The sun made an unusual appearance here in the UK this week so we’ve been out on the road in Wiltshire (and a little bit of Gloucestershire, Somerset and Dorset).
Where have we been? All over.
In the south and west of Wiltshire there’s been Stourhead, Mere, Old Wardour Castle, Fovant, Dinton Park, Wilton. We also popped into [...]
Archive for July, 2008
Wiltshire Road Trip
Posted in Uncategorized on July 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Dear Museums
Posted in Uncategorized on July 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Dear Museums,
We love you. You make us very happy, expand our minds, reveal lives and lifestyles we never knew existed.
So why don’t you let us spread the love? We know why we can’t take photos, we know why video is frowned upon but why not take a few picis for us and shoot some short videos [...]
Abbey House Gardens in Malmesbury, Wiltshire
Posted in Uncategorized on July 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
In 2002, I took my baby daughter to Malmesbury Abbey. A great place in a beautiful north Wiltshire town. Yesterday, six years on, we returned. Still a great place, still a beautiful town. What was different were the ‘Abbey House Gardens’.
I’ve never visited a city, town or village where I’ve thought ‘Christ, I’d like to live [...]
This other Eden (6): Meldon Hill
Posted in Uncategorized on July 9, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The medieval stannary town (a place where tin was traded) of Chagford lies in the north east of Dartmoor National Park. A path from town climbs Meldon Hill.
Meldon Hill offers panoramic views of this part of the Park. To the west are two mountains, Yes Tor and Willhays. The very popular Haytor is silhouetted to the south [...]
Details: Swanborough Tump
Posted in Uncategorized on July 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
A ‘tump’ is a mound. The word derives from the Latin word ‘tumulus’. Swanborough is an area in the Pewsey Vale in Wiltshire, South West England. Swanborough Tump is, therefore, a mound in this area. The mound refers to a possible prehistoric barrow or perhaps more likely a Roman or Saxon burial mound.
Today, there is a [...]
UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the UK
Posted in Uncategorized on July 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
UNESCO World Heritage Sites. There are 24 of them in the UK and some, if not all, should be on every UK traveller’s list of ‘attractions-to-see-before-I-die’. Here they are, by country:
England:
Blenheim Palace (1987)
Canterbury Cathedral – St. Augustine’s Abbey – St. Martin’s Church (1988 )
City of Bath (1987)
Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape (2006)
Derwent Valley Mills (2001)
Durham [...]
This other Eden (5): Marlborough Downs
Posted in Uncategorized on July 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Marlborough is an affluent market town in the middle of Wiltshire. There’s a wide high street, shops and shoppers you might find in London and an elite UK boarding school. The Noble Laureate William Golding (‘Lord of the Flies’) lived here and Cardinal Wolsey (Henry VIII and The Dissolution of the Monasteries) was ordained priest in [...]
This other Eden (4): Isle of Rum
Posted in Uncategorized on July 2, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Off the western coast of Scotland there are hundreds of islands. Big ones such as Skye and little ones such as its neighbour Rum. You can hop on a ferry, boat or speed boat to Rum and take a guided tour around its main attraction, Kinloch Castle. There’s an organ under the stairs, a Victorian power shower and a very [...]
