Off the Beaten Path Travel in England
Luton gets sold as airport and football: terminal buses, Parkway taxis, the Kenilworth Road roar. Fine if that is all you need, a bed and a flight. I keep coming back for the short pedestrian suspension bridge over the Lea lake in Wardown Park, one of the shortest in the country, restored and still in … Read more
Cowes is yachting capital for a lot of people — Cowes Week flags, Squadron blazers, Red Jet wakes slapping The Parade. I keep walking west along the sea wall past the green until the town thins and the coast tips into open water. Egypt Point still marks the Island’s northern tip above the Solent in … Read more
Cirencester calls itself Capital of the Cotswolds. Fair enough if you care about market stone, wool money, and a parish church that still owns the square. I keep starting somewhere less postcard-ready: south-east of all that, where Cotswold Avenue climbs the Querns and grass banks drop into an oval hollow big enough for eight thousand … Read more
Most visitors stop at King Alfred’s statue, photograph the cathedral front, and call it a day. Fair enough. Those stones matter. The Winchester that sticks with me sits a short walk south, where the River Itchen splits into clear braids and an almshouse older than most European cities still hands a traveller bread and beer … Read more
Queen Eleanor’s Cross still stands on London Road above Delapré in Northampton Northampton gets billed as a motorway town between London and the Midlands, a shoe label on a boot box, and a station you clear before Silverstone or the next train north. Fair enough if you only need the M1 and a multi-storey. I … Read more
St Leonard's Chapel still keeps the fishermen's gate on Smeaton's Pier in St Ives Most first visits to St Ives start the same way: Porthminster sand, a queue for the Tate, a pasty on the Wharf, a photograph of the white lighthouse at the end of the pier. Fair enough. What gets skipped is the … Read more