Discover Britain 2016-02-03

Inside the city’s historic colleges
Jane Austen on location Dancing in Bath, romancing at Pemberley
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Northern soul Yorkshire’s majestic moors and stunning stately homes
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adaptations and those that inspired her work
PORTOBELLO GOLD
Pendle Harte steps out on the
colourful street made famous by the film Notting Hill and its
world-famous market
Contents
Page 8 The 18th century landscape garden at Stourhead, Wiltshire, featured in Pride and Prejudice in 2005
18 46 COMPETITION
in top luxury hotels and
other exciting treats
Holmes Museum
KINGDOM
Dover Castle is the entry point
to Britain. Nigel Jones finds out how held it repelled invaders
THE INSIDER
over the British Isles and reveals some hidden gems
and undiscovered treasures
We meet the palace’s senior
curator to discover its delights
DREAMING SPIRES
Alexander Larman tours the pick of the city’s colleges
Page 30 Queen Victoria’s palace
Page 18 Win a life-changing trip
IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE THAT Colin
Firth, as Mr Darcy, emerged fully
clothed from Pemberley’s lake in the
1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and
Prejudice over 20 years ago. The
iconic moment, indelibly imprinted
imagination, calls to mind not only
the sight of Firth in rather damp
white shirt and breeches, but the
glorious stately home Lyme Park,
with its Italianate architecture and
sweeping grounds, which stands
of inspiration for perhaps Austen’s
best-loved stately home is the peerless
Chatsworth in the Peak District, seat
of the Dukes of Devonshire since
1549. Join us on a picturesque tour of these and other sublime Jane
Austen settings – both real and as
imagined by film directors (p.8).
This issue is packed with iconic
British buildings – St Paul’s
Cathedral, the Houses of Parliament
and Banqueting House among them
– which have witnessed landmark
Nelson’s funeral. Oxford University
alumnus Alexander Larman also
revisits the city’s colleges (p.54), while
Nancy Alsop goes behind the scenes
at Kensington Palace (p.30), home of
Queen Victoria, Princess Diana and
the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Those pining for wilder views
can feast their eyes on the majestic
Yorkshire moors (p.76), or the
whisky-making regions of Scotland
to enter our competition for a
once-in-a-lifetime trip to Britain...
NICOLA RAYNER Acting Editor
Yorkshire: Mike Kipling Photography/Alamy
Contents
Discover Britain is published by The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd, Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place,
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66 ARCHITECTS WHO
dominates Britain’s landscapes
wonders. Nancy Alsop explores
tour of Scotland to sample its
most famous export – whisky
Page 86 The stunning Cairngorms National Park in Scotland
Page 66 St Paul’s Cathedral is Sir Christopher Wren’s masterpiece
76
08
20
86
THE
LTD T R A V E L P I C T U R E S L T D
A L A M Y / P I C T O R I A L P R E S S L T D
A L E X
S E G R E S T E V E V I D L E R M A R P H O T O G R A P H I C S
The fnest 4 star hotel & spa in the Peak District
Lose Hill Lane, Hope,
Award winning restaurant
Terrace hot tub
Exclusive wedding packages
Travel notes Nicola Rayner tours the country to bring you
the last word in luxury travel
PAPER TRAIL “I cannot sleep unless I am surrounded
by books,” said Jorge Luis Borges, who
would have been very happy at the
Beaumont in Mayfair, where co-owner
Jeremy King personally selects all
the books for the hotel’s bedrooms.
Celebrating the hotel’s first anniversary
– traditionally “paper” – owners King
iconic Mayfair bookshop Heywood
deal that combines an overnight stay
with a visit to Nancy Mitford’s favourite
bookshop for a consultation with a
dedicated bookseller. Over the course
of the following year, guests will
then receive 12 carefully picked and
beautifully gift-wrapped new books.
hardback option with prices from £555.
www.thebeaumont.com
THE GOOD LIFE In the village of Timsbury, just outside
Bath, budding chefs can combine a
trip to a beautiful part of Britain with
improving their foraging and cookery
skills. Founded in 2013 by Bod and
Annie Griffiths, who escaped London
life to return to their rural roots, Vale
House Kitchen is set in a local stone
outbuilding adjacent to the family’s
home and offers a wide range of “field to fork” courses – the most intensive of
which is the two-day Complete Game
Experience – with some of the best
chefs and foragers in the West Country.
www.valehousekitchen.co.uk
NANNY KNOWS BEST An Arts and Crafts gem in the heart of the Lake District
has been nominated for a prestigious national award. Luxury
Ambleside venue Nanny Brow opened its doors in 2011
following the restoration of its exquisite original features.
Now offering 14 bespoke suites, the hotel is very proud of its
23-year-old manager, Emma Robinson, who started there as a
chambermaid and recently made the shortlist in the category
of Front of House Manager of the Year in the Boutique
Hotelier Personal Service Star Awards 2015.
www.nannybrow.co.uk
W A L T E R D I R K S ; D A N I E L W I L D E Y
Mansions
& manners Jane Austen’s sublime settings are as famous as the heroes and heroines of her novels. Nancy Alsop tours the estates
used as screen locations, and those that inspired Miss Austen
I t has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly
know when it began. But I believe I must date it from
my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley.”
Elizabeth Bennet’s words to her sister Jane following
the news of her engagement to Mr Darcy, the man she
loathed until the volte-face finale to Pride and Prejudice,
illuminate two things. First, that it’s not just “a truth
universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession
of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife” but, more to
the point, that one in possession of a beautiful home must
surely be seeking a mistress for it. Second, it shows how
important place was to Miss Austen, who once noted:
“There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.”
As long as it is of a suitably grand order, naturally.
As well as the central love stories and the minutely
observed vagaries of human nature, the reason Austen’s
novels have translated so well to the big and small screens
is the novelist’s preoccupation with beautiful setting. The
most recent of the stately homes to, belatedly, figure in
the Austen canon is Castle Ashby in Northamptonshire.
Historian Dr Robert Clark last year proposed a theory
that the home of relatives of Spencer Perceval, the only-
ever assassinated British Prime Minister, also acted as the
inspiration for Mansfield Park – which happens to be set
in Northamptonshire. His claim that Austen’s heroine,
Fanny Price, came of age amidst this particular stately
splendour is based on clues gleaned from a series of
letters between the author and her sister Cassandra.
In 1813, the latter received a missive from Jane, at the
time busy penning Mansfield Park, enquiring as to the
nature of Northamptonshire, a county it’s clear she didn’t
know. Dr Clarke’s suggestion is that the novelist was
angling for Cassandra to gather descriptive information
from her friend Elizabeth Chute, whose sister, the
Marchioness of Northampton, lived at Castle Ashby.
