Indholdsfortegnelse for Nov/Dec 2025 i Britain

Christmas is a time rich in tradition; from decorating trees to stirring up a plum pudding and singing carols, we take comfort from following in the footsteps of the generations that came before us. So what more fitting place to go Christmas shopping than in one of the iconic London stores that have been supplying enticing festive fare for a couple of centuries or more? Fortnum & Mason on Piccadilly has seen an astonishing 317 Christmases come and go since it was founded in 1707, when entrepreneurial ex-footman to Queen Anne, William Fortnum, brought the aristocratic connections he had gleaned at the palace into business with grocer Hugh Mason. Famous ever since for its luxurious foodstuffs, the store is best known for its sumptuously filled, monogrammed wicker hampers, synonymous with…

A newcomer to Lewes would have a hard time believing that, once a year, this pretty town with its cobbled streets, higgledy-piggledy houses and cosy coffee shops transforms into the stage for Britain’s most dramatic and infamous Guy Fawkes Night celebration. Tucked into a sweeping valley in the East Sussex South Downs, Lewes is home to a ruined medieval priory, a Norman castle and the Anne of Cleves House – gifted to her after her marriage to Henry VIII. The area was once a rural outpost of the Bloomsbury Group, and it’s also where revolutionary thinker Thomas Paine penned The Rights of Man, a work that would go on to influence both the American and French Revolutions. The world-famous Lewes Bonfire Night is just another string to the town’s historic…

Touch down on the Orkney Islands by plane and it is the fertile farmland, neatly boxed by dykes, or dry-stone walls, that you notice first. Arrive by sea and it’s the bustle of capital Kirkwall and its 18th- and 19th-century townhouses that captivate. Either way, after an invariably turbulent crossing – the Pentland Firth separating the archipelago from the northern Scottish mainland is one of the world’s roughest straits – the sight of Orkney, going about its business, seemingly in complete independence of the rest of the UK, is a striking one. Orkney’s history has always set it apart, furnishing it with its own proud cultural reference points. Its prehistoric past saw it flourish as a major social and ceremonial centre, the influence of which likely extended across all Neolithic…

Nova Guest laughs as she remembers the first time she saw Ashby Manor House, near Rugby. Away on an anniversary trip with her future husband, “we drove up to this house with these beautiful Lutyens gates and I was just speechless.” Ashby belonged then to Ivor Guest, 4th Viscount Wimborne. “It was amazing,” she says. “I thought, ‘this is obviously an important house.’ I remember feeling like I was in the kind of house I’d never been in before – somewhere so old, with so much history.” Nova’s sense of historical importance was well placed. The Catesby family acquired Ashby in 1375 and it was in their hands when in 1605, in a small wood-panelled room above the gatehouse – now called the Plot Room – a group of conspirators…

STAR LETTER CHIVALRY IN THE COTSWOLDS Your last issue [Vol 93 Issue 4] mentioned taking the train to the market town of Moreton-in-Marsh. My husband and I did just that in June on our visit to the Cotswolds! After arriving by train and checking into our inn, we took a stroll up and down the High Street to get a feel for the town. The window of an antique shop caught our eye, so we stopped to peek inside. A friendly English couple around our age stopped, too. They told us that this was their first holiday to the Cotswolds and then shared their plans for the next day, as did we. When we eventually parted ways, the gentleman shook my husband’s hand and then took mine. Bowing ever so…

Stonehenge, Sutton Hoo, Vindolanda: some of the best-known sites revealing Britain’s incredible archeological heritage. Another, less celebrated but equally revealing site meanders through the very heart of London: the River Thames. At low tide, its mud and gravel banks expose a constantly shifting archeological record. Thousands of amateur archeologists – known as mudlarks – scour its foreshore for lost treasures, now the centrepiece of Secrets of the Thames, a fascinating exhibition at London Museum Docklands. The exhibition features over 350 mudlarked objects, many displayed for the first time. Some are personal items, like the iron knife inlaid with silver, thought to belong to a Saxon settler arriving a thousand years ago. Others are poignant, such as a black enamel and gold mourning ring from 1670, inscribed “Oh my sister, my…

TOURS Pop into Parliament Ever wondered what it’s really like to be a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons? Or what the King has to do when he opens Parliament? A guided tour of the Houses of Parliament provides a rare insight into the workings of our government, its turbulent history, and the role that it plays today. See the spot where Guy Fawkes was hung, drawn and quartered, and where King Charles I was sentenced to death, and take in the building’s extraordinary architecture and fine art collection. Learn about the eccentric traditions that still take place today, and admire the glittering interiors of Westminster Palace, and the woes and wants of all the royals and rogues that have walked its halls. parliament.uk/visiting OPENING Capturing the castle…

So the shortest day came, and the year diedAnd everywhere down the centuries of thesnow-white worldCame people singing, dancing,To drive the dark away. Susan Cooper, ‘The Shortest Day’ They came in darkness, a motley crowd some 4,500 strong, to windswept Salisbury Plain – young and old, punk, pagan, pilgrim, Druid, New Ager, eco-warrior, wiccan, shaman, sightseer… Some wore bobble hats, some antlers or mistletoe crowns. In a mood of anticipation, they waited as the sky turned from ink to powder blue to grey, and out of the shadows loomed the enigmatic stone colossi that exert such a pull on the imagination. So, at 8.04am at Stonehenge, began 21 December 2024, the shortest day, the winter solstice, the pagans’ Yule. Drummers drummed, a hobby horse pranced, Morris men capered, yogis performed…

For many, it’s hard to imagine anything more idyllic than Cornwall on a summer’s day: sun-drenched beaches, bustling harbour towns and rolling green hills that spill into the sea. But as autumn fades and winter settles in, the county reveals a different kind of beauty: quieter, moodier and deeply atmospheric. It’s the perfect time of year to visit and enjoy Cornwall at a gentler pace, with space to appreciate its timeless landscapes. Britain’s most southwesterly region approaches winter with its own particular spirit. With its mild climate, Cornwall is the perfect destination for those looking to escape the winter chill. Snowfall is a rarity here – so much so that The Nare, a country house hotel on the Roseland Peninsula, offers guests a complimentary stay should flakes ever settle on…

Chugging down the five-and-a-half-mile Swanage Railway towards the coast in Dorset in southwest England, you are treated to perhaps the most awe-inspiring sight from any train in Britain, though that’s open to debate (there are so many). After your steam train slowly rattles along from Norden station, hissing, hooting and emitting great plumes of sulphur-smelling vapours, the jagged ruins of a classic medieval castle arise on a hillock to the right. You’re getting a close-up view of Corfe Castle, built by William the Conqueror in the 11th century, although it was previously the site of a residence where Edward the Martyr, the king of England, is believed to have been brutally assassinated aged 16 in AD 978. Heritage trains and history all seem rolled into one here, and it’s even…