The Rough Guide to Britain - Softcover

Rough Guides

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1858288819 ISBN 13: 9781858288819

Publisher: Rough Guides, 2002

Synopsis

INTRODUCTION

If ever a nation were both hostage to and beneficiary of its history, it’s Britain. The single most important thing to remember when travelling here is that you’re visiting not one country, but three: England, Wales and Scotland. For visitors foreign and domestic, that means contending with three capital cities (London, Cardiff and Edinburgh) and three sets of national identity – not to mention the myriad accent shifts as you move between them.

The truth is that were you to plan a country from scratch, you wouldn’t even try to corral these three fiercely contradictory nations into a United Kingdom*. They’ve had centuries to get used to each other, but there’s still very little love lost: Wales has long been resentful of English dominance, Scotland is happiest as far away from both as possible, northern England is contemptuous of the south, and Londoners are convinced they’re in a league of their own.

That said, most visitors don’t let a little social disunity get in the way of seeing the sights. There’s enough here for a lifetime’s travels – from London, a city of world renown, to remote Scottish fishing villages; from the Welsh valleys to England’s post-industrial heartland; from Land’s End to John O’Groats; and the North Sea to the Irish Sea. However, travelling around Britain today is not without its idiosyncrasies. The train system, infamously, is in disarray, with commuters and long-distance travellers in a semi-permanent state of delay and revolt. The arterial roads aren’t much better, often gridlocked around major cities, while the decrepit condition of many state-run hospitals and schools – starved for decades of coherent investment and direction, and now well below European and North American averages – commonly makes headlines in the daily newspapers. And if you’ve just arrived clutching your euros from a tour of "The Continent", free of border controls and exchange rates, you’ll swiftly be disabused of the notion of Britain being an integral part of Europe.

The country has dithered for decades about its postwar – and, more specifically, post-imperial – role: having ruled the roost for several hundred years, Brits are increasingly uncertain about their place in the new order. Paradoxically, it’s the Welsh and the Scots, for so long under the English thumb, who have emerged with their national identities intact and tangible political power embodied in their own parliamentary assemblies. The English, still without a regional voice, are left unsure of how to modernize their institutions, ever-fearful of conflict erupting between town and country, north and south, rich and poor, blacks, Asians and whites, and increasingly lagging behind the social and political change that is being wrought as effectively in Edinburgh as in Brussels. England remains the dominant and most urbanized member of the British partnership, but crossing the border into predominantly rural Wales brings you into an unmistakably Celtic land, while in Scotland (a! nation whose absorption into the state was rather more recent) the presence of a profoundly non-English worldview is striking.

Across the country, virtually every town bears a mark of former wealth and power, whether it be a Gothic cathedral financed from a monarch’s treasury, a parish church funded by the tycoons of medieval trade, or a triumphalist Victorian civic building, raised on the income of the British Empire. Elsewhere, you’ll find old dockyards from which the Royal Navy patrolled the oceans, and mills that employed whole town populations. Meanwhile Britain’s museums and galleries – several of them ranking among the world’s finest, and most of the major ones with free admission – are full of treasures trawled from its imperial conquests.

In London’s and Bristol’s vibrant music scene, in the fashionable restaurants and bars of Manchester and Glasgow, in the outstanding contemporary architecture on show in Cardiff and Newcastle, there’s a buzz, a "feel-good" factor, that is palpable. Indeed, there’s always been an innovative flair to British popular culture, which contrasts sharply with the bucolic view of Britain that many tourist boards favour. The countryside may yield all manner of delights, from walkers’ trails around the hills and lakes, through prehistoric stone circles, to traditional villages and their pubs; but Britain’s characterful and diverse urban culture is fast becoming as popular a draw as its countryside and history have ever been.

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About the Author

Rough Guides are written by expert authors who are passionate about both writing and travel. They have detailed knowledge of the areas they write about—having either traveled extensively or lived there—and their expertise shines through on every page. It's priceless information, delivered with wit and insight, providing the down-to-earth, honest read that is the hallmark of Rough Guides.

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Where to go

To get to grips with England, London is the place to start. Nowhere else in the country can match the scope and innovation of the metropolis, a colossal, frenetic city, perhaps not as immediately attractive as its European counterparts, but with so much variety that lack of cash is the only obstacle to a great time. It's here that you'll find England's best spread of nightlife, cultural events, museums, galleries, pubs and restaurants. The other large cities, such as Birmingham, Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool, lack the capital's glamour, but each of these regional cities has its strengths - for example, a resurgent arts scene in Birmingham, or the brilliant clubs in Manchester.