He believes the key to Austen’s inspiration was the
Marquess and Marchioness’ political connections;
the Marquess was cousin to Spencer Perceval, who
supported the abolition of slavery, and who Dr Clarke
believes would have appealed to Austen as a hero

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Jane Austen
(indeed, it is telling of the times that, in Mansfield Park,
Sir Thomas Bertram leaves for his plantation in Antigua). Whether the theory has credence or not, visitors can
nonetheless visit the Northamptonshire pile, originally
built in the shape of an E to commemorate the coronation
of Queen Elizabeth I, to parade the grounds. While there,
note the 1624 Inigo Jones façade, the 1761 Capability
Brown gardens and take a turn about the Orangery,
where you can clap eyes on an impressive profusion of
waterlilies, before taking tea at its exemplary
walled-garden tea room.
www.castleashbygardens.co.uk
N A T I O N A L T R U S T I M A G E S / D E N N I S G I L B E R T ; A R N H E L D E S E R R A ; A N D R E A S V O N E I N S I E D E L ;
But the country abounds with places connected to
Austen – whether those she knew, or those latterly imagined for the screen as the places in which she set her
novels. And as every Austen fan knows, the settings are as
readily recognisable as the lovelorn heroes and heroines
themselves. Here are some of our favourites to visit.
Basildon Park and Lacock Village
Basildon Park, an 18th century Palladian home, features
in a pivotal role in the 2005 big-screen adaptation of Pride
and Prejudice, starring Keira Knightley. Although Austen
set much of her book in Hertfordshire, Basildon is slightly
west of that mark in the almost-neighbouring Berkshire.
Doubling up as Netherfield, the new country residence
of Mr Bingley, it is here that our story starts; the
Bennet girls – with varying degrees of enthusiasm and
embarrassment – are forced by their mother to take full
advantage of the arrival of this handsome and, more
to the point, monied new addition to the village.
It is here that Jane Bennet duly takes Bingley’s fancy
while Elizabeth Bennet riles – and is riled by – the even
wealthier and more handsome Mr Darcy. Visitors today
may not hope for such luck as to pique the interest of
such an eligible bachelor of £5,000 a year. But they may
instead explore one of the last Palladian mansions of the
Above: Lacock,
and Prejudice
Below:Castle Ashby
reputedly inspired
Mansfield Park
2016
M o n t O r g u e i l C a s t l e ,
G o r e y H a r b o u r – J e r s e y
Peel back the layers of the Channel Islands’ past duringthe Heritage Festival – a celebration of a group of small
Islands with a big history, this year honouring our timeless
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wrecks, famous seafarers to privateering, shipbuilding to
great shipwrecks; explore museums and lighthouses, take
guided walking, cycling and bus tours and much more.
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inspiration for Pemberley in
Lyme Park, which stood
BBC’s 1995 production
fashion was on the cusp of giving way to neoclassicism).
In disrepair by the 20th century, for some years of
which it was used as army barracks, the 1950s saw it
snapped up by Lord and Lady Iliffe, who restored it to its
former glories – before gifting it to the National Trust and
thus posterity. Since then, it has not only welcomed film
crews recreating Austen’s England, but Basildon has also
starred as Grantham House in Downton Abbey.
Meanwhile, when not found staking out resident
wealthy bachelors, the Bennet girls could be seen in their
neighbouring hamlet of Meryton, which – in the 1995
BBC television adaptation – is imagined as the perfectly
preserved Wiltshire village of Lacock. The 13th century parish provided the ideal backdrop for the town where
the silliest of the Bennet girls shopped for bonnets and
attempted to attract the attentions of stationed officers –
to disastrous effect for one particular sister.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/basildon-park
Chatsworth House and Lyme Park
Yet more Pride and Prejudice, but then it’s hard to ignore
the most beloved of all the Austen novels – and, indeed,
that best loved of all Austen’s stately homes: Pemberley.
Elizabeth Bennet, the story’s headstrong heroine, falls in
love with Mr Darcy’s ancestral home even before she falls
for the oscillating charms of the master of the house.
Austen writes of it: “It was a large, handsome, stone
building standing well on rising ground, and backed by
a ridge of high woody hills; and in front, a stream of some
natural importance was swelled into greater, but without
any artificial appearance.”
The real inspiration for the object of Miss Bennet’s
affections? Allegedly, the seat of the Duke of Devonshire,
Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, the same county in
which Austen sets the fictional Pemberley. It is fitting
then that it should have been used once more in the 2005
silver-screen adaptation of the book. Visitors will no
Chinese Room at Claydon House,
Buckinghamshire, featured in
of Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen
doubt recognise its grand staircase and Painted Hall, which Lizzie tours
with her aunt and uncle. Indeed,
Chatsworth has hung on to the bust
of Mr Darcy, played by Matthew
Macfadyen, as a souvenir of the film.
If, like Lizzie Bennet, you are
disinclined to leave, you can stay on
the Chatsworth estate in a holiday
cottage. It may not have been grand
enough for Darcy, but it will do for us.
Or, devotees of the BBC version
may prefer to visit Cheshire’s Lyme
Park, an Italianate palace that has
also been home to Mr Darcy, so
memorably played by Colin Firth.
Visitors to the Peak District
mansion – with 1,400 acres and
a deer park – should see the Long
Gallery and Edwardian interiors,
before exploring the herbaceous
where he takes that impromptu dip.
For the real Austen devotee, next
it’s time to head down south to the
Stourhead landscape garden in
Wiltshire, where the 2005 production
used its Temple of Apollo for Mr Darcy’s first failure of a proposal
to Lizzie Bennet.
and replete with classical temples and
resplendent lake, Stourhead opened
see the spectacular Regency library.
www.chatsworth.org
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/lyme-park
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/stourhead
Claydon House, a glorious example of the 18th century
stately home, featured in the 1996 film adaptation of
Emma, starring Gwyneth Paltrow. The consummate
matchmaker attends a ball at the fictional Donwell House,
and it is here that our heroine realises that Mr Knightley
is more to her than simply a brother figure.
One of the older of the stately homes featured here,
Claydon in Buckinghamshire was built in 1620 for
the Verney family. It still remains under this family’s
ownership, while being open to the public. (Sir Edmund
Top:Looking
regular guest
Bottom: Bath
Assembly Rooms
N A T I O N A L T R U S T I M A G E S / J O H N H A M M O N D ; H P P A A R C H I V E
Verney was standard bearer to King Charles I and his ghost is said to have
roamed the house since his demise at
the Battle of Edgehill in 1642).
