Tag Archives: England

Art History: ‘Watercolor In The Renaissance’ (Video)

Focussing on the three types of object featured in the V&A display Renaissance Watercolours: illuminated manuscripts, portrait miniatures and coloured drawings, this film showcases the qualities that made watercolour the medium of choice for many artists during the Renaissance.

A modern-day painting of a pomegranate, using traditional watercolour techniques, by artist Lucy Smith, also demonstrates how watercolour painting remains a versatile medium, ideal for capturing life-like details that help us to record our diverse world.

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Literary Travel: ‘Hill Top’ – Cumbria, England Home Of Beatrix Potter (Video)

Hill Top, the much-loved Cumbrian home of author Beatrix Potter, creator of the character Peter Rabbit™. Although the farm is closed at the moment you can still explore the writer’s paintings, drawings, treasured objects, as well as the surrounding countryside that inspired her. Look out for your favourite characters along the way.

Hill Top is a 17th-century house in Near Sawrey near Hawkshead, in the English county of Cumbria. It is an example of Lakeland vernacular architecture with random stone walls and slate roof. The house was once the home of children’s author and illustrator Beatrix Potter who left it to the National Trust.

Book Podcast: ‘Borough Market – Edible Histories’ Author Mark Riddaway

Award-winning food writer Mark Riddaway travels back through the centuries to tell the fascinating, surprising and often downright bizarre stories of some of the everyday ingredients found at London’s Borough Market.

Discover how the strawberries we eat today had their roots in a clandestine trip to South America by a French spy whose surname happened to be Strawberry, why three-quarters of Britain’s late-18th-century intake of tea was sold on the black market, and what Sigmund Freud found so fascinating about eel genitalia.

From the humble apples and onions that we’ve grown on these shores for centuries, to more exotic ingredients like cinnamon and bananas that travel from across the world to finesse our food, Borough Market: Edible Histories offers a chance to digest the charming stories behind every last morsel.

Profiles: ‘J.M.W. Turner’ – Romanticism’s Greatest Painter (1775 – 1851)

Joseph Mallord William Turner RA, known contemporarily as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colourisations, imaginative landscapes and turbulent, often violent marine paintings.

Sunday Morning Podcast: Latest News From Zurich, Tokyo And London

The weekend’s defining discussion topics with Tyler Brûlé, Christof Münger, Eemeli Isoaho, Mark Dittli and our Tokyo bureau chief Fiona Wilson. Plus, Monocle’s style director Marcela Palek’s Christmas gift tips.

From Milan: Salone highlights, interviews and a daily running guide.

New Travel & Film Books: “Poldark’s Cornwall” By Gill Knappett (Jan 2021)

For those longing to know where their favorite scenes in “Poldark” were filmed, Pitkin’s latest addition to the Film Locations series goes behind the scenes of the hugely popular TV series and follows in the footsteps of Ross and Demelza along windswept cliffs, rugged coastline, and untouched, pristine beaches. From Padstow to the Lizard peninsula, Cornwall takes center stage, providing the breath-taking backdrop that brings the series to life.

The latest awarding-winning adaptation of Winston Graham’s Poldark, produced by the BBC, captured the hearts of millions of viewers worldwide. Over its five seasons, it brought the region’s rich heritage back to life, with tales of smugglers, shipwrecks, and the secrets of the mines gripping viewers’ imaginations. Filled with walks in beautiful places and useful information about the region and the series’ filming locations, this is a perfect introduction to Britain’s best-kept secret.

About The Author

Gill Knappett has worked on many Pitkin books over a 20-year period, specializing in royal titles and Britain’s best-loved places to visit. Her Pitkin titles include Catherine Duchess of CambridgeThe Queen, and Walk London.

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Short Films: ‘The Smithy’ – A Blacksmith In Northern England At His Old Forge

Filmmaker Brendon Tyree

The word Smithy is a middle English word from Old Norse Smithja : meaning a blacksmith’s workshop or forge. In Sheffield and other parts or Northern England, blacksmiths themselves are often referred to as smithies.

Follow this Smithy on his gloomy walk to work and witness the dark forces, skill and energy that go into giving a new blade its shape, form and life. Filmed using a mixture of 16mm film and digital.

The feel and sound tip their cap to the old world view of the craft but in reality the subject is a non fictional blacksmith working at his beautiful old forge today in Sheffield.

Blacksmith David Southgate
Soundscape Jordan Hatfield
Atmospheres GYerro & Max H
Locations Sheffield UK

Travel: A Thanksgiving Walk Through The Old ‘City Of London’ (Video)

Date filmed: Thursday – November 26, 2020

The City of London is a cityceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London from its settlement by the Romans in the 1st century AD to the Middle Ages, but the modern city named London has since grown far beyond the formal City of London borders.[4][5] The City is now only a tiny part of the metropolis of London, though it remains a notable part of central London. Administratively, it forms one of the 33 local authority districts of London; however, the City of London is not a London borough, a status reserved for the other 32 districts (including London’s only other city, the City of Westminster). It is also a separate ceremonial county, being an enclave surrounded by Greater London, and is the smallest county in the United Kingdom.

The City of London is widely referred to simply as the City (differentiated from the phrase “the city of London” by capitalising City) and is also colloquially known as the Square Mile, as it is 1.12 sq mi (716.80 acres; 2.90 km2)[6] in area. Both of these terms are also often used as metonyms for the United Kingdom’s trading and financial services industries, which continue a notable history of being largely based in the City.[7] The name London is now ordinarily used for a far wider area than just the City. London most often denotes the sprawling London metropolis, or the 32 London boroughs, in addition to the City of London itself. This wider usage of London is documented as far back as 1888, when the County of London was created.[5]