"This is home." a United Kingdom Travel Page by leics

I've travelled extensively throughout the UK over the years and, despite all the niggles, I do like the place. The countryside, the people and the culture vary so hugely within what is really a tiny piece of land.

It's important to remember that the UK is actually four separate countries in all but name. Scotland, Wales and (Northern) Ireland have their own history, culture and languages and should never be included in 'England'.

The UK has been inhabited for hundreds of thousands of years. The last Ice Age removed much evidence of early inhabitants, but excavations in Boxgrove, Sussex, has proved hominids were here over 200 000 years ago. Neanderthal teeth have been found in Pontnewydd cave, South Wales.

Evidence of prehistoric settlement can be seen throughout the UK, from the magnificent Neolithic village at Skara Brae to the ultimate standing stones at Stonehenge.

The Romans invaded in 55 AD, but only dominated for about 400 years.... and never reached much of Scotland. Later, the UK was settled by groups such as the Saxons, Angles, Jutes and, of course, the Vikings. Each left their mark on local culture and language. The last invasion, in 1066, was by the Normans, whose 'motte and bailey' castles are such a feature of the English and Welsh landscape.

Many of our towns still have reminders of their past, be they Saxon, Medieval or later, and these are always worth seeking out.Until the Industrial Revolution of the early 19th century, life in the UK was mainly pastoral. Towns focused on trade, many having daily or weekly markets, and 'cottage industry' was the norm ...... you made whatever you made in your own house, and sold it without using a middleman. The Industrial Revolution led to the development of factories, forcing many people to leave their farms and cottage industries and seek work in the industrialised towns. Consequently, many towns in the UK, especially England, are made up