ORKNEY

The green isles of Orkney have a Viking heritage and more prehistoric sites than anywhere else in Britain. The main town, Kirkwall, has a number of fine buildings. Orkney also has spectacular bird and seal colonies, plus a more recent heritage as a watering station for polar expeditions and as a naval base - Scapa Flow. On tiny Lambholm is the remarkable Italian Chapel built by Italian POW during World War II out of scrap material.
The Italian Chapel consists of two Nissen huts transformed into a beautiful chapel by Domenico Chiocchetti and his colleagues, Italian prisoners of war captured in North Africa and transported to the Island of Lamb Holm in Orkney. It is one of Orkney's most loved attractions, with over 100,000 visitors every year.

 

The Italian Chapel, Lamb Holm, Orkney

 

 Received from Roman

COTSWOLD

 Marked by rolling uplands, green fields, and limestone cottages with prim flower beds, the Cotswolds, 100 miles west of London, make a peaceful getaway. The towns and villages set around the Cotswold escarpment - a swath of golden, creamy or gray-colored stone, stretching from Stratford-upon-Avon south west to Cirencester and beyond - owe their beauty to sheep, or rather, the wool on their backs. The wealth created by the wool industry built stately, large-windowed, light-filled churches in every town and country parish. The Cotswolds region is justly famous for tranquil, stone-built villages.  There’s little to do in idyllic villages, but that’s the point. Exquisite gardens and stately homes add further charm.

 

COTSWOLD COUNTRYSIDE, GLOUCESTERSHIRE

 

 

Received from Thomas Goatherd

HASTINGS

In the 19th century Hastings became one of England’s most popular spa resorts. Hastings is a mix of fishing port and unpretentious resort. Fishermen winch their boats onto the shingle beach below tall black sheds called deezes, where their nets are stored. Behind, weatherboard houses on narrow alleys characterize the old town.  A Victorian funicular railway takes you up to fragmentary ruins of a massive castle built by William, where the events of the Norman invasion unfold in a fake siege tent in The Story of 1066. The animated figures of the Smugglers' Adventure, set in caves once used for storing contraband, are also entertaining. The adjoining Regency resort of St. Leonards is a must for those with a fondness for backstreet antique shops. 

 

 

FISHING BOATS AT HASTINGS, EAST SUSSEX

 

Tall Victorian row houses painted in lemony hues still cover the cliffs around the deep blue sea, and the views from the hilltops are extraordinary. The Old Town, on the east side of the city, offers a glimpse into the city’s 16th-century past. Hastings has been through difficult times in recent decades, and the town developed a reputation as a rough place. It’s handsome, if tattered, and the seafront has all the usual English accoutrements—fish-and-chips stands, candy stores, shops selling junk, miniature golf, and rocky beaches that stretch for miles.

 

Received from Thomas Goatherd

 

IRONBRIDGE

Here in the wooden gorge of the Severn River, the industrial Revolution was born in 1709 when Abraham Darby discovered that by smelting iron ore with coke instead of charcoal, iron could be mass-produced. The world's first iron bridge (1779)is just one of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum's sights, which are spread over six square miles; buses run between sites in the summer months. In the western part of the gorge, near the bridge, is the Museum of the River, in a warehouse built to store the Coalbrookdale Company's iron products. Darby's actual furnace is on show at the Museum of Iron, which explains the history of iron-making and of the Coalbrookdale Company.

The iron bridge at Coalbrookdale is surprisingly elegant and delicate-looking, and was the first bridge in the world to be constructed of iron

Received from Thomas Goatherd

PETERBOROUGH

Peterborough is a rapidly-growing city based in the heart of rural east England and with a population of around 200,000, 38 miles north of Cambridge. Much of the pedestrianized city center is marred by a hideous modern shopping center, the Queensgate. This expanding town has a massive and remarkably complete Norman cathedral. The interior is powerfully simple, with a row of unadorned pillars under a superb ceiling painted with figures of saints, kings and monsters, while the glorious triple-arched Early English west front makes a successful break from the Norman cohesion. It was here that Henry VIII buried Catherine of Aragon, his first wife, after her death (by natural causes) in 1536.

 

 

Received from Thomas Goatherd

TENBY

 Pembrokeshire Coast National Park - the only British national park focused almost exclusively on the coast lies in the far-flung south-west corner of Wales. The impressive cliffs alternate with secluded coves and big sandy beaches, good for swimming, though the waters are chilly. The park has a smattering of historic sites, including the impossibly picturesque St David’s Cathedral, built in a Viking-proof nook by the Irish Sea.

