My mother loved fine china. She had a small collection of beautiful porcelain teacups and demitasse cups that she treasured. She was also a gifted decorative artist. For those reasons, she would have loved the Museum of Royal Worcester. Founded around 1750, Royal Worcester was, in its heyday, a prestigious brand of fine porcelain and it employed highly skilled artists as decorators. As lifestyles and fashions changed, the products of Royal Worcester followed. Tea was introd

As an American I'm always amazed that I can visit buildings in the UK that were built centuries before my country was founded. Buildings this old are all over the country and many are managed by the National Trust. One such is Greyfriars House and Garden in Worcester. Greyfriars was built around 1490 by a wealthy merchant and was a home to wealthy families until the late 17th century. In 1699 a baker purchased the lease and divided the house into two. It then became a mixture

I had planned on a visit to Sir John Soane's museum and saw that tickets couldn't be purchased in advance but had to be purchased at the museum. There are a number of special tours offered at various times during the day, but they have to booked in the house after you have entered, ie. "please sign up for the tour in the dining room." I arrived shortly after the museum opened but by that time there was already a very long queue and a sign that advised that from the end of th

When in London I find myself going back time and again to the museums and galleries that I love: the Tate, the V&A, the National Gallery; but it's always a delight to visit someplace new. One day I ventured into the heart of Central London to the Courtauld Gallery. It is particularly known for its collection of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, but its Medieval and Early Renaissance gallery is also stunning. Many pieces date to the early 14th century. Virgin an

I would be the first to admit that though I love art and history, I'm an expert on neither. I do, however revel in learning about both. That's what made the Keith Piper installation about the Rex Whistler mural at the Tate Britain, "The Expedition in Search of Rare Meats" so appealing to me. The mural, painted by Whistler in 1927, was commissioned for the dining room at the Tate gallery and depicts, among other things, black slaves on a leash and caricatures of Chinese figure

I immerse myself in history when I'm in the UK, but for two days I turned my back on mankind and looked at animal history. Using the term "history" might be stretching it a bit, but at Wildwood Park in Kent, I got a chance to learn about the historical decline of native species in the British Isles and what's being done to correct it. According to their website, " Wildwood Trust is a pioneering conservation organization dedicated to restoring the balance between people and

In our travels we've visited a number of old churches but this lovely little church in Canterbury is officially the oldest in the English-speaking world, continuously in use since 579AD. The oldest part of St Martin’s church was built during the Roman occupation of Britain. It is uncertain whether the original building was a church, a mausoleum, or something else, but in 579 the building was restored by King Æthelberht, a pagan, for the use of his new wife Bertha, who was a

On a previous visit to England we had visited Whitstable, which we enjoyed in spite of, and because of, its somewhat old fashioned seaside atmosphere. This time we decided to visit Margate. I suppose I expected another sleepy seaside town but that's not what I got. It reminded me more of Blackpool, Lancashire. Now, if you haven't been to Blackpool, I can best describe it as a town disguised as amusement park. Lots of neon, lots of cotton candy (candy floss) lots of bad foo

Just over the border of Cornwall is the 18th century National Trust property, Antony House. It's in the care of the National Trust, but the Carew Pole family still lives there. I can't quite imagine having strangers traipsing in and out of one's house, but I imagine it's a matter of necessity, since running an estate of this size would be prohibitively expensive. Anyway, I'm told they only spend part of the year here. The rest of the year they spend at another of theirs home

Sometimes GPS is a lifesaver. Sometimes it's a frustrating pain in the rear. Our search for Blackdown Rings proved more the latter than the former. We set off down the road knowing the general direction of the place we wanted to visit. The GPS (let's call her Geeps, for short) sent us down this narrow path between two fields, Every time the path curved, Geeps would say, "turn slight right", "turn slight left" as though there were an alternative. It finally said, "Turn le

Sometimes a day out isn't about an historical site or a wonderful meal. Sometimes a perfect day out is a drive in the country, enjoying the things that make a place special. One such day was when we drove through the Dartmoor countryside. Earlier in the year I'd walked up to Haytor and enjoyed the views from the top of the rock to the moors below. This time we drove to the village of Widecombe. There was a craft market scheduled which, although I neglected to photograph it,

We had a couple of days to fill before we went to see our friends in Totnes so we stopped in Exeter. It's an ancient city on the River...

It was meant to be the trip of a lifetime. My friend Brenda had never traveled to Europe and since I've been traveling so much over the...

According to Wikipedia, the building of the Hampton Court Palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York and the...

Last year I had the thrill of attending the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. This year, I added to my Royal Horticultural Society experience by...

In the wonderful rental house where we were staying, there were tons of brochures about the area. In one of them I found a listing for...

One of the most famous tourist attractions in Cornwall is the Eden Project, a 30 acre site located in a former cl ay pit. It describes...

It was another day of cobblestones as we visited St. Michael's Mount which I've wanted to visit ever since I saw a program about it on...

Today's journey took us to the northwestern coast of Cornwall to St. Ives. I can't hear that name without thinking of the old rhyme from...

We've never visited Cornwall and when I was planning our trip I realized that there were so many things to see and with only a week here...