Secret Britain E-Book

Tom Quinn

• Herausgeber: IMM Lifestyle Books
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Seitenzahl: 253

Beschreibung

Secret Britain is an exploration of the fascinating and beautiful, yet more obscure and less-visited, corners of the country. Landscapes and heritage sites that receive little coverage in more conventional guides are revealed here in all their glory, and there is a diverse range of locations to suit every mood.Travel from the rugged beaches of Cornwall to the ancient burial sites of the Orkney Islands, and in between encounter an enticing mix of wild hills and spectacular coastlines, ancient castles and stately homes, tiny churches and magnificent abbeys, wide estuaries and hidden valleys, and many other little-known gems that add to the breath-taking landscapes and buildings that make up the heritage of England, Wales and Scotland.Each chapter is accompanied by a lively commentary by Tom Quinn, a full-color map, and Chris Coe's beautiful photography, which captures the unique character of each site. Suggestions for places to stay and nearby attractions are also included.

Leseprobe

SECRET BRITAIN

SECRET BRITAIN

Tom QuinnPhotography by Chris Coe

Contents

Introduction

ENGLAND – South West

CORNWALL

1      Tintagel

2      Botallack to Penberth

3      Lanhydrock

4      St Enodoc Church

5      Morwenstow

6      Porthcurno Beach

DEVON

7      Arlington Court

8      Sidmouth to Branscombe

9      Heddon Valley to Woody Bay

10    Buckland Abbey

DORSET

11    Golden Cap

12    Studland Beach

13    Eggardon Hill

GLOUCESTERSHIRE

14    Kelmscott

15    Cleeve Hill

16    Deerhurst Church

17    Stanway House

18    Hicks’ Almshouses

19    Owlpen Manor

20    Dover’s Hill

SOMERSET

21    Brean Down

22    Muchelney Abbey

23    Burrow Mump

WILTSHIRE

24    Caen Hill Locks

25    St John the Baptist Church

26    North Meadow

27    Malmesbury Abbey

28    Silbury Hill

29    Maud Heath’s Causeway

30    St Laurence’s Church

31    The Peto Garden

32    Cherhill Down

33    Pepperbox Hill

ENGLAND – South East

BEDFORDSHIRE

34    The Swiss Garden

35    Bromham Mill

36    Wrest Park

37    Flitton Church

BERKSHIRE

38    St Mary’s Church

39    Ankerwycke Yew

40    Finchampstead Ridges

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE

41    Waddesdon Manor

42    Ivinghoe Beacon

43    Claydon House

44    West Wycombe Caves

45    Coombe Hill

CAMBRIDGESHIRE

46    Wicken Fen

47    Flag Fen

48    Wimpole Hall Farm

49    Anglesey Abbey

50    Little Gidding

ESSEX

51    Layer Marney Tower

52    Thrift Wood

53    St Andrew’s Church

54    St Peter on the Wall

HAMPSHIRE

55    Mottisfont Abbey

HERTFORDSHIRE

56    Gardens of the Rose

57    The Fighting Cocks

58    Welwyn Roman Baths

ISLE OF WIGHT

59    Bembridge and Culver Downs

KENT

60    St Augustine’s Church

61    Derek Jarman’s Garden

62    The Grand Shaft

63    St Leonard’s Church

LONDON

64    Eastbury Manor House

65    Boston Manor House

66    The Dove

67    Trafalgar Square Lock-up

68    Linley Sambourne House

69    Geffrye Museum

70    Catherine of Aragon’s House

71    Denis Severs’ House

72    The George Inn

73    Berry Bros & Rudd and Lock & Co.

74    Kensal Green Cemetery

75    London Wetland Centre

NORFOLK

76    St Peter and St Paul

77    Little Walsingham

78    Blakeney Point

79    Welney Wildfowl Reserve

80    Blickling Hall

OXFORDSHIRE

81    Stonor Park

82    Swalcliffe Barn

83    Great Tew

84    Mapledurham

85    Wayland’s Smithy

86    St Oswald’s Church

SUFFOLK

87    Ickworth House

88    The Nutshell

89    Tattingstone Wonder

SURREY

90    Chatley Heath Semaphore Tower

91    Holmbury Hill

92    Chaldon Church

93    Headley Heath

94    Leith Hill

SUSSEX

95    St Botoph’s Church

96    Cissbury Ring

97    Parham House

98    Chyngton Farm

99    Bateman’s

100  Jack Fuller’s Pyramid

ENGLAND – Central

CHESHIRE

101  Weaver Hall Museum & Workhouse