Tenby, with four sandy beaches, is the the most popular resort in the region, a combination of narrow, cobbled streets within the walls  of its old town and of pastel-shaded Regency and  Georgian houses overlooking the harbor. Medieval Tenby’s ancient town walls still stand, enclosing streets and passageways full of shops, inns, and places to eat. A Tudor scientist named Robert Recorde, who invented the "equals" (=) sign, was born here.

From the harbor you can take a short boat trip to Caldey Island, with its active Cistercian community.

TENBY HARBOUR

LAND'S END

Land’s End, the westernmost tip of Britain, known for its savage land- and seascapes and panoramic views. Each year over one million visitors journey to Land's End, mainland Britain's south-west tip. Come at sunset or in clear weather, when you can spot the offshore lighthouses or maybe even the Isles of Scilly, 28 miles out to sea. Don't worry about the crowds or the insensitivity of a theme park being sited here: you can leave them all behind on a short walk along the cliffs. The scenic grandeur of Land’s End remains undiminished.

Received from Thomas Goatherd

KENT COTTAGES

Kent's epithet is "The Garden of England" for you'll find apple orchards, hop fields and vineyards, as well as oast houses, built as kilns to dry the hops, but now often converted into homes. Kent lies in an area called the Weald, offering pretty villages of timber-framed, pantile-hung buildings. Much of the Kent countryside is designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and incorporates a glorious mix of farmland, ancient woodland and dramatic chalk escarpments. Breathtaking panoramic vistas and enclosed steep valleys create great diversity in the natural landscape.

BLACKPOOL

Lancashire's famous resort of Blackpool still have a working-class flavor. Candy floss and donkey rides on the beach, fish and chips and "Kiss Me Quick" hats, nightclubs and fairgrounds, guest houses run by matronly landladies - the North's top seaside resort is unashamedly unpretentious and brash. More famous than its 7 miles of sandy beaches and its three piers are the landmark Blackpool Tower modelled on the Eiffel Tower in Paris; Blackpool Pleasure Beach with 140 rides and entertainments including a dozen rollercoasters; in September and October, the glittering light show of the Blackpool Illuminations. With an abundance of award-winning attractions, Blackpool has something for everyone.

BLACKPOOL TOWER AND ILLUMINATIONS

Built in 1894, The Blackpool Tower is one of the most iconic buildings in the UK and one of Britain’s best-loved landmarks. It houses five amazing attractions, perfect for a fun-packed day for all to enjoy. A beautiful brick building and iconic tower which is worth visiting for the architecture as much as the attractions within. Great views from the top and the glass walkway is always a good test of your nerves.

Received from Thomas Goatherd

Visit Blackpool

THE LAKE DISTRICT

The Lake District is a beautiful part of Great Britain and many writers and poets have lived there. It has England's finest mountain scenery, with over 60 summits, called "fells", of over 2,500 feet. Beneath the peaks lie lush stone-walled pastures and the lakes themselves, either glinting in the sunlight or moody and ruffled in the frequent rainstorms.

 SUNSET OVER GREAT GABLE, LAKE DISTRICT NATIONAL PARK

The Lake District has some of the best walking in Britain. Most fells are accessible to the averagely fit. You need a good map and a good pair of walking shoes. For over two hundred years tourists have been coming here: the resident William Wordsworth complained bitterly about it. Now the "Lake Poets" (Wordsworth , Coleridge, Southey) add to the area's appeal.

SUNRISE, RYDAL WATER, LAKE DISTRICT NATIONAL PARK

People come here for beautiful scenery, clean fresh air and to enjoy the lakes.The lakes are known as "waters" or "meres". Spring and fall are the best times to visit: in summer, roads and villages are packed with vacationers and the lovely country-house hotels can be full.

Received from Thomas, Northamptonshire

THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS

Once considered wild and remote, the Scottish Highlands are now valued by today's visitors for their majestic landscapes and their solitude. The Highlands are a state of mind as well as a geographical reality. The North was seen as a primitive wilderness populated by savages. With the advent of the cult of the picturesque travellers began to view the Highlands as romantic and heroic, ideal and unspoilt. Most of the stock images of Scottishness – clans and tartans, whisky and porridge, bagpipes and heather – originate in the Highlands, and enrich the popular picture of Scotland as a whole.

