May/June 2020

Britain

The official magazine of Visit Britain

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Britain
Editor Natasha Foges Art Editor Clare White Production Editor Jenny Rowe Sales Director Cameron Hay Group Advertising Manager Natasha Syed Senior Sales Executive Sam Evanson Sales Executive George Roberts Chairman Paul Dobson Chief Operating Officer
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Editor's Letter
75 years ago this May, the Second World War in Europe ended, to widespread jubilation. In our VE Day special issue, we mark this milestone with two dedicated features, Secrets of Bletchley Park (p55), telling the intriguing tale of British wartime co
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Your Letters
Well, you’ve done it again. In 2017 you published an enticing article on southern Wales that caused us to change our UK travel plans to include a week visiting sites you wrote about. We explored St David’s Cathedral, Pentre Ifan, St Govan’s Chapel, T
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The BULLETIN
Carlos Acosta, considered one of the world’s greatest male ballet dancers, is the newly appointed Director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet. His tantalising autumn triple bill of ballet performances has just been announced and will fall across two venu
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Star Letter
I so enjoyed the article on Bury St Edmunds [Vol 88 Issue 1]. Brought back memories when I was stationed for 3 years at RAF Mildenhall with the United States Air Force, remembering when I participated in the 1959 Pageant of the Magna Carta. American
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Reading Corner
Charles II and his Escape into Exile by Martyn R Beardsley (Pen & Sword Books Ltd, £19.99). Read of the invaluable help provided by the Penderel brothers, who sheltered the king. Backing Bletchley: The Codebreaking Outstations, From Eastcote To GCH
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1066 Country
There’s a potent sense of the past in 1066 Country, an idyllic swathe of the Sussex countryside in England’s far southeastern corner. It was here on Senlac Ridge one autumn day in 1066 that William of Normandy’s invading army put King Harold’s footso
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The Planner
Trains run from London Charing Cross to Hastings, via Battle (1hr 30min). For Rye and Winchelsea (1hr 10min), take the train from London St Pancras, changing at Ashford. www.thetrainline.com A cosy, low-beamed B&B in the heart of Hastings’ Old Town,
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A TALE of ONE CITY
“What inexhaustible food for speculation do the streets of London afford!” wrote Charles Dickens in one of his sketches. The metropolis was his inspiration, his “magic lantern”, a brooding, breathing, pervasive presence in his novels. How astonished
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CHURCHILL at HOME
On 8 May 1945, Prime Minister Winston Churchill addressed the millions of people excitedly gathering in streets, pubs and town squares all over the country. After six years of bitter conflict, the Second World War in Europe was over. “My dear friends
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Book Ahead
Blenheim Palace is usually open daily, but check the website for current times. With its house, gardens and maze, Blenheim is a full day out. A good place to stay nearby is Minster Mill, a luxuriously appointed Cotswolds hotel with an excellent resta
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Field Day
It was a dazzling, 18-day spectacle of jousts, masquerades and feasting amid a sea of specially built tents, banqueting houses and ‘portable palaces’. For King Henry VIII, François I of France and their courtiers it was also the party of a lifetime.
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Secrets of Bletchley Park
For decades, Pat Davies kept her wartime secrets to herself, not sharing her experiences even with her own family. In the Second World War, she was assigned to one of the war’s most important operations: the ambitious attempt by Bletchley Park, centr
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Book Ahead
You can follow in the footsteps of the real Alice in Oxford by re-creating the boat-trip up the Thames to Godstow where Wonderland was born, or by visiting Christ Church College. Oxford City Museum also has some of Alice’s belongings on display. www.
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The Planner
There are direct rail services from London Euston to Bletchley (40min). Bletchley Park is a few minutes’ walk from the station. www.thetrainline.com Bletchley Park is usually open daily, but check the website for the latest information. www.bletchley
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The Lady With The Lamp
Florence Nightingale loathed the “buzz fuzz” of celebrity that surrounded her name, dismissive of “all that ministering angel nonsense” that glamourised nursing. So what would she have made of the country- and world-wide celebrations of the bicentena
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The Planner
London North Eastern Railway’s new fast train, Azuma, travels direct from London King’s Cross to Harrogate in 2 hours 50 minutes. The town centre is compact and easy to navigate on foot. Get your bearings on a historical walking tour with Harry at Fr
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Did You Know?
• Paintings and statues of the ‘Lady with the Lamp’ invariably show Florence with the wrong type of lamp – at Scutari she would have used a folding Turkish lantern (not a Grecian oil lamp). • Florence was the first woman elected to the Royal Statisti
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Harrogate
“Harrogate is the queerest place with the strangest people in it, leading the oddest lives of dancing, newspaper reading and dining,” said Charles Dickens in 1858. More than 150 years later, Yorkshire’s Harrogate retains this carefree countenance, se
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The real ALICE
Were it not for Alice Pleasance Liddell, we might never have known of the madcap world of Wonderland, where White Rabbits wear waistcoats, Mad Hatters host tea parties and playing-card-Queens play croquet. Lewis Carroll’s dreamland has fired the imag
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The Planner
There is no station at St Davids but trains run to Haverfordwest from Swansea, which is 2hr 45min from London Paddington. Parking can sometimes be tricky in smaller places so make use of the Pembrokeshire Coastal Bus network, which operates a handy s
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Hidden Wales
Calling all curious travellers: if you’re on the lookout for an alternative sun, sea and sand destination in the British Isles, the wild west coast of Wales may be just the thing. Turn away from the popular southwest and south coast, make for Pembrok
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Top 10 Manchester
Manchester marches to its own beat. Be that guitars strumming, football crowds chanting or, yes, sometimes, rain pelting, this is a city that takes pride in doing things its own way. As the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, not to mention the
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The Planner
Direct trains from London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly take just over two hours. www.thetrainline.com The Lowry Hotel offers five-star luxury but the King Street Townhouse with its infinity pool overlooking the Town Hall is the top choice for a sp
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Edinburgh’s Thistle Chapel
The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle is Scotland’s highest knightly order, in Britain second only to the Order of the Garter. Some suggest it was begun by James III (1488-1513) who adopted the thistle as a royal badge, but it is more

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