HENLEY-ON-THAMES

Henley-on-Thames, set on a mile-long stretch of the Thames, is famous for its regatta, founded in 1839 and held every year in early July. At regatta times the banks are lined with hospitality tents and well-dressed spectators parade up and down. The river is also the focus for another annual event swan-upping, in late July. For 800 years the cygnets born to swans on the Thames have been caught and marked to distinguish their ownership.

 

Henley itself, which grew itself around a 12th-century river crossing, has a very attractive and compact town center with lots of half-timbered or soft-toned brick buildings of the 15th to 18th centuries. Look too for the flint and stone-checked 16th-century tower of St. Mary's Church, and the adjoining 15th-century Chantry House, timber-framed with jettied upper floors.

BIRMINGHAM

 Birmingham, Britain's largest city after London, cannot be called beautiful; wrecked by city "planners" of the mid-20th century, it is a mess of flyover roads, industrial parks and sprawling suburbs. But it also has more canals than Venice (created as an early mass-transport system at the height of the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th and early 19th centuries) and a few splendid Victorian buildings, the legacy of its 19th-century wealth and industrial importance. Birmingham is part of an extensive canal network, a good escape from the jungle of roads and intersections.

 

The Bull Ring * Council House * New Street

 At Bournville, another major industry opens its doors to visitors: Cadbury World offers the chance to look around a chocolate factory established by the Cadbury family during the 19th century. While in Birmingham, do not pass up a chance to hear the top-quality City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in its home at the Symphony Hall.

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

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

BOURTON

The Venice of the Cotswolds 

Bourton-on-the-Water is a village in Gloucestershire, England that lies on a wide flat vale within the Cotswolds Area. This popular village is often referred to as the ‘Venice of the Cotswolds’ because of the attractive little bridges that cross the gently flowing River Windrush, which runs through the centre of the village. Bourton is renowned for its pretty waterside views and quaint limestone buildings. Packed with visitor attraction, including a 1937 scale model of the village. It is best visited either very early or very late in the day. It has a charm all of its own at any time of the year. Regularly voted one of the prettiest villages in England. 

Flowing through the main street and passing under low stone bridges, the River Windrush enhances the beauty of this Cotswold village

Bourton-on -the-Water has a unique appeal to visitors and residents alike. Known as the Venice of the Cotswolds, this one village offers a wealth of attractions and shops, restaurants and tea rooms, or simply the space for you to enjoy some tranquil time by the River Windrush, spanned by its five arched bridges.

The Bourton-on-the-Water Visitor Information 

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

STRATFORD-UPON-AVON

Despite its worldwide fame, Stratford is, at heart, an unassuming market town. Spreading back from the River Avon, Stratford's town centre is flat and compact, its mostly modern buildings filling out a simple gridiron. Running along the northern edge of the centre is Bridge Street, the main thoroughfare lined with shops and chock-a-block with local buses.

Clopton Bridge and pleasure boat. Royal Shakespeare Theatre and Holy Trinity Church. Holy Trinity Church. Canal boats by the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Punting on the River Avon

Famous as the birth place and final home of playwright William Shakespeare, Stratford has suffered from an overdose of visitors for decades. There are five sites associated with Shakespeare and his family. Three sites are within walking distance of each other in the town centre:

• Shakespeare's Birthplace, where the dramatist was born, in 1564, and grew up;
• Hall's Croft was the home Shakespeare's elder daughter, Susana, and her husband, Dr. John Hall;
• Nash's House, home of Thomas Nash, husband of Shakespeare's granddaughter. Next door was New Place, where Shakespeare died. Only the foundations remain, with an Elizabethan-style knot garden.

The Birthplace, Holy Trinity Church, Nash's House, Mary Arden's House, Anne Hathaway's Cottage.

Out of town are two sites:

• Anne Hathaway's Cottage, where Shakespeare's wife lived as a child;
• Arden's House, the childhood home of Shakespeare's mother.

WARWICK

Warwick, county town of Warwickshire, is a pleasant blend of 16th- and 17th- century timbered buildings with 18- century brick. It's famous for its massive castle, but it also possesses several charming streetscapes, as well as an especially fine church chancel.

  "Classic view" and River Avon

 

The magnificent 14th-century castle, beside the Avon River, is both medieval fortress and palatial mansion, set within a Victorian rose garden with peacocks and extensive parkland.

Victorian Rose Garden

The Conservatory

Exhibits range from medieval weapons and armor to opulently furnished state rooms. Two waxwork presentations bring the history of the castle to life: Kingmaker - A Preparation for Battle, 1471 and A Royal Weekend Party, 1898.

Aerial View

Towering  above the River Avon at the foot of the town centre, Warwick Castle is locally proclaimed the "greatest medieval castle in Britain". At Warwick Castle you can experience a thousand lifetimes in just one day!

South View