 EILEAN DONAN CASTLE, LOCH DUICH

Eilean Donan is recognised as one of the most iconic images of Scotland all over the world. Situated on an island at the point where three great sea lochs meet, and surrounded by some majestic scenery, it is little wonder that the castle is now one of the most visited and important attractions in the Scottish Highlands.

Received from Thomas Goatherd

BRIGHTON

Only 60 kms from London, Brighton's nickname in the 19th century was 'London-by-the-Sea'. The town earned a reputation as the classic rendezvous for adulterers. The Brighton of today is a mix of seaside resort, elegant well-to-do Regency town, major conference venue, and a top nightclubbing scene. The seafront is the place to come for fish and chips and a snooze in a deckchair. Poking out of the shingle beach is the decrepit West Pier and the quarter-mile-long Palace Pier, with souvenir stalls, fortune-tellers, fairground rides and the Sea Life Centre, an excellent aquarium.

ROYAL PAVILION, BRIGHTON

The Royal Pavilion at Brighton, which was originally built between 1784 and 1820, has recently been restored, allowing the brilliant coloring, gilt and chandeliers to shine once again. A riot of domes and minarets determines its unmistakable outline - "like a collection of stone pumpkins and pepperpots," according to the essayist William Hazlitt. This extraordinary pleasure palace is in loose pastiche of Chinese and Indian styles.

Received from Thomas, Northamptonshire

CAERNARFON

 Royal fortress-palace built on legends and bitter medieval conflict. Caernarvon is architecturally one of the most impressive of all of the castles in Wales. It was modeled on fortress at Constantinople. Standing at the mouth of the Seiont river, the fortress (with its unique polygonal towers, intimidating battlements and colour banded masonry) dominates the walled town also founded by Edward I. Caernarfon Castle is recognised around the world as one of the greatest buildings of the Middle Ages. In 1969, the castle gained worldwide fame as the setting for the Investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales. The castle also houses the Regimental Museum of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, Wales's oldest regiment. Welsh naturalist Thomas Pennant (1726–98) called Caernarfon Castle “that most magnificent badge of our subjection.”

Caernarfon Castle, North Wales
Eagle Tower

Received from Polish blogger and postcrosser Joanna

PORTSMOUTH

Portsmouth is a dynamic and vibrant waterfront city. Ideally situated on the south coast of England, the UK’s only island city is ideal for a short break by the sea. There are lots of things to do in Portsmouth, with magnificent museums, live music venues, contemporary art galleries, two cathedrals, a diverse literary heritage, nightlife, festivals and countless events throughout the year.
Portsmouth was the birthplace of Charles Dickens, and has also been home to Arthur Conan Doyle and Rudyard Kipling during their lifetimes. These literary greats are celebrated at museums throughout the city and with frequent events.

The centrepiece of Portsmouth's bustling harbour area, the elegant Spinnaker Tower at Gunwharf Quays, is the tallest public viewing tower in the United Kingdom, rising 170 metres above sea level and offering spectacular views along the south coast.

Received from Polish blogger Magda

CAMBRIDGE

Cambridge is an extremely compact place. Cambridge University swamps the town. As one of the world's most famous and oldest universities, founded when students were driven out of Oxford by rioting in the early 13th century, its medieval colleges are simply superlative. 
The Backs (i.e. the backs of the colleges), where lawns reach down to the Cam River, is very picturesque and best experienced on a punt. At the front, the handsome facades of these same colleges dominate the layout of the town centre,  lining up along the main streets.

Many of the buildings are extraordinary beautiful, but the most famous is King's College, whose King's College Chapel is one of the great statements of late Gothic architecture. There are 31 university colleges in total, each an independent, self-governing body, proud of its achievements.
Nosing around the colleges' hidden courts and gardens, and searching out ancient libraries, refectories and chapels is the most pleasurable part of a visit.  

Read more:  
Cambridge City Council
University of Cambridge

Postcrossing Postcard: GB-376024

OXFORD

Oxford is ninety kilometres from London and only sixty kilometres from Heathrow Airport. The River Thames runs through Oxford, and the River Cherwell joins it there. The land is low, but there are hills to the west. One of the most peaceful ways to enjoy Oxford is by walking along the riverbanks, watching the rowing eights at practice and occasionally glancing up at the "dreaming spires" on the skyline. 

