Discover Britain

Anne Boleyn will make a stunning return to her childhood home of Hever Castle this summer as a musical charting her story premieres in the grounds of the Tudor palace. Anne Boleyn the Musical is produced by Historalia Productions, a theatre company c

Do you need any more photographs for your magazine? In particular, red squirrels at the Yorkshire Arboretum? If so, please feel free to use mine. Jacqueline Ayres, by email Editor replies: When it comes to wildlife photos, the more the merrier to my

“I cannot see that London has any great advantage over the country, for my part, except the shops and public places,” declared Mrs Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. In reality, Jane Austen, like Mr Darcy, very much enjoyed her time in the capital. While

In Winchester, the past is everywhere you look, from the streets of medieval and Georgian buildings to the city’s world-famous cathedral and 14th-century Winchester College, which is still a boarding school today. Located in the southern English coun

The delightful Hampshire cottage known as Jane Austen’s House is one of the foremost literary sites in the world, located in the picturesque village of Chawton. Jane lived here for most of the last eight years of her life, and it is where she wrote h

“They had a very fine day for Box Hill; and all the other outward circumstances of arrangement, accommodation, and punctuality, were in favour of a pleasant party.“ Chapter 43 of Emma, sees the principal character behaving very badly on a summer picn

Riverside Lechlade-on-Thames in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds is like the introverted sibling of nearby Bibury – one of the most photographed of all the Cotswolds towns and villages. But while Bibury competes with the likes of Broadway and Bourton-on

There’s a plaque at St Mary Magdalene Church in Woolwich, southeast London, sacred to the Memory of Major James Brush, who (according to the plaque) was ‘killed by the accidental discharge of a pistol by his orderly 14th April 1831 – Well done, o goo

A decade ago, a new travel route launched in Scotland that was like a masterclass in branding. There was nothing much new to shout about in the rural Northwest Highlands region it covered, and yet the North Coast 500 route took off – shining a spotli

I did a PHD on how British naval officers are represented in 18th-century portraits in partnership with the National Maritime Museum. Now I am glad to be back working here, and part of my current remit is not just looking at paintings, prints and dra

Fyodor Dostoevsky once wrote: “The darker the night, the brighter the stars.” And the nights don’t get much darker than those in Northumberland which, according to the Campaign to Protect Rural England, has the most ‘pristine dark skies’ of anywhere

Once busy cargo-carriers of the Industrial Revolution, nowadays narrowboats cruise the 2,700 miles of connected waterways around England and Wales in a somewhat more leisurely manner. Many are steered by holidaymakers, some by liveaboard owners and t

The Battle of Hastings of 1066, the most famous date in English history, saw William, Duke of Normandy, defeat Anglo-Saxon King Harold II. It enforced William’s claim that he had been promised the Crown by Harold’s predecessor Edward the Confessor an

The world’s first cocktail is thought to have been mixed in Ancient Greece where a ‘Kykeon’ containing barley, water and grated cheese was used in religious rites. British ‘punch’ (spirits mixed with fruit juices and spices) evolved in the 18th centu

Solutions in next issue Test your knowledge of Britain – answers below! 1. In which Hampshire village did Jane Austen spend the last eight years of her life? 2. What was the name of Jane Austen’s sister? 3. What was Jane Austen’s pseudonym for he