When we think of rural England, we are thinking of the Cotswolds; when we think of the Cotswolds, we are thinking of Blockley. The Cotswolds is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (ANOB) located about a two-hour drive west of London. It’s a walker’s paradise, renowned for its honey-coloured stone villages tucked into dells between …
The need to travel is like nostalgia in reverse: it is the longing for strange lands or unfamiliar places. So it is ironic that I often feel nostalgic when travelling. As I walk through the English countryside and quaint English villages, I am overcome with acute nostalgia for ‘home’ and the feeling of belonging associated …
One of the most interesting aspects of this trip has been our visits to the places where our ancestors lived. These visits have brought our people to life and put their stories into an historical context. I traced Julian’s branch of his father’s family back to his 4th great-grandfather, Henry, who was born in Grinton, …
I always think you can tell a lot about a place from its signs. In the south of England, we were warned to keep to the path and stay in control of our dogs. In North Yorkshire both the tone and the message are gentler. And who can resist a village that allows sheep to …
No, the Jurassic Coast is not a theme park in which hundreds of dinosaurs come to life and terrorize Jeff Goldblum. It’s a 95-mile stretch of English Channel coastline, located in Dorset and East Devon. It’s a World Heritage Site because coastal erosion has exposed millions of fossils from three geological periods, including the Jurassic …
Two of my favourite writers are Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy. I traded Julian a visit to their houses for a trip to the Historic Dockyards in Portsmouth. Two days, 3 ships, 2 museums and a boat-shed later, I think Julian got the better part of the deal. Austen’s house is located in Chawton, Hampshire. …
In south-west England, large swaths of chalkstone lie under the soil. For millenia, people have cut out large figures by digging trenches to reveal the underlying chalk. The chalk contrasts with the surrounding grass, which makes the figures stand out. Because they’re cut into the hillsides, these figures are difficult to see from the ground, …
Fawlty Towers was born of a bad hotel experience. The Pythons booked into a hotel in Cornwall owned by a man who was “the most wonderfully rude man” that John Cleese had ever met. After filming, the other Pythons moved on. Seeing the comic potential, Cleese and his wife at the time, Connie Booth, stayed, …
Elaine was right — there are adders in England! Although the grumpy farmers may pose more of a threat to users of public footpaths:
Tonight is the summer solstice. Other years I might not have noticed, but this year we visited Avebury, a World Heritage Site that rivals Stonehenge for its standing stones. What makes Avebury unique is that the standing stones are in a village. For generations, farmers found them inconvenient. They dug them up and broke them …
The first part of this trip has taken us to a few of the places that my ancestors lived. I mentioned in an earlier post that two of my great-grandparents were born in Norfolk, one on each side of my family. Both were born at a time when rural labourers worked on large farms that …
We first came to Norfolk a couple of years ago because 2 of my 8 great-grandparents were born here. 25 % of my genes! Julian also remembered his father speaking fondly of sailing in an area of Norfolk called the Broads. The Broads is an area of shallow lakes and rivers. People used to believe …
We spent our first week in England in the county of Norfolk, which is on the south-east coast, bordering the North Sea. Norfolk is a predominantly rural county, and our reason for coming here was to walk. At first, the weather wasn’t auspicious for walking. When we stopped for lunch in the town of Ely …