Indholdsfortegnelse for March - April 2022 i Britain

For generations, the name Garrard has been synonymous with British royalty, and now the jeweller has opened up some of its ledgers to the public for the first time in a new display in the Jewel Room at London’s Kensington Palace. Dating back to the firm’s founding year of 1735, royal commissions have ranged from silver communion cups to gemstone-laden crowns. You can also pore over the intricate technical drawing used to create one of Garrard’s most iconic pieces, Queen Mary’s fringe tiara (1919). Incorporating diamonds – taken from Queen Victoria’s wedding gift to Mary – into 47 spectacularly graduated rays, the glittering headpiece was later worn by the then Princess Elizabeth (now HM The Queen) on her wedding day in 1947. Alongside the fascinating archival material are samples of…

Queen Elizabeth I’s coronation on 15 January 1559 was a dazzling affair. She had arrived in Westminster the previous day borne in a litter of gold brocade with her Master of the Horse, Robert Dudley, in attendance. Crowds cheered the tall, gracious, smiling young woman – such a welcome contrast to her late, chronically sick half-sister Queen Mary – and there were pageants and feasting. Thus began a reign that would be celebrated as a golden era – yet from the outset, 25-year-old Elizabeth faced daunting challenges. A precarious childhood and youth of shifting fortunes during the reigns of her father Henry VIII, Protestant half-brother Edward VI and Catholic Mary had nevertheless prepared her well with hard lessons in survival and self-reliance. In the swaggering masculine world of 16th-century England,…

It can be strange to think that Hampshire’s genteel county town was once a royal capital. Although its compact city centre is crammed with historic sights, the relaxed atmosphere that pervades Winchester’s pedestrianised High Street, leafy cathedral green and cobbled side-streets belies its pivotal place in English history. The Belgae, a tribe of Celtic Britons, established a fortified settlement here in the Iron Age, leading the conquering Romans to name their provincial capital Venta Belgarum, or Market Town of the Belgae. It quickly became one of the largest towns in Roman Britain, although only parts of the original city walls survive today. Venta Belgarum became Venta Caester under the Saxons, then Wintancaester, and when Alfred the Great was crowned King of Wessex in 871, he made Winchester his capital. The…

STAR LETTER TWO ELIZABETHS I was delighted when I saw the article ‘The making of a Queen’ about Elizabeth I [Vol 90 Issue 1], a fascinating monarch who reigned over such turbulent Tudor times for no less than 40 years. I am looking forward to reading the second part! Another Elizabeth is marking the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne on 6 February this year – HM Queen Elizabeth II. I wanted to pay homage to this great monarch and join in the celebrations of the Platinum Jubilee. To this avail, I have created a cross-stitch piece [pictured] to commemorate this milestone for the first time in British history. Teresa Gil, Spain Our star letter wins a copy of Jane Austen’s Universal Truths by Susan Hart-Byers, a collection…

Millions of people have followed the exploits of the Shelbys, a notorious family of gangsters living in 1900s Birmingham, in the period drama series Peaky Blinders. With the show set to air its sixth and final series in 2022, The Official Peaky Blinders Cookbook is here (White Lion Publishing, £14.99; www.quartoknows.com), taking culinary inspiration from the locations the gang frequents, including the bar at The Garrison, whose humble, hearty recipes include traditional Scotch woodcock. Ingredients: 2 thick slices of seeded granary bread a knob of butter, softened2 teaspoons gentleman’s relish or anchovy paste3½ tablespoons double (heavy) cream3 eggs, beaten4 salted anchovy fillets1 teaspoon capers¼ bunch of chives, chopped½ punnet of mustard cress, sliced salt and ground black pepper Method: Toast or griddle the slices of bread, making sure you have…

