England Travelogue

There is too much to write here on this site about the country where we grew up and spent most of our lives, so here is a very small selection of some of our favourite places.

LONDON

Before we left England to move to France, we lived in Central London, where obviously there is so much to do and experience, endless opportunities in fact. In our younger days, when hangovers were non-existent, we spent many an evening in various public houses. It is probably fair to say that we have imbibed in almost all of the pubs that London has to offer at some time or other, not necessarily on the same night though! Aside from our liver damaging antics, there are art galleries, museums, markets and shops and so much more. With both of us having a healthy love of shopping we have spent a lot of pleasurable time in the shops of Bond Street, Covent Garden, South Molton Street, and Sloane Street, Harvey Nicks being one of our favourite department stores. When Richard and I first met, we ate out several times a week in many of Londons well known eateries and also in some of the smaller family run establishments. Being fans of cider, Chimes restaurant in Pimlico, Churton Street; which serves an excellent of selection of cider, along with rustic British food was a favourite for a long time. So too was Grumbles on the opposite side of the same street, mainly for the duck in cherry sauce, and the wonderful staff. We became such regulars in Grumbles that it was not unusual for the staff to leave us in the early hours lingering over a bottle of wine, as long as we promised to shut the door firmly when we left!

PETTICOAT LANE MARKET

London has some great markets, like Petticoat Lane market, where you can buy everything from a bicycle to a bagel, although the bias is still toward clothing particularly leather coats. Petticoat Lane is on Middlesex Street and Wentworth Street in east London. It is one Londons more famous street markets, it's name originating from it's long history in the clothing trade. During Queen Victoria's reign the street name was changed to the more respectable Middlesex Street. To this day this remains it's official designation but the old name has stuck. The Sunday market held there and in the surrounding streets is still known as Petticoat Lane market by locals and tourists alike. Despite attempts to close the market it continues to thrive, and is always incredibly busy whatever the weather, best avoided if you don't like crowds.

PORTOBELLO ROAD MARKET

Another good market is Portobello Road market in Kensington, it has the feel of several markets all mixed into one. Saturday is the day when all of the separate areas come together in full swing, again there are a wide variety of goods on sale there but it is mainly known for second hand/vintage clothes and antiques, and it was featured in the film Notting Hill which starred Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. There are also many talented and bizarre street performers eager to entertain visitors. During the week Portobello is home to the many fruit and vegetable market traders, who sell the usual everyday fruit and vegetables as well as lots of more exotic options.

CAMDEN MARKET

Camden market in Camden North West London is another favourite for market lovers, where most of the stalls are open 7 days a week, except for 25th December. Camdens group of different markets are supposedly the fourth most visited tourist attraction in London, probably true it does get seriously crowded! Once again you can buy almost anything here, but clothes are the main feature along with all manner of weird and wonderful pieces of furniture, antiques and general bric-a-brac. From Camden town station the first part of the market is at the Electric Ballroom nightclub which on Sundays transforms into a bazaar selling cheap designer fashions, second hand clothes and jewellery. More clothes, new and second hand are on offer in the main part of Camden market. Camden lock market, the nerve centre of the area, attracts the largest crowds. This part of the market has continued to grow rapidly in size since it opened in 1974, and has a cobbled courtyard leading towards the Regents canal. The majority of the market traders there specialize in handmade crafts, new and second hand fashions, delicious vegetarian fast-food, books, records and antiques, so there is something for everyone. Many people descend on Camden lock for the atmosphere, especially in the warmer weather at the weekends, when you can enjoy the buskers who perform alongside the canal. At the weekends there are lots of traffic jams as thousands of visitors flock to the area. Camden has a great choice of pubs, bars and restaurants and you can also get a good feed from one of the many stalls that sell food in the market itself.

GREENWICH MARKET

Before we moved to Central London we lived near Greenwich, which also has a good covered market although it is much smaller than the others mentioned here, it is still well worth visiting. At the weekends Greenwich feels more like a seaside town with it's many maritime shops and fish restaurants. There are lots of restaurants serving foods from many countries like Mexican and Asian to choose from, it's not all about chips! There are also some great pubs and food stalls where you can get a good bite to eat. The covered market at Greenwich mainly specializes in wooden toys, model ships, trendy clothes made by local designers, handmade jewellery and lots of accessories. The antiques market offers mostly 20th century collectables and bric-a-brac including medals, coins, banknotes, second hand books and Art Deco furniture. With a similar feel to Camden the central market offers interesting items including good quality second hand clothes and junk shop type bric-a-brac. There are some good bookshops in the indoor village market area which is near to the food market.