102  Alderley Edge

DERBYSHIRE

103  Riley’s Graves

104  Buxton Opera House

105  Speedwell Cavern

106  Mam Tor

107  Calke Abbey

HEREFORDSHIRE

108  Croft Ambrey and Croft Castle

LEICESTERSHIRE

109  Loughborough Bell Foundry

LINCOLNSHIRE

110  The Jew’s House

111  Tattershall Castle

112  Maud Foster Windmill

113  Gainsborough Old Hall

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

114  Eleanor Cross

115  Church of the Holy Sepulchre

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE

116  Clumber Park

117  Mr Straw’s House

118  Laxton

119  Upton Hall Time Museum

RUTLAND

120  Clipsham Yews

SHROPSHIRE

121  Long Mynd

122  Wenlock Edge

STAFFORDSHIRE

123  Cheddleton Flint Mill

124  Gladstone Pottery Museum

125  Cannock Chase

WARWICKSHIRE

126  Red House Glass Cone

127  Packwood House

WEST MIDLANDS

128  Bournville

129  Soho House

WORCESTERSHIRE

130  Clent Hills

131  Brockhampton

ENGLAND – North

CUMBRIA

132  Eskdale Watermill

133  The Printing House Museum

134  Duddon Valley

LANCASHIRE

135  Hall-i’–th’-Wood

136  Heysham Head

MANCHESTER

137  Barton Swing Aqueduct

NORTHUMBERLAND

138  Beadnell Limekilns

139  Stephenson’s Cottage

140  Bamburgh Castle

141  Allen Banks

YORKSHIRE

142  Piece Hall

143  Saltaire

144  Bridestones Moor

WALES

CARMARTHENSHIRE

145  Aberdeunant

146  Aberglasney Gardens

CONWY

147  Conwy

GWYNEDD

148  Portmeirion

ISLE OF ANGLESEY

149  Newborough Beach

MERTHYR TYDFIL

150  Joseph Parry’s Cottage

MONMOUTHSHIRE

151  The Kymin

PEMBROKESHIRE

152  St Govan’s Chapel

153  Dinas Island

POWYS

154  The Begwyns

SCOTLAND

ARGYLL & BUTE

155  Bowmore Distillery

AYRSHIRE

156  Crossraguel Abbey

FIFE

157  Inchcolm Island

158  Culross

LANARKSHIRE

159  New Lanark

MORAY

160  Tugnet Ice House

ORKNEY

161  Dounby Click Mill

162  Maeshowe Tomb

PERTH & KINROSS

163  Wade’s Bridge

STIRLINGSHIRE

164  Dunmore Pineapple

Picture credits

Introduction

When you look at Britain on a map of the world, it soon becomes apparent that the country is a modestly proportioned offshore island. Three distinct countries: England, Scotland and Wales make up Britain. And, for all its apparent small size the island has an extraordinary variety of landscapes: from the wild hills and fells of Scotland, the Lake District and Northumberland, to the flat plains and ancient villages of East Anglia; and the tiny fishing villages and hidden beaches of Cornwall and Devon to the quiet downs and meadows of Kent and Sussex. Then there are rocky, wildlife-rich coastlines, mudflats and estuaries, lowland meadows and ancient farms, gin-clear chalk streams and broad, rain-fed rivers.

The rich diversity of this landscape is matched – if not exceeded – by the extraordinary architectural wealth of Britain’s villages and towns. There is hardly a place in the entire country that does not contain something of interest: ancient abbeys, early almshouses and timber-framed cottages, magnificent country houses and castles, tiny churches and fortified manor houses.

Of course, much of England, Scotland and Wales is already well known. Visitors from both home and abroad discovered long ago the delights of Bath and Stonehenge, Burghley House and Westminster Abbey – and, indeed, of many less famous places – but the huge amount that remains to be explored is the main justification for this book. It is all too easy to miss the gems that hide behind the more obvious landmarks: places such as the Jew’s House in Lincoln, which is the oldest domestic building in Britain; the historic semaphore tower at Chatley Heath in Surrey; or the country’s last remaining wooden Saxon church, tucked away in the Essex countryside at Greensted.

Away from these wonderful architectural survivals, often in the more remote corners of the countryside, can be found a wealth of stunning landscapes and habitats that are almost too numerous to mention: quiet hilltops, lush, secluded valleys and wide open fens.

