Innholdsfortegnelse for April/May 2018 i Discover Britain

STATELY HOMES 1 Wrest Park 70 minutes from London Just five miles north of Luton, this 92-acre garden was a labour of love for the de Grey family, as successive generations tended and developed it from the 15th century onwards. The serene Long Water was built in the 1680s, while the baroque Pavilion filled with trompe l’oeil paintings was added 30 years later, along with the vast formal woodland garden landscaped by Batty Langley and Nicholas Hawksmoor. By the 1830s, the crumbling medieval house looked out of place in such grand surrounds so the 2nd Earl de Grey built a new mansion in the style of an old French chateau. Visit on the first Sunday of the month for Wallpaper Room Tours of parts of the house rarely open to…

In July 1909, Harry Houdini prepared for a run at Aberdeen’s Palace Theatre by throwing himself cuffed and chained into the city’s harbour. Emerging triumphant from the icy waters moments later in front of huge crowds, the great escapologist duly ensured his shows were a sell out. That Houdini chose the harbour as the setting for such a stunt in Aberdeen is unsurprising. The water dominates Scotland’s third largest city, which sits between where the rivers Dee and Don meet the North Sea. The harbour is the UK’s oldest surviving business (King David I of Scotland granted local bishops the right to levy tithes on ships in 1136), and work recently began on a £350 million expansion into the Bay of Nigg. It isn’t the only part of Aberdeen that…

OUT OF THE TRENCHES After the First World War ended on 11 November 1918, empires crumbled and new identities were formed. As the centenary approaches, Tate Britain unveils Aftermath: Art in the Wake of World War One. The show will detail memorial commissions and portraits of veterans, as well as showing the many ways in which the conflict inspired new stylistic approaches, including the humour-in-adversity of surrealism, the fractured landscapes of cubism and the return to classicism sought by more traditional talents – such as Meredith Frampton’s elegant 1928 portrait of the life model Marguerite Kelsey in the fashions of the day [above]. Aftermath: Art in the Wake of World War One runs from 5 June to 16 September at Tate Britain, Millbank. www.tate.org.uk/Britain ACROSS THE BAWDEN Following on the…

1. Tower ravens If legend is to be believed, then the six ravens at the Tower of London are the most important animals in the capital. An old saying goes that if the ravens leave the tower it will crumble, and that the kingdom will fall to ruin soon after. Today seven ravens – one extra, just in case – are kept there by a raven master and he’s the only person they will respond to. They sleep in a specially designed aviary at night and are let out at sunrise, feeding on raw meat such as chicken, mice and rabbits, and dog biscuits soaked in blood. Centuries ago, wild ravens were common throughout London. Some suggest that they were attracted to the Tower by the smell of the corpses…

Gibraltar combines the charm of Britain with year-round sunshine. The Rock, as locals like to call it, rises proudly from the azure waters of the Mediterranean, just off the coast of Spain. A British overseas territory, Gibraltarians speak English and Spanish, while the territory’s currency is the pound sterling. Shopping is also VAT free. Gibraltar boasts a unique history, culture and landscape. Gorham’s Cave Complex has been awarded UNESCO World Heritage status for its archaeological significance. Gorham’s Cave, its strongest attraction, is one of the last known habitations of the Neanderthals in Europe. The Rock also has links to Lord Nelson and Winston Churchill, with the latter fighting to save its famous Barbary macaque population during the Second World War. The macaques, the only wild monkey population in Europe, remain…

Great Scotts! I adored your feature about the Gilbert Scott family [London Calling, Issue 202]. On our recent trip to London, my family visited a Tate Modern exhibition and had drinks at the St Pancras Renaissance [above], and our daughter posed for photos inside a red phone box – we had no idea there was a link between them all. What a funny coincidence! Thank you for another great edition, we can not wait to come back. Mrs M Williams, Ottawa, Canada A way with words It’s been almost a decade since my husband and I came to England for a vacation. Your magazine gives us a great fix until we can return. We simply adore reading about your country’s great authors, and all your phrases make us hoot. Next…

