Cultural Britain
A E Housmans Shropshire | Adam Smiths Glasgow | Arnold Bennett's Potteries | Arthur Ransomes Coniston Water | Benjamin Britten Country | Bon Scott and Kirriemuir | Bronte Country | Bronte Lancashire | Burns Country | C.S. Lewis and Northern Ireland | Cadfael Country | Cider with Rosie Country | Constable Country | Delius's Bradford | DH Lawrence Country | Dickens and Kent | Doctor Johnson's Lichfield | Dorothy L Sayers and the Fens | Dylan Thomas Country | Elgar Country | George Eliot's North Warwickshire | Gilbert and Georges London | Glastonbury | Irvine Welshs Edinburgh | Jagger, Richards and Dartford | Jane Austen's Bath | Jane Austens Hampshire | John Bunyans Bedfordshire | Kirriemuir and JM Barrie | L.S. Lowrys Greater Manchester | London Palladium | Lorna Doone Country | Lowrys Berwick | Morse and Oxford | Mr. | Mr. | Mr. | Mr. | Mr. | Mr. | Mr. | Pooh Country | Roald Dahl's Buckinghamshire | Robert Louis Stevenson & Edinburgh | Scottish Borders & Sir Walter Scott | Shakespeare Country | Shakespeares Globe | Sir Walter Scotts Trossachs | Staithes and its painters | Tennyson's Lincolnshire Wolds | The Artists of St Ives | The Beatles and Liverpool | The Bloomsbury Group | The Cornwall of Du Maurier | The Darling Buds of May | The Edinburgh Festival | The Three Choirs Festival | Theatre Royal Drury Lane | Thomas Hardy Country | Thomas Paines Norfolk | Tolkiens Birmingham | TS Eliot and East Coker | Vaughan Williams' Surrey Hills | Wind in the Berkshire Willows
Those who wander the British countryside, or tramp the streets of our towns and cities, will find it hard to avoid the monuments to and of our history: the castles and cathedrals, churches and canals. But another heritage overlays so many of the same places, a heritage of art and literature and music.
In terms of scale our great cathedrals certainly dwarf the little blue plaques and even the statues that commemorate the artists who have contributed so much to our national culture and identity. But in terms of their legacy the judgement is far finer.
The landscapes and special places that have inspired the music, the books, the paintings that in turn inspire us can by and large still be enjoyed, providing an extra dimension to the understanding of those works. From Shakespeare to Sayers, The Beatles to the Brontes, from Irvine Welsh to Walter Scott and Benjamin Britten, we hope the guides in this section will facilitate that understanding, or just enhance a visit to the area in question.
These guides serve another purpose too, reminding us of the diversity of landscape within the British Isles. The wilderness of Exmoor in Lorna Doone country contrasted with the gentility of Jane Austen's Hampshire; the bleak Suffolk coast that was so dear to Britten seen against the cosiness of Laurie Lee's Cotswolds; and contrasts in time too, for example in the cityscapes of Delius in Bradford and Lowry in Manchester or more contemporarily Irvine Welsh's Edinburgh.
So why not read a good book, or listen to some great music, and lose yourself in the treasure house of art and place that is Cultural Britain.
click for strange British folk customs
British Cultural history by county: Show All
England: | Bath(1) | Bedfordshire(1) | Berkshire(1) | Buckinghamshire(1) | Cambridgeshire(1) | Cornwall(2) | Cumbria(1) | Derbyshire(1) | Dorset(1) | Essex(1) | Gloucestershire(1) | Greater Manchester(1) | Hampshire(1) | Herefordshire(1) | Kent(3) | Lancashire(1) | Lincolnshire(1) | London(5) | Merseyside(1) | Norfolk(1) | North Yorkshire(1) | Northumberland(1) | Nottinghamshire(1) | Oxfordshire(1) | Shropshire(2) | Somerset(3) | Staffordshire(2) | Suffolk(1) | Surrey(1) | Sussex(1) | Warwickshire(2) | West Midlands(1) | West Yorkshire(2) | Worcestershire(2) Scotland: | Angus and Dundee(3) | Argyll(1) | Ayrshire and Arran(1) | Borders(1) | Edinburgh and the Lothians(4) | Fife(2) | Glasgow(1) | Perthshire(1) | Stirlingshire(1) Wales: | Anglesey(5) | South Wales(1) | West Wales(1) Northern Ireland: | Belfast(1) | County Down(1)
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