There’s something irresistibly romantic about Arundel: this attractive little town with its vast fairy-tale castle and steep hillside streets lined by excellent restaurants and antique stores makes a great weekend break or stopover. While much of the town appears medieval – especially the whimsical castle that has been home to the dukes of Norfolk for [...]
A small but attractive village with a monumental place in British history, Battle grew up around the point where invading French duke William of Normandy, aka William the Conqueror, scored a decisive victory over local King Harold in 1066, so beginning Norman rule and changing the face of the country for good.
Home to royals and prime ministers, posh and prosperous Berkshire is and has long been the home county of many of England’s most important figures. The top toff of the lot, the Queen, regularly stops in to spend time at her favourite castle. But aside from the impressive fortress at Windsor, the county is full [...]
Brighton, Brighton, Brighton. Where to start? This is the most vibrant seaside resort in England and a high point in any visit to the region. In summer its pebbled shoreline throngs with sunbathers and beachside bars fizzle with energy and music. A multitude of trendy restaurants, slick boutique hotels and shops catering to every taste [...]
Unlike its bigger, brasher neighbours, the pretty little resort village of Broadstairs revels in its quaintness, plays the Victorian nostalgia card at every opportunity and names every second business after the works of its most famous holidaymaker, Charles Dickens. Behind the neatly manicured gardens, the cute little orange-sand bay and its wistful Punch and Judy [...]
Compact Chichester is a well-to-do Georgian market town that manages to straddle the divide between countryside charm and cosmopolitan culture. On the one hand, it’s home to an array of traditional tea-and-crumpet shops, well-mannered townsfolk, a fine cathedral and streets of handsome 18th-century town houses. While on the other, Chichester boasts a famous theatre and [...]
An easy day or weekend foray from London, Colchester is a charming place with a likable easygoing feel and a history that’s hard to beat. It claims the title as Britain’s oldest recorded city, with settlement noted here as early as the 5th century BC. Centuries later in AD 43, the Romans came, saw, conquered [...]
Dreary Dover is the kind of ugly port town that you either visit to pile on and off its ponderous cross-channel ferries steering the narrow 20-mile stretch to France, or else to make a dash for its premier attractions and move quickly on. That said, as attractions go it has several humdingers. The port’s vital [...]
East Sussex is a richly varied county that absorbs armies of weekending Londoners whenever the weather is fine. Some come for the scintillating nightlife and shingly shores of Brighton, others to explore the white cliffs and civilised seaside charms of Eastbourne. Many more opt for romance amid the medieval streets of Rye or historic Battle, [...]
A classic golden-oldie seaside resort that has long brought to mind images of octogenarians dozing in deck chairs or tapping their feet to brassy tunes on the 1930s bandstand, elegant Eastbourne nonetheless likes to promote its many charms to sprightlier generations. There’s certainly no doubting the appeal of its pebbly beaches, scrupulously snipped seaside gardens [...]