• Free international flights • Two nights in a luxury London hotel • West End tickets • Afternoon tea • A Windsor Castle day trip • Stately homes • Return first-class tickets to Edinburgh • Two nights in a country house hotel What would your dream holiday to Britain include? A five-star stay in London, tickets to a West End show and a trip to the location of this year’s royal wedding, Windsor Castle? How about a visit to some of our nation’s stunning stately homes, or first-class return tickets to Edinburgh [above]? Well, with our Great British Holiday competition, you can win all of this and more. The holiday of a lifetime Starting with free international flights from your nearest gateway airport (for all overseas entrants), the winner and…

Sir John Betjeman described Cornwall as a land of “golden and unpeopled bays” with “thyme-and-mushroom scented surf” Every summer as a boy, John Betjeman would chug down to Cornwall on the train. His parents, Ernest and Mabel, would take him on the Atlantic Coast Express from London to Padstow, a now defunct route, but one the future poet laureate would describe as “the most beautiful train journey I know”. Their destination was, as he would later describe it, a land of “golden and unpeopled bays” with “thyme-and-mushroom scented surf”. These holidays were not just jolly jaunts for Betjeman, trips to fall into the well of childhood memory. Instead, they were to inspire much of his later work – and some of the finest verse about the seaside, landscape and good…

The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, on 19 May in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, is set to be a joyous occasion, with crowds of well-wishers and photographers boosting the Berkshire town of Windsor’s population to bursting point. No one can then begrudge the couple a little privacy as they steal away together afterwards on honeymoon. So while the tabloids speculate over the couple’s chosen destination, what better excuse to revisit two UK honeymoon venues enjoyed by previous generations of royalty and unlock the history that makes them such fascinating places? When the Duke of York – ‘Bertie’ – married Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon on 26 April 1923, he was unaware that he would be thrust onto the throne as King George VI by the shock abdication of his…

REFLECTIONS ON THE SELFIE At a medieval castle in Wales hangs one of the finest Jacobean portraits, even though it measures just nine inches wide. Isaac Oliver’s miniature of Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury [above] shows the poet, socialite and knight as a melancholic young lover, reclining on the banks of a stream in a forest. The painting is the focus of the House of Portraits exhibition at Powis Castle, exploring the stories behind the Herbert family and their likenesses. The portraits, which go on display from 20 March, include works by British masters John Singer Sargent, Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds. The exhibition will uncover the hidden meanings behind the portraits – the selfies of their day. The castle also offers an impressive collection of textiles, silk,…

“There’s a spiral staircase leading up to my office in Hampton Court Palace – it’s just like Hogwarts” Dr Lucy Worsley Chief Curator, Historic Royal Palaces I was born in Reading. I briefly went to the same school as Jane Austen, The Abbey School. I loved going to places like the Weald and Downland Living Museum, and the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) with my mum. I remember being very scared of this man made out of straw [Jesse Maycock’s Straw King Alfred at MERL]. He looked as if he could come alive and chase you like you were in a horror film. I studied history at Oxford. It’s a very beautiful city. I love the Radcliffe Camera, part of the Bodleian Library. Sometimes I would work in there…

Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford, was just 18 years old when his illegitimate – and only – son was born. The marquess was one of the wealthiest men in Europe and would go on to become an MP and a distinguished cavalry officer, yet it is this brief early liaison with Mrs Agnes Jackson that would define his legacy. The son in question was Richard Jackson, who would later revert to his mother’s maiden name Wallace and gift the family’s vast, world-class collection of art, furniture, armour and other antiques to the nation. Displayed together in Hertford House, the family’s former London home, the Wallace Collection today stands as a testimony to the connoisseurship, wealth and eye for beauty of a single aristocratic lineage. The first two marquesses had…