Today, the slightly austere exterior
is the only part of the building still
standing. It would once have made
up the west wing of the larger house,
while the interior is, by contrast,
all rococo opulence – hence the
suitability for its role as Emma’s
lavish ballroom. Don’t miss the
bedroom of Florence Nightingale,
Parthenope, Lady Verney.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/claydon
Bath and Saltram House To cast your eyes over the hand that
penned these much-loved tomes,
where Jane Austen’s letters to the
mistress of the house, Frances the
first Countess, reside. Home for
300 years to the Parker family,
it is magnificent place to visit. But for the ultimate Jane Austen
pilgrimage, the city of Bath, in
Somerset, where she set both
Persuasion and Northanger Abbey,
writes: “They arrived in Bath.
Catherine was all eager delight; her
eyes were here, there, everywhere, as
they approached its fine and striking
environs...” So happy did it make
Austen that she adopted the city as
her home from 1801 to 1806. There
are Austen walking tours, and a visit
to the Assembly Rooms – scene of
balls attended by both the writer and
her heroines – is obligatory. (Indeed, so important were
terpischorean skills to the writer that Hidden Britain Tours
offers a special Dancing Years package through Austen’s
Hampshire too). Yet the starting point must surely be Bath’s
Jane Austen Centre, for full immersion into the world of
one of the greatest writers Britain has ever produced. n
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/saltram
www.janeausten.co.uk
www.hiddenbritaintours.co.uk
“real-life” Jane Austen locations, go to
she will invite you and your partner
to spend a night* as her guests at
Scotland Farm, the luxury B&B
as featured in ‘Britain’s Finest’**
So why not do something totally different and make a
memorable short break out of your next duvet purchase?
Call for more details and to place your order.
01730 827 148
southdownduvets.com
* Bookings subject to availability into 2016. Bedding must be purchased before 31st March 2016 to qualify for B&B offer.
** Offer valued at £120
the Southdown sheep who provide
the wool for this glorious bedding, soak up the natural beauty of the
South Downs National Park and enjoy
the best breakfast in Hampshire.
Win a luxury, all-expenses-paid holiday to Britain, including free
flights if you live outside the UK, courtesy of Discover Britain
O ur five-star, one-week
the trip of a lifetime as
our winners visit many of Britain’s
most iconic landmarks and receive
celebrity-style red-carpet treatment
along the way.
prize includes the cost of your travel
to London – whether you live 10 or
10,000 miles away from Britain’s
attraction-packed capital city.
companion will be whisked to the
heart of town to spend two nights in
a Junior Suite at the fabulous Savoy,
where previous guests have included
King Edward VII, Cary Grant and
Elizabeth Taylor.
time is your own to do as you please
– we’re sure you’ll want to see the
sights and visit Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and the Tower of London.
And we’ll also treat you to
afternoon tea at the exclusive Mews
of Mayfair, just off Bond Street,
London’s premier shopping parade,
as well as an evening out at a theatre
show of your choice in the capital’s
glamorous West End.
London, it’s time for a trip to the
country to visit the Treasure Houses
of England, where you can admire
some of Britain’s most historic stately
homes such as Blenheim Palace,
birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill,
and moated Leeds Castle, and enjoy a
two-night stay as the special guest of
Classic British Hotels.
tour in a luxury car, complete with
a personal driver-guide, courtesy of
British Heritage Chauffeur Tours.
Choose between a Downton
enjoy a further two nights in the
countryside in their very own home-
from-home, staying in a romantic
hideaway of their choice courtesy
of Sykes Cottages.
in London at the private members’
Sloane Club, which includes a
spa, roof terrace, and an exclusive dining room, where Executive Chef
Bernhard Mayer (previously of
Along the way we’ll throw in a
few surprises, introduce you to some
celebrities to make your holiday even
more memorable, and accommodate
This once-in-a-lifetime holiday may
1 October 2016 and 31 August 2017.
WIN a Great British holiday
Entering through the revolving doors of The
Savoy is like stepping back into an era of 1920s
sophistication and high glamour. Liveried
footmen will greet you on arrival before escorting
you to one of the hotel’s elegant Junior Suites.
Breakfast is included.
two people to one visit each to the 10 Treasure
Houses of England, our nation’s most resplendent
historic homes, which include some of the most
important art collections in the world, as well as
fine furniture, porcelain and china.
www.treasurehouses.co.uk
Our winner and his or her guest will enjoy a
luxury two-night boutique break with Classic
British Hotels, the official hotel partner of the
Treasure Houses of England, including a three-
course dinner each night and a full breakfast on
both mornings.
Free travel 2 nights at The Savoy West End tickets Afternoon tea Free entry to stately homes 2 nights at a boutique hotel A chauffeur-driven tour 2 nights in a romantic cottage 1 night at The Sloane Clu
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My answer:
from a gateway airport, plus rail connections
Clockwise, from top left: Lindeth
Howe Country House Hotel, part
of the Classic British Hotels group;
The Savoy; afternoon tea at Mews
of Mayfair; our winner will be
chauffeured around for the day;
moated Leeds Castle; a romantic
bolthole with Sykes Cottages
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Question: Whose official London residence
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c) The Duke of Cambridge
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KEY TO THE KINGDOM
Dover Castle is the white cliffs’ crowning glory. As the entry point to Britain, it has held its own
against French invaders; in civil wars; and is where Dunkirk was masterminded, writes Nigel Jones
Paris called it “Clavis Angliae” (“England’s
key”). And anyone approaching Dover Castle
from land or sea can see why. Crowning the chalk-white cliffs of Dover, the massive fortress – one
of Britain’s biggest castles – dominates the gateway to
the country, just as it has always done since William the
Conqueror began building fortifications here in 1066.
Apart from the Tower of London, arguably no fortress
has played a more central role in Britain’s island story
than Dover: from the Norman conquest to the Second
World War and beyond to the Cold War, when the castle’s
warren of subterranean tunnels were chosen as a seat of
regional government in the event of a nuclear attack –
until, that is, the penny dropped that chalk might, in fact,
be permeable to radiation.
builders. Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of Iron
and Bronze Age hill forts; a Roman lighthouse – called
a Pharos – still survives within the castle’s precincts.
Indeed, before the conquering Normans came this way
in 1066, the Saxons built a castle here from local clay.
But it was King Henry II who really set Dover in
stone in the 1180s when he ordered a master builder
known as Maurice the Engineer to turn Dover into an
unimpregnable stronghold. It was Maurice who raised
the huge rectangular stone keep at the castle’s centre, and
many of the stout girding curtain walls which encircle it.
