The Trough of Bowland
The Trough of Bowland is a beautiful valley in the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is very sparsely inhabited (though there is a cafe!) and popular with walkers and ambitious cyclists.
Six Things on
Travelling Fairs - a very British tradition
Travelling fairs are a British tradition, the majority tracing their ancestry back to charters and privileges granted in the Medieval period. They have provided a focus for local leisure activity on places like village greens for hundreds of years.
Rena Gardiner - capturing historic places in a distinctive style
Rena Gardiner was an artist and printmaker, best remembered for her guidebooks to historic places, buildings and the countryside which she wrote, illustrated and printed in her cottage in Dorset.
Colchester's Jumbo Water Tower
The Jumbo Water Tower is a Victorian brick water tower at the Balkerne Gate in Colchester, Essex. It earned its nickname "Jumbo" in 1882 after Reverend John Irvine became annoyed that the tower dwarfed his nearby rectory at St. Mary-at-the-Walls.
Let There Be Light! - The Match struck first in Stockton
In 1826, John Walker, a chemist from Stockton, County Durham, finally solved the age-old problem of producing reliable and safe fire starters. Several chemical mixtures were already known which would ignite by a sudden explosion, but there was an obvious need for something a bit less tempestuous.
Pillboxes - Britain's abandoned bunkers
There's plenty of military history to be found around Britain - often on your doorstep. Indeed, it is surprising how often, walking in the countryside or along the coast, you come across an abandoned concrete or brick structure of no current purpose or architectural merit. These are often pillboxes, reminders of the frightening days when the nation expected a Nazi invasion at any moment.
Six things to delight and entertain you every day.