Tag Archives: England

Architecture, Home Design, Homes, Stories, Tours, Videos

Design: A Tour Of Coombe Street House, Somerset, UK

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The Modern House Films (May 12, 2023) – This extraordinary Grade II*-listed modern masterpiece, set in 25 acres of gardens and ancient woodland, was designed by Peter Harland in 1935 as a home for the leading British composer Sir Arthur Bliss.

Rooted in its peaceful setting, the house was designed for family life, for creating and communing, and as a retreat for self-reflection. The music room where Bliss created some of his most revered works, Grade II*-listed in its own right, is set deep in the ancient woodland; itself a scheduled monument. A four-bedroom guest cottage and its gardens lie due west of the main house.

While retaining an overwhelming sense of quiet and seclusion, this remarkable home lies some seven miles south of Bruton and two miles from Stourhead, within easy reach of the open countryside and Somerset’s many cultural highlights.

Gardens, Historical, Reviews, Tours, Travel, Videos, Views

Tours: Historic Gardens Of Wightwick Manor, UK

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National Trust (May 10, 2023) – The gardens surrounding Wightwick Manor, cared for by the National Trust, are influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement, which started in Britain during the late 19th century.

This means the garden design extends into the house, where visitors can see flowers such as roses used as motifs for interiors and artworks. Watch this video to discover how politics has also left its mark on the gardens that are still enjoyed by visitors today. You’ll see architectural artefacts from the Houses of Parliament and a tree planted by Clement Richard Attlee, the Labour Prime Minster who served from 1945 to 1951.

You’ll also learn about the history of the estate and its planting schemes and find out more about what the National Trust is doing to make the gardens more accessible for visitors.

Gardens, Tourism, Tours, Travel, Videos, Views

Travel: Touring Liverpool In Northwest England

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DW Travel (May 6, 2023) – Liverpool is hosting the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) 2023 – in place of Kyiv. We check if the city is worth a visit, and not just for the Eurovision. Let’s explore the rich history of Great Britain’s musical city that birthed one of the most iconic bands ever – The Beatles!

From the famous Cavern Club to the Beatles Story Museum – Hannah introduces you to Liverpool and shows you how the city pays tribute to Ukraine.

Documentaries, Forestry, Travel, Videos, Views, Wilderness

Wilderness: Time Travel In Britain’s Lost Rainforests

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Aeon Video

Aeon Video (May 2, 2023) – With a deep view of time, a regenerative forester extracts resources to cultivate growth in an ancient English rainforest.

Living and working in the woodlands of the Teign valley in Devon, England, the regenerative forester John Williamson has cultivated a deep connection to and unique understanding of this rare patch of English rainforest. This includes knowing that a healthy ecosystem means an eclectic variety of landscapes rather than perfect tree cover; that no parcel of land in Great Britain has gone untouched by humans; and that, while storms can mean devastation for people, for woodlands they’re simply another phase in an ancient cycle.

In this short documentary, Williamson explains how, through viewing these woodlands in terms of the deep past, present and future, he’s developed a sustainable method of extracting wood and creating charcoal that actually encourages biodiversity.

Director: Hugh Hartford
Producer: Anson Hartford
Executive Producer: Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee
Banyak Films: banyak.co.uk/

Arts & Literature, Books, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

Books: Literary Review Magazine – May 2023

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Literary Review – May 2023 issue: Donald Rayfield surveys the life and work of the Russian poet Osip Mandelstam and R W Johnson reviews the Mandela’s…

The Poet & the Tyrant

‘Osip Mandelstam: A Biography’ By Ralph Dutli

When in 1960 I first came across Osip Mandelstam’s poetry, nobody in the USSR had enjoyed access to his work since the early 1930s and few even knew of his existence, let alone of his death, as he had predicted, in Stalin’s Gulag. His books had been removed from libraries and bookshops.

Heroism & Homicide

‘Winnie and Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage’ By Jonny Steinberg

Under apartheid, aspiring South African writers frequently marketed themselves to the world as committed and heroic anti-apartheid activists. The enormous success of Alan Paton’s Cry, the Beloved Country (fifteen million copies sold and counting) showed the way, though Paton was the real McCoy, a committed liberal who suffered for his beliefs.