Maurice’s work was soon put to the test of war when
the castle was besieged in 1216. It passed with flying
colours. The attackers were an army led by Prince Louis, son of the French king, who had been invited to invade
England by the rebellious barons who, the previous
year, had forced “bad” King John to grant Magna Carta.
Having occupied the whole of south-east England apart
from Windsor and Dover castles, Louis settled down to
besiege the Kent fortress in mid-July.
His men bombarded the castle walls with siege engines
called mangonels, but they made little impression on
Maurice’s stout handiwork. The French duly dug into the
soft chalk to undermine the castle from below; in answer,
the undaunted defenders started their own counter-tunnel
(which can still be seen).
The French finally succeeded in toppling one of the
twin towers guarding the castle’s northern entrance, and
poured through the gap torn in the walls. But John’s loyal
garrison, led by the castle constable, Hubert de Burgh,
were waiting, having plugged the breach with wooden
beams cannibalised from the castle’s interior. After a hard
fight, they threw the besiegers back. In October, John
mercifully died and the siege was lifted. Hubert repaired
the damage and built new gateways on the castle’s
eastern and western sides.
Civil war came to the castle once more in 1642, when
the country divided between Royalist Cavaliers and
Parliamentary Roundheads. Dover town supported
Dover Castle, traditionally the gateway to
Britain; the ancient stone stairway in the
Great Tower at Dover Castle
Clockwise, from left: An aerial view of
Dover Castle, which took shape in the
1180s on the orders of King Henry II and
was designed by Maurice the Engineer;
bedchamber at
Dover Castle
E N G L I S H H E R I T A G E / N I G E L W A L L A C E I L E S ; J I M H O L D E N ; A L
A M Y / D E N N Y R O W L A N D ; S T E V E V I D L E R ; I S T O C K
Parliament, while its governor, MP Sir Edward Boys,
held the castle for the king. On 21 August 1642, a daring
Dover Roundhead, Richard Dawkes, surprised the sleepy
garrison in the night when he led a raiding party up the white cliffs and into the castle via the Avranches Tower.
An enraged Sir Edward laid siege to his own castle, but
Dawkes summoned reinforcements from elsewhere in
Kent and the castle remained in Parliamentary hands
throughout the civil war.
But Dover Castle’s finest hour was yet to come. In 1803,
when Napoleon threatened a cross-Channel invasion,
the castle was put into the hands of a military engineer,
William Twiss, who transformed its defences. Twiss made
the castle into a giant gun platform, building a huge
horseshoe-shaped rampart and brick bastions to carry
the guns. When he ran out of space, he dug into the cliffs
beneath, creating miles of tunnels and underground barracks housing 2,000 soldiers.
The labyrinth was abandoned after Waterloo in 1815,
but brought back into use during World War II. It was
from this subterranean vantage point that, in 1940,
Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay masterminded the miracle
of Dunkirk – Operation Dynamo, the rescue of the British
army from the beaches of Dunkirk under the noses of the
Nazis. Later, the tunnels were extended and remained the
nerve centre of Britain’s frontline defences throughout the
war, housing a telephone exchange, a military hospital, an
air-sea rescue service for plucking downed pilots from the
Channel, as well as dining rooms and dormitories.
The tunnel complex was opened to the public after
English Heritage took over Dover from the military, and
spent nearly £3 million on it. The labyrinth is still being
investigated and its secrets revealed, and more tunnels
may yet be unveiled. With its stirring history, well-
preserved architecture, and those tunnels testifying to
its proud patriotic past, Dover Castle truly is the key to
England. It is no wonder that some 350,000 people visit
it every year to experience its treasures for themselves. n
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The Bella Luce
Relax, Unwind, Experience
William Morris revolutionised art and design in the Victorian
era and did more work than most would in 10 lifetimes, says
Rose Bateman
I do not want art for a few any more than
education for a few, or freedom for a
few.” As a man with a keen appreciation
for the power of words – known during
his lifetime as a poet as well as an artist –
William Morris certainly lived by his. Born in
1834 to a middle-class family in east London,
he is considered the greatest designer of the
Arts and Crafts Movement.
craftsmanship and had a disdain for ornate,
machine-produced pieces (“altogether an
Revolution, insisting that the true designer-
maker should be considered an artist. As
such, Morris helped to make art available for
all through its application to everyday items.
He told his disciples: “Have nothing
in your house that you do not know to
be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” A
polymath, Morris’s range spanned poetry,
art, philosophy, typography and political
theory and, while at Oxford, he fostered a
dream with the artist Edward Burne-Jones of
an ideal and fair society – and of living amid a simpatico artistic community.
Red House
a group which called itself the Pre-Raphaelite
Brotherhood. Along with architect Philip
Webb, in 1860 he designed a medieval style
red-brick house for himself and his wife,
Pre-Raphaelite model Jane Burden.
Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and
Charles Faulkner converged on the property.
They collectively decorated stained-glass
furniture and embroideries, the latter finding
its apotheosis in 12 large hangings, designed
by Morris and made by Jane, that depicted
Illustrious Women from Chaucer.
formalised into a decorative business and
its radical founder members, Burne-Jones,
Ford Madox Brown and Dante Gabriel
Rossetti, would revolutionise art and design
in the Victorian age. The studio, known as M A R Y E V A N S P I C T U R E L I B R A R Y 2 0 1 5
Left: William Morris-designed
apple tree embroidery
Morris, Arts and Crafts
along the way, which led to a commission
to decorate the dining room at the South
Kensington Museum (later the V&A).
It was not until 1862 that Morris focused
on wallpaper design. Using hand-cut wood
blocks, he created Daisy, Fruit and Trellis,
capturing English hedgerows and gardens –
and the public imagination. In 1880, Morris
& Co was commissioned to decorate the
entrance and banqueting rooms of St James’s
Palace, and later, in 1887, Queen Victoria
knew just who to call on when she wanted
new wallpaper for Balmoral Castle.
Kelmscott Manor
however, did little to stem the pain at his
wife’s affair with Rossetti (who co-leased the
house), or the frustration he felt with fellow
members of The Firm. In 1875, he dissolved
it, instead setting up Morris & Co, alongside
Burne-Jones and Webb; in 1877 they opened
a showroom on Oxford Street which brought the full Morris “look” – ceramics, lighting,
wallpaper and embroidery – under one roof.
It was a hit in the UK, while exports to the
US became a mainstay of the business.
