Clerkenwell, Shoreditch & Spitalfields
From a monastery, to a Tudor mansion, to the charitable foundation that's operated here since 1611, Charterhouse has played a discreet but important part…
Clerkenwell, Shoreditch & Spitalfields
From a monastery, to a Tudor mansion, to the charitable foundation that's operated here since 1611, Charterhouse has played a discreet but important part…
Cardiff
Croeso (welcome) to a bastion of the Welsh language in the overwhelmingly English-speaking capital. Cardiff's beautiful Old Library has been converted…
Cambridge
Riverside Magdalene often catches people out – the college name is properly pronounced 'Maud-lyn'. This former Benedictine hostel's greatest asset is the…
Dorset
A monastery was first founded in Wimborne, 10 miles north of Bournemouth, in around AD 705 by St Cuthburga. Most of the present-day Wimborne Minster was…
Leeds
Though not the grandest, Thornton’s Arcade was the first Victorian shopping arcade to be built in Leeds and remains one of the most interesting. Its sky…
London
This serene patch of green, north of what was once London's General Post Office, contains the unusual Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice, a loggia with 54…
Glasgow
A marvellous thing about walking in here is the way the noise of Great Western Rd suddenly recedes into the background. The wooded gardens follow the…
Cambridge
Wedged cosily among the great and famous colleges (but unconnected to better-known Trinity), diminutive Trinity Hall was founded in 1350 as a refuge for…
Beaney House of Art & Knowledge
Canterbury
This mock-Tudor edifice is the grandest on the main shopping thoroughfare, if not the most authentic. Formerly called the Royal Museum & Art Gallery, it…
Whitby
Whitby Sands, stretching west from the harbour mouth, offers donkey rides, ice-cream vendors and bucket-and-spade escapades, though the sand is mostly…
Cambridge
Gorgeous 15th-century Queens' College sits elegantly astride the river, connected by the unscientific-looking Mathematical Bridge. Highlights include two…
York
Most of York's Roman archaeology is hidden beneath the medieval city, so the superb displays in the Yorkshire Museum are invaluable if you want to get an…
Notting Hill & West London
A convent was established here in 1903, near the site of the Tyburn Tree gallows, and a closed order of Benedictine sisters still forms a community here…
Liverpool
The story of one of the world's great ports is the theme of this excellent museum and, believe us, it's a graphic and compelling page-turner. One of the…
Belfast
Though scarred by three decades of civil unrest, the former battleground of West Belfast is one of the most compelling places to visit in Northern Ireland…
Cambridge
Corpus Christi was founded in 1352, a heritage reflected in its exquisite buildings and a monastic atmosphere that radiates from the medieval Old Court…
Stratford-upon-Avon
Shakespeare genealogists can trace the family tree to the childhood home of the Bard's mother at Wilmcote, 3 miles west of Stratford. Aimed squarely at…
Cambridge
This tranquil 15th-century college was once a nunnery of St Radegund before the Bishop of Ely, John Alcock, expelled the nuns for 'improvidence,…
London
Claiming 520 acres of natural tranquillity just 15 minutes on the Tube from central London, Walthamstow Wetlands are pleasantly incongruous. The numerous…
Windsor & Eton
Over 800 years ago, in June 1215, King John met his barons in this unassuming field, 3 miles southeast of Windsor. Together they hammered out an agreement…
Kensington & Hyde Park
This grandly housed gallery In the Duke of York's Headquarters hosts temporary exhibitions of experimental and thought-provoking work across a variety of…
Stratford-upon-Avon
Aristocratic sculptor Lord Ronald Gower is the master behind this multisculpture homage to Shakespeare, which features the characters of Hamlet …
Kensington & Hyde Park
From 1834 until his death in 1881, the eminent Victorian essayist and historian Thomas Carlyle dwelt in this three-storey terrace house, bought by his…
York
As well as an impressive collection of Old Masters, York Art Gallery possesses works by LS Lowry, Pablo Picasso, Grayson Perry, David Hockney, and the…
Birmingham
Exotic marine creatures including otters, jellyfish, piranhas and razor-jawed hammerhead sharks swim in the Sir Norman Foster–designed National Sea Life…
Richmond, Kew & Hampton Court
When it comes to atmospheric graveyards in the capital, Highgate in north London tends to dominate the headlines. But venture to Barnes Common in…
Bath
Bath is known to many as a location in Jane Austen's novels, including Persuasion and Northanger Abbey. Although Austen lived in Bath for only five years,…
Whitby
Housed inside a 1901 chapel, this small museum has created a temple to Whitby jet – one of the town’s most prized exports, a gothic icon, and a favourite…
Stratford-upon-Avon
Gifted by American publisher George W Childs in 1887 to mark Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, and designed by Birmingham architect Jethro Cossins, this…
Museum of the History of Science
Oxford
Students of science will swoon at this fascinating museum, stuffed to the ceilings with awesome astrolabes, astonishing orreries and early electrical…
Cambridge
The 16th-century Emmanuel College ('Emma' to students) is famous for its exquisite chapel designed by Sir Christopher Wren. Seek out the plaque…
Oxford
Founded in 1555, this small college boasts a lovely 17th-century garden quad, designed by Sir Christopher Wren. Its exquisite chapel, a masterpiece of…
York
This excellent museum has displays of everyday life through the centuries, with reconstructed domestic interiors, a Victorian street and a prison cell…
Whitby
The 199 steps of Church Stairs lead steeply up from the end of Church St, passing the spooky graveyard of St Mary's Church, a favourite haunt of Goth…
Scotland
Just a few miles outside Edinburgh lies this glorious historic estate and its surrounding 1000 acres of ancient oak woodland. Seven walking and biking…
The West End
Five ground-floor rooms of Clarence House, the official residence of Charles, the Prince of Wales and his consort, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, are…
Cambridge
Cambridge’s intensely atmospheric Round Church is one of only four such structures in England. It was built by the mysterious Knights Templar in 1130 and…
The West End
In a district that was once pastureland, the name Soho is thought to have evolved from a hunting cry. While the centre of London nightlife has shifted…
The Lake District
John Ruskin (1819–1900) was one of the great thinkers of 19th-century society. A polymath, philosopher, painter and critic, he expounded views on…
London
In southwest London, Morden Hall Park is one of London’s most beautiful yet least-known green spaces. Spanned by several pretty footbridges, the Wandle…