This book could have been called ‘Forgotten Britain’, but the truth is that many of the places described here are not forgotten at all – or at least not entirely. Local people and those ‘in the know’ have long enjoyed the hidden gems on their doorsteps. No one, I’m sure, would be more delighted than they to know that with the publication of this book the places of which they are so proud will be enjoyed by a wider circle.

An Italianate villa in the Welsh village of Portmeirion.

ENGLAND

South West

WITH ITS LONG sandy beaches, tiny forgotten coves and hidden inland villages, the South West of England is a land apart. Here you can visit Merlin’s Cave in Cornwall, as well as the eccentric Lanhydrock House, and the granite church of St Enodoc. In Devon you can visit the ancient Cistercian abbey that was once the home of Sir Francis Drake or, in Somerset, walk the spectacular limestone peninsular of Brean Down. In Wiltshire visit the extra-ordinary church of St John Inglesham. Wherever you go, you’ll find beautiful places to stay from ancient inns to delightful private houses offering bed and breakfast.

Tintagel

CORNWALL

Despite its fame as one of the sites associated with the legendary King Arthur, Tintagel has been neglected in recent years by all except hard-line Arthurians – which is a huge pity because, quite apart from its legendary associations, Tintagel has some of the world’s most beautiful coastline, with unrivalled views across the Atlantic. The ruins of the castle date back to the 13th century, long after Arthur is supposed to have departed for Avalon, but they are still magical, either on a bright summer’s day or perhaps, more especially, when the autumn mists roll in off the sea.

Then there’s the ancient, crooked, 14th-century slate-built manor house, now known as the Old Post Office, which has been beautifully restored by the National Trust. It became the letter-receiving office for this part of Cornwall in 1844 following the introduction of the penny post. It’s a gorgeous, picturesque little building, furnished with just the sort of crude, but rather lovely oak country furniture it would have had centuries ago.

If you walk for just half a mile from the ruined castle you reach Tintagel Island and the ruins of what was once thought to be a monastery but is now believed to have been a trading centre at the heart of sophisticated links with the Mediterranean. Archaeologists have found masses of pottery fragments, which have been traced to manufacturing centres in Spain; little has been found, on the other hand, to confirm any of the Arthurian tales.

SECRETS

TINTAGEL VISITOR CENTRE, Bossiney Road, Tintagel, Cornwall, PL34 0AJ 01840 779084.

While you’re there

Visit MERLIN’S CAVE at the bottom of the cliffs below the castle. Legend has it that Merlin lived here! Visiting is possible only at low tide.

ST NECTAN’S GLEN is considered one of the most spiritual places in Britain. The breathtaking walk ends with a waterfall.

Secret place to stay

CORNISHMAN INN, Tintagel (cornishmaninn.com). Far better than many bigger and more expensive establishments, this comfortable b&b serves great food and has an enviable reputation.

The ruins of the 13th-century castle.

Botallack to Penberth

CORNWALL

This beautiful and historic stretch of coastline deserves to be far better known. It begins a little to the north of St Just at the village of Botallack, which was once an important tin-mining town. The machinery associated with the long-disused Crowns Mine remains clinging precariously to the cliffs below the village, but as the waves eat away at the rocks it is only a matter of time before the remaining structure vanishes into the sea. All along the coast here are similar echoes of the past in the form of old engine houses – the last visible remains of Cornwall’s most famous industry. Hidden beneath the cliffs, of course, are untold miles of forgotten and long-closed-up tunnels.

At Penberth Cove small fishing boats are still launched from the secluded beach – this is a glimpse of Cornwall as it might have been a century and more ago. The Penberth Valley is interesting for the remains of tiny meadows, or quillets as they were known locally – delicate flowers like violets were once grown commercially here.

Windswept and battered by gales, this stretch of coastline – taken as a whole – is an extraordinary mix of cliff, cove and headland; and wherever you walk the skies are filled with birds, including fulmar, cormorant, shag, kittiwake and guillemot.

For the archaeology enthusiast, the pattern of fields a little inland is a source of endless wonder, for many of the field patterns here are extremely ancient – certainly pre-Christian and in some places prehistoric.

SECRETS

While you’re there

Visit nearby BALLOWALL BARROW (CARN GLOOSE), where there is a Bronze Age tomb to investigate, and the ruins of Maen Castle cliff-top fort near Sennen Cove harbour, which dates back to the Iron Age.