The impressive Cutty Sark, a ship weighing 963 tons and the only remaining tea clipper, was launched from Scotland Linton's shipyard at Dumbarton on the Clyde on Monday 22nd November 1869. Her name was to become famous all over the world and was destined to win a place in the hearts of British seamen second only to Nelsons immortal Victory. The Cutty Sark is now in dry dock at Greenwich near to the Gypsy Moth IV, the name apparently comes from a Robert Burns poem; Tam O'Shanter. She carried her last cargo of tea in 1877. Later from 1885 to 1895 she was used in the wool trade with Australia, and by 1895 she was sold to the Portuguese because she was losing her owner money. She worked for these new Portuguese owners for over thirty years until 1920 when she was sold again. Two years later in 1922 she underwent a refit in the Surrey Docks London, but was driven from shelter during a storm in Falmouth harbour on her way home. Then a man by the name of Captain Wilfred Dowman saw her and he bought her from the Portuguese returning her to British ownership once again. When Captain Dowman died in 1938 his widow presented her to the Thames Nautical Training College at Greenhithe on the Thames, who used her as a training vessel. In 1954 after the second world war she again found herself surplus to requirements, she was eventually towed to Greenwich where she was placed in a specially constructed dry dock. After lots of restoration work she was finally opened to the public in 1957, and since then more than 13 million people have visited her. The Cutty Sark is a magnificent ship and she still attracts huge crowds especially in the summer season, she is well worth visiting, as is Greenwich itself.

BRIGHTON

Outside of London we like the coastal town of Brighton, only an hours drive away we would go there frequently to enjoy the sea air. Brighton is a lively Victorian seaside town with a young population, mainly from the university. There are the well known 'lanes' full of jewellery shops selling all types of silver and gold from many eras, and there are the surf type clothes shops and some funkier and hippie clothes shops. There are lots of great bars, pubs and restaurants and obviously the candy floss, fish and chips, and sticks of rock that everyone associates with the English seaside! Then there is the pebbly beach and the amusement arcades, Brighton is like lots of different places all rolled into one, there is something for everyone whether you like to shop, swim, eat or just relax and take in the sea air and people watch. As Brighton is so close to London it has much the same feeling, but with a lot less people. And for fans of celebrity, Brighton is home to quite a few of the stars like the DJ Fat Boy Slim aka Norman Cook, the Boxer Chris Eubank and probably the most famous, 'glamour' model Jordan; Katie Price.

WILTSHIRE , Malmesbury

Malmesbury in Wiltshire is another of our favourite places, it is a small very friendly place, with a selection of little shops and some good pubs and restaurants. Rather than make a day trip of it we often used to stay for a night or two at the wonderful Old Bell Hotel, which is a beautiful heritage property full of character with a lovely walled garden. There are log fires, stone walls and period furniture which all complete the feel of the place. Said to be Englands oldest purpose built hotel, it sits adjacent to the famous Abbey in Malmesbury, which is on the edge of the Cotswolds, the whole region is absolutely gorgeous. At the Old Bell Hotel you can enjoy a drink in the bar and dine in elegant Edwardian splendour in the award winning (2 rosettes from the AA) restaurant which serves English cuisine, there is also an excellent, extensive wine list. Or you can indulge in a delicious cream tea served in the lounges or the library. The cream tea is very popular with non-guests as well as guests of the hotel. Built in 1220 the Old Bell Hotel has a quintessentially English feel, and offers a pleasing atmosphere, comfortable surroundings and fantastic hospitality nearly 800 hundred years later. The hotel provides luxury in sophisticated surroundings whilst retaining the ambience of a time long forgotten. All of the bedrooms, of which there are only about thirty, are furnished in individual styles with antique furnishings and paintings which makes a refreshing change from the bland interiors of the large well known chain hotels.

