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Not so little Britain
Britain! Britain! Britain! If funds won’t run to a holiday abroad this year, why not look closer to home. Follow these suggestions for breaks that won’t break the bank
Capital free-for-all
Marion Bull
Sunday
morning, and an oversized potted palm makes its way jauntily towards
Shoreditch, a pair of legs struggling under its weight. It has to be
Columbia Road flower market. It’s brimming with atmosphere.
East End markets are a living, vibrant, uplifting part of traditional London – and cheap. Nearby, reinvented Spitalfields (retro, young designers, speciality food), via Brick Lane, Hanover Street, and Jack the Ripper haunts, has been a market site for over 350 years.
Entertainment can cost little or nothing. Most big galleries and museums are free (excluding special exhibitions). Try the Science Museum’s massive, interactive Energy Ring for your thoughts in lights – mesmerising fun!
Churches organise free concerts. St John’s, Waterloo Road, even offers free wine (Tel: 0207 633 9819). The Brunei Gallery (SOAS, University of London), is the place for ethnic dance, also free. St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, has two-for-one ticket jazz evenings (£8) in the Crypt (Routiers restaurant until 9pm) if one person is a carer. All venues are accessible.
Excellent value, cheap eats are everywhere. South of the river, try TAS café’s choose-your-own deli plate, next to the TAS Turkish restaurant (76 Borough High Street, SE1) for around a fiver.
Almost opposite, the historic George Inn pub sits in a cobblestone courtyard. The Square Pie (Selfridges, also at Spitalfields) and Fresh & Wild organic (69 Brewer Street, W1, limited outside seating) cost around £7.
• Megatrain.com’s early-booking train bargains into London start at £1, but some long-distance destinations are served by inaccessible coaches. Useful sites:
www.directenquiries.com/LDAHotels
Glasgow nights…and days
Ivy Broadhead
Don’t let the accent or the cold Northern weather scare you off: for a city break head to Glasgow.
Where Edinburgh is all cobbly, old-world charm, Glasgow has a bit more of a gritty, big-city feel, and beats the capital hands down on shopping and nightlife. It also has a metro, albeit not on the scale of Paris, Moscow or London, but it does make getting around the city a doddle, along with the basic grid layout of the city centre.
You can jump off the train at Central or Queen Street station and head straight to Sauchiehall or Buchanan Street to spend some crisp Scottish banknotes, or go out and spot some of the famous Charles Rennie Mackintosh architecture.
Stay central to tick off some culture at the Gallery of Modern Art, or at any of the theatres and galleries around the swanky Merchant City area, or head out to the West End for more quirky shops and cafés instead of just the high street standards. To the east of the city, the open-air
Barras market also runs every weekend for some bargain browsing.
Stroll around the winter gardens or the People’s Palace to get a feel for some social history, or if architecture really is your thing, Glasgow also has one of the only medieval cathedrals in Scotland.
As night falls, there’s still plenty to choose from; decent clubs, comedy venues, an Imax, and more than its share of the Scottish music scene.
To see the bright lights of a new city without crossing any oceans, Glasgow is pretty hard to beat; for a jam-packed weekend of sightseeing, or just to wander round a beautiful city and indulge in some people watching.
Vampire & chips in Whitby
Penny Batchelor
For a traditional, credit-crunch friendly British seaside break with
a gothic twist, head to Whitby on England’s north-east coast.
Accessible by bus, rail and car, this small town has pre-medieval
roots. It survived a Viking attack, became a flourishing port and
inspired the writer of one of the Victorian era’s most famous novels:
Dracula.
Visit ‘The Dracula Experience’, based on Stoker’s novel, and take a reputedly spine-chilling tour through the novel. Entrance costs £2.50 for adults.
This year there’s a new attraction at the ruins of Whitby Abbey – a bronze, full-size replica of the famous Borghese gladiator statue. A previous cast guarded the Abbey more than 300 years ago. Whitby Abbey entrance costs £5.50 for adults, £4.70 for concessions and is free for English Heritage members.
Other attractions in Whitby include the Captain Cook museum where the famous explorer came to serve his seafaring apprenticeship in 1746. Entry is £4 or £3.50 for concessions. If the weather is good wander round Pannett Park for free, it’s an historic ornamental garden including Whitby Museum and Art Gallery. If it’s raining, try the seafood or fish and chips at The Magpie Café, near Whitby Harbour.
Whitby is surrounded by the North York Moors National Park with its scenery of sea cliffs and ancient woodlands. For overnight visitors, accommodation in Whitby ranges from 4 star hotels to accessible holiday cottages – vampires not included!
Useful web links:
• www.discoveryorkshirecoast.com/content/disability_access/disability_access_home.asp
• www.visitnorthyorkshiremoors.co.uk/content.php?nID=90
• www.iknow-yorkshire.co.uk/ yorkshire_holidays/whitby/all_prices/all_types/disabled_access/
Every witch way
Mark Davidson
Lancashire, 1612. Ten people are hung as witches. Evidence of their
guilt is based solely on local gossip. Beggars at worst, they were no
more able to cast
spells than anyone else.
The centrepiece of the legend and stories is Pendle Hill; 1,831 feet above sea level. Each Halloween, large numbers of locals make their way to the top wearing fancy dress.
Pendle Heritage Centre in the village of Barrowford is a good place to learn about the history. Open all the year round, with full accessibility, it incorporates a museum, gift shop, tea-room and tourist information.
The parish church at Newchurch has the Eye of God carved on the bell tower, thought by locals at the time to protect them from evil. Within the graveyard is the burial site of the Nutter family, known locally as the ‘Witches Grave’. Within the village there is a famous souvenir shop called Witches Galore. Sitting outside, keeping guard are three ugly ladies dressed as witches.
Incidentally, the residence of Alice Nutter was the old hall at Roughlee, known locally as ‘Witches Hall’.
The 13th century abbey at Whalley was portrayed in the 19th century novel by Harrison Ainsworth, The Lancashire Witches. Although parts of the grounds may be difficult to access by disabled visitors, the information centre is fully accessible.
Travelling further afield you can make your way to Lancaster Castle where the trials of the accused took place, and the Golden Lion pub where they were allowed a last drink on the way to the gallows.
There is even a bus service with a difference, the Witch Way. Travel from Colne to Manchester on buses each named after one of the witches.
These are fully accessible for those in wheelchairs.