By this time, Morris co-founded the then
radical Society for the Protection of Ancient
Buildings, which championed conservation;
the Socialist League in the 1880s; and he
launched his own publishing company, the
Kelmscott Press, in 1891, seen as the finest
collection in the private press movement.
It is no wonder that when he died in 1896,
his physician noted, “I consider the case is
this: the disease is simply being William
Morris and having done more work than
most 10 men.”
As for his legacy, we look to his own
words: “The past is not dead, it is living in us,
and will be alive in the future which we are
now helping to make.” It just so happens that
Morris did more to mould it than most. n
Transforming the Applied Arts since 1897
Unseen in London for over a hundred years, the white helleborine orchid, rediscovered by the London Natural History Society,
recently crept back into city life again in the gardens of Buckingham Palace. This wonderful, yet unexpected find prompted
Moorcroft’s Senior Designer, Rachel Bishop, to celebrate HM The Queen’s 90th birthday this April with these feminine blooms.
Rachel swept the white orchid, a favourite colour of the Queen’s, into her world of romantic linework and luxurious colour.
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A WALKING TOUR OF PORTOBELLO MARKET •
THE SHERLOCK HOLMES MUSEUM •
S H U T T E R S T O C K ; R H S ; V I S I T B R I T A I N ; I S T O C K ; H E M I S / A L A M Y ; H I S T O
R I C R O Y A L P A L A C E S
curator at Kensington Palace, to tour the
home of King George I, Queen Victoria,
Princess Diana and now the Duke and
Duchess of Cambridge
curator at Kensington Palace,
its state apartments are
that she is in possession of an excellent
imagination; it is also literally true.
In 1714, the advent of the Hanoverian King George I brought with it a makeover
for the palace, which had first been adopted
as a royal household by the co-regents King
William III and Queen Mary II, the former
of whom was looking for a country
replace John Vanbrugh, despite the king’s
resolve that Kensington Palace should rival
that celebrated architect’s achievements at
Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.
Staircase – the ceremonial entrance to the
palace – with wall paintings that depicted
actual characters from the king’s court. “You can see the yeoman of the guard and in this
archway you can spot two of George I’s
grooms of the king’s chamber – they were
Turkish, named Mehmet and Mustafa,” says
Murphy as we ascend the stately entrance,
residence and cleaner air to help with
his pronounced asthma.
hitherto a Sir Christopher Wren design
(albeit one executed in haste), George I
appointed the architect, interior designer,
landscape architect and all-round
Renaissance man, William Kent – the man credited with “designing Georgian Britain”
– to bring his revamped Palladian ideals
to this pocket of what was then considered
rural England. It was a bold move; Kent
was a relative unknown, drafted in to
Previous page, main image: The King’s Staircase,
the ceremonial entrance to the palace, was designed
by William Kent in 1723 Top left: A statue of Queen
Victoria, who spent her childhood at the palace
This page, clockwise from left: Detail from William
Kent’s painting on the King’s Staircase; the King’s
Gallery looks much as it did in 1727; the ceiling of the
Cupola Room where Queen Victoria was baptised

more eyebrow-raising curiosities.
a small boy known as ‘Wild Peter’. He was
a feral child found in the woods in Germany,
who had been brought to the king’s court
as a sort of human pet. We don’t know
anything more about him than that – we don’t know if he slept in royal splendour
or in the stables, though he wore a collar.
“It’s always tempting to apply 21st
century codes of morals, but you have to
try to remember how different a time it
was.” All of the upper echelons of Georgian
London society would have ascended these
stairs, situated atop the private quarters
of the resident royals, as we do today, to
be admitted for parties in its public state
rooms, which remain as sparsely filled with
furniture now as then to allow guests to
circulate unencumbered. As palatial entrances go, Kent’s painted
characters imbue what could have been
a grandly forbidding – if beautiful –
staircase with life, warmth and a sense of
the lives played out at this elegant royal
discoverbritainmag.com 33
Mary II, who died of smallpox aged 32 in
1694, to Queen Caroline’s humiliations
in the 18th century when her husband,
King George II, showed a particular
partiality to her own personal assistant.
On a tour of the state apartments, visitors can marvel at its many treasures:
from the William Kent designed silk
wall hangings, and the Vasari painting of
Venus and Cupid in the King’s Drawing
Room, to the King’s Gallery, where
guests were infrequently invited. It was
reserved for the monarch’s quiet solace and
contemplation amongst the ceiling frescoes
depicting scenes from The Odyssey.
The magnificent Cupola Room – as
everything in the state apartments – was
commissioned by King George I, whose
accession to the throne had been aptly
marked at Kensington Palace with fireworks
and the drinking of six strong barrels of beer.
Once again, it is the handiwork of the ever
capable Mr Kent who, as a relative unknown,
charged less than half the official royal
painter, Sir James Thornhill. It is also in the
Cupola Room that you can clap eyes on the
spot where Queen Victoria was baptised.
By that time, the palace had fallen
into disrepair and as such was deemed
appropriate only for lesser royals, such as
Victoria’s father, the Duke of Kent. He died
young, leaving his daughter to pass her
childhood at the palace in semi-isolation, but for the company of her controlling mother.
But her memories were not all unhappy
of this place; it was at Kensington Palace
that she became queen; and here where
she first saw her beloved Prince Albert.
It was only as queen that she moved into
Buckingham Palace.
in the 20th century that it was fully restored
to glamour. This is evidenced by Fashion
Rules, a long-running exhibition – set to be
restyled and relaunched in February – of the
official dress worn by three major royals: the
Queen, Princess Margaret, who lived in high
glamour at the palace, and, finally, Princess
Diana – by far its most famous former
incumbent. After all, as Deirdre Murphy well
knows, Kensington Palace’s archive of royal
dress is to be considered as much a historic
treasure as its architecture.
a completely different set of dresses and
whom she lived at Kensington Palace

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Explore Jane Austen’s early life with Hampshire Ambassador, Phil Howe. Discover the villages, churches, country houses and trace the people she describes in her letters.
Tours can include a visit to the Jane Austen House Museum, and the village of Chawton.
Enjoy lunch at a Hampshire
country inn. An ideal half- day or one-day tour.
Downton Abbey Tours when available.
45 mins by train from London Waterloo
For more inf ormation Phone: +44 (0)1256 814222 e-mail: [email protected] or visit www.hiddenbritaintours.co.uk
looks at ideas around diplomatic dressing.
So, for example, this dress was worn by
the Queen on a visit to Pakistan, and it is
green and white to reflect the colours of
the Pakistani flag.”
We move through to the exotic fancy dress
donned by film star-esque Princess Margaret through to the 1980s extreme silhouettes
favoured by Princess Diana, complete with
photographs of her, bouffant hairdo and all.
