Lon-done? Try Canterbury

by Sean McLachlan on

If you’re looking for a day trip away from the noise and pollution of London, head out to Canterbury just a 90 minute train ride to the southeast.

We’ve all heard of the Canterbury Tales, a series of stories by Geoffrey Chaucer told by pilgrims on their way to Canterbury Cathedral. It’s a cornerstone of English literature and well worth reading. Even if you weren’t assigned to read it in school, a visit to Canterbury will be an interesting diversion.

The most important site is, of course, Canterbury Cathedral and St. Augustine’s Abbey, which together constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There’s been a church at this spot since 597 A.D., when St. Augustine founded one here to convert the pagan Anglo-Saxons. Like many early Christian churches, it was built atop an old Roman temple to assert the dominance of the new faith. The church has been extensively remodeled over the years, especially by the Normans in 1070. The soaring Gothic roof and the dazzling stained glass are the most impressive features, but pilgrims come here to see the spot where Archbishop Thomas Becket was martyred in 1170 for opposing the Crown. There’s a small chapel here where Becket is buried.

Also worth a look are the extensive crypts, with dark chapels, flickering candles, and the cathedral treasury. After seeing the interior, be sure to visit the grounds, a quiet series of gardens and squares that are soothingly beautiful in the fading light of evening.

The other half of the World Heritage Site is St. Augustine’s Abbey, founded in 598 A.D. and now in a state of elegant decay. It’s the oldest Anglo-Saxon Abbey in England. It was the only abbey to survive the Viking invasions of the 9th century and became central to the religious life of the region until Henry VIII shut it down in 1538.

Canterbury was an important Roman town and some of the these early remnants remain. The Roman Museum on Butchery Lane explains the development of Roman Durovernum through artifacts and recreated rooms. The star attraction is part of a Roman house uncovered by a Luftwaffe bomb during World War Two. One room had a heating system under the floor, a hollow area where warm air flowed from a nearby furnace. Also preserved is a hallway decorated with mosaics.

%Gallery-83609%Canterbury is a fine old town for a walk. The River Stour cuts right through the center and lining its banks are timber frame houses from the Tudor era. Rough medieval towers and ornate Victorian buildings compete for space with more modern buildings to give a quick lesson in the history of English architecture. Just around the corner from the Cathedral is the Canterbury Tales Exhibit, which sounds like a literary tourist trap. Since I haven’t been there personally, I’ll refer you to a blogger who has.

For dining you simply must go to Kashmir Tandoori at 20 Palace St. This local favorite has been serving South Asian cuisine since 1966 and has won a entire wall of awards. The balance of spices is masterful, emphasizing flavor over fire in a way that makes you appreciate Indian cooking as more than an endurance contest. They offer regional dishes from all over South Asia.

If you stay overnight, you can’t get a better view than from the Cathedral Gate Hotel at 36 Burgate. When I was there in 2007 the hotel was a bit tattered and in need of a remodel, but being located right next to the cathedral gate with splendid views of the Cathedral itself, you’ll barely notice. Make sure you get a room facing the Cathedral and not the street.

Up for another day trip? See another cathedral and more Roman ruins at St. Albans. You can even drink in “England’s oldest pub”!

Weather and travel issues dominate UK web use during storm

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Brits set records last week, as nasty weather sent traffic to transportation and weather websites sky-high. For the week ending January 9, 2010, according to Hitwise Intelligence, weather websites were responsible for 1.5 percent of all internet traffic in the United Kingdom. That’s three times higher than the level reached the same week a year earlier. It also beat the last snowstorm, in February 2009, by 26.9 percent. BBC Weather was #12 on the list of all websites visited in the UK, and the Met Office was #22. There were plenty of peeks at how the trains were doing, as the National Rail Enquiries website ranked 56th among all British websites.

Snow dominated the search engines, as well. UK web users logged more than 146,000 searches containing the word “snow” during the four-week period ending January 9, 2010. “Snow forecast” was the most popular. Snow-related searches were up 378 percent compared to the same period the year before. Searches for “snow chains” grew by a factor of 23, with “snow boots” up by a factor of six.

Lon-done? Try St. Albans

by Sean McLachlan on

London is one of the most popular destinations for American travelers. It’s big, exciting, and there’s always something going on. Sadly, many visitors never get beyond the city limits. There are plenty of smaller towns just a short journey away that are worth visiting on a day trip or longer stay. St. Albans in Hertfordshire north of London is my favorite.

