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Great attractions of England

of London was opened in 1879, and is a Grade 1 Listed Building. Much of the interior walls are covered by murals of text from the Pslams, and the stained glass windows were designed and made by N H J Westlake. Visitors are welcome Mondays to Thursdays from 10am until 1pm.




For a taste of England's pre-Christian religious heritage, there are a number of sites around the country where standing stones and burial mounds can be found. While Stonehenge in Wiltshire is the most obvious attraction, smaller and less crowded sites are common. The Rollright stones on the Oxfordshire/Warwickshire county border consists of 3 main sections: The King's Men stone circle, The King Stone, and the Whispering Knights. The site is Neolithic and dates to 2500-2000 bce. It is open to the public and maintained by a charitable trust. A similar stone circle under the ownership of English Heritage is the Hurlers on the edge of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. This site is Bronze Age (dated around 1500 bce), and has 3 circles plus 2 standing stones, The Pipers. The name comes from the Cornish team game of Hurling, still played today in St Columb Major and elsewhere with a small silver ball; the stones are said to be Hurlers who were turned to stone after playing on a Sunday.




Industrial attractions are widespread across England, with some that have an admission fee and others that are monuments within the landscape and visible from a distance and also close up. One of the most recent of these is the Eden Project near St Austell in Cornwall. Constructed from the depths of a disused china clay pit (the principal mining activity in Cornwall today), the Eden Project is a group of Biomes that house different climate-tollerant plant groups, an education centre, cafe and gift shop, all constructed and run along environmentally sensitive and sustainable principals. Environmental education is a core theme of the Project, along with supporting and encouraging local artists with exhibition space.





The influence of the Victorian era on the English countryside cannot be overstated, and one of the most prolific industrial engineers of that time has left a legacy that stretches across many miles from the Cornwall/Devon Border in the south west, to the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, to the Thames Tunnel under the river in London. That man was Isombard Kingdom Brunel. Educated in France, Brunel's first major appointment was as chief assistant engineer on his father's Thames Tunnel which links Rotherhithe and Wapping in London and used equipment designed by Brunel senior which formed the basis of modern tunneling machines used today on projects such as the Channel Tunnel. Brunel's mark on the English countryside is made up mostly by the still-used Great Western Railway for which he designed rolling stock, cut embankments and tunnels, designed and built bridges and laid track. He designed stations, most notably Paddington station in London, and also designed and built two of the most famous transatlantic steam ships; the SS Great Western, and the SS Great Britain which now sits in Bristol Docks as an award-winning floating museum.





These are just the physical aspects that England has to offer. Depending on the time of year, there are a huge range of festivals and events all around the country, from the Tar Barrels in Ottery St Mary, Devon, to the Jorvik Viking Festival in York. English gastronomy is a reason in itself to visit the country, and much of the food is locally produced from traditional cheeses, wines and beers, Lancashire hot pots, Cornish cream teas, Kendal mint cake to fresh fish from all around the coastline. With so many attractions, you'll want to come back again and again.

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