The site, 30 acres in total, was donated by the University of Cambridge. Arcs of white headstones mark the graves of 3,812 American war dead from the Battle of the Atlantic and the strategic air campaign over Europe. A great wall with tablets engraved with the names of the missing commemorates a further 5,127. A lofty memorial chapel has two huge maps, stained-glass windows, and a mosaic ceiling memorial.
There is also a Visitor Building where a staff member can answer questions and escort relatives to grave and memorial locations.
I took my aged mother here for a visit in 2007; she had probably visited it previously with my dad. It’s a sombre place, which you might want to visit if you want to reflect on how many Americans died in WWII fighting from British bases. The American air campaign was founded on the flawed strategy of conducting daylight precision raids without fighter escort, and they suffered huge losses.
A La Ronde, Devon
National Trust.
A unique sixteen-sided house, built for two spinster cousins after their return from a grand tour in the 18th century. It looks like something from a child’s imagination, and its cramped rooms contain large collections of curious objects. There is a feather frieze composed of feathers of many species of birds, and on the top floor is a shell-encrusted gallery, said to be composed of about 25,000 shells, which because of its fragility and problems of access has to be viewed by closed circuit television. Outside is a small garden, and there are great views of the Exe estuary.
Woolsthorpe Manor, Lincs.
National Trust.
Woolsthorpe is a modest manor house, noted as the birthplace of Sir Isaac Newton. The famous apple tree can still be seen from Newton’s bedroom window. I recollect that some period interiors are on display. There are also some exhibitions and science-related displays, and a short film about Newton.
It does not take very long to go round the house itself.
Waddesdon Manor, Bucks.
National Trust.
Waddesdon is one of several grand houses built by the Rothschilds (famous Jewish bankers). It was built in 1874-9 for Ferdinand de Rothschild, to a French design, and intentionally resembles a French Renaissance chateau. Ferdinand clearly dreamed of mansard roofs, pinnacles, massive chimneys, dormer windows and staircase towers. The pastiche chateau has similarly ornate French interiors, and Ferdinand was able to salvage panelling from the great Parisian houses demolished by Baron Haussmann to make way for the new boulevards. Needless to say, the furniture is also French. The rooms on the regular tour are full of treasures. The Batchelor’s Wing is not open at weekends, but contains smoking and billiard rooms, and even more treasures.
Outside, there is an entrance to the Rothschild wine cellars, some fine gardens and a wooded park. The formal parterre is to the south, and elsewhere is less formal well-planted parkland, the kind of terrain in which one can get lost trying to find the car park. There is a large 18th century style aviary housing exotic birds from over the world, and the grounds are dotted with contemporary sculptures.
With a total of 45 rooms on display, the visitor should allow enough time to see everything. At least a half-day visit is suggested.
As of Spring 2016, there is a large new hard-standing car-park on level ground, so that visitors no longer park on steep roadsides in the woods nearer to the house. The new car park is 15 minutes’ walk from the house, and free shuttle buses are provided.
Roadside signs and the free map indicate the way to Windmill Hill. This is not primarily a visitor attraction, but is the Rothchilds’ archive and conference centre. The buildings are an attractive set of Modernist structures set on a hilltop, on the site of the former Windmill Hill Dairy Farm, and complete with ornamental pool and modern sculptures, and a flat arch framing the view. The site is well worth a visit to snoop around the exterior and enjoy the architecture.
SS Great Britain, Bristol
In 1970 the rusted hulk was recovered and towed back to Bristol for restoration and display. Restoration has continued from the 1970s to the present day.
I’ve visited the ship two or three times, and seen changes each time. Today’s visitor will see the innovative “waterline” glass roof which looks like water from above, but below provides a low-humidity space to conserve the hull and allow the underwater shape and propeller etc to be seen. The hull has been conserved and holes patched with fibreglass, decks have been repaired and renewed, a 1845 replica steam engine has been fitted, and replicas of various cabins and the passenger saloon have been fitted.
In addition to the ship itself, there is a museum of artefacts from the ship’s history, and a dock where other vessels are moored.
Sept 2014: No huge changes since my last visit, but there are now lifelike mannequins posed in various cabins. There is a realistic recreation of the stokehold forward of the lower engine room. The galley is fully fitted out (it even has a rat and dirty dishes), as are the steerage sleeping areas and the first-class promenade deck and dining room. In fact most of the ship is now fully fitted out to replicate its early layout and usage, with the exception of the forecastle (closed) and the forward hold (a stripped-out hole) and boiler room (a modern function space).
It looks that the ship’s boats will be added next, as replicas are on the quay-side.
Well worth a visit if you are at all interested in history, or Britain’s maritime heritage.
