UK (2) English Counties M to Y

A Round-up of our English Travels
Counties Alphabetically from Merseyside to Yorkshire (West)

Merseyside

Liverpool (1) Castle St and the Catholic Cathedral	06/09/2021	An intended trip through the Mersey tunnel. Castle Street, antipasto, and architecture. Liverpool Town Hall, Gino d'Acampo booking. Aloft Hotel. Radio City Tower, The Vines, Filming Silent Witness. Catholic Cathedral, history, architecture, atmosphere and colours. Dinner at All Bar One
Liverpool (2) The Waterfront, The Cavern Club and the St George's Quarter	07/09/2021	Albert Dock and surroundings. The Maritime and Slavery Museums. The Three Graces and the Liver Birds. Statues of Billy Fury and The Beatles. How to lose a UNESCO World Heritage listing. The Cavern Cub and  Eleanor Rigby. St John's Garden and Wellington's Column. An evening in Gino D'Acampo's Restaurant.
Liverpool(3) Ferry Cross the Mersey and the Anglican Cathedral	08/09/2021	The Mersey Ferry. Gerry & the Pacemakers and You'll Never Walk Alone, Ferry Cross the Mersey. Liverpool Football Club, Tranmere docks. Scandinavian Church. Chinatown. Liverpool’s city status and the C of E cathedral. Giles Gilbert Scott

Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral

The Three Graces, Liverpool

Nearing the end of a Mersey cruise

Norfolk

King’s Lynn and Around: The Wash and Castle Rising	27/04/2022	Snettisham. The Wash with the tide out. Castle Rising, earthworks, Edward II & Isabella of France. Kings Lynn Market Square, The Dukes Head, Dinner at the Dukes Head, Feta and Courgette Sausage Roll, Ham Hock Rissole, Sea Trout, Affogato, Bunet,
King’s Lynn: The Town	28/04/2022	Kings Lynn Minster, lectern, pulpit, reredos. Museum of Lynn, Eugene Aram, King John's Cup. Hanseatic Lynn, the Port, George Vancouver Statue. True's Yard Fisherfolk Museum. St Nicholas Chapel. Dinner at Prezzo. King’s Lynn South Gate.

Castle Rising

The Dukes Head, Kings Lynn

'King John's Cup', Museum of Lynn

Nottinghamshire

Southwell	02/09/2016	The pronunciation of Southwell. Southwell Minster, the sculptures of Peter Eugene Ball and Jonathan Clarke. The Great Hall. Southwell and Bramley Apples. The Victorian Workhouse and the Rev John Becher.
Melton Mowbray and the Vale of Belvoir, Stilton Cheese and Pork Pies: Part 2 The Tasting	25/06/2016	Dickinson & Morris Melton Mowbray Pork Pie assessed. The making of Stilton. A comparative tasting of four Stilton cheeses. (also Leicestershire, see above)
Melton Mowbray and the Vale of Belvoir, Stilton Cheese and Pork Pies: Part 1 The Journey	22/06/2016	To Melton Mowbray, Anne of Cleeves’ House.  Butter Cross and market place, Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe, Carnegie Museum, Tuxford & Tebbutt, Cropwell Bishop Creamery, Colston Bassett Martins Arms and creamery, Long Clawson Creamery. Failure to find Websters in Saxelby. Hartington. (also Leicestershire, see above)

Southwell Minster

Colston Bassett Blue Stilton

Cropwell Bishop Creamery

Oxfordshire

Countryfile Live and Blenheim Palace	01/08/2019	John Craven & Adam Henson. British Charcuterie. Charles Hanson on antiques, Rick Stein on food and travels. Stuart Barnes, his dancing sheep, dogs and running ducks. Ellie Harrison. Dressage. Morris dancing. Mike Burgess’ chainsaw sculptures. Blenheim Palace, the house and history. The train, maze and butterfly house.
Moreton-in-Marsh, Chastleton and Adlestrop	26/07/2015	(also in Gloucestershire, see above) Moreton-in-Marsh, ‘Mellow Cotswold Stone’, Redesdale Arms, The Mitfords. Chastleton House, a little-altered Jacobian house with connections with Thomas Catesby and the filming of Wolf Hall, Adlestrop, the village and the poem by Edmund Thomas.
Wantage and the Vale of the White Horse	26 & 27/07/2014	Wantage, Alfred the Great, John Betjeman. Uffington White Horse, Uffington Castle, St George & Dragon, the ‘Manger’. The Ridgeway, Weyland's Smithy

