north of Widemouth Bay and is located along the A3073 road off the A39. Bude’s coast faces Bude Bay in the Celtic Sea, part of the Atlantic Ocean.   read more…

Fowey in Cornwall

12 February 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Stefan Germer

© Stefan Germer

Fowey is a small town, civil parish and cargo port at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall in England. At the time of the 2001 census, it had a population of 2,273. Fowey is in the South Coast (Eastern Section) of the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It lies at the end of the Saints’ Way and has ferries across the river to Polruan (foot) and Bodinnick (vehicle). There are many historic buildings in the town, including the ruins of St Catherine’s Castle, while Readymoney Cove possesses a local beach.   read more…

Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire

9 February 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Architecture, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  6 minutes

© gailf548

© gailf548

Blenheim Palace is a monumental country house situated in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, residence of the dukes of Marlborough. It is the only non-royal non-episcopal country house in England to hold the title of palace. The palace, one of England’s largest houses, was built between 1705 and circa 1724. UNESCO recognised the palace as a World Heritage Site in 1987. Its construction was originally intended to be a gift to John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough from a grateful nation in return for military triumph against the French and Bavarians at the Battle of Blenheim. However, it soon became the subject of political infighting, which led to Marlborough’s exile, the fall from power of his duchess, and irreparable damage to the reputation of the architect Sir John Vanbrugh.   read more…

Bahnhof St Pancras in London

1 February 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month, London Reading Time:  15 minutes

Model of the extended St Pancras station (left) and Kings Cross station (right) © Andrew Dunn - www.andrewdunnphoto.com/cc-by-sa-2.0

Model of the extended St Pancras station (left) and Kings Cross station (right) © Andrew Dunn – www.andrewdunnphoto.com/cc-by-sa-2.0

St Pancras railway station, also known as London St Pancras and since 2007 as St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus and Grade I listed building located on Euston Road in the St Pancras area of the London Borough of Camden. It stands between the British Library, King’s Cross station and the Regent’s Canal and is a structure widely known for its Victorian architecture. It was opened in 1868 by the Midland Railway as the southern terminus of its mainline which connected London with the East Midlands and Yorkshire. When it opened, the arched Barlow train shed was the largest single-span roof in the world.   read more…

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London

31 January 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, London, Museums, Exhibitions, Opera Houses, Theaters, Libraries Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Schlaier

© Schlaier

The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare’s playing company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend and grandson Sir Matthew Brend, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613. A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed in 1642.   read more…

Penzance in Cornwall

22 January 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

The Wharfside Centre © geograph.org.uk - Mari Buckley/cc-by-sa-2.0

The Wharfside Centre © geograph.org.uk – Mari Buckley/cc-by-sa-2.0

Penzance is a town, civil parish and port in Cornwall. It is well known for being the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is approximately 75 miles (121 km) west of Plymouth and 300 miles (480 km) west-southwest of London. Situated in the shelter of Mount’s Bay (Towards the middle of the bay and probably the origin of the name is St Michael’s Mount), the town faces south-east onto the English Channel, is bordered to the west by the fishing port of Newlyn, to the north by the civil parish of Madron and to the east by the civil parish of Ludgvan. A ferry service is operated between Penzance Harbour and the Isles of Scilly by the Scillonian III, carrying both foot-passengers and cargo. Sailing time is approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes. A bus service run by the Skybus Airline Service connects with Land’s End Airport for fixed wing flights (15 minutes) to the Isles of Scilly. The buses leave from the railway station, near the taxi rank, rather than the bus station. Penzance is home to the new Newlyn Art Gallery establishment “The Exchange” which opened in 2007. Penzance is also the home of Penlee House, an art gallery and museum notable for its collection of paintings by members of the Newlyn School. Within Penzance town centre there are a growing number of commercial art galleries. Every December Penzance holds the Montol Festival a community arts event reviving many of the Cornish customs of Christmas, including Guise dancing.   read more…

Eastbourne on the English Channel

20 January 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Eastbourne Beach © geograph.org.uk - Oast House Archive/cc-by-2.0

Eastbourne Beach © geograph.org.uk – Oast House Archive/cc-by-2.0

Eastbourne is a large town, seaside resort, and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, 17 miles (27 km) east of Brighton. Eastbourne is located immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the South Downs National Park. With a seafront consisting largely of Victorian hotels, the pier, and a Napoleonic era fort and military museum, Eastbourne was developed by the Duke of Devonshire in 1800 from four separate hamlets. It has a growing population, a broad economic base, and is home to companies in a wide range of industries.   read more…

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