by Helen Kain | Nov 30, 2025 | Beautiful Towns, England, Featured, Unique Places to Stay
There’s something delightfully unhurried about the rural British approach to the festive season. While city lights dazzle and department stores pulse with urgency, in the countryside, Christmas arrives by way of gardens, greenhouses, and the smell of mulled cider. On...
by Helen Kain | Jun 29, 2025 | Carousel, Fascinating People, Stuarts (1603–1714)
Let’s start with the backdrop: the English Civil War (1642–1651), a brutal and bewildering conflict that split families and the kingdom alike. On one side were the Royalists, or Cavaliers — the aristocratic, flamboyant defenders of King Charles I. Think of them as...
by Helen Kain | Jun 29, 2025 | Castles & Stately Houses, Medieval (1066–1485), Themes in History
It was quiet the day we visited Lincoln Castle. The sun bounced off the high curtain walls, the grass in the old motte was lush and soft, and the Victorian prison—now a museum—hummed faintly with the sounds of schoolchildren and subdued commentary. But make no...
by Helen Kain | Jun 29, 2025 | Medieval (1066–1485), Themes in History
There’s something thrillingly unassuming about Lincoln’s copy of the Magna Carta. For such an iconic document, it’s not much to look at—just a modest sheet of medieval vellum covered in cramped Latin script. But don’t let its size fool you. This unpretentious...
by Helen Kain | Jun 29, 2025 | Themes in History
In medieval England, justice was more than a legal process—it was a performance of power. Punishment often took place in full public view, and frequently within the kingdom’s most symbolic spaces. These rituals reinforced divine-right monarchy and served as...
by Helen Kain | Jun 28, 2025 | Castles & Stately Houses, England, Featured
Set high on the hill beside the Cathedral, Lincoln Castle has always loomed large—both literally and symbolically. , On a recent visit with my husband, Glenn, and our youngest daughter, Lauren, as we wandered its stone walls and peered into the prison cells, I...