Greedy Goat, goat's Milk ice cream

Rick Stein in the Big Barn

Chastleton House

King Alfred, Market Square, Wantage

Lynne at Wayland's Smithy

Rutland

Rutland: Oakham, Hambleton and Normanton	26/07/2021	Rutland, England’s smallest ‘traditional’ county. Oakham, the market and Buttercross. Castle & its horseshoes. The Grainstore Brewery and the story of Ruddles. The County Museum, the Rutland Regiment of Fencibles, the Exton Gun, farming, dairying and hanging. Hambleton on its peninsula in Rutland Water. Normanton and its not quite drowned church.
Dinner at Hambleton Hall	26/07/2021	History of 19th century Hall, now a luxury hotel by Rutland Water. Head chef Aaron Patterson with a Michelin star, Paté de Foie Gras, Smoked Eel and horseradish ice-cream, Launde Farm Lamb, Merrifield duck and salsify, deconstructed tiramisu, Mango souffle and lime leaf ice-cream

Buttercross, Oakham Market Square

Normanton Church

Mango soufflé and lime leaf ice cream, Hambleton Hall

Shropshire

The Long Mynd – A DIY Macmillan Mighty Hike	02/07/2021	A DIY version of the sponsored Macmillan Mighty Hike originally intended for the Peak District. See walking page (Miscellaneous Walks) for full details
Ludlow, Morville and Benthall Hall	02/05/2021	Morville Hall. Barn Conversions and bats. The church of St Gregory the Great. Luldlow Kitchen & Farm Shop. Shropshire Butter Buns. Ludlow and its Castle. Purple Asparagus, British artisan cheeses. Benthall Hall, the house and gardens.
The South West Odyssey: The Last Post	04/06/2019	The final post of the 12-year South West Odyssey Walk. A round up of where we had been. See UK-Walking
Churches that Tell Stories in Russia, India, Vietnam, Portugal and the UK	05/05/2012	Shropshire’s contribution is the parish church at Tong which has a remarkable and unexpected connection with a work of Charles Dickens.
The Cowpat Walks: 1 Ironbridge Gorge	05/11/2011	The first of the 10 Cowpat Walks. See UK-Walking
Cardingmill Valley to Great Whitley: Days 1 to 3 of the South West Odyssey	31/05/2008	The first post of the SW Odyssey which finished in 2019 (see above). Also see UK-Walking

Morville Hall nr Bridgnorth

St Bartholmew's, Tong

Ludlow Castle, inner bailey

Somerset

The South West Odyssey: The Last Post	04/06/2019	The final post of the 12-year South West Odyssey Walk. A round up of where we had been. See UK-Walking
South West Odyssey Days 16 to 24	04/05/2013 to 12/04/2016	Ten Posts. See UK-Walking
Glastonbury: 12 Questions with the Answer 'No'	02/05/2014	Glastonbury Abbey, Joseph of Arimathea and William Blake. The ‘visit’ of St Patrick. King Arthur’ Grave. St Patrick' Chapel and the Sigeric statue. The Abbot’s kitchen. New Age Glastonbury. The Holy Grail
Bath	03/05/2013	John Wood (the Elder), Queens Square, Gay St, Jane Auston’s former home, The Circus and Masonic symbols. John Wood (the Younger), The Royal Crescent and the Assembly Rooms. Pulteney Bridge. Bath Abbey. Sally Lunn and her Bath Buns, The Roman Baths.
Dinner at the Olive Tree, Queensberry Hotel, Bath	26/07/2022	A Restaurant review, see the Fine Dining thread. Queensberry Hotel, Olive Tree, Chris Cleghorn, Six Course tasting menu with matched wines. 1) Raw Scallop with Wasabi and Granny Smith granita 2)Lettuce and veal sweetbread 3)Monkfish, Vine Jaune Sauce 4)Pigeon breast, Madeira Sauce, celeriac, truffle, 5)Islands Chocolate yoghurt sorbet 6)Strawberries, coconut.

