General Chat

La Gooner, we lived in Clifton just in Beds for 10 years 1982 -1992.

Anne I live about 6 miles out of Hitchin just in Bedfordshire. Originally came from North London so why did I nearly forget my most stunning building visited last year.
The Emirates Stadium, breathtaking even if you are not a football fan

LaGooner Yes, been to Woburn but didn't get to Hatfield house. Went to a function (Rotary) about 20 years ago, I am sure that was at Knebworth but never went in the house (Used to live near Hitchin).

George, not been to any of the military places you mention. But have visited and enjoyed, Yeovil air museum. (OH ex Fleet Air Arm).

Bremen was a lovely town to visit and rebuilt in the style it was before we sadly demolished it.

Closer to home, Gloucester cathedral is wonderful.

We actually prefer the gardens outside the stately homes/NT properties Wend and spend all our time taking photos and me wishing I could paint.
Snowshill manor is a weird NT property in Glos, full of the many weird items collected but we prefer the tiny cottage garden, best visited in the summer when it is filled with cottage garden plants.

Dyrham near Bath is an interesting house with wonderful deer park surroundings and a smallish formal garden.

Sizergh castle in Cumbria is interesting, not very large and lived in by the family with an interesting garden.

Santiago de Compostela. The cathedral of St james has got to be the most spiritual place i've ever been. This is a WORKING cathedral...God's Factory. Several services going on all the time, people lighting candles, old ladies in black praying, choirs singing, confessionals in business, incence burning, pilgrims arriving in the square weeping after major walks and acts of faith.

Compared to the sterile, cold tourist oriented feel of St. Pauls...well there is no comparison. Even Durham didn't do much for me which surprised me.

Ryanair fly to Santiago. Go there for a good dose of Religion (even other people's) and some fabulous Tapas and atmos and wine and very friendly people in the stone arched bars near the centre. You'll go back, I promise.

I've worked there and vist very regularly. I'm not a Catholic but I would never visit Santiago without lighting a candle to someone at the Cathedral. Unmissable.

A few more well worth visiting

Fishbourne Roman Palace
Roman Baths, Bath
Cheddar Gorge and caves
Harlow Carr Gardens Yorkshire.
And last of all my very local Stately Homes Woburn Abbey,Hatfield House and Knebworth House and both of these have wonderful grounds and gardens

Well I'm a bit of a military freak, over the years i have visited all the WW2 Normandy landing beaches and the associated cemeteries where all those lads who gave their lives are buried.

Also some WW1 areas in particular the town of Arras, the architecture is stunning, and when you consider the place was virtually destroyed in WWI and rebuilt after the war in exactly the same as it was.

Throughout my many travels in France one place i visited will always live with me forever, and why i can never forgive those who committed this crime,The Das Reich division, the town is Oradour-sur-Glane,west central France, i will admit to shedding tears in these places.

http://www.oradour.info/

I also like visiting the Roman Antiquities in France,like the Pont du Gard which is an aqueduct over the river Gard part of the water system 50k long to supply freshwater to Nimes,
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/344
also the old villages that time has forgot, and there are many
The old castles along the Dordogne
I have been to so many places in France, probably more than i have been to in the UK.

George

Thank you, some ideas here for people looking for places to visit.

Long time since I went to HMS victory but loved it.
Trebah gardens, Lacock village, yes loved those too. Not managed to get to Heligan yet. Liked the Eden project too.

If you like impressionist art and are in Paris The Musee d'Orsay is a must.

Cheltenham museum and art gallery is very good but unfortunately closed at the moment for refurbishment and enlargement.

The Holtz museum in Cheltenham is also very interesting if you like his music (Planet Suites).

In Dorset The Abbotsebury tropical gardens are lovely (and the swannery is too).

As I have a passion for wildlife my top spots tend to be nature reserves and other wild spots. Top of my list being Skomer Island off the Pembrokeshire coast.

Trebah Gardens in Cornwall - winding down to the sea.
Heligan - went there on a perfect sunny day in January.
Stourhead - near here, beautiful grounds but gets busy so go early on a weekday.
Berkeley Castle - went there as a child and it made a big impression, just felt it had 'atmosphere'!
Hampton Court - love the kitchens!
Kingston Lacey - love the grounds and the area.
SS Great Britain, HMS Victory and Warrior.
Wallace Collection - if you like 18th century art, which I don't particularly but it was free, and it's a great collection.

I have been to Beamish, that was not long after it opened too, and will concede that it was one I enjoyed more than others, apart from the surly little git in the photographers!

LAGOONER,
WE WENT TO THE BEAMISH WHEN IT HAD NOT BEEN OPEN LONG,I LIKED THE FACT YOU CAN WONDER AROUND AT YOUR OWN PACE AND NOT BOTHER WITH THINGS YOU DONT LIKE.

ALSO LIKE EDEN CAMP BEEN THERE AFEW TIMES

Just taking a look at Sharrons thread I had fogotten Beamish such a treasure though don't visit the new Fish and Chip shop :-P. Horrible.

Also well recomended Eden Camp near Malton,Yorks. old pow camp now a first class military museum.

Last but not least for now the village of Lacock in Wiltshire. Just like stepping back in time no new buildings whatsoever but loads of very very old cottages inns etc. I am privileged as some of my Paternal Ancestors were born lived and worked there and indeed died there.

Just to make myself look like a liar!

At some point, and the organizing would be too much to contemplate at present, I hope to visit Guedelon in Burgundy.

It is a kind of museum I suppose. A man is building himself a mediaeval castle in the way that it would have been built at the time. There are brickmakers and basket makers on site and,if a basket of bricks needs to be elevated to a high floor, somebody has to get into the wheel and run it up.

It will take up to thirty years to complete the project, just as it did in the middle ages.

Because there is no other way to see one, I also hope to go to Bremerhaven at some time to see the Bremen Cog. It is a mediaeval ship that was probably swept from it's moorings before it was ever launched and was found preserved in mud in the river.

It would be lovely if somebody on here had already been to either of these.

Any castle going, big or small.
Hill Top Farm Sawrey, Beatrix Potter's home, as you say small but I say also perfectly formed :-D.
St Pauls Cathedral
Lincoln City and Catherdral , a place of fond childhood memories for me
HMS Victory and Mary Rose.
All the wonderful caves in Derbyshire and Yorkshire,
Any steam Railway my favourite being the North York Moors Railway.

I could go on but would probably bore you all to death :-D

Speaking of which a wander around any old Cemetery or Churchyard .

A few of mine to be going on with. Back later with more

Barrington court (Somerset) which I think is one of my favourite NT properties. Not only for the lovely gardens, full of colour even at this time of year with a gorgeous display of red dahlias, but the house is intriguing, Originally rescued as a dilapidated ruin in the early 20th century by the Lyle family (descendants of the Lyle of Tate and Lyle sugar fame), used as a warehouse for a furniture then, when that went bust, abandoned. The NT acquired it and has left it exactly as it was, completely empty which makes it all the easier to see the beautiful wood panelling and the proportion of the rooms.
Hidcote gardens (Near Chipping Camden. Beautiful gardens restored to how they were in the 19th century.
Kingston Lacy (Dorset) A wonderful house and gardens including woodland walks and a Japanese garden.
Coughton Court Droitwich House and gardens (NT members pay to visit the cottage garden).
Hill top, Beatrix Potter's house in Sawrey Cumbria. Very tiny but interesting.

So as not to take away from Sharron's thread re what she is not interested in, I thought it might be good to have a thread with examples of good places of interest to visit, or those not worth the visit. i.e. National Trust, Galleries, gardens etc etc.