Discover Britain

Celebrating the best of our nation, every issue of Discover Britain is packed with features from history to travel. Read about the events that changed history, as well as British traditions and their origins, or be inspired for your next trip with great ideas for where to go and what to see. Whether you’re planning a weekend city break or an escape to the countryside, Discover Britain is your essential guide to getting the most out of your stay.

Welcome!

Letters

Travel notes • Laura Silverman tours Britain to bring you the latest news and events

LANDMARK LODGINGS • Carolyn Boyd and Steve Pill discover the stories behind Britain’s most eccentric and unusual buildings where you can spend the night

PICTURE THIS • As a major exhibition gets set to display the work of Britain’s photography pioneers, Steve Pill explores the studios and locations that inspired them

WIN a Great British holiday • Enter our competition for your chance to win a luxury holiday in Britain for two, including free flights

MY BRITAIN • Portrait by Gareth Iwan Jones

Neat & Substantially Good • Ahead of Thomas Chippendale’s tercentenary,

Wild WESSEX • In the novels of Thomas Hardy, the historic kingdom of Wessex became a romantic backdrop. Ninety years after the author’s death, Laura Silverman explores the real places that inspired his fiction

24 Hours in… DURHAM • Plan a perfect day in this jewel of a northeast English city

DISCOVER LONDON • 200 years of The Old Vic theatre The Gilbert Scott design dynasty London’s grand hotel scene

In the Limelight • Nicola Rayner celebrates the bicentenary of The Old Vic, the grand London auditorium that helped establish classical theatre south of the river

LONDON Calling • From the red telephone box to Battersea Power Station, many of London’s most recognisable designs were created by the Gilbert Scott dynasty, as Nancy Alsop discovers

Timeless Hotels • London’s rich past means there is a place to stay that encapsulates almost every era. Steve Pill checks in for a walk through history

BLACKPOOL TOWER • Discover facts, figures and stories about the English seaside icon inspired by the Eiffel Tower

ABOUT TIME • To commemorate 100 years since women finally gained the right to vote, Diana Wright explores the history of the suffragist movement in Britain

CAMPAIGN TRAILS • Events celebrating the centenary of votes for women in 2018

PRESIDENTS & PIRATES • From presidential suite to smuggler’s hideaway, Culzean Castle’s history is as dramatic as its perilous position on an Ayrshire clifftop,

A DAY AT THE RACES • Home to the grand pageantry of Ascot and the forthcoming royal wedding of the year, Berkshire is a county ripe for exploring, as Florence Sheward discovers

Fresh linen • Bed down in one of Britain’s five best new hotel openings of the past year

The red dragon of Wales • Continuing our spotlight on historic symbols of the British Isles, Florence Sheward looks at this fiery icon