Remains of the transept, Glastonbury Abbey

Lynne and the Royal Crescent, Bath

The Roman Bath, Bath

Scallop, wasabi, Granny Smith and dill

Staffordshire

Staffordshire Way	March/April 2021	7 posts Walked in 2005/6 written up as a Lockdown Project. See UK-Walking Page.
Annual Fish & Chips Walks	2010-2020	12 posts. Pre-Christmas walks on Cannock chase. See UK-Walking Page.
Swynnerton: A Village in Lockdown	12/04/2020	How one village is surviving what we now know was only the first Covid lockdown.
The 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month, 1918-2018	11/11/2018	Written to commemorate the centenary of the end of the First World War. Although broad in approach it focusses on Swynnerton and the story between two names on the village war memorial. It includes a previously unpublished letter from one of them, written to his fiancée the night before he was killed.
Lichfield; City of Philosophers	02/09/2017	The Market Square and the fate of Edward Wightman, Samuel Johnson’s birthplace, his relationships with David Garrick and James Boswell. Minster Pool, Beacon Pk, and the statue of Captain Smith of the Titanic. The house of Erasmus Darwin, The Lunar Society. Lichfield Cathedral and the shrine of St Chad.
Cowpat Walks	2011-2016	10 circular walks, 8 of them in Staffordshire. See UK-Walking Page.
Walking the Upper Dove Valley	25/06/2015	A walk in the Peak District. See UK-Walking Page.
Aqualate Mere and Norbury Junction	18/01/2012	A walk round the biggest natural lake in the Midlands (and it’s not very big). Old houses and canals. See UK-Walking Page.
October in Staffordshire: The Weather's Gone Weird Again	02/10/2011	The title says it all.
The Stone Circle	03 to 05 2011	3 posts. A 3-day circular walk around Stone. See UK-Walking Page.
Republican* Ramble Round Ramshaw Rocks	30/04/2011	A walk in the Peak District avoiding a royal wedding. See UK-Walking Page.
Baswich to Swynnerton	04/12/2010	A two day walk compressed into one post. See UK-Walking Page.
Staffordshire, Quebec and Kunming: Coping with a Cold Snap	27/11/2010	Different ways different countries fail to deal with challenging weather.

Staffordshire is also labelled in

Lost and Forgotten - Things Big and Little that Disappeared for Centuries	27/02/2020	Staffordshire’s contribution to this international collection is the Staffordshire Hoard.
November and Where to Spend it	23/11/2014	A few warmer places than Staffordshire.
Chocolate Teapots	24/08/2013	The Staffordshire contribution to this group of useless constructions is Mow Cop Castle just north of Stoke on Trent