Hidden treasures
public display downstairs, it is upstairs, in
the collection show store, that some of the
unsung heroes are kept. They are altogether
quieter but no less compelling treasures.
“Kensington has had dresses on display
since it was opened to the public in 1899,”
explains Murphy as she lays out four
exquisite pieces for inspection. “The Royal
Ceremonial Dress Collection started life when we got a huge loan of court uniforms
to the palace, and the collection has grown
around that. So uniform is a huge strength
of the collection, but it also includes clothes
worn by members of the royal family.”
She gesticulates towards a Lanvin court
dress from 1926, a showstopper in sparkling
ivory and gold. “Court dress stopped
officially being worn in 1939. You’ll notice
that this dress and train are different
colours. That’s because court dresses were
essentially fashionable dresses with trains
attached to the shoulders.
“As a debutante, the regulations stated
that you had to wear court dress and actually that whole scene had a huge impact
on the building of the couture industry. So
many of the big couture houses like House
of Worth and Norman Hartnell would work
with girls every year – and their mothers.
“After all, you would only be presented
formally to the monarch once and there are
London
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and so much more
of huge courts from the 1920s and 1930s.
This 1926 dress shows just how important
that industry was because Lanvin, of course,
was a Paris-based firm. The fact that it
was making court dresses is significant as
it shows that there was obviously some
competition to be fashionable. But also that French couture houses were advertising.”
Many of the items do not represent literal
riches alone, but historic ones too, saturated
as they are with interesting narratives.
Take, for example, the buff-leather sleeved
waistcoat associated with King Charles I,
designed to be worn under his armour. Or
the pièce de résistance, a uniform worn by
Queen Victoria’s Lord-in-Waiting, whose
story is heartbreakingly poignant.
was required, when he got this ceremonial
post, to buy a royal household uniform.
You can tell it’s this, because it’s got red
cuffs and a red collar. “The uniforms were codified from
the early 19th century; the amount
and configuration of the gold and silver
showed who you were. So in the 19th
century, you would be able to walk into
a room and say, ‘I’m going to talk to
him, he’s definitely an influential person
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because he’s got 5.5 inches of gold across his
chest,’” Murphy explains. “He was Lord-in-
Waiting in 1885 and then he suddenly lost
his job in 1886.
was happening or what he should say to his
peers. The London Gazette announced that
someone else was put in that post, but that
Lord Boston had resigned.
find opportunities to wear the uniform.
Technically he wasn’t supposed to – he wrote
to the Prime Minister to say, ‘I know I am no
longer in this post, but would it be all right to
still wear the uniform?’
1940, so he lived through three coronations
– 1902, 1911 and 1937. In the family
photographs, there are pictures of him
wearing it underneath his coronation robes.
The lining was replaced, the trousers have an
insert where he got a little bit bigger, but he
wore it for 55 years. It may, of course, have
been that he just wanted his money’s worth!”
And who can blame him? He would,
perhaps, then be gratified to think on the afterlife his uniform has had – and indeed,
as Murphy says: “The stories that the pieces
tell are so important. Just looking at these
things, you think, ‘Wow, that’s a glamorous
relic of a world that no longer exists.’
“For example, uniforms were no longer
needed and valued after the war so you get
them being sold on Carnaby Street in the
1960s and rock stars like Jimi Hendrix and
Eric Clapton in them. There’s a fantastic
photograph by Annie Leibovitz of Michael
Jackson wearing a real court uniform.”
Kensington Palace makes regular new
acquisitions, which come out on show on a
rotating basis and are often lent to museums
around the world. As Murphy says: “It’s
astonishing sometimes what people have
in their lofts. And they don’t necessarily
attach importance or monetary value to
them, but to us they are invaluable, as
they capture this moment in time that just
doesn’t exist any more.” The same could
be said of Kensington Palace as a whole. n
www.hrp.org.uk/kensington-palace
waistcoat associated with King Charles I; a 1926
debutante’s Lanvin court dress upon presentation
to the king; a splendid uniform worn by Lord Boston,
Lord-in-Waiting to Queen Victoria; a golf suit worn
by the Duke of Windsor; a Lanvin dress detail
A L I C I A P O L L E T T
For more information please visit lords.org/tours
A Tour of Lord’s provides a fascinating
insight behind-the-scenes of the most famous cricket ground in the world.
With extraordinary architecture, and
memorabilia, a Lord’s Tour is not only a must
for all cricket fans, but for everyone looking
for a quintessentially English experience.
London
Portobello Gold Pendle Harte wanders Portobello Road, the street made famous by the film
Notting Hill , and samples the créme de la créme of the vibrant market and stylish shops
W here can you shop for
Victorian prints, antique
watches, fruit, vegetables
bubble tea? Portobello’s enduring popularity
lies in its mix of old and new, traditional
and modern, long-standing community
famous street antiques market and for
many visitors, its colourful houses, quirky
vibe and thriving street trade epitomise
everything appealing about the capital.
It was in 1999 that Portobello Road’s
global status was inflated exponentially
by what is these days commonly referred
to locally simply as “that film”. Richard
Curtis’s Notting Hill drew the world’s
attention to this vibrant part of town and
tourists flocked from all over the globe to
see the actual blue door and visit Hugh
Grant’s bookshop. But it’s less well known
that until the mid-19th century the area was
rural, mostly farmland, becoming built-up
after the arrival of the railways in 1864.
By the 1950s, the area around Portobello
Road was largely poor, its large houses split
into countless, overcrowded dwellings. By
the 1960s and 1970s, Notting Hill was at the
very heart of London’s counterculture,
artists and musicians.
Streets with a desirable W11 postcode
command some of the highest property
prices in the world – the large four-storey
terraced houses regularly sell for around
£12 million and inhabitants of the streets
around the market are now more likely
to be international financiers with glossy
wives, expensively educated children and
teams of staff than the scruffy bohemian
types of the late 20th century.
And then, of course, there’s Carnival.
Every year at the end of August, Portobello
Road becomes host to Europe’s largest
street party, attracting at least two
million revellers whatever the weather (in
recent years, even the most torrential of
downpours have not dampened spirits).
Carnival started out in the mid-1960s,
led by London’s West Indian community.
Its anarchic spirit, soca music, steel pans,
costumes and rum punch make it an ever-
popular party (though many of those who
live on the procession’s route see it as
a loud, messy and even dangerous affair).