Finding the ship may be easier with satnav, but it is possible to find it by following the brown anchor signs. There is a pay car park – the parking meter makes one pass an IQ test on parking one’s car, entering the numeric half of the car registration. However long you park, you only have to pay £2, as you can claim the rest back when buying your Great Britain ticket.
It is possible to see the ship in about one and a half hours, but there is a historic dockside nearby that is worth a stroll.
Fleet Air Arm Museum, Somerset
The Fleet Air Arm is the flying section of the Royal Navy, and the collection concentrates on naval aircraft. Continue reading “Fleet Air Arm Museum, Somerset”
Canons Ashby, Northants.
National Trust.
The house originated as a Tudor manor house and has been altered and extended over the centuries. It is built round a courtyard, whose rough and irregular walls are set with leaded windows, while a squat tower rises over the south front. The exterior of the house is mostly clad in handsome stone. A series of impoverished owners have made few changes since the 19th century.
The visitor enters across the courtyard and into the great hall. The drawing room upstairs is dominated by a massive Elizabethan fireplace, and has a domed plasterwork ceiling covered with carving and with a massive central pendant. Other notable rooms include the Painted Parlour, with trompe l’oeil decoration. The old kitchen, part of the cellars, and other service rooms can be viewed.
Now (2016) the Long Gallery is a through route, and two small rooms opening off it can be viewed. Descending to the Winter Parlour, one can visit two servant’s rooms en route.
Outside, the west side faces a grassy court, and the south side faces a formal garden of 18th century design. The house is set in an expanse of parkland.
A few dozen yards from the house, on the opposite side of the road, is a church, now reduced to a quarter of its original size, all that remains of the priory. Materials were taken from the demolished east end of the church to to build the H-shaped Tudor house.
When the NT acquired the house they had to take urgent action to prevent parts of it from falling down. Some old wall paintings uncovered during the works can still be seen upstairs. Services consisted of one cold water tap in the kitchen.
This is a charming old house which I have visited more than once. The gardens are also very pleasant.
Whitby Abbey, Yorks
English Heritage.
The abbey stands on a headland overlooking the sea and the town of Whitby. The Gothic ruins are said to have inspired Bram Stoker when he was writing ‘Dracula’. The site dates from AD 657, and the visible ruins, in an Early English gothic style, date from the 13th century. Quite a lot of structure still stands, despite the ravages of time, North Sea weather, and a direct hit by a shell from a from a WWI German battle-cruiser. Also on the site are the remains of the Cholmley family mansion, now adapted to house the visitor centre and exhibitions. An audio tour is also available.
The Abbey can be reached from the town either by 199 steps, or by a much more circuitous motor route.
This is an iconic Gothic monument, and well worth a visit if you are visiting Whitby.
Stowe House, Bucks
Stowe House nowadays houses a well-known public school, but on most weekdays the house is opened to the public. Visits are managed by the Stowe House Preservation Trust, which has a ‘Visitor Centre’ in the South basement front of the house, just to the left of the grand stairs. Access is by guided tour, with a self-guided option during school holidays. The immense house is built on a palatial scale, and has some magnificent interiors. It is regarded as one of Britain’s finest 18th-century houses. Restoration work continues, the total budget being £40 million (!)
If you are unable to visit on a weekday, you can see the exterior from the National Trust’s Stowe Landscape Gardens, which surround it.
I thought that the central hall with its elliptical ceiling is really impressive, and the other state rooms are worth seeing too.
Please note that Stowe School, the Stowe House Preservation Trust, and the National Trust (who manage the gardens) are all separate organisations. Access to the house for tourists is via the National Trust’s gardens and the National Trust’s New Inn reception complex.
Rievaulx Terrace & Temples, Yorks
National Trust
The site is an artificial terrace of serpentine form, on a wooded escarpment overlooking the ruins of Rievaulx Abbey. Wide lawns are framed by banks of luxuriant flowers, and at either end of the terrace is a small temple. The Doric or Tuscan temple has flooring from the Abbey, and the Ionic temple at the other end was intended as a banqueting house and has elaborate interior décor. There is an exhibition in the Ionic Temple basement, in the former kitchen quarters. The terrace was constructed for Thomas Duncombe III, from the same family who owned Duncombe Park a mile away. Duncombe Park also has a formal terrace and temples, constructed earlier in about 1730.
The gardens are very pleasant, and worth a visit if you are touring in the area. Other attractions, e.g. Duncombe Park, Nunnington Hall, are nearby. In theory, the site overlooks the nearby Rievaulx Abbey below, but in practice the view (in 2005) is severly restricted by tree growth.