WIN
a stay in a charming Cornish inn
HISTORIC PUBS
Surprising stories of our ancient inns
Celebrating Jane Austen
GOOD MANORS
Stay the night in a stately home
On the trail of the author in her 250th anniversary year
Drive the North Coast 500
Royal dress codes
England's giant hill carvings
His Britain, from the Dorset coast to London's West End
To celebrate the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, take a tour of the south of England, visiting the locations that the author knew and loved WORDS FELICITY DAY
In Jane’s footsteps
PHOTOS: © CLAIRE COLLINS/HISTORIC ROYAL PALACES;; VINGERAN/ALAMY
Royaldress codes
A new exhibition at Kensington Palace displays a host of never-before-seen royal fashion treasures, exploring the codes and conventions of royal dress
WORDS SANDRA LAWRENCE
TALLY HO!
The Tweed Run is more than just a bicycle ride. It’s nothing less than a cultural sensation showcasing what Britain does best WORDS ISOBEL KING
“
It’s outrageously good fun,” smiles Mark Holdstock, summing up what has become a cornerstone event in Britain’s cultural calendar. “Each year the sheer sight of 1,000 cyclists all dressed to the nines atop beautiful bicycles is an amazing sight to behold.”
As a founder, you might well expect Holdstock to wax lyrical about his brainchild, The Tweed Run. But he could defy anyone not to be taken with the occasion. Since 2009, participants have donned their well-pressed best and cycled through London, stopping along the way to take tea and have a picnic, rounding things off with an old-fashioned knees-up in the afternoon. Marshals keep traf c at bay, making way for the cheery, rosy-cheeked participants who ripple past landmarks such as Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the Tower of London and St Paul’s Cathedral.
“It’s a wonderful way to take in the city in all its glory,” says Megan Burroughs, longstanding Creative Director. “The route changes each year and is designed to be a jaunty cycle ride taking in iconic London landmarks, whilst also giving participants a glimpse at less-trodden streets of our historic city. Each year we meticulously plan out the route to give riders something a little bit new.”
What stays the same every year are the impressive bicycles that people bring along.
Left: Dapper cyclists on the streets of central London Below: The route takes in landmarks such as Big Ben
Larger than life
Journey across the rolling hills of Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Dorset to see the bold, often baffling chalk figures that have divided historians for centuries
WORDS LUKE WATERSON
While there are chalk figures in other parts of the world, the swathe of grassy hills that stretch from Oxfordshire in the north-east to Dorset in the south-west are carved with the world’s oldest examples, and by far the greatest concentration of them too. The most famous, Oxfordshire’s Uffington White Horse and Dorset’s Cerne Abbas Giant, are icons of the English countryside. Yet the original purpose of these downland doodles has been very hard for historians to pin down.
Adding to the mystery is that they have been created at various points throughout history: from 800 BC in the case of the most venerable, the Uffington White Horse, up until the turn of the 21st century, when the Devizes White Horse was carved. While stone circles had their heyday in Neolithic Britain, and castles in the medieval era, chalk figures have been carved at the dawn of the Iron Age, in Tudor times and throughout the 20th century. The huge Uffington White Horse was rendered by digging trenches then back-filling them with chalk, while the carving of more recent figures saw the hillside turf scoured away to rock level, and one or two have even been cemented over earlier chalk outlines.
The best way to fathom southern England’s enduring fascination with chalk figures is to visit the oldest of them all, and the one upon which many of the
Take the high road
The celebrated North Coast 500 road trip takes in the ancient sights and spectacular scenery of far northern Scotland
WORDS EMMA GIBBS