January/February 2022

Britain

The official magazine of Visit Britain

Britain1 min read
Editor’s Letter
This issue, we’re indulging in the best wintry pursuits that Britain has to offer: cosy up in a vintage train, enjoying the country’s most scenic landscapes from the comfort of your carriage (Romance on the rails, p32); tour the castles of County Dur
Britain1 min read
Britain
www.britain-magazine.com Editor Natasha Foges Art Editor Clare White Production Editor Jenny Rowe Group Sales Director Catherine Chapman Head of Sales Operations Jodie Green Group Advertising Manager Natasha Syed Chairman Paul Dobson Managing Directo
Britain2 min read
Your Letters
When I was a little girl in the 1960s my Dad was a milkman and Chiswick House was on his early morning milk run. One Easter school holidays I went with him on his round. We were up in the middle of the night, travelling to the depot to collect his th
Britain3 min read
The BULLETIN
While the world-famous stone circle of Stonehenge in Wiltshire remains, in many ways, a mystery, a new exhibition at the British Museum, The World of Stonehenge (17 Feb to 17 July), will use the facts to present prehistoric Britain as a tangible plac
Britain1 min read
Reading Corner
The Barn: The Lives, Landscape and Lost Ways of an Old Yorkshire Farm by Sally Coulthard (Head of Zeus, £20). A socio-historic exploration of a small slice of English countryside. A Queen for all Seasons by Joanna Lumley (Hodder & Stoughton, £20). Th
Britain7 min read
Land Of The PRINCE BISHOPS
The American writer and Anglophile Bill Bryson first visited on a whim, getting off the train at Durham station with the intention of having a quick look at the cathedral before heading on to his destination, Newcastle. But Durham was not to release
Britain5 min read
The Making Of A Queen
The birth of Anne Boleyn’s daughter Elizabeth at Greenwich Palace on Sunday 7 September 1533 was a bitter disappointment to Henry VIII. The king had broken with the Roman Catholic Church and annulled his marriage to his middle-aged first wife Catheri
Britain6 min read
ROMANCE on the RAILS
Glasgow to Fort William, Scotland The West Highland Line is one of the most popular in the world – and it’s easy to see why. Not only does the journey take you up to Corrour, the highest station in Britain, but it also speeds across the 21-arch Glenf
Britain4 min read
The Last Invasion
In the early hours of 23 February 1797, 1,400 French troops invaded Britain. They were the first hostile foreign troops to set foot on British soil since the Norman invasion of 1066. They scaled the 160-foot rugged Pembrokeshire cliffs at Carregwasta
Britain5 min read
Magnificent MANOR
On Saturday July 13, 1889, The Bucks Herald newspaper carried a report on the lavish parties thrown by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild at Waddesdon Manor: “The genial host has been for many years a widower, and he is never so happy as when his lovely h
Britain5 min read
Historic Haunts
When night fell in Whitechapel on Friday 31 August 1888 it must have felt like any other late summer’s evening. The first delicate nip of an early autumn may have been hanging in the air. But by its end, a positive chill had descended when the body o
Britain4 min read
Henley
Visiting Henley during regatta week is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The world’s most prestigious rowing regatta pulls out the stops, with stands, enclosures and hospitality tents lining the river as far as the eye can see. Competing teammates spo
Britain6 min read
Heart of England
On a Monday morning in early July 1841, 500 people gathered in high spirits on the concourse at Leicester’s recently opened Campbell Street Station to embark on a very special outing. They were accompanied on their chartered train by a band and greet
Britain2 min read
A Two-night Break In Historic Leicester
One lucky reader and their guest will win a two-night stay in the top-floor junior suite at St Martins Lodge, a stylishly renovated Grade II-listed Georgian building. Right in the historic heart of Leicester, it’s the perfect place from which to expl
Britain3 min read
Top 10 York
With medieval alleyways, Roman remains and a Viking treasure trove, York is a history-lover’s dream. Founded as Eboracum by the Romans, called Jorvik by the Vikings and named York by the Normans, the city was the most powerful in northern England by
Britain3 min read
Lady Carnarvon
7am I start the day doing some emails with a cup of coffee. Then I get up, put my yoga mat over my shoulder, and the dogs and I go for a walk. I take the time out to do some yoga and breathe and stretch my body out, which is getting ever creakier! I’

Britain

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