Secret place to stay

THE SHIP INN, Mousehole (shipmousehole.co.uk). Twenty minutes’ drive from Botallack, overlooking one of Britain’s loveliest harbours.

The remains of the Crowns tin mine.

Lanhydrock

CORNWALL

We fell deeply out of love with all things Victorian during the middle decades of the 20th century, and it has taken more than a century, since the death of Queen Victoria, for us to see more clearly the virtues of the late Victorian period. One of the very best examples of unspoiled high Victorian architecture is Lanhydrock, which lies hidden away in the remote Fowey Valley surrounded by 365ha (900 acres) of ancient parkland.

Parts of the house, most notably the gatehouse and north wing, are 17th century but the rest was rebuilt, with no expense spared, in 1881, after a fire destroyed much of the original structure. Even the central heating is Victorian! The gardens in summer are a delight, with their superb collections of rhododendrons, camellias and magnolias. You could spend days wandering the miles of footpaths that cross the estate, through which the river Fowey runs.

Originally built by Sir Richard Robartes in 1620, the house gradually decayed over the following centuries until the Victorian Lord Robartes returned from London to the house of his ancestors and set about rebuilding. Twenty years after the celebrated architect George Gilbert Scott (famous for renovating medieval churches) rebuilt the house, it burnt down. Richard Coad, a local architect, then rebuilt it, and the house we see today is substantially as he left it. A hidden gem.

SECRETS

LANHYDROCK, Bodmin, Cornwall, PL30 5AD (). 01208 265950.

Open: Garden 10.00–18.00. House Tues–Sun Mar–early Nov 11.00–17.30. Check website for latest house and garden opening details. Price: House and garden: adult £11.80, child £5.90, family £29.50,. Garden and grounds: adult £7, child £3.80.

While you’re there

Visit TRERICE, Kestle Mill, near Newquay, Cornwall (nationaltrust.org.uk). An unbelievably beautiful and little-known Elizabethan gem of a house.

Secret place to stay

BOSCUNDLE MANOR, Boscundle (boscundlemanor.co.uk). Pretty, privately run hotel in 2ha (5 acres) of grounds. Just 1 mile from Cornwall’s famous Eden project.

The splendid gatehouse at Lanhydrock.

St Enodoc Church

CORNWALL

St Enodoc Church, below Brea Hill, was, for many years, quite literally buried in the sand, which may explain why it is relatively unknown, even today. It stands above Daymer Bay on a stretch of the Cornish coast that the late Poet Laureate John Betjeman (1906–84) loved above all others. Indeed this is where he is buried. Daymer Bay is a mass of child-friendly rock pools and wide skies – it is also popular with surfers.

The coastal path between St Enodoc and Polzeath is – unlike most of Cornwall’s coastal paths – suitable for everyone, from the fittest to those who use wheelchairs. Yet it still offers the sort of fabulous scenery that nowhere else in the world can quite match.

St Enodoc is basically 12th century. When restoration work began in 1912 the sand was so high around the church that it was almost impossible to get in. When the restorers finally cleared a path into the church they found that the pews and other woodwork had turned green with mould. The £600 spent on restoration cleaned the place up, repaired the windows and let the sun shine in once more. The isolation of the church from any village or hamlet is one of the great mysteries about it, and it may be that the church was built on a site of pagan worship, as many early churches were. It was as if those early church builders had to replace every pagan shrine, however inconvenient its location. ‘Replacing’ quite literally meant putting the Christian edifice on top of the pagan building – the Christians were clearly intent on suppressing the old faiths literally as well as metaphorically.

SECRETS

While you’re there

Nearby PORT ISAAC is a picturesque fishing village with narrow winding streets. The remains of a pier dating from the reign of Henry VIII are still visible.

Secret place to stay

ST ENODOC HOTEL, Rock (enodoc-hotel.co.uk). In the heart of Rock, a summertime mecca for sailing and waterskiing, the hotel is set within the most beautiful and dramatic scenery that Cornwall has to offer.

St Enodoc Church is utterly unspoilt.

Morwenstow

CORNWALL

Morwenstow is a glorious, easily missed little village just across the border from Devon into Cornwall. For centuries this was a wreckers’ village, a place that made much of its living by salvaging ships that foundered in the rough seas off the coast. It has often been said that the law of salvage, which allowed goods to be taken by locals only if all those on board the ship had perished, led to dreadful acts of murder, and no doubt, in desperate times such acts were committed here.