East Sussex

Lewes and Charleston	07/02/2024	Coming soon.
Rottingdean and the Devil's Dyke (Part in West Sussex)	06/02/2024	Rottingdean, its name and origin. Undercliff Path. The Grange and the Rev Robert Hooker. St Margaret’s Church, Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris windows. Gary Moore. North end House and The Elms. Rudyard Kipling, Sussex walls. Croquet club. Devil's Dyke (West Sussex). Geology. HJ Hubbard and his theme park and Funicular railway. Folk Lore
Battle and Hastings	13/09/2021	The town of Battle. Battle Abbey, Gatehouse, Senlac Hill, dorter, Abbey Church, Harold's grave. Hastings Fishing, JMW Turner fish market, Net shops. Hastings as a holiday resort. The Landing, a sculpture on the beach. Alan Turing’s boyhood home in St Leonards.
Bateman's, Firle Beacon and the Long Man of Wilmington	12/09/2021	Bateman's, history of the house. Rudyard Kipling and renovations, re-staining panels, Cordoba wall hanging, The Kipling and death of John Kipling. Nobel Prize and the garden. Kipling Statue in Burwash. The South Downs, Firle Beacon, Wilmington Long Man, Wilmington Church, priory & ancient yew,
Bodiam and Rye	02/03/2020	Bodiam Castle and Edward Dalyngrigge. The River Rother. Bodiam wines. The White Dog, Ewhurst Green. Rye and the Cinque Ports, Gibbet Marsh & John Breads, Mermaid St, Rye Castle, Church of ST Mary the Virgin. Paul Nash (war artist)

Bodiam Castle

The Wilmington Long Man

Battle from the gatehouse roof

A Sussex wall

East Sussex is also labelled in

Statues without Plinths

14/02/2023

A collection of largely plinth-free statues from three continents. In this less deferential age it is good not to be looking up to people all the time. The Sussex contribution is the seated statue of Rudyard Kipling in Burwash.

West Sussex

Rottingdean and the Devil's Dyke (Part in East Sussex)	06/02/2024	(East Sussex)Rottingdean, its name and origin. Undercliff Path. The Grange and the Rev Robert Hooker. St Margaret’s Church, Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris windows. Gary Moore. North end House and The Elms. Rudyard Kipling, Sussex walls. Croquet club. Devil's Dyke (West Sussex). Geology. HJ Hubbard and his theme park and Funicular railway. Folk Lore
Lost and Forgotten - Things Big and Little that Disappeared for Centuries	27/02/2020	The West Sussex contribution to this compendium post is the Fishbourne Roman Palace, built 75 CE, burned down 275 and then forgotten. Rediscovered 1960

The Devil's Dyke

Warwickshire

Stratford-upon-Avon and the Hotel du Vin

14/02/2022

Introduction to Stratford-upon-Avon. Shakespeare statue, Shakespeare’s birthplace. River Avon and its birdlife. Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Holy Trinity Church, Shakespeare’s grave and memorial. Review of Valentine’s Day dinner at Hotel du Vin, chicken liver parfait, pissaladière, duck breast, crème brûlée.

Royal Shakespeare Theatre

West Midlands Metropolitan County

Birmingham

Back-to-Backs, Dim Sum and Some Random Thoughts in Garlic	30/09/2011	A fascinating visit to Birmingham’s last surviving court of back-to-back houses, now owned and preserved by the National Trust. Lunch in a Dim Sum restaurant in Birmingham’s small but thriving ‘Chinatown’. Thoughts on garlic provoked by this meal and a joke by the National Trust guide in the back-to-backs.
Lost and Forgotten – Things Big and Little That Disappeared for Centuries	27/02/2020	Birmingham is one many labels on this post. The relevant section concerns the Staffordshire Hoard. There is a brief discussion and some photographs.

Wiltshire

The Harrow at Little Bedwyn	26/07/2014	A review of our very pleasant wedding anniversary dinner at the then Michelin starred Harrow
Lacock	26/07/2022	Coming soon

Worcestershire

Dinner at Pensons near Tenbury Wells: A Review	26/07/2023	Review of dinner at Michelin starred Pensons on the Netherfield Estate, near Tenbury Wells. Peta Darnley, Chris Smith. Bread with yeast butter, scallops with tempura kohlrabi, carrots from the kitchen garden. red mullet with potato and saffron , duck breast with chicory jam, raspberry. Flight of wines, standouts Margaux and Hungarian furmint.
Croome Court and Deerhurst	07/07/2019	Croome Court (in Worcestershire), Capability Brown, Church of St Mary Magdalene, Rotunda, Exhibition of paintings by Anthony Bridge and tapestries by Grayson Perry, The story of Maria Gunning (see Hemingford Grey, Cambs) & Kitty Fisher. RAF Defford. To Deerhurst (Gloucs). Odda’s Chapel and St Mary's Priory
The South West Odyssey: The Last Post	04/06/2019	The final post of the 12-year South West Odyssey Walk. A round up of where we had been. See UK-Walking
South West Odyssey Days 1 to 9	31/05/2008 to 05/06/2010	Three Posts – three days to a post in abbreviated form in the early days. See UK-Walking

