CONTENT
- UK Hotel Guide
- UK Destinations: Harewood House
- UK Travel tips and news
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.
As many of you will know by now, Britain has lost its most popular royal; the Queen Mother died in her sleep on Saturday, March 30, at Windsor Castle. Buckingham Palace has announced that her funeral will take place in Westminster Abbey on Tuesday 9 April. Britain Express joins with millions of people across the globe who mourn the loss of this 'royal with the common touch'. For a biography of the Queen Mother, prepared a few years before her death, click here.
Today's Update features Harewood House, one of England's finest stately homes, as well as information on our latest site update - a 2000 page guide to UK hotels, with instant, confirmed online bookings!
David Ross, Publisher
NEW AT BRITAIN EXPRESS
UK Hotels Guide - 2000 pages of hotels, guesthouses, and bed and breakfasts throughout the UK, all with instant, confirmed booking. We're especially proud of the new London Hotels Guide, which allows you to find a hotel by price range, location, or star-rating.
UK Destinations
Harewood House
near Leeds, Yorkshire, England
Harewood House is a testament to the business acumen of Henry Lascelle, an 18th-century trader involved in commerce with the West Indies.
So successful was Lascelle in his business ventures that he bought the estate of Gawthorpe, across the valley from present-day Harewood. Lascelle's son, Edwin, the first Lord Harewood, inherited Gawthorpe and the adjoining Harewood estate on his father's death in 1753, and devoted his energies to creating on his new lands a grand country house estate.
Edwin Lascelle chose as his architect the young John Carr, of York, with assistance from Robert Adam. Carr used local millstone grit for the house exterior, and even the interior bricks and stucco came from Lascelle lands.
More about Harewood House ...
UK Travel Tips and News
The Falkirk Wheel to open May 1
(from the BBC) - The Falkirk Wheel, the world's first rotating boat lift, will open to the public on Wednesday, May 1. The opening follows a two-year construction programme and signals the completion of the construction phase on The Millennium Link project, the ambitious project by British Waterways Scotland to reconnect and regenerate the Forth & Clyde and Union canals. The unique 115ft structure, which has already become a major landmark for Falkirk and Central Scotland, will also feature a state of the art Visitors' Centre.
With the opening of The Falkirk Wheel, boats will be able to travel from Glasgow to Edinburgh and back again for the first time in over 60 years.
Chelsea Week London Tours
The National Gardens Scheme has initiated a program of tours to coincide with the Chelsea Flower Show in May 2002. The tours offer an exclusive trip to visit private gardens in and around London with guided tours of the participating gardens by their owners Each full-day tour costs £55 per person and includes visits, transport, lunch with wine & VAT.
Monday 20th May: South West London gardens including an artist's garden.
Tuesday 21st May: North West London gardens including a garden displaying sculptures and a romantic garden in Belsize Village.
Wednesday 22nd May: South East London gardens including a painter's garden.
Thursday 23rd May: North London gardens and a private tour of Kenwood House garden.
Friday 24th May: North East London gardens and a special visit to the Geffrye Museum's garden.
Website: http://www.ngs.org.uk
Oxford a 'Wonderland' for Alice Fans
The city of Oxford is promoting its links with the most famous book in children's literature - "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" - for the first time. While teaching at the university's Christ Church, mathematics don Lewis Carroll (pen-name of Charles Dodgson) befriended the real-life Alice: 10-year-old Alice Liddell and her sisters. Carroll told the stories about Wonderland while the friends were out boating.
New for visitors to the city this year are:
- Behind the scenes tours of Christ Church, including the secret door which was the original Rabbit Hole, the 'forbidden' garden that was 'Wonderland' and the tree used by the Cheshire Cat. The college's Great Hall inspired Hogwart's Hall in the recent Warner Bros. "Harry Potter" movie.
- The Museum of Oxford has opened a permanent exhibition about the real Alice, with artefacts including her Victorian morning dress, parasol, letters and books; games and puzzles designed by Lewis Carroll and the camera he used to photograph her.
- Memorabilia for sale in the Old Sheep Shop (Alice's Shop) where she used to buy her sweets.
- A new web site where you can discover the world of Alice.
There are plans for a permanent Lewis Carroll Centre at the Museum of Oxford, including historic photos of Alice recently saved from export; film clips and interactive games. It is expected to open at the end of 2003. The city boasts it is the capital of children's literature, as J.R.R. Tolkien ("The Lord of the Rings") and C.S. Lewis (the "Narnia" series) also worked and wrote there. Website: http://ww.aliceinoxford.net.
Scottish Events for the Royal Jubilee
Stirling Castle's Royal Apartments are the setting for "The Thistle and the Rose" (Mar.20 - May 20), a major exhibition which also marks the 500th anniversary of the Treaty of Perpetual Peace, which was underpinned by the marriage of Scotland's James IV to Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII of England. Using a priceless collection of artefacts, it tells the story of marriage, peace and war. Although the treaty ultimately failed, the marriage eventually brought the couple's great-grandson James VI to the thrones of both countries a century later. Stirling Castle is open daily.
Another Jubilee exhibition, at the Museum of Edinburgh (May 18 - July 6) looks at how Edinburgh's inhabitants have celebrated royal occasions from 1822 to today.
From Brechin Station, the Caledonian Steam Railway will run Golden Jubilee Specials (June 2-3) with rolling stock from the era when Elizabeth became queen. Website: http://www.caledonianrailway.co.uk
Edinburgh stages its 53rd Military Tattoo (Aug.2-24) in honour of the Jubilee. It will include the largest gathering of pipes and drums, and massed military bands, ever seen on the castle esplanade. The castle also has an exhibition tracing the history of Scotland's Crown Jewels, the oldest royal regalia in Britain. Website: http://www.edintattoo.co.uk
At Leith, Edinburgh's port, visitors can take an audio-tour of the Royal Yacht Britannia. The contract to build her was signed on the day before George VI died and Elizabeth became queen. For Jubilee events in and around the Scottish capital, visit the website http://www.edinburgh.org/jubilee
By Boat Bus, Bike, and Boot - in the Lakes
There is a new way to get out and about in the English Lake District this year, visiting beauty spots, villages and writers' homes, using a variety of transport methods. The "B4 Network" - it stands for boat, bus, bike and boot - uses one ticket which allows visitors to take a ferry-boat from Bowness-on-Windermere, a minibus to Coniston Water and connecting motor-launch services to attractions around the lake. Connecting walking and cycling trails add further flexibility: all boats and buses can carry bicycles.
Highlights of the route include:
- Hill Top, children's writer Beatrix Potter's home and Brantwood, home of author and art critic John Ruskin.
- Lakes beauty-spot Tarn Hows and the pretty villages of Hawkshead and Coniston.
- Grizedale Forest visitor centre with its sculpture trail and cafe. The hop-on-hop-off service runs four times daily from March 29 until November and advance booking is not necessary.
A round-trip ticket costs £11 adult, £5.50 child, £27.50 family.
That's all for now. Until next issue, let me remind you that laughter is contagious. Be a carrier.
David Ross, Publisher, Britain Express
