British businessman Jeremy Hosking is one such man. His train, The Chairman’s Set, is comprised of repurposed former Caledonian Sleeper coaches – in classic 1950s British Rail “blood and custard” livery – and is, officially, Britain’s only privately owned train (the Royal Family have one, of course, but as theirs is owned by DB Cargo,...
Tag: travel
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UK Bank Holiday weekend travel: all the disruption on motorways and train services
Bank holidays are perfect for a quick staycation, camping trip or a long overdue visit to your parents. But when almost everyone in the country is off work on the exact same days, it’s bound to cause some queues. And, apparently, this year’s late May Bank Holiday is set to be the busiest on UK roads in years. ...
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The best cities for book lovers in the British Isles
Home to the UK’s National Centre of Writing, Norwich is renowned as a city of firsts. Revelations of Divine Love, written by Julian of Norwich in 1395, was the first book written by a woman in English. The first poem in blank verse was written here by Henry Howard in the 16th century. The first...
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Britain’s best white-sand beaches
Aquamarine waters, bone-white sands, bleached driftwood… the stuff of holiday brochures and Instagram posts, and designed to lure us to foreign and exotic idylls. But, hang on; why go abroad? Look closer to home. Britain’s coastline may not offer the bath-warm temperatures and languid palm trees of, say, the Caribbean, but it has some startling...
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Once utterly miserable, Margate is now a magnet for Hollywood actors
But cheap package holidays abroad and a lack of investment at home kickstarted the town’s demise. Great storms damaged the lido, jetty and bathing pavilions, hotels were sold off and shops boarded up. I grew up in the area in the 1980s and 1990s and Margate – particularly its old town – was utterly miserable....
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The 10 best holidays in Norfolk for 2024
One of the fleet used for the WWII Dunkirk evacuations in May 1940, her restoration included a new curved mahogany canopy and mast. Be sure to spot Ernest Tom Neathercoat, a lifeboat which served Wells between 1965 and 1990. How to do it: Curlew Coastal Charters (07512 086794; curlewcoastalcharters.co.uk) offers trips ranging from £10 per...
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Cranborne Chase, the A-list alternative to the Cotswolds
A couple of miles south of the village is Old Wardour Castle, an atmospheric ruin that appeared in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, starring Kevin Costner. Not far from that is pint-sized Swallowcliff, home to the Royal Oak pub, owned since 2020 by TV presenter James May. There are celebrity residents too...
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How a Welsh pub was rebuilt brick by brick and taken back to 1915
Five more buildings remade brick by brick St Fagans is a treasure trove of old buildings, remade. In its new home The Vulcan sits beside a row of shops and a working men’s club, both of which appeared in 2007 in an episode of Doctor Who set in the 1910s, thanks to their period accuracy....
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I visited ‘the UK’s worst seaside town’ – it’s like the British Library of bad tattoos
All summer we will be taking the pulse of our most famous traditional seaside towns, examining the efforts being made to regenerate them, and opining on whether they are still worth visiting. This week, Ed Grenby explores Skegness. I have narrowly avoided winning a plastic lizard. Which is good because I think I might have...
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Scotland’s 10 greatest islands
Arran sports two distilleries (a brace of breweries too), plus a great butcher, baker, ice-cream maker, and even a chocolatier. It’s the only island with all of Scotland’s wildlife Big Five (red deer, seals, otters, red squirrels and golden eagles). You can cycle round it in a day. Where to stay The Auchrannie is the...
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The best places to go fossil hunting in Britain
Crail Harbour Gallery and Tea room is a characterful café with sea views (01333 451896; crailharbourgallery.co.uk) . UK Association of Fossil Hunters occasionally runs guided fossil walks at Crail and other locations around the UK (ukafh) Best find? Hard to beat those track marks of the giant centipede. Boggle Hole, Yorkshire A one-mile hike south...
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This Yorkshire wonder is still a model village – 170 years on
Salt even banned pubs from the village (which explains why there’s now a bar in its promenade of shops called Don’t Tell Titus). These days though, Saltaire has Unesco-listed status and a cosmopolitan buzz. West Yorkshire is packed with beauty spots, but this mill complex is a one-off. Despite being full of visitors, it’s not...