Today, those visitors who stumble across this delightful place come in search of lovely walks along the cliffs to Duckpool, or they explore the coves and bays of this lonely coast.

This is the parish once made famous by the Reverend Stephen Hawker (1803–75), who invented the harvest festival ceremony that most churches and schools now celebrate each year. He was also a poet and an eccentric, who clambered down the most dangerous cliffs to collect the bodies of drowned sailors and make sure they were properly buried.

Hawker had something of the medieval hermit about him, and the tiny hut where he contemplated the world – and, no doubt, eternity – still exists. Parson Hawker wrote ‘The Song of the Western Men’, the hymn that has become the Cornish national anthem. Its stirring verses begin: ‘And shall Trelawney die? Then twenty thousand Cornishmen shall know the reason why.’

SECRETS

While you’re there

Visit the VICARAGE where Hawker commissioned a local builder to make his chimney stacks in the shape of church towers!

Secret place to stay

BELL BUOY COTTAGE,Morwenstow 0844 847 1115. This 18th-century thatched cottage enjoys its own secluded south-facing garden, and has been tastefully refurbished to retain beams, low ceilings and an inglenook fireplace.

The vicarage at Morwenstow has an array of unusual chimneys.

Porthcurno Beach

CORNWALL

Away from the crowds and some 5km (3 miles) south east of Land’s End is the wide beautiful beach at Porthcurno. Just above one end of the beach is the improbably situated Minack Open Air Theatre, where you can watch Shakespeare’s plays being performed to the sound of the waves on the sands.

You can walk east to Penberth Cove or west to Gwennap Head from here. At Porthcurno itself, there is the remarkable Telegraph Museum. Tunnels were dug here during the Second World War and cables were positioned under the beach and out to sea to the furthest corners of the Empire. This was Cornwall’s wartime communications site. The blast-proof doors into the tunnels now house vintage telegraph equipment dating to the 1870s. Check locally for opening times.

SECRETS

While you’re there

Visit the National Trust’s PENBERTH COVE, just to the east along the coast, where open boats can still be seen on the granite slipway.

Secret place to stay

THE OLD SUCCESS INN, Sennon Cove 01736 871232. A delightful 17th-century fisherman’s inn on one of Cornwall’s most beautiful bays.

View towards the rugged Logan Rock.

Arlington Court

DEVON

The Devon architect Thomas Lee built Arlington in 1822 for Colonel John Chichester, whose family had owned the estate since the middle of the 14th century. But what is most remarkable about this relatively little-known house is that the living rooms are almost exactly as Lee left them more than 150 years ago. Much of the furniture we see today was made specifically for the house by a Barnstaple furniture maker and each piece is still in the place it was made for.

Arlington also gets its special atmosphere from the extraordinary amount of clutter lying around in the house, most of it collected by Miss Rosalie Chichester, who was born in the house in 1865 and lived there until her death in 1949. Miss Chichester – a relative of round-the-world sailor Sir Francis Chichester – collected vast numbers of model sailing ships, pictures of ships, shells, candle snuffers, and much more. She filled the house with caged birds but allowed only the parrots to fly around at will. Rosalie introduced Shetland ponies and Jacob sheep to the grounds, and their descendants can be seen roaming there today. A wonderful collection of horse-drawn carriages is housed in the stable block.

SECRETS

ARLINGTON COURT, near Barnstaple, Devon, EX31 4LP (nationaltrust.org.uk). 01271 850296. Open: House and Carriage Museum mid Mar–Oct 11.00–15.00. Limited access Feb, Nov, Dec. Price: adult £8.30, child £4.10, family £21, family (1 adult) £13.10. Gardens and Carriage Museum only: adult £6.30, child £3.10.

While you’re there

Visit DUNSTER CASTLE, Dunster, near Minehead, Somerset (nationaltrust.org.uk). Just short of 40 miles away and a drive through Exmoor National Park, this ancient site was remodelled in Victorian times and is still impressive.

Secret place to stay

YEO DALE, Barnstaple (yeodalehotel.co.uk). A splendid Georgian-fronted house.

The Regency house of Arlington Court is set in 19th-century gardens.

Sidmouth to Branscombe

DEVON

Despite the best efforts of modernizers and town planners, Sidmouth, with its splendid position overlooking Lyme Bay, retains the air of an unspoilt and prosperous Regency seaside town. It is a place of elaborate wrought-iron balconies, flower-filled gardens and stun ningly attractive houses.