GLASTONBURY, SOMERSET

Glastonbury festival run by Somerset farmer Michael Eavis has been held at Worthy Farm, Pilton since 1970, and is the mother of all festivals! This festival normally takes place on the last full weekend of June, every now and then it takes a year off to enable the land; as it is a working farm, and the local people a chance to recover. It is the U.K's largest music festival, and more, it's unique. The site of the festival is 700 acres in a beautiful valley in Somerset. It is massive, approximately a mile and a half across with a perimeter fence of about 8 1/2 miles. Everything is laid on within this fenced area both the camping and the entertainment so you don't have to queue up to enter each day like you do at some other festivals. Don't expect only to be entertained, there is so much to do, so just throw yourself into as much as you can, and try and check out at least one show at each of the venues. There are 100,000 paying ticket holders and around 35,000 staff members and performers. We were there in 1997, which was a particularly cold, wet and muddy year. There were a large number of non ticket holders who decided to climb over the fence and get in for free, thousands of them I'd say, judging by the number that fell on our tent in a few short hours late on the first night! We spent a great deal of the days huddled up in our car with the heater on full blast, drinking wine and trying to keep warm, I know alcohol lowers body temperature! In fact we used practically a whole tank of petrol in a bid to stay warm, before deciding that we had better leave just enough for us to get out when we left the festival. Although a lot of the people there were enjoying rolling around in the mud, we were obviously already beginning to feel way too old for such shenanigans! Quite a few fans left early on the second morning, and they had to pay £5 to get their cars pulled out of the mud by a very profitable young man and his tractor! Can't quite remember who was playing the year we went, and I am not sure if that's down to old age or the copious amounts of red wine we were drinking! As well as the music there are over 700 stalls in the markets who sell clothes, crafts, food etc. The festival also raises money for good causes, the three main ones are Wateraid, Oxfam and Greenpeace, so Glastonbury festival has a conscience as well as being great fun for everyone. I doubt if we will ever go again now that we no longer live in the U.K. But if we do I think we will be 'camping', not in a tent like before but in a camper van with the other sensible people, well I did say we are getting old!

READING, BERKSHIRE

Another music festival we love is Reading festival. Apparently the oldest U.K. music festival it started in 1960 where there was a national jazz and blues festival. In 1989 the Mean Fiddler took over the fading festival and changed it's image by bringing in more popular bands to lead it into the future. In the 1990's everything changed again with the appearance of grunge bands, in fact this is where Nirvana first appeared in the U.K. Reading Festival is usually held on the last bank holiday weekend in August, so you get 3 fab filled days of music. You can buy weekend tickets which most people do, or you can just go for any one day. There are about 50,000 people at Reading each day, so it is a much more intimate affair than Glatonbury! The difference between Glastonbury and Reading Festivals is that in Glastonbury you are almost stranded on the farm but with Reading the actual town is so close that you can easily walk there in about 10/15 minutes, and stock up on booze from the supermarket and visit pubs to make use of their lovely clean toilets and have a wash! On one of the days we were there we went into town and had lunch at a river side hotel, the ladies toilets was full of young women leaning over the sinks washing their hair and then drying it under the electric hand driers! It's a messy business this festival lark!

GOODWOOD, WEST SUSSEX

Another great day out is the Goodwood Festival of Speed which any car enthusiast will love. It is a hill climb in front of Goodwood House, with people racing priceless classic cars and motorcycles along with more modern super cars. Lots of celebrities bring their cars along and join in too. The beauty of the event is that all of the cars are on display to the public, so you can get up close and personal with them and have a really good look, take photos and sometimes chat to the owners. There are also static displays of classic racing cars from various era's, each year a different manufacturer is represented with priceless examples of cars from a bygone age being shipped in from all over the world by motor heritage museums. We were lucky enough one year to each have a ride in a modern super car on the hill climb. Richard had his ride in a gorgeous mauve Lamborghini and I was in a racing Porsche driven by Graham Bell. We both thoroughly enjoyed the thrilling, speed of the ride which was over way too soon, but I didn't enjoy my finger getting shut in the electric window of the Porsche ... well at least I came away with an unusual souvenir, a bruised finger!

Goodwood Revival is a classic car race meeting held at the Goodwood race circuit where enthusiasts race their classic cars, and members of the public get in on the spirit of the event by dressing up in classic clothes from the 1930-1950/60's. There are all manner of classic cars being raced from ultra rare Bentleys to Ford's and British Leyland cars from the 1960's.

If you love cars as we do, then Goodwood is really worth visiting for a great day out.

There are so many other places that we both love in England, and things we enjoy doing that could be written about, but where would it all end? This website is a work in progress, so it is possible that more will be written in the future!