Here are a few pages of information on some areas of the United Kingdom in which I have spent extended periods of time. I hope first time visitors will find them useful as they try and tell you what an area is really like as opposed to what the local tourist office might want you to believe it was like, and they also give tips about some of the less well-known places to go.

Central Southern England

An ongoing project is to add more photos to these pages. Sorry about the various styles.

Glossary

Grading historically or architecturally important buildings are ‘listed’ so that they cannot be altered by their owners without going through procedures first. The most important buildings are given grade 1 status, then it’s grade 2*, then grade 2. All surviving very old buildings are grade 1; but there are some modern grade 1 buildings too.

NT National Trust. Organisation that cares for historic houses and beautiful countryside amongst other things in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Depending on the type of site, there is often an admission charge. For some reason Scotland has a separate organisation – The National Trust for Scotland.

OS Ordnance Survey. Principal mapmakers in the UK. Most popular are the ‘Landranger’ series, covering the whole of the UK at a scale of 1:50000.

Feel free to email your comments and questions to greystoke@bookdream.freeserve.co.uk