Landslips blocked the town harbour centuries ago, and now the river Sid slides slowly into the sea over the pebbled beach.

Leaving the town and walking to the east you climb steep cliffs to spectacular views. Look back over Sidmouth for a view as good as you’d get from a helicopter, and then head on to Salcombe Hill, where the views are even better. You should be able to see a mass of white and red that is Dunscombe Cliff. From Salcombe Hill the path drops quickly to Salcombe Mouth and its shingle beach then rises again to reach a plateau before a steep drop takes you to Branscombe Mouth.

SECRETS

While you’re there

BRANSCOMBE VILLAGE, which is a short way inland, has the air of a place forgotten by time with its quiet lanes and thatched cottages, truly an area of outstanding natural beauty.

Secret place to stay

BRANSCOMBE HOUSE, Branscombe (branscombehouse.co.uk). Converted and extended from two original cottages, it has traditional decor and antique furnishings.

Branscombe retains a number of working historic buildings, such as this forge.

Heddon Valley to Woody Bay

DEVON

If glorious views and walking are for you, the Heddon Valley and Woody Bay offer some of the most unspoilt countryside and coastline you could wish for. Start at the Hunter’s Inn in the Heddon Valley and take a path along the river bank. Walk through ancient oaks before reaching cliffs and passing a track that leads to a Roman fort discovered in 1960.

This is beautiful hidden country where you are almost bound to find yourself alone with the woods and the distant seas. When you reach the shingle beach of Heddon’s Mouth you are in the centre of an area of outstanding natural beauty. The almost primeval air of the woodlands of the Heddon Valley is filled with birds, butterflies and other wildlife. On the beach is a restored 19th-century limekiln – in former times lime was burnt in many parts of the country to provide cheap fertilizer.

The Hangman Hills can be reached via nearby Combe Martin. A steep path leads into the heart of this wonderful countryside. Climb Little Hangman (just over 213m/700ft) then continue along the coastal path to Great Hangman (320m/1,050ft), the highest cliff in southern England.

SECRETS

While you’re there

Visit WATERSMEET near Lynton with its wonderful Edwardian tea shop and river walks. This is one of Britain’s deepest river gorges.

Secret place to stay

HUNTER’S INN, Parracombe (thehuntersinn.net). In the heart of the Heddon Valley, this is one of the most beautifully situated hotels in the country.

Woody Bay in all its summer glory.

Buckland Abbey

DEVON

This is one of those rare and fabulous English houses that has been many different things in its long life. It began as a Cistercian abbey in the mid-1200s but eventually became the home of one of England’s greatest seafarers – Sir Francis Drake. Yet despite Drake’s fame the house itself is not nearly as well known as it should be.

In 1539 Henry VIII evicted the monks, took possession of the house and two years later sold it to Sir Richard Grenville, who began the work of converting the monastic buildings. This work was more or less completed by his grandson, also Sir Richard. The second Sir Richard inserted three floors into the huge vaulted interior, so he could use the church as a house, but enough space was left for his great hall, which remains remarkably unaltered to this day. The fireplace is dated 1576.

Sir Francis Drake bought the house in 1580 and it remained in his family – two 18th-century Drakes were admirals – until the early 19th century. Drake planned his defeat of the Spanish Armada here, so it is perhaps fitting that the house is now home to the Drake Naval, Folk and West Country Museum. Drake’s own drum is still in the house. The abbey’s original tithe barn, at 49m (160ft) long, one of the biggest in the country to survive – is just a few yards from the house.

SECRETS

BUCKLAND ABBEY, Yelverton, Devon, PL20 6EY (nationaltrust.org.uk). 01822 853607. Open: mid-Feb–mid-Dec generally 11.00–16.30; restrictions Mar, Nov, Dec; mid-Mar–Oct 10.30–17.30. Price: Abbey, garden and estate: adult £8.05, child £4.05, family £20.20.

While you’re there

Visit FINCH FOUNDRY, Sticklepath, Devon 01837 840046. The last remaining water-powered forge in England.

Secret place to stay

LEWTRENCHARD MANOR HOTEL, Okehampton (lewtrenchard.co.uk). 01566 783222. Jacobean manor in a hidden valley.

Buckland Abbey’s distinctive tower reveals the building’s religious origins.

