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 | Oct 20, 2024 | Beautiful Towns, Castles & Stately Houses, Cathedrals, England, Home, Unique Places to Stay
Picking up from England in the Autumn Part II, we departed from South Lodge at Montacute. We were going to Grantham to stay at another National Trust self-catering cottage, No. 1 Belton, on the Belton Estate. The house was built in 1896 for the Clerk of Works, a...
by Helen Kain | Jun 15, 2024 | Castles & Stately Houses, England, Home, Recent, Unique Places to Stay
Though we were in England for only ten days on this trip, it was jam-packed with houses, castles, and gardens. The first leg of our journey was exploring the Royal Palaces In and Around London. From there, we drove to Essex to The Head Gardener’s House at Audley...
by Helen Kain | Jan 5, 2024 | Abbeys, Monasteries and Churches, Beautiful Towns, Castles & Stately Houses, Unique Places to Stay
The final leg of our journey started with a five-and-a-half-hour drive—from Beverley in Northumberland to Amberley, near Arundel, to attend the Goodwood Revival. As described on their website, the Revival is The only historic motor race meeting to be staged entirely...
by Helen Kain | Mar 14, 2020 | Beautiful Towns, England, Unique Places to Stay
Let’s do a little armchair travelling to the beautiful Cotswold villages of Burford and Chipping Campden. Like many people, we have postponed our overseas trips for now; I’ll use the found time to catch up on photos of past trips and let the world...
by Helen Kain | Feb 25, 2019 | Castles & Stately Houses, England, Unique Places to Stay
“Daffodils, that come before the swallow dares, and take the winds of March with beauty” (Shakespeare, Winter’s Tale, act 4, sc. 4) Daffodils abound at Hartwell House, swirling in colourful drifts around the historic house-cum-hotel. Anyone who has ever planted...