Located just a twenty-minute train ride from King’s Cross, St. Albans feels a world away from the big city. There are woods, quiet lanes, and friendly pubs. The air is even breathable!

St. Albans has been a pilgrimage center since Celtic times. When the Romans conquered Britain, they built the city of Verulamium here. Part of the city wall still pokes out of the grass in the town park, and nearby you can see the excavated remains of the old Roman theatre and other buildings. An excellent museum explains the history of the Roman settlement and occasionally hosts reenactments by “Roman” soldiers. Check out the museum website for the next event.

Since medieval times the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St. Alban has been a major pilgrimage center. St. Alban was a Christian resident of Roman Verulamium in the 3rd century AD. One day he saw a fellow Christian fleeing from the soldiers and he helped him escape by exchanging clothes with him. St. Alban was caught and marched up the hill overlooking town and beheaded. It’s said that when the sword cleaved through his neck, the executioner’s eyes popped out! There’s a wonderfully graphic painting of this inside the cathedral. A monastery was founded on the site of St. Alban’s martyrdom in the year 793, and the oldest bits of the current cathedral date to the 11th. You’ll notice that many of the bricks in the church are actually reused from crumbling Roman buildings, poetic justice indeed!

%Gallery-83298%The town itself makes for a relaxed and very English experience. There are numerous timber-frame, thatched-roof houses dating to the 16th and 17th centuries, especially along Fishpool St., and a 600 year-old clock tower that you can climb up to get a good view of the town and surrounding countryside.

If you’re feeling thirsty try Ye Olde Fighting Cocks next to the duck pond in the park. It’s one of the many pubs that claims to be “the oldest in Britain”. While it’s impossible to tell which pub is truly the oldest, Ye Olde Fighting Cocks certainly is a strong contender. The central octagonal section dates to about 1400, and there may have been monks brewing here as early as 793. The pub gets its name from the cockfights that used to take place here. One of the stuffed champions is on display.

There’s enough to do and see in St. Albans that you might consider staying overnight. I’d suggest The Lower Red Lion. This 17th century coaching inn is still much as it was. I love these old buildings with their narrow stairs, small-paned windows, undulating floors, and resident ghosts. The pub downstairs is one of the best places I’ve seen to get real ales. The last time I was there they had seven guest ales on tap. The kitchen will cook you up a hearty meal to go with your pint. There are only seven rooms and it’s best to book well in advance.

So if London is beginning to grate on your nerves, get out of town! St. Albans is a good place to start.

Celebrate romance in the UK with Red Carnation

by Tom Johansmeyer on

The Red Carnation hotel group is rolling out the red carpet for Valentine’s Day. At all its UK properties, romance will be shaped by luxury, leaving you to focus on the person with you. You’ll be greeted with a bottle of pink champagne, and every evening will be punctuated with a unique romantic turndown service. Enjoy chocolate covered strawberries at any time in your room, and dine on culinary creations tailored to your taste. You can even arrange for a midnight lover’s feast and sleep it off with a late checkout on Sunday. Oh, and you don’t need to use that time sleeping off a food coma … I’m sure you can find other ways to put that bed to good use!

Whether you prefer the quiet intimacy of The Egerton House Hotel in Knightsbridge or the Summer Lodge Country House Hotel, Restaurant and Spa or any of the other properties in the Red Carnation portfolio, you’ll be sure to have a luxurious stay that will make your significant other the envy of all who hear the appropriately edited stories from your getaway.

A full list of properties at which the Valentine’s Day package is available can be found here.

Winter weather doesn’t deter amorous Brits

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Next time you’re stuck in a London hotel, with snow falling and few options for getting out on the town, order a little entertainment to your room. It will make you authentically British … if you take the latest survey by IllicitEncounter.com at face value. The website, which helps married people find a little action on the side, revealed that its traffic increased on Wednesday morning, as a winter storm tore through Hampshire, Berkshire and the West Country. To help people get a little secret sex, IllicitEncounters.com has even had to bring on temp staffers.

According to Sara Hartley, a spokesperson fro the site, “In light of these figures, I’d be interested to see how much work those ‘working from home’ have actually done.” She continues, “Perhaps these wives and husbands have just been waiting for a time when they could join, away from the eyes of their work colleagues and, most importantly, their partners…”

IllicitEncounters.com has more than 350,000 members in Britain, so if you’re lonely in London on a wintry day, maybe you should skip that walk by Buckingham Palace and enjoy a little takeout.

[Photo by Je@n via Flickr]