Duck, Pensons

Raspberry, Pensons

Croome Court, Worcestershire

North Yorkshire

To Upper Wharfedale and Beyond! 2: Aysgarth and Kettlewell	26/07/2020	Kettlewell to Aysgarth. Wharfedale pubs remarkable survival. Aysgarth Falls, Hubberholme, its church and the mouseman. Kettlewell, a walking tour. Pre-Worboys signs. Dinner at the Blue Bell Inn
To Upper Wharfedale and Beyond! 1: Skipton, Grassington and Kettlewell	25/07/2020	Skipton. A tour of the and a walk along the Eller Beck. Grassington, its history, industrial and rural. The Devonshire Arms and the Cavendish connection. Kettlewell, honeymoon village. Gin at The Blue Bell Inn, dinner at The Racehorses Hotel
The 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month, 1918-2018	11/11/2018	Written to commemorate the centenary of the end of the First World War. The post focusses on Swynnerton and the story behind two names on the village war memorial. It includes a previously unpublished letter from one of them, written to his fiancée the night before he was killed. A photograph of Harrogate War Memorial is included.
Harrogate and Knaresborough	06/08/2018	En route: Bess of Hardwick, Hardwick Hall, Stainsby Mill, Crown Hotel, Harrogate. Dinner at the Crown. Taking the Waters, Knaresborough, Market Square statues. Castle. Back in Harrogate, lunch at Bettys. Walking tour: Agatha and the Swan Hydro, Valley Gardens. The story of  'Katsu Curry'.
Ripon and Fountains Abbey	22/05/2017	York – National Railway Museum, Bettys and a Fat Rascal, York Minster. Ripon, Tapas, The Ripon Watchman. Ripon Cathedral, Lewis Carroll. Fountain's Hall and Fountain’s Abbey, Studley Royal Water Gardens.
Reeth the Arkle Beck and the River swale	04/01/2014	Reeth, Swaledale. New Year Fireworks. Arkle Beck and a walk up Arkengarthdale, Dinner at The Buck. The Little Cheese Stall. A walk Beside the River Swale, the Swing Bridge.
Parcevall Hall Gardens, Pateley Bridge and the York Arms	27/07/2013	Parcevall Hall Garden. Pateley Bridge, the Nidderdale, Museum in the old workhouse and Britain’s oldest sweet shop. Ramsgill. In 2013 we had an excellent wedding anniversary dinner at The Yorke Arms, then a Michelin starred restaurant run by owner/chef Frances Atkins. It is no longer a restaurant. The review our dinner is still there, though no longer very relevant.
Bolton Priory and the Strid	26/07/2012	To the Yorkshire Dales and Bolton Priory. Priory or Abbey? Stepping Stones on the River Wharfe. The Strid, The River Wharfe with a distant View of Bardon Tower. by William Turner (1815) and the modern view.

Upper Falls, Aysgarth

Skipton Castle with 'modern' extension

Knaresborough

Ripon Cathedral

Beside the Arkle Beck

Parcevall Hall

Stepping Stones, Bolton Priory

West Yorkshire

Ilkley and the Box Tree

26/07/2012

A quick look at the foodie town of Ilkley, including the Manor House and the Church and a distant view of Ilkley Moor, before a wedding anniversary dinner at the then Michelin starred Box Tree Restaurant. The star was lost in 2018 and the restaurant sold in 2020. I have not deleted the review as under new management it as still working to the template that was operated successfully until 2018.

The Box Tree, Ilkley