Oxford spires from South Park

The city is an important centre for work, shopping and nighlife. But people from all over the world, come to Oxford to see the fine buildings, the museums, and the parks and gardens. Much of the city is old and very beautiful. Oxford is a very interesting city, and many visitors fall in love with it.

Radcliffe Camera

More than 110,000 people have their homes in Oxford. But in some months of the year there are a lot more people in the city; thousands of students come from other towns for parts of the year.

The Sheldonian Theatre (1664)

Designed by St Christopher Wren, where degree ceremonies are  held

The College of St Mary Magdalen 

The college was founded on St Swithun's Day in 1458 by William Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor of England under King Henry VI. Today, Magdalen is one of the largest Colleges in Oxford both in student numbers and also ground area. From  the top of the building  there is singing  at dawn (six o'clock ) on May Morning each year.  A few students make the dangerous jump from Magdalen Bridge into the river below.

Magdalen College Tower from the Botanic Garden

KELPIES

The Kelpies are located within “the Helix” park, Falkirk, situated between Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland. The Kelpies are one of the largest equine sculptures in the world, standing 30 metres tall. They are the landmark feature of The Helix Environmental Regeneration Scheme on the Forth and Clyde Canal near Falkirk on Central Scotland. They are the brain-child of sculptor Andy Scott, and will be the largest public artworks in Scotland. Construction of The Kelpies began on 17thJune 2013. The build was officially completed on 27th November 2013.

 

The Kelpies by numbers:

*300 tonnes each
*30 metres high
*1200 tonnes of steel-reinforced concrete foundations per head
*990 unique stainless steel skin-plates
*Built on site in 90 days.
For more information go to www.thekelpies.co.uk

GREAT BRITAIN

This is the name of the island which is made up of England, Scotland and Wales. The origin of the word 'Great' is a reference to size, because in many European languages the word for Britain and Brittany in France are the same. In fact, it was the French who first talked about Grande Bretagne! In everyday speech 'Britain' is used to mean United Kingdom.
The flag of the United Kingdom, known as the Union Jack, is made up of three crosses. The upright red cross is the cross of St George, the patron saint of England. The white diagonal cross is the cross of St Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland. The red diagonal cross is the cross of St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.

England is a land of scenic mountains, as well as great urban sprawls and congested roads. Scotland has two of the country's most absorbing cities. It is a land of tartan kilts, bagpipes, drams of whisky and misty glens. Wales offers superb introductions to a lost industrial heritage as well as abounds with lush valleys and medieval castles.

ROTHIEMURCHUS

Hidden in the forest of Rothiemurchus, this beautiful place is one of the most loved in the UK.  Rothiemurchus is a special place at the heart of the Cairngorms National Park, near Aviemore, in the Scottish Highlands.
The Cairngorms is the collective name for the high plateau to the south of Aviemore and which have four of the five highest mountains in Scotland.

ROTHIEMURCHUS, CAIRNGORM MOUNTAINS, HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND
Loch an Eilein Castle: www.rothiemurchus.net

The Rothiemurchus Estate includes Loch an Eilein Castle, an exceptionally lovely loch, surrounded by pines below a mountain backdrop and with an island castle, started in the 15C by Lachlan of Mackintosh but later enlarged and passing, as part of the estate, to the Gordons and then the Grants. Until the loch was dammed during the 18C  the castle could be reached by causeway.

Received from Hazel

ISLE OF SKYE

The Isle of Skye exerts a magnetic pull on visitors. It is a byword for spectacularly craggy mountains. Thus it is forgiven its relentlessly wet climate, which is inevitable as the big hill masses get in the way of the prevailing Atlantic weather fronts moving out of the south west. The new bridge linking Skye with the mainland may do little for the immediate scenery of the strait between. Sky has plenty of scenic wonders, thanks to its complex geology of overlapping ancient lava flows. 

Waller Hugh Paton (1828-1895) Entrance to the Cuiraing, Skye 1873

This painting is a spectacular example of Paton’s mature landscape work. It shows the Cuiraing (or Quiraing in modern usage), a remarkable landslip on the Trotternish peninsula of Skye. Here, the jagged spike of the thirty-seven meter high pinnacle known as ‘The Needle’ dominates the middle of the composition. Paton described the Quiraing as ‘an awful place’, despite the fact that it had become a top destination for artists and tourists alike. 

Received from Hazel, Scotland. As she says it is a very spiritualist place and great scenery!