● Free international flights● A night in a luxury London hotel● Tickets to some of the capital’s top sights● Gourmet dining● A night in a boutique hotel in Edinburgh● Edinburgh Castle● Spa stay and dinner in the Cotswolds● Blenheim Palace Would you like the chance to stay in five-star luxury in London, taking in the capital’s most famous sights? How about a trip to the quaint villages and rolling hills of the Cotswolds? Or even a visit to Edinburgh, Scotland’s stunning capital? You can win all of this and more in our fantastic Great British Holiday competition. A luxurious London stay Starting with free flights (for overseas entrants), one lucky winner and their guest will travel to London for a luxury onenight stay at The Capital, a five-star townhouse hotel…

A more picture-perfect townscape would be hard to find. A medieval castle on the bend of a river, all romantic towers and turrets, dwarfs a toytown of black-and-white timber houses, with the verdant Arun Valley as a fairy-tale backdrop. Arundel is so perfect that it can seem almost unreal. Even its name somehow brings to mind an ancient, mythical stronghold – another Camelot. The castle was founded on Christmas Day in 1067 by Roger de Montgomery, the first Earl of Arundel, one of William the Conqueror’s closest advisers. It is one of England’s longest-inhabited country houses, the seat and still the home of the Duke of Norfolk, England’s premier duke. The castle was badly damaged in the Civil War and most of what you see today is the result of…

Britain’s breathtaking scenery has inspired generations of artists, musicians and writers, from Wordsworth’s Lake District to Elgar’s beloved Malvern Hills. And it’s the wild, rugged beauty of West Yorkshire’s Pennine moorlands that is embedded in the compelling worlds created by the Brontë sisters – Charlotte, Emily and Anne. When Cathy Earnshaw, the heroine of Wuthering Heights, says: “My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary,” you can hear Emily Brontë’s own passion for the landscape that moved her. The young Brontë siblings moved to Haworth in 1820 when their father, Patrick, was offered the living of the church of St Michael and All Angels. The parsonage, perched on the edge of the village with the moors beyond, was a far cry from…

ROSELAND PENINSULA Spring comes early to the west of Cornwall, warmed by the Gulf Stream, where the Roseland Peninsula is washed by reflected light from the Fal Estuary and St Austell Bay. It is a harmonious mix of sandy beaches, secluded coves, wooded valleys, dramatic headlands and picturesque hamlets. Caerhays Castle, built by Regency architect John Nash, stands in woodland gardens ablaze with rhododendrons and camellias, home to champion trees and a century-old magnolia. One of England’s prettiest churches, the 13th-century, creekside St Just in Roseland, almost dips a toe in the water. At Miss V’s tea room, in the subtropical gardens, a Cornish cream tea comes with just-baked scones and local jam. Where to stay The creation of Olga Polizzi, doyenne of hoteliers, the Tresanton sits perched above the…

Brits are fiercely proud of London’s West End. Throughout history, leading performers have fallen over themselves to tread the boards in London. Shakespeare himself is said to have been a part of an acting troupe called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men who played in the original Globe Theatre on the south bank of the Thames. In more recent times, Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Noël Coward, John Hurt, Helen Mirren and Anthony Hopkins are just a few of Britain’s finest to tread those famous stages. And from the USA: Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Charlton Heston, Judy Garland and Sammy Davis Jr. Every year, a host of Hollywood actors add West End credits to their resumes, such is the lure of the bright lights of Theatreland. In the heart of London’s West End,…

A petite peninsula in South Wales, jutting into the Bristol Channel and basking in its own microclimate, the Gower is blessed with epic sandy beaches, sweeping moors and marshes and diverse wildlife. No wonder it was declared the UK’s first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty back in 1956. Fans include poet, writer and nearby Swansea’s most famous son, Dylan Thomas, who waxed lyrical about Rhossili and the tidal island of Worm’s Head in a clutch of short stories. These days, the word is out and the Gower’s showstopper, Rhossili Bay, is often featured in round-ups of the world’s best beaches. Spend some time walking the windswept coastline, exploring dunes dotted with yellow irises and purple orchids, stumbling upon archaeological sites and getting the sand between your toes, and you’ll see…