Above: The pretty multi-coloured houses made
famous by the film Notting Hill
and displays from Portobello Road
Portobello today: a walking guide If you’re coming from Notting Hill Gate tube
station, it makes sense to start a Portobello
ramble with a fortifying ale at the Sun in
Splendour pub. This is one of the street’s oldest hostelries, featuring on maps dating
back to 1850. Its window seats make a good
spot for people watching, especially on
Saturdays when the market is at its busiest,
and increasingly Fridays too.
that marks novelist and political essayist
George Orwell’s first London home at 22
Portobello Road. These small cottages are
now brightly painted and desirable but
Orwell lived in poverty here in 1927,
before anybody had painted the outside
of their house pink.
is where the antiques world begins. Alice’s
Antiques at number 86 has distinctive red
signage that has appeared in many films,
including The Italian Job in 1969 and, more
recently, Paddington in 2014. Portobello
Road became known for its antiques in
the 1950s and the stalls and labyrinthine
arcades are very much still in evidence,
though some have fallen victim to property
developers and chain stores. Along this
stretch you’ll also see the Portobello Gold
pub, known for its oysters and live music
(and infamously the place where Bill Clinton left without paying in 2000).
Cross Westbourne Grove and the antiques
stalls continue, selling everything from
Victorian dolls to silverware to crockery –
do arrive early on a Saturday if you want
the best pickings. Note the entrance to
Vernon Yard, named after Admiral Lord
Vernon who, in 1739, took the Spanish port
of Porto Belo in the Gulf of Mexico, causing
the Victory of Portobello to be celebrated
throughout Britain. Around this time, a farm
in Notting Hill was renamed Portobello
Farm, giving the area its name.
Pass the American Hummingbird Bakery
(credited with bringing the cupcake to the
UK) and step in the Portobello Star, a site
that has been a pub since 1740. It’s now
home to Portobello Road’s own-label gin and
the Ginstitute, where you can discover the
history of London’s finest spirit, and create
your own blend by mixing a concoction of
distilled botanicals. And near the corner of
discoverbritainmag.com 43
C O R B I S / P A U L P A N A Y I O T O U Z O R A N M I L I C H / M A S T E R F I L E A
T L A N D T I D E P H O T O T R A V E L V I S I T E N G L A N D / D I A N A J A R V I S S H U T T E
R S T O C K
London
S H U T T E R S T O C K ; S T E V E V I D L E R / C O R B I S
Elgin Crescent is relative newcomer,
La Fromagerie, which, together with long-
established Elgin Crescent delicatessen
forms part of a serious foodie destination.
At weekends, the French cheese stall
and German bratwurst van on this stretch
draw serious crowds. Anyone wanting to linger over a meal at this point should visit
the Electric Diner, an element of the ever so
stylish and now international Soho House
group. The diner is part of the Electric
Cinema, one of the UK’s oldest purpose-
built cinemas, now a luxe venue with sofa
seating but a chequered history, including
long periods of closure.
intense smell of coffee – this is the Tea
and Coffee Plant, home to organic and
fair-trade coffee on Portobello since the
1980s, long before the coffee chains took
over. Continuing northwards you can turn
left into Westbourne Park Road if you’re
searching for the Blue Door (number 280).
Back on Portobello Road there’s the brilliant
Spanish supermarket and deli, R Garcia
& Sons, and The Grain Shop, a vegetarian
takeaway restaurant, a relic from the area’s
hippy past, where lentil bakes and chickpea
curries are doled out in generous portions.
From here on, the market (on Fridays and
Saturdays) is dominated by vintage clothes;
the covered area is a treasure trove for
fashion fans. Browse leather jackets from
the 1970s, 1950s cocktail dresses, Victorian nighties and rails of denim, as well as shoes,
handbags and countless accessories. The best
day for fashion is Friday, when you’ll spot
stylists and models from all over the world
browsing discreetly.
of Portobello Green, is often neglected,
but on Fridays you’ll find a quirky array of
vintage ceramics and mid-century furniture
(as well as a lot of less interesting fare) and
on Saturdays there’s the Penny Market
(a penny for charity for each two pennies
spent) selling artisan foods.
– grab a pavement table if it’s sunny – and
just north of Golborne Road, where the
antiques and bric-a-brac continue, is Swanky
Lash and Brow bar, where gossip is freely
exchanged over manicures and pedicures.
If you want to get a sense of local life, stop
in for a file, a polish and to shoot the breeze.
Just don’t ask the locals about “that film.” n
Top to bottom: Portobello’s stalls heave
under an eclectic array of wares

Grand designs,
circa 1598.
m a r t i n r a n d a l l t r a v e l
A country house is much more than a house: great architecture, fine furniture, works of art, glorious gardens, an ideal backdrop for music.
Special arrangements are a feature of all our tours. They range from a private visit of the state
apartments of Windsor Castle, to an evening concert in the Chapelle Royale of Versailles, to a
stay in an 18th-century Scottish country house which remains a private home.
Find out more at martinrandall.com or call +44 (0)20 8742 3355 Image: Montacute House, Somerset, lithograph 1842.
ABTA No.Y6050
in London, if not the world, but while
most of us don’t have a precise idea of
what 10 Downing Street or No 1
London look like inside, the interior of
221B Baker Street is a familiar friend.
“Cheerfully furnished, and illuminated
by two broad windows,” as we are told in A Study in Scarlet , the first-floor study
shared by Britain’s most famous fictional
detective, Sherlock Holmes, and his friend
and biographer, Dr Watson, is immediately
recognisable, with two chairs facing its cosy
fireplace and a sofa against the opposite
wall (which bears a patriotic “VR” (Victoria
Regina) inscribed in bullet holes, as
described in The Musgrave Ritual ).
The most famous room in the Sherlock
Holmes Museum is not a spacious one
(Holmes is able to emerge from his bedroom
next door and take one spring across the
study to close the curtains) but, everywhere
you look, there’s something to recognise
from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories.
“You can touch everything except the
knife, the violin and the syringe,” we’re
told by a friendly-looking Victorian maid
(her counterpart outside is a period-style
policeman guarding the entrance).
been said he shares the spotlight only with
Mickey Mouse and Santa Claus – and he
made his screen debut in 1900, in Sherlock Holmes Baffled , a 49-second-long silent
film, followed in 1905 by The Adventures
of Sherlock Holmes (shown in Britain as
Held for Ransom). “After this,” Michael
Pointer writes in The Public Life of
Sherlock Holmes, “scarcely a year passed
without Sherlock Holmes appearing on the
screen somewhere in the world.”
Among the most famous screen
representations of Holmes in the past
are William Gillette, Basil Rathbone and
Jeremy Brett, but the latest actor to make
the part his own is Benedict Cumberbatch,
who returned to our screens with Sherlock:
The Abominable Bride, a one-off episode
set in London in 1895, on New Year’s Day.
