While the tour buses and snap-happy tourists make a beeline for Stonehenge, prehistoric purists head for the massive ring of stones at Avebury instead. Though it lacks the huge stones and dramatic trilothons of its sister site across the plain, Avebury is arguably a much more rewarding place to visit: it’s bigger, older and much [...]
Ask any visitor for their ideal image of an English city, and chances are they’ll come up with something pretty close to Bath – an architectural icon, cultural trendsetter and fashionable haunt for the cream of British society for the last 300 years. With its grand Georgian terraces, Palladian parades and lofty townhouses of honey-coloured [...]
Cornwall’s ‘roof’ is a high heath pockmarked with bogs and granite hills, including Rough Tor (pronounced row-tor, 400m) and Brown Willy (419m), Cornwall’s highest point. It’s a desolate place that works on the imagination; the Beast of Bodmin, a large black catlike creature, has been seen regularly for many years, although no-one’s ever managed to [...]
A few years ago Boscastle was just another pretty village on the north Cornish coast, renowned for its beautiful harbour and picturesque valley setting. But on 16 August 2004, the village hit the headlines thanks to a devastating flash flood, the worst in Britain since the deluge at Lynmouth in 1952. Some 440 million gallons [...]
Sprawling for seven miles along the southern Dorset coastline, Bournemouth is one of the largest seaside resorts in Britain, famous for its grand seafront and broad sandy beaches. It’s a place with a rather strange split personality; part faded Victorian resort, part corporate anytown and part mass-market tourist holiday park, where wrinkly day-trippers and holidaying [...]
Croyde Bay and the nearby beach at Saunton Sands are Devon’s most popular surfing spots, with a clutch of good camp sites, B&Bs and pubs. Check out the Croyde Surf Club website (www.croydesurfclub.com) for webcam shots from all the area’s main breaks.
For years gritty, grimy old Bristol has been the ugly sister of Britain’s cities, outclassed by Bath, outsmarted by London and upstaged by the rejuvenated cities of Newcastle and Manchester to the north. But the fortunes of this old industrial city have changed dramatically in recent years, and the transformation that’s taken place over the [...]
You can’t get much further west than the ancient kingdom of Cornwall (or Kernow, as it’s often referred to around these parts). With the longest stretch of continuous coastline in Britain, this is a land whose history is intricately bound up with the sea, and all around the county’s shores you’ll discover remnants of its [...]
After spending a few days exploring the gentle coastline of south Devon, Dartmoor comes as something of a shock to the senses. The largest stretch of open moorland in the southwest, Dartmoor covers an area of 365 sq miles between Plymouth and Exeter, stretching for around 22 miles between Yelverton in the east and Dunsford [...]
The pretty riverside town of Dartmouth has long been known as the location for Britain’s largest naval college, but in recent years it’s also established itself as a favourite seaside escape for city types fleeing from the rat race. There are some surprisingly chic shops and boutiques dotted around town, not to mention an astonishing [...]