Golden Cap

DORSET

Golden Cap, at 191m (626ft) above sea level, is the highest point on the south coast. All around is evidence of massive cliff erosion. The huge areas of collapsed cliff face, being now inaccessible to human interference, have become a haven for numerous wildlife species: from newts, toads, badgers and slow worms to rare birds of prey, foxes and several species of deer. At the bottom of the cliff is a band of blue lias rock which is rich in fossil remains; and above that lies the golden gravel from which the cap takes its name.

The view from Golden Cap out over these wildlife sanctuaries and across the sea is breathtaking; then, if you head down the western slope of the Cap, you reach the little stream known as St Gabriel’s Water. Inland, about a mile along this stream, you’ll find the ruins of 13th-century St Gabriel’s Church. Where the stream tumbles into the sea there is a shingle beach that is so secluded it was, for centuries, a favourite landing place for smugglers.

Golden Cap is part of a large tract of land owned by the National Trust, and there are more than 29km (18 miles) of footpaths, so it’s a place to enjoy at your leisure. Check the tide times carefully though.

SECRETS

While you’re there

Pop into nearby LYME REGIS with its wonderful cobb – a stone-walled artificial harbour made famous in the film, The French Lieutenant’s Woman.

Secret place to stay

BURTON CLIFF HOTEL, Burton Bradstock 01308 897205. Built in the 1890s, this seaside villa has great views.

The beach at Golden Cap.

Studland Beach

DORSET

Here, at the turn of the 20th century, before British beaches were deserted by tourists for warmer climes overseas, the English well-to-do came to bathe. Among the visitors were Virginia Woolf and her sister, the painter Vanessa Bell. The secluded beach and warm shallow seas have something of the Mediterranean about them, and the sand dunes are an important wildlife habitat.

The beach stretches for 5km (3 miles) from Handfast Point and Old Harry Rocks to South Haven Point, and includes Shell Bay. Behind the beach is an area of sandy heathland which is a designated national nature reserve – it really is fragile and special with many species of bird, plant, insect and reptile including adders, deer, foxes and rare butterflies.

This is actually the extreme eastern end of what was once the Great Dorset Heath – it is a remnant that has survived miraculously amid the development of the Poole conurbation.

SECRETS

While you’re there

Visit DURDLE DOOR, a remarkable limestone natural archway eroded by the sea.

Secret place to stay

MORTONS HOUSE HOTEL, Corfe Castle (mortonshouse.co.uk). This 16th-century manor house, now an award-winning luxury hotel and restaurant, is located in the picturesque village of Corfe Castle.

Eggardon Hill

DORSET

Windswept and lonely even today, Eggardon must have been an awe-inspiring place when, thousands of years ago, its hill fort was constructed to gaze out over the endless bear-and wolf-filled forest that completely covered the lowlands and valleys. The Iron Age fort – which covers an impressive 16ha (40 acres) – still has its magnificent ramparts and ditches, and almost certainly preserves intact, deep beneath the soil, some splendid archaeological riches, as the site has not been excavated in modern times.

Thomas Hardy called the hill Haggardon in his novel, The Trumpet Major, and it is as bleak and beautiful as the author’s greatest novels. On a clear day you can see the sea in one direction and Dorset’s highest hill – Pilsdon Pen – in the other. The National Trust owns part of the site and allows open access year round.

SECRETS

While you’re there

Visit BEAMINSTER with its lovely streets of 17th- and 18th-century houses and its excellent museum.

Secret place to stay

GRAY’S FARMHOUSE, Toller Porcorum (farmhousebnb.co.uk). Offers peaceful views of glorious countryside.

Eggardon Hill has a wild and desolate beauty.

Kelmscott

GLOUCESTERSHIRE

The fact that Kelmscott Manor House survives in its largely unaltered state is thanks to the great pioneer of the Arts and Crafts movement William Morris (1834–96). In an age when the historical integrity of ancient buildings was largely ignored, Morris cared for Kelmscott in a way that would be admired by modern conservators. Kelmscott is a limestone manor at the edge of the river Thames, and near the town of Lechlade in Oxfordshire. It was built in 1600 and is filled with the furniture and pictures brought here by Morris, his family and friends, including the great Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The house has beautiful fireplaces and carved beams and a well-stocked garden and orchard. Several houses in the village were built in the vernacular style by architect friends of Morris who were part of the Arts and Crafts Movement.

SECRETS

KELMSCOTT MANOR, Kelmscott, Lechlade, Gloucester, GL7 3HJ (kelmscottmanor.co.uk).