To be honest, though, the regional centres don't rank among the most alluring of destinations for many tourists, and they come a long way behind ancient cities such as Lincoln, York, Salisbury, Durham and Winchester - to name just those with the most celebrated of England's cathedrals - for sheer physical beauty. Left adrift by the industrialization of the last century and spared the worst of postwar urban development, these cities remain small-scale and manageable, more hospitable than the big commercial and industrial centres. Most beguiling of all are the long-established villages of England, hundreds of which amount to nothing more than a pub, a shop, a gaggle of cottages and a farmhouse offering bed and breakfast - Devon, Cornwall, the Cotswolds and the Yorkshire Dales harbour some especially picturesque specimens, but every county can boast a decent showing of photogenic hamlets.

Evidence of England's pedigree is scattered between its settlements as well. Wherever you're based, you're never more than a few miles from a ruined castle, a majestic country house, a secluded chapel or a monastery, and in some parts of the country you'll come across the sites of civilizations that thrived here before England existed as a nation. In the southwest there are remnants of a Celtic culture that elsewhere was all but eradicated by the Romans, and from the south coast to the northern border you can find traces of prehistoric settlers - the most famous being the megalithic circles of Stonehenge and Avebury.

Then, of course, there's the English countryside, an extraordinarily diverse terrain from which Constable, Turner, Wordsworth, Emily Bront and a host of other native luminaries took inspiration. Most dramatic and best known are the moors and uplands - Exmoor, Dartmoor, Bodmin Moor, the North York Moors and the Lake District - each of which, especially the Lakes, has its over-visited spots, though a brisk walk will usually take you out of the throng.

Although the Welsh capital, Cardiff, boasts most of the national institutions, including the National Museum and St Fagan's Folk Museum, the essence of Wales' appeal lies outside the towns, where there is ample evidence of the warmongering which has shaped the country's development. Castles are everywhere, from hard little stone keeps of the early Welsh princes to Edward I's incomparable fortresses such as Conwy, Beaumaris, Caernarfon and Harlech. Passage graves and stone circles offer a link to the pre-Roman era when the priestly order of Druids ruled over early Celtic peoples, and great medieval monastic houses - like ruined Tintern Abbey - are not that difficult to find. All these attractions are enhanced by the beauty of the wild Welsh countryside. The backbone of the Cambrian Mountains terminates in the soaring peaks of Snowdonia National Park and the angular ridges of the Brecon Beacons, both superb walking country and both national parks. A third national park follows the Pembrokeshire Coast, and much of the rest of the coast remains unspoilt, though long sweeps of sand are often backed by traditional British seaside resorts: the north Wales coast, the Cambrian Coast and the Gower Peninsula are home to many.

The majority of visitors begin their tour of Scotland in the capital, Edinburgh, a handsome and ancient city famous for its magnificent castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, as well as for the excellence of its museums - not to mention the Edinburgh International Festival, a world-acclaimed arts shindig held for three weeks in August and early September. From here it's just a short journey west to the capital's rival, Glasgow, a sprawling industrial metropolis that was once the second city of the British Empire. Though its industrial base remains in decline, Glasgow has done much to improve its image in recent years, making the most of the impressive architectural legacy of its late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century heyday - a rejuvenation that has generated a brisk tourist trade.

Southern Scotland, often underrated, features some gorgeous scenery, but nothing quite to compare to the shadowy glens and well-walked hills of the Trossachs, nor to the Highlands, whose multitude of mountains, sea cliffs, glens and lochs cover the northern two-thirds of the country. Inverness is an obvious base for exploring the region, although Fort William, at the opposite end of the Great Glen close by Ben Nevis, Scotland's highest peak, is a possible alternative. Britain's most thrilling wilderness experiences are to be had here and on the Scottish islands, the most accessible of which extend in a long rocky chain off Scotland's Atlantic coast, from Arran, through Skye (the most visited of the Hebrides) to the Western Isles, where the remarkably hostile terrain harbours some of the last bastions of the Gaelic language. At Britain's northern extreme lie the sea- and wind-buffeted Orkney and Shetland islands, whose rich Norse heritage makes them distinct in dialect and culture from mainland Scotland, while their wild scenery offers some of Britain's finest bird watching and some stunning archeological remains.

About this edition

• Publisher: Rough Guides
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1858288819
• ISBN 13: 9781858288819
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 1376