Category Archives: Views

Dorset Views: Is This Thomas Hardy’s Wessex?

Thomas Hardy’s depictions of a fictional Wessex and his own dear Dorset are more accurate than they may at first appear, says Susan Owens.

We feel a frisson when a real place plays a key part in a novel. The Cobb at Lyme Regis will always be associated with silly Louisa Musgrove and her tumble in Jane Austen’s Persuasion and Knole in Kent with Virginia Woolf’s hero-heroine Orlando. Thomas Hardy, however, took the use of known locations to another level. He may have invented the characters in his novels, but he made them walk along actual roads, look across valleys at real views and live in recognisable villages and towns — sometimes, even in identifiable buildings.

For all its operatic symbolism, Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891) is a novel in which practical footwear matters. Among its heart-breaking moments is when Tess’s walking boots are discovered stuffed in a hedge where she had hidden them, mistaken for a tramp’s pair and taken away, forcing her to walk many miles back home along a rough road in pretty, but thin-soled, patent-leather ones.

A map depicting Hardy’s Wessex by Emery Walker, drawn for Tess of the d’Urbervilles. Credit: BBC / Album

Those who live in the country come to know land by ear as much as by eye. Hardy’s characters are expert in this — even in the dark and when drunk, as in Desperate Remedies (1871): ‘Sometimes a soaking hiss proclaimed that they were passing by a pasture, then a patter would show that the rain fell on some large-leafed root crop, then a paddling plash announced the naked arable.’

Walks: Torremolinos In Costa del Sol, Spain (4K)

The Mediterranean resort town of Torremolinos in southern Spain’s Costa del Sol region is a sunseeker’s haven. In the 1950s, this former fishing village became one of the most popular destinations for sun-loving tourists. Stretches of dark, sandy beaches offer a multitude of watersports and beach activities, while the many bars, restaurants and local sights occupy vacationers.

Top New Train Trips 2022: The ‘Rocky Moutaineer – Rockies To The Red Rocks’

Welcome onboard an incredible Luxury Train through some of the most spectacular landscapes in the USA. This is 2 Days on the Rocky Mountaineer’s new Rockies to Red Rocks route in the United States!

Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:39 Day One on the Rocky Mountaineer Rockies to Red Rocks 19:12 Day Two on the Rocky Mountaineer Rockies to Red Rocks

The trip is two days of extraordinary landscapes between Moab, Utah and Denver, Colorado. Vast canyons, inspiring deserts, natural archways and enchanting hoodoos are just a start. Available in SilverLeaf Service, this Rocky Mountaineer rail route is filled with highlights best seen by train,  including Ruby Canyon, Mount Garfield and crossing the Continental Divide. If you want to explore more, you can also book one of our carefully curated packages, with options to start or end your journey in Las Vegas or Salt Lake City. 

Filmed and Edited by: Jeb Brooks

Travel Tour: Westfjords In Northwest Iceland

Rarely do tourists make it as far as the Westfjords peninsula in Iceland. Only 10 percent of visitors to the country in the far northwest of Europe come to this remote region. Yet the landscape is simply magical: with huge waterfalls, lonely beaches and raw, wild nature. The Westfjords are one of Lonely Planet’s top travel destinations for 2022. Iceland-based photographer and filmmaker @ISLEY REUST takes us on a tour!

Travel Guides: Pensacola In Northwestern Florida

Pensacolacity, seat (1822) of Escambia county, extreme northwestern Florida, U.S. It lies on Pensacola Bay (an arm of the Gulf of Mexico), about 35 miles (55 km) west of Fort Walton Beach and 60 miles (100 km) southeast of MobileAlabama.

A Spanish settlement was made on the bay coast in 1559 but was abandoned two years later. The Spaniards formally took possession in 1698 and built Fort San Carlos de Austria, but this was ravaged during the colonial fighting between France and Spain in 1719–20. After the British gained control in 1763, Pensacola (a name derived from Pansfalaya, a local Native American tribe) became the capital of West Florida.

It became a haven for loyalists during the American Revolution but in 1781 was taken by a Spanish force from Louisiana. In 1818 Gen. Andrew Jackson captured the city during the First Seminole War.

Village Walks: Giovinazzo, Puglia, Southeastern Italy

Giovinazzo is a town and former bishopric within the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia region, southeastern Italy. It was a small fortified centre of the Romans, who called it Natolium, maybe built on the ruins of the Peucete Netium which was destroyed during the Punic Wars. The main sights are: the Co-cathedral, dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta (Mary’s Assumption), built in the Norman period 1150–1180, in characteristic Apulian Romanesque style featuring Eastern and Western elements and the Ducal Palace. In the neighbourhood is Castel del Monte, one of the most famous castles in southern Italy.

Aerial Views: Bratislava – Capital Of Slovakia (8K)

Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, is set along the Danube River by the border with Austria and Hungary. It’s surrounded by vineyards and the Little Carpathian mountains, crisscrossed with forested hiking and cycling trails. The pedestrian-only, 18th-century old town is known for its lively bars and cafes. Perched atop a hill, the reconstructed Bratislava Castle overlooks old town and the Danube. 

Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the southwest, and the Czech Republic to the northwest.