United Kingdom - Highlights
As well as London's cultural hub of galleries, theatres and concert halls, Britain revels in quirky outposts from Gothic cathedrals at Durham or Winchester, to industrial relics such as Ironbridge, to a vibrant rock and pop heritage, like the Beatles' Liverpool.
London is left behind by the new concert halls in Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester and now The Sage Gateshead. The Tate Gallery has St Ives and Liverpool outposts as well as its two London galleries, while a theatrical highlight is the Royal Shakespeare Company's home in Stratford-upon-Avon. Writers are celebrated in their birthplaces or hometowns: Alton (Jane Austen), the Lake District (Wordsworth), Haworth (Brontes) and Portsmouth (Dickens).
History comes alive in the cathedral towns of Canterbury, York and Durham. Scale castle walls at Leeds (in Kent, confusingly), Tintagel, Warwick, Caernarfon, Stirling and Edinburgh. Take tea in the stately homes of England – Longleat, Chatsworth, Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard – or wander the Italianate folly village of Portmeirion. Seek natural remedies in one of 14 national parks including the New Forest and North York Moors.
Brave daredevil rides at Alton Towers, Chessington or Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Challenge your kids' knowledge with trips to Edinburgh's Dynamic Earth, Dundee's Sensation or Cornwall's Eden Project, a dome-bubbled biosphere and the benchmark for innovative learning. Sail off the coast of Anglesey and see dolphins off Scotland's Moray Firth.
Take a ferry to Scotland's Western Isles for a break from the rat race, or let England pass you gently by as you take a narrowboat along the extensive canal system. Explore Northern Ireland's beautiful Mourne Mountains, and let the Welsh winds blow the cobwebs away from the peaks of Snowdonia to the dramatic Pembrokeshire coastline.
See the English way of life through rose-tinted glasses with Roger Miller's England Swings Like a Pendulum do, sing along with the national airs of Scots Wha Ha'e, Danny Boy ( The Londonderry Air) and Ar Hyd y Nos.
