London
Local Places of Interest and Activities
London has the greatest concentration of major attractions in
Britain and offers an amazing variety of places to visit. One
of the best ways to view the city is to take an Open Top Bus
Tour allowing you to visit your selected attraction and make
as many stops on each route as you wish.
The City Sightseeing Tour is highly recommended for overseas
visitors. It covers the best of London's sights with an informative
commentary in a choice of languages. Attractions include Buckingham
Palace, Changing of the Guard, Fortnum & Mason store, Royal
Academy of Arts, Piccadilly Circus, Eros statue, The National
Gallery, Nelson's Column & Trafalgar Square, Downing Street,
Big Ben & The Houses of Parliament, London Bridge, St. Paul's
Cathedral, Tower Bridge, The Tower of London and Westminster
Abbey.
Currently the most popular attraction in London is
the British Airways London Eye. The world's largest observation
wheel offers a spectacular way to take in over 55 of London's
most famous landmarks in just 30 minutes. You can combine your
flight on the Eye with a 45 minute circular cruise on the Thames.
Departing from the pier next to the Eye the commentated tour
takes you from the Houses of Parliament to the Tower of London
and back to the London Eye.
Tours to take of the Surrounding Area
Take a trip out of London to visit Windsor Castle.
Situated in nearby picturesque Windsor, Windsor Castle is an
official residence of The Queen and the largest inhabited castle
in the world. Visitors can enjoy a look around the State Apartments
furnished with fine paintings, porcelain, sculpture and armour.
Other highlights include Queen Mary's Dolls House and St Georges
Chapel, scene of many royal weddings. The beautiful castle gardens
are also worth looking at, part of which were transformed by
the award-winning garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith to celebrate
the Golden Jubilee.
Kent
Local Places of Interest and Activities
Canterbury - Visit the famous cathedral city
of Canterbury. Situated in one of the most attractive corners
of rural Kent and has been welcoming visitors for over 2000
years. Canterbury today is a delightful mixture of architecture,
history, arts and culture, museums, shops of every description,
visitor attractions and good restaurants and pubs. Canterbury's
World Heritage site, one of only 13 in the UK, includes Canterbury
Cathedral, St. Augustine's Abbey and St Martin's Church.
Deal & Sandwich - Spend the day along the
eastern shores of the Kent coast. Make sure to visit the world
famous White Cliffs of Dover. The cliffs make a delightful contrast
with the picturesque narrow streets at Deal and Sandwich's medieval
quayside. Deal's ancient maritime flavour can be experienced
if you take a walk through the old part of town, while over
in Sandwich, the winding streets and ancient buildings are a
reminder of the time hundreds of years ago when this was one
of England's most important sea ports.
Leeds Castle - About six miles southeast of Maidstone,
stands Leeds Castle, situated on two islands in a lake, formed
by the River Len. It has been described as "the loveliest
castle in the world." While that claim might be open to
some debate, it is certainly a beautiful building, well worth
seeing. Constructed in the twelfth century to be an impregnable
stronghold, it became known as "Lady's Castle" because
of who occupied it. Its royal residents include Eleanor and
Margaret, the wives of Edward I, Philippa of Hainhault, wife
of Edward III, Catherine de Valois, Henry V's wife, Catherine
of Aragon, first (but not last) wife of Henry VIII, and Elizabeth
I, who was imprisoned here, for a time, before her coronation.
The gatehouse with its barbican and drawbridge are the most
fortress-like features of the castle. The rest, looks like what
it was chiefly used for, a residence.
The White Cliffs of Dover - To the east of Dover five
miles of countryside and coast are owned by the National Trust.
Langdon Cliffs overlook the Straits of Dover and are an excellent
place to watch the world's busiest shipping lanes. There is
a visitor centre, known as 'The Gateway to the White Cliffs',
with a coffee shop and displays about the cliffs. The chalk
cliffs, up to 300 feet (100 m) high in places, and are made
up of millions of small sea creatures and coral from the bottom
of an ancient tropical ocean, the chalk is porous, soft and
easily worn by the action of the waves. The chalk downland on
top of the cliffs is very rare. Many of the plants pre-date
the last Ice Age and are adapted to the thin chalk soils and
traditional grazing management. Many plants are almost unique
to this part of Kent.
Kent Battle of Britain Museum - Situated on the historic
airfield at Hawkinge, about 3 miles inland from Folkestone on
the A260, the Museum's original 1940 buildings, some of which
still bear the scars of war, contain the worlds largest collection
of authentic Battle of Britain relics and related memorabilia.
The Museum is the oldest established Battle of Britain Museum
and has been open to the public since 1971, the majority of
the exhibits having been recovered in the late 1960's and early
1970's.
Chartwell House - The family home for over forty years
of Britain's famous wartime Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill
and his wife Clementine, Chartwell owes its attraction not only
to its historical links but also to the beauty of its surroundings.
Visitors are welcomed to a house which remains very much as
it was when Churchill lived there, with daily newspapers, fresh
flowers and the dining room set for afternoon tea. The furnishings
will evoke memories for older generations, while many items
in the house will bring history to life for younger visitors.
There are also many personal reminders of the great man himself,
ranging from family photographs and memorabilia, uniforms and
insignia to his extensive library. In the lovely gardens visitors
can wander round lawns and terraces with spectacular views over
the Weald of Kent.
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