The BBC show is, in fact, filmed in
North Gower Street in Euston with the
nearby Speedy’s Café on the to-see list
for admirers. However the number one
destination for scores of new fans – and
fanmail – is still 221B Baker Street, which
houses the Sherlock Holmes Museum.
First things first: the eagle-eyed will
notice that the Sherlock Holmes Museum
At home with
With the return of the BBC’s
Sherlock to our screens in January, Nicola Rayner dons deerstalker and magnifying glass to follow
the trail to London’s Sherlock Holmes Museum
London
first-floor living room
shared by Sherlock
right-hand corner, and Dr
furnished, with display cabinets featuring photographs, letters and memorabilia:
Sherlock’s medal from the French
government, a wide selection of knives,
a revolver concealed in a Bible, a bust of
Napoleon and a hungry-looking hound. All
the museum’s artefacts are sourced from the
era or have been donated to the museum
(though as to where the Engineer’s Thumb
or the severed ears from The Cardboard
Box came from, the mind boggles).
Mrs Hudson’s room features a shrine
to her pragmatic nature and pastimes,
while Watson’s displays taxidermy and
medical equipment, as well as reminders
of his military past. A diary entry is open
to a page of notes for The Hound of the
Baskervilles, while pride of place is given to
the original cane chair used by the Victorian
artist Sidney Paget, who illustrated Conan
Doyle’s stories for The Strand magazine,
for The Greek Interpreter .
Look out for the silver steed – a nod to the
story Silver Blaze (where the famous phrase
“the curious incident of the dog in the
night-time” comes from). On the third floor,
the stories make a more literal appearance
in the form of wax figures. Irene Adler, the creepy blackmailer Charles Augustus
Milverton, Sherlock’s
nemesis Professor James
Moriarty (“the Napoleon
Hound of the Baskervilles
Of course, part of the fun
is playing amateur sleuth
Holmes never did say, “Elementary, my
dear Watson.” And he “never actually
wore the deerstalker”, we are told as we
photograph ourselves with the hat and pipe
that are temptingly laid out in front of the
fire. The most serious fans, however, take
their dedication to a new level. Players of
“the Great Game” believe that the world’s
most famous detective was not, in fact,
fictional at all. His presence is so strongly
recreated at the museum that perhaps, after
all this time, the case remains open… n
www.sherlock-holmes.co.uk
Left: Sherlock’s deerstalker, pipe and magnifying
glass are laid out in front of the fire in the study
Below left: Staff attired in period dress man the
Sherlock Holmes Museum and gift shop
London
Baker Street. The building was reallocated
the number 221B when it opened in 1990
but, interestingly, 221B Baker Street did
not exist in 1887 when A Study in Scarlet
was published, marking the first appearance
of Holmes and Watson – back then Baker
Street house numbers didn’t extend that far.
Nevertheless, the museum building is well
suited to its task, not least because from
1860 to 1934 it was registered as a lodging house – like that of Mrs Hudson, Sherlock
and Watson’s landlady, who
rented the rooms to the pair
between 1881 and 1904. The
Georgian house fits the bill
from the 17 steps from the
ground-floor hallway to the
17 steps, because I have both
seen and observed,” says
dedicated fans alike.
own “clues” from the stories – chessboards,
chemistry equipment and case notes among
them. Portraits of the ill-fated General
Charles Gordon and Henry Ward Beecher
adorn the walls – the pictures are key to
Holmes’ reading Watson’s thoughts in The
Cardboard Box. A more personal memento
from A Scandal in Bohemia can be found
propped on the mantelpiece: a photograph
of “The Woman” – Irene Adler, who
famously outwitted the great detective.
“221B Baker Street did not exist in 1887”
A L A M Y / M A U R I C E C R O O K S ; J O H N K E L L E R M A N ; S T E V E V I D L
E R ; T H E S H E R L O C K H O L M E S M U S E U M
The Insider
BREAKING THE MOULD Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, Jacob Epstein… Britain has
shaped the careers of a long line of great sculptors. But did you
know that a short drive from London, amid the rolling Surrey
Hills, the appreciative can visit the Sculpture Park, which
showcases the work of some 300 renowned and emerging artists
from the 20th and 21st centuries across 10 acres? Clap eyes on
an eclectic collection of artwork, all displayed among heathland,
woodland and wildlife.
www.thesculpturepark.com
SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED Dukes Hotel in St James’s is one of the London cognoscenti’s
most stylish sanctuaries. Exclusive and quietly tucked away, it
first opened its doors in 1908, but it wasn’t until the 1950s that
it earned its status as a London legend. For it was then that Ian
Fleming began to frequent its bar, which was staffed exclusively
by Italians who knew a thing
or two about how to make
a martini, the likes of which
were little known in the capital
then. But did you know that
Dukes is where Fleming’s
timeless character picked up his
most famous phrase, “shaken,
not stirred”? It originated
knowledgeable bar staff
in the know said it “bruised” the
gin). Do try the Classic Vesper,
still on the menu today, which
follows the recipe from the first
Bond book, Casino Royale.
www.dukeshotel.com
Brenda Cook is a woman with the inside scoop. She tours the UK
and asks… did you know?
London
to schlep all the way to the Maldives for your hit of white
sand and turquoise waters. The Outer Hebrides have a
population of just 26,000 people – and, as such, their resplendent jewel, Luskentyre Sands, on the west coast of
the Isle of Harris is almost always empty (the nearest road
is some two miles away, after all).
www.visitscotland.com
LIFE’S A BEACH Edinburgh tops every must-see list for first-time visitors
to Britain and, consequently, the city is perennially
abuzz with tourists keen to see its many historic treasures. But did you know that Scotland also abounds
with many spots where you can get away from it all?
More specifically, its wealth of deserted, picture
postcard-worthy beach hideaways prove you don’t need
BEST FOOT FORWARD
a joy for ramblers and amblers keen to tread
its landscapes. But, in the pursuit of escaping
the hordes, the hiking connoisseur may find
themselves among unwelcome company:
attract up to a million visitors a year. But did
you know that you can escape the throngs
with just a little inside knowledge? Which is
where Foot Trails comes in, a company run
by husband-and-wife duo Alison and David
Howell, who lead a variety of walks across
the land that are varied, impassioned and
always off the tourist trail. It’s the ultimate
way to explore villages, historic sites and rural
England on two feet.
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/dis

Discover Britain 2016-02-03

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Transcript of Discover Britain 2016-02-03