Innholdsfortegnelse for February - March 2016 i Discover Britain

IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE THAT Colin Firth, as Mr Darcy, emerged fully clothed from Pemberley’s lake in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice over 20 years ago. The iconic moment, indelibly imprinted on the (largely female) collective imagination, calls to mind not only the sight of Firth in rather damp white shirt and breeches, but the glorious stately home Lyme Park, with its Italianate architecture and sweeping grounds, which stands in for Pemberley. Another source of inspiration for perhaps Austen’s best-loved stately home is the peerless Chatsworth in the Peak District, seat of the Dukes of Devonshire since 1549. Join us on a picturesque tour of these and other sublime Jane Austen settings – both real and as imagined by film directors (p.8). This issue is packed with…

To Deirdre Murphy, senior curator at Kensington Palace, its state apartments are populated with familiar, friendly faces. It’s not just that she is in possession of an excellent imagination; it is also literally true. In 1714, the advent of the Hanoverian King George I brought with it a makeover for the palace, which had first been adopted as a royal household by the co-regents King William III and Queen Mary II, the former of whom was looking for a country residence and cleaner air to help with his pronounced asthma. Rebuilding the central state apartments, hitherto a Sir Christopher Wren design (albeit one executed in haste), George I appointed the architect, interior designer, landscape architect and all-round Renaissance man, William Kent – the man credited with “designing Georgian Britain” –…

BREAKING THE MOULD Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, Jacob Epstein… Britain has shaped the careers of a long line of great sculptors. But did you know that a short drive from London, amid the rolling Surrey Hills, the appreciative can visit the Sculpture Park, which showcases the work of some 300 renowned and emerging artists from the 20th and 21st centuries across 10 acres? Clap eyes on an eclectic collection of artwork, all displayed among heathland, woodland and wildlife. www.thesculpturepark.com SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED Dukes Hotel in St James’s is one of the London cognoscenti’s most stylish sanctuaries. Exclusive and quietly tucked away, it first opened its doors in 1908, but it wasn’t until the 1950s that it earned its status as a London legend. For it was then that Ian Fleming…

Dear Miss Manners, “When drinking tea, never ever raise your little finger. It is not, as the misguided believe, elegant” My boss and I get on really well. We are the same age, we share interests and a sense of humour, and I would say we’re almost friends. But occasionally it can be hard to adjust when her manner becomes more businesslike. I can end up feeling offended when she talks to me like I’m a subordinate. How should I handle the situation? Yours, Confused Dear Confused, The first rule of office life is to remember who is boss. And as your experience has shown you, blurring the boundaries can make it unnecessarily hard for all. The good news is that it sounds like you have an overall happy working…

THE GOOD LIFE In the village of Timsbury, just outside Bath, budding chefs can combine a trip to a beautiful part of Britain with improving their foraging and cookery skills. Founded in 2013 by Bod and Annie Griffiths, who escaped London life to return to their rural roots, Vale House Kitchen is set in a local stone outbuilding adjacent to the family’s home and offers a wide range of “field to fork” courses – the most intensive of which is the two-day Complete Game Experience – with some of the best chefs and foragers in the West Country. www.valehousekitchen.co.uk PAPER TRAIL “I cannot sleep unless I am surrounded by books,” said Jorge Luis Borges, who would have been very happy at the Beaumont in Mayfair, where co-owner Jeremy King personally…

Where can you shop for Victorian prints, antique watches, fruit, vegetables and vintage fashion – while snacking on falafel or frozen yogurt, beer or bubble tea? Portobello’s enduring popularity lies in its mix of old and new, traditional and modern, long-standing community and new incomers. This is London’s most famous street antiques market and for many visitors, its colourful houses, quirky vibe and thriving street trade epitomise everything appealing about the capital. It was in 1999 that Portobello Road’s global status was inflated exponentially by what is these days commonly referred to locally simply as “that film”. Richard Curtis’s Notting Hill drew the world’s attention to this vibrant part of town and tourists flocked from all over the globe to see the actual blue door and visit Hugh Grant’s bookshop.…

It has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began. But I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley.” Elizabeth Bennet’s words to her sister Jane following the news of her engagement to Mr Darcy, the man she loathed until the volte-face finale to Pride and Prejudice, illuminate two things. First, that it’s not just “a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife” but, more to the point, that one in possession of a beautiful home must surely be seeking a mistress for it. Second, it shows how important place was to Miss Austen, who once noted: “There is nothing like staying at home for real…

I do not want art for a few any more than education for a few, or freedom for a few.” As a man with a keen appreciation for the power of words – known during his lifetime as a poet as well as an artist – William Morris certainly lived by his. Born in 1834 to a middle-class family in east London, he is considered the greatest designer of the Arts and Crafts Movement. This championed the use of traditional craftsmanship and had a disdain for ornate, machine-produced pieces (“altogether an evil”) that had taken off during the Industrial Revolution, insisting that the true designer-maker should be considered an artist. As such, Morris helped to make art available for all through its application to everyday items. He told his disciples:…

It’s one of the most famous addresses in London, if not the world, but while most of us don’t have a precise idea of what 10 Downing Street or No 1 London look like inside, the interior of 221B Baker Street is a familiar friend. “Cheerfully furnished, and illuminated by two broad windows,” as we are told in A Study in Scarlet, the first-floor study shared by Britain’s most famous fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes, and his friend and biographer, Dr Watson, is immediately recognisable, with two chairs facing its cosy fireplace and a sofa against the opposite wall (which bears a patriotic “VR” (Victoria Regina) inscribed in bullet holes, as described in The Musgrave Ritual). The most famous room in the Sherlock Holmes Museum is not a spacious one (Holmes…

Visit No visit to the city is complete without heading to the outstanding Ashmolean museum (www.ashmolean.org), founded in 1683 and now, after a substantial renovation, firmly established in the top level of world-class collections. The great university buildings of the Sheldonian Theatre and the Bodleian are well worth seeing normally via a guided tour – and the legendary Blackwell’s bookshop on Broad Street is a fine place to pick up a souvenir, especially those penned by any number of the university’s famous and well-published alumni. Eat and drink Oxford has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to historic pubs. Particularly notable are the Eagle and Child on St Giles (where CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien founded discussion group, the Inklings). The Turf is a medieval tavern located off Broad…