Historical, Movies, Reviews, Tours, Travel, Videos, Views

Historic Tour: Locations In ‘The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry’ Film (2023)

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National Trust (April 27, 2023) – Based on the bestselling novel by Rachel Joyce, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry starring Jim Broadbent and Penelope Wilton is exclusively in cinemas from April 28 2023.

Recently retired, Harold Fry is an unremarkable man who is content to fade quietly into the background of life, until one day he learns that an old friend is dying. He sets off to the post office to send her a letter and decides to keep walking: all the way to her hospice, 450 miles away.

The Bath Skyline in Somerset and Minchinhampton Common in Gloucestershire were both used as locations for the film, which was shot sequentially across the UK over several weeks, mirroring Harold’s own pilgrimage through England’s many varied landscapes – from bustling cities to wild moorland.

Here Jim and Rachel tell us how being on location helped bring to life story’s themes of reconnecting with the land and embracing the unknown. Filming at National Trust places helps provide our charity with income which we use to keep those houses, gardens and landscapes in good condition for everyone to visit and enjoy.

Lifestyle, Living, Magazines, Previews, Tourism, Travel

Travel & Living: Cotswold Life Magazine – May 2023

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Cotswold Life (@cotswoldlife) / Twitter

COTSWOLD LIFE MAGAZINE – MAY 2023: The issue features the folklore, sayings and celebrations of Maytime; 24-hours in Burford; @Benfogle on health scares, hope & homesickness; from Elgar to Beatlemania at @AbbeyRoad; an illustrated guide to #Uley; a folkloric walk by the River Severn.

Landmarks, Travel, Videos, Views

Walking Tours: The Tower Of London, England (4K)

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlegXncSEYw

London Walking Tours (Uploaded April 22, 2023) – Tower of London, byname the Tower, royal fortress and London landmark. Its buildings and grounds served historically as a royal palace, a political prison, a place of execution, an arsenal, a royal mint, a menagerie, and a public records office.

It is located on the north bank of the River Thames, in the extreme western portion of the borough of Tower Hamlets, on the border with the central City of London.

Arts & Literature, Historical, Homes, Tours, Travel, Videos, Views

Views: A Tour Of Monk’s House, Sussex In Virginia Woolf’s Literary Words

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National Trust (April 18, 2023) – To this day, Virginia Woolf is still known for her novel ‘Mrs Dalloway’ and for her early involvement in the Bloomsbury Group, which was established in the early 1900s in London.

Monk’s House in Sussex was once the place she and her husband Leopold called home, and it’s now being cared for by the National Trust. In this video from the National Trust, you can experience what life was like at Monk’s House first hand. For more than 20 years, Virginia Woolf transformed Monk’s House into a place of beauty, art, creativity and contentment.

Virginia Woolf - IMDb
Virginia Woolf

From reciting lines in her bathtub to writing books in the tool shed, let this literary pioneer tell you in her own words how she finally found ‘a room of one’s own’. Throughout much of her life, Virginia Woolf experienced bouts of mental illness, and Monk’s House was used as a writing retreat by Virginia and Leopold.

The Sussex landscape captured her imagination, and this came through in much of her writing. She was also engaged in the conservation of the land – a legacy that lives on through the work that National Trust staff and volunteers do to care for this place of history.

Conservation, Ecosystems, Nature, Tours, Travel, Videos, Views

Conservation: Protecting Grey Seals At Blakeney Nature Reserve, England

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National Trust (April 10, 2023) – In this episode of The Wild Life, a new series of nature films from the National Trust, presenter Gemma Hunt discovers how the charity’s rangers are doing all they can to protect wildlife at Blakeney National Nature Reserve in Norfolk.

With an introduction from Julia Bradbury, this film will transport you to the four-mile-long shingle spit of Blakeney Point, cared for by the National Trust. The spit provides protection for Blakeney Harbour and the surrounding salt marshes are home to a vast array of wildlife. Blakeney Point is also home to England’s largest grey seal colony, over-wintering wildfowl and summer-breeding terns.

Join Gemma as she meets the National Trust rangers who work around the clock to care for this stretch of coastline, which is loved by walkers, sightseers and wildlife enthusiasts. You’ll meet ranger Duncan Halpin who spends seven months of the year living in a remote lifeboat house. During this time, he monitors the seal pups and makes sure endangered birds such as little terns have safe places to nest.