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Update #34 Welcome friends, its time to put the kettle on, settle into a comfortable armchair, and enjoy the best of Britain with Britain Update. But before you do, please take the time to forward this newsletter to someone who loves Britain as much as you do. *******************
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Just to give you a taste of our new Villages section, here's a profile of a charming Cotswold village, Bibury, in Gloucestershire. The article can be found at http://www.britainexpress.com/villages/bibury.htm Bibury, nestled in the eastern hills of the Cotswolds, first earned its title of "the most beautiful village in England" from the artist and craftsman, William Morris (1834-96). It's not hard to see why. However you approach this village on the river Coln, it exudes charm from every house and tree and meadow. Moving north from Ludlow, at Stanton Lacy the doorway of the little parish church contains one of the few recognisable examples of Saxon sculpture we can see today, and a little further on the small town of Aston Munslow is home to a country life museum covering eight centuries of Shropshire life. On one side of the river is Arlington, reached on foot by crossing an old stone bridge. It's famous for its honey-coloured stone cottages with their steep pitched roofs. These 17th century cottages, known as Arlington Row, were converted from an original hall, used to store wool, into weavers' homes. The workers supplied cloth for fulling at 17th century Arlington Mill, which served, at one time, as a corn mill. The Mill now houses a folk and agricultural museum with one room dedicated to William Morris. Just opposite the weavers' cottages is a water meadow, Rack Isle, a protected wildfowl breeding ground. Awkward Hill rises behind Arlington Row. It, too, is covered with cottages in the warm Cotswold stone. The Mill, with its working water wheel, looks down on trout swimming lazily in crystal clear spring water. The Bibury Trout Farm, founded in 1902, spawns 10 million Rainbow trout each year. The visitor can buy them smoked or fresh or fish for their own. A park and gardens enhance the beauty of the spot. Bibury, on the other side of the river, is grouped around St. Mary's Church. The Saxon part of the church dates from the 8th century Norman and Perpendicular Gothic additions can be seen, including 13th century stained glass. Many of the pieces of original Saxon work were removed to the British Museum and today the replicas only are on view. The church is home to a collection of sheep corbels, which relate to the importance wool once played in the area. The Swan Hotel, overlooking the river, was originally a 17th century coaching inn with stabling, a taproom and a few bedrooms. It was a popular place when the Bibury Races were held in King Charles' day. Now its stone environs boast top class rooms and a restaurant. The Bibury Court Hotel, situated in 8 acres of grounds, dates from Tudor times, the main part built in 1633, while the Catherine Wheel Inn, the local pub, is a 15th century building. The nearby countryside is home to many picturesque villages. Evidence of Celtic fields, an Iron Age hill fort, long barrow and beehive chamber shows man has long appreciated the beauty of the area. Surrounded by wooded hills, snuggled in the Coln River valley, Bibury can still boast of its 19th century title, "the most beautiful village in England". Article by Barbara Ballard Essential
Information: Web Resources:
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Leo Wood lives in Welford, Northamptonshire and makes his living as a self-employed thatcher. He didn't plan a life working with this traditional craft. "From school I intended to follow in my father's footsteps as a chemical engineer but preferred working outdoors. I was helping a friend whose farmer father was ill with odd jobs weekends on the farm and working in the laboratory of a chrome plating plant full time. I had no real intention of changing my job, but by chance while helping on the farm a government agricultural employment agent came to try to arrange for a full time worker on the farm. He literally dropped his paper work and one of the cards was from a thatcher looking for an apprentice." That was the beginning of Leo's career as a thatcher. "When I started in 1963 around 200 full time thatchers were left, this is now around 2000 and has been so for five or six years" So what's the most common comment Leo gets from people who see him thatching? "Easy, and bound to raise a laugh among thatchers; we all get it.... Tap on the ladder........ 'Not many of you blokes around these days' . . . "The basic technique of thatching apart from better fastening methods have remained unchanged for hundreds of years and probably thousands. No matter what the material the thick cut end of the bundle is the only part seen outside....." Read
the full interview at ****************************** SHAKESPEARE
EXHIBIT OPENS Touch-screens show the special effects used in Elizabethan theatre - everything from disembodied heads to death by hanging! There is 'Shakespeare karaoke' where you can record yourself playing a part in Twelfth Night or Macbeth; or adapt your own extract from Hamlet using iMac computers. Walk into a re-created backstage workshop illustrating the crafts used to create costumes, props and scenery and learn how many of Shakespeare's phrases have passed into everyday use. A tour of the replica Globe Theatre is included in the admission price, £7.50 adult, £5.00 child. The theatre, beside the River Thames at Bankside, London SE1, is open daily. There is a shop, café and restaurant. Shakespeare's Globe Theatre's season of plays runs from May 12 - Sept 24. For more
information visit: GET
A UK MAP FOR FREE The new "Get-a-map" service is a major initiative by Britain's national mapping agency and can be found on Ordnance Survey's web site at http://www.ordsvy.gov.uk. When Searching Get-a-map, users can zoom in and out from regional maps to local areas, move north, south, east and west to centre the map on a particular locality, and locate a place by typing in a postcode, place name or Ordnance Survey National Grid reference.Although the maps used are published at up to 1:250,000 scale, the zoom facility of Get-a-map allows users to enlarge extracts to 1:70,000 or even 1:35,000 scale on screen, meaning that smaller areas appear much clearer to the viewer. Whatever scale is chosen, the required location is highlighted by a clear red circle. Users can save this image and, if they have appropriate drawing software on their machine, they can add to the map. This is the ideal tool to plan your walking routes before you leave home. NEW CENTRE
ON HADRIAN'S ROMAN WALL Segedunum, in Buddle Street, Wallsend - to the east of Newcastle upon Tyne, 280 miles north of London - is a £9 million attraction, with the ruins of one of the most completely excavated forts in the Roman empire. It has an exact replica of a working Roman bath house, decorated with frescoes based on wall paintings at Pompeii, and from surviving villas in Britain. Visitors enter a changing room, then progress through a series of cold, warm and hot rooms - a coal-fired furnace heats the air, which is channelled under the floor. Groups will be able to book an authentic evening bathing experience. The site also has a 35-metre tower for viewing the fort; a gallery with excavated finds and computer interactive displays of everyday Roman life; on-going archaeological excavations; a 50-seat auditorium with films on the history of the area; a cafeteria and a shop. It will be open daily, admission £2.95 adults £1.95 concessions and children, £8.50 family ticket. Tel: 0191 232 6789. ****************************** David
Ross
Contents © 2001 David Ross and Britain Express |
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