CONTENT
- Hotel Special
- Destinations: Cotehele, Cornwall
- Book Review: Royal Scandals
- 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.
David Ross, Publisher
UK Destinations
Cotehele House
Saltash, Cornwall, England
Cotehele was the home of the Edgecumbe family for almost 600 years. The first manor here was begun by Sir Richard Edgecumbe in 1490, though it was left to his son to complete the house in 1520.
Subsequent generations of Edgecumbes did not alter the structure of the house, and today Cotehele is one of the most complete medieval manors in England.
The house is composed of intimate medieval rooms built around three courtyards. The Great Hall has a superb timber ceiling, and boasts an enjoyable collection of arms and armour.
More about Cotehele ...
Book Review
by Michael Farquhar
Reviewed by Barbara Ballard
A Treasury of Royal Scandals reads like a juicy soap opera. It's a light-hearted and entertaining treatment of seriously scandalous behaviour that ranges from mere adultery to torture to beheading-to say nothing of the fact that most of these deeds were committed by those nearest and dearest. Present-day royal scandals can't hold a candle to these infamous tales of past centuries.
While the book covers all of the European royal families, there is an emphasis on the British ones and their French and Spanish relatives. The Russians get their due as well. The book also contains 11 family trees, a timeline and a list of monarchs.
The author strikes straight to the heart of the audacious behaviour of the royals, leaving out extraneous details while highlighting the gory facts. He is adept at the humorous turn of phrase.
The stories are approached from a theme point of view rather than chronologically or by personage. The Houses of Tudor, Stuart, and Lancaster and York are well represented. Jane Grey and George IV are covered in the 'sinning' section, and where else would Henry VIII and George IV belong except in the 'Unholy Matrimony' chapters. There is a section on family feuds devoted almost exclusively to the War of the Roses, the Tudors, and the Hanovers. The section 'Death be not Dignified' is not for the faint of heart. 'Strange Reigns' gives us the lowdown on Henry II and George III.
Each story is concise enough to read in spare moments and makes for attention-getting party conversation. While you may already be familiar with many of the tales, the fresh approach in this book manages to make them entertaining all over again. It also brings naughty new information into the limelight. Prepare to be pleasurably appalled.
Travel Tips and News
Navy Days in Chatham, Kent
2, 3 and 4 June
A thrilling open-air, military spectacular with warships from the British Navy and overseas fleets gathering in Chatham to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. On shore, spectacular performances can be seen from Britain’s finest military display teams and in the skies above Chatham breathtaking air-displays will take place. In addition, displays by the British Army, the RNLI, HM Coastguard and HM Customs & Excise, make the KM Chatham Navy Days a tremendous family day out.
For further information, contact visit http://www.navydays.org.uk
Edinburgh Festival Concerts
A series of 25 late-evening classical concerts is a new feature at the 2002 Edinburgh International Festival (August 1-31). The
concerts, with tickets always available on the day of the performance, start at 10.30 pm on Aug. 5 coinciding with the first week of the
Fringe Festival. Alfred Brendel, Andras Schiff, and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra are among those taking part.
Website: http://www.eif.co.uk.
700 UK Cheeses in Cotswold Town
Visitors to Britain who assume locally produced cheese is limited to a few long-established products, such as Cheddar and Stilton,
are in for a surprise if they call at Chipping Campden on September 28-29. This is when the picturesque Cotswold town stages the
British Cheese Festival, featuring about 700 different cheeses from all parts of the country.
They will be able to taste and buy cheeses made not only from cow's milk, but also from goats, ewes and even buffaloes. A wide range will be on sale and as well as tastings. The festival will include workshops, demonstrations and meals at hotels, restaurants and pubs.
Chipping Campden, 90 miles from London, is a good touring centre for the Cotswold Hills. The festival marks the start of British
Cheese Week, a nationwide promotion.
Website: http://www.thecheeseweb.com.
A Century of Motor Sport at Beaulieu
Historic racing and rally cars and motorcycles are on display in "Speed: a Century of Motor Sport," a new gallery in the National
Motor Museum at Beaulieu in the New Forest, 86 miles south-west of London.
The opening of the gallery coincides with the centenary of Britain's first victory in international motor racing and the 50th anniversary of Lord Montagu opening Palace House, Beaulieu, to the public. He had five cars on display, and steadily enlarged the collection. It became the National Motor Museum in 1972.
The oldest of the 19 racing cars on display is a 1903 Napier Gordon Bennett. Others include a 1922 Aston Martin 'Strasbourg'; a Vanwall driven by Stirling Moss in 1958; the 1994 Benetton B193/4 driven by Michael Schumacher to his first world championship; and Damon Hill's 1996 winner, the Williams FW 1 8.
The gallery has Bentley and Jaguar Le Mans cars; and 13 motorcycles from a 1912 Norton to a 1975 Kawasaki. The museum's world land speed record breakers include the first and last of Malcolm and Donald Campbell's Bluebirds, and the 1929 Golden Arrow. The museum is open daily.
Website: http://www.beaulieu.co.uk.
Empire & Commonwealth Saluted in Bristol
Britain's imperial past and today's Commonwealth will be the subject of a new museum opening in the West of England city of Bristol on September 26. The British Empire and Commonwealth Museum is taking shape in a former railway terminus designed by Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, at the city's Temple Meads station.
Using 75,000 artefacts, it will show how the empire evolved into the independent nations of the Commonwealth.
Galleries cover the period from John Cabot's voyage from Bristol to Newfoundland in 1497 to the present day. They focus on the wide range of trade, culture, language and peoples making up the Commonwealth.
Bristol, 113 miles west of London, has other examples of Brunel's work: the Clifton Suspension Bridge, and SS Great Britain, the world's first iron propeller-driven ocean-going vessel.
Website: http://www.empiremuseum.co.uk.
200-Year-Old Steam Engine at 'Birthplace of Railways'
The Steam Elephant, a full-size working replica of a railway engine first constructed in 1815, has started regular demonstrations at an open-air museum in north-east England. The first standard gauge steam engine to be built in Britain this century, it has been painstakingly crafted over the last two-and-a-half years, using historic drawings.
Visitors can enjoy a short ride, with the engine pulling open carriages from the early days of rail travel, at Beamish, the North of England Open Air Museum near Newcastle upon Tyne, 270 miles north of London. There are also period shops, houses, a tram service and coal mine from the early 20th century to be seen at the award-winning museum.
North-east England was the birthplace of railways, being the home of engineer George Stephenson and the Stockton & Darlington, the world's first public passenger-carrying railway.
Beamish is open daily.
Website: http://www.beamish.org.uk
That's all for now. Until next issue, let me remind you that laughter is contagious. Be a carrier.
David Ross, Publisher, Britain Express
