England For All Seasons - Hardcover

Toth, Susan Allen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0345403908 ISBN 13: 9780345403902

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1997

Synopsis

Susan Allen Toth's love affair with England is a long and happy one. Her books *testaments to undiminished affection *are designed to help readers discover the rich and beautiful land for themselves. Now her love affair continues in England for All Seasons, an experienced traveler's journal that captures the lively pleasures of offbeat exploration all year round.
With whimsy and a trenchant eye, Toth first takes her readers through a London they might otherwise miss. She suggests ways to uncover the city's overwhelming variety of theatre, music, and other cultural events *as well as just plain fun. From directing the route to the most scenic London buses to bargain-hunting and splurges to out-of-the-way places and personal walking tours of eccentric museums, Ms. Toth will entice even a seasoned London visitor into new adventures.
Outside London, England for All Seasons traverses the country, including forays to Wales and Scotland, from the estuaries and rivers of Cornwall to the lonely beaches of Anglesey to the wild sea-lochs of Mull. In her fascinating tour, Ms. Toth also stops at many of England's great gardens, a donkey sanctuary in Devon, an outdoor sculpture museum in the seacoast resort of St. Ives, and a modernist castle on the edge of Dartmoor.
Readers who already know England will cherish the author's affectionate and humorous observations on glorious desserts ("the irresistible sweet trolley"); the unacknowledged pleasures of a rainy climate; and the need for survival techniques in museums. First-time visitors can look forward to a quintessentially English experience, with an abundance of surprises along the way.
Whether looking for literary landscapes or the most delicious sherry trifle, Susan Allen Toth illuminates the nooks and crannies of a multifarious culture, the vibrant real England that every Anglophile dreams of finding. At once entertaining and contemplative, England for All Seasons is as delightful a travel companion as your liveliest, most trusted friend.

About this title

Review

Traveling with Susan Allen Toth is like journeying with a good friend who's anxious to show you her own personal England. Whether walking under the Thames in the Greenwich Foot Tunnel, meeting the residents of a donkey sanctuary in Devon, echoing through the halls of a "new" medieval castle, offering advice for the "guilty traveler" or strategies for the "sneaky shopper," Toth's writing is alive with a passion for her subject. She completely agrees with Samuel Johnson: "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life," and her repeat trips to this city and the English countryside show she's anything but tired.

England for All Seasons is the third in a trilogy of Toth books devoted to the joys of travel in Great Britain. This book shows that any season is the right time to be in England, as the author relishes in the changing essences of English rain, shares her penchant for secondhand books, glories in the profusion of English gardens, dabbles in the art of "doing" a museum well, and dares the decadence of English desserts.

Toth's useful insights and tried-and-true advice is applicable for seasoned travelers and first-time visitors. Her enthusiasm prompts one to seek and to find one's own English secrets. --Kathryn True

From the Publisher

Susan Allen Toth is a dream -- a delightful author to work with whose
books are such treats to discover. Being a person of partial English descent who's never been to England, reading Susan's "England trilogy" feels a bit like going home.

Not only does Susan take you to such wonderful spots as the "Pooh Sticks Bridge" (she tells the reader how to get there in ENGLAND AS YOU LIKE IT), but she also delivers some really handy traveling tips. I'm a convert to her "Thumprint Theory of Travel" -- spending a full week in a spot no larger than your thumb on a map.

H. Smith, Publicity

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0345403908
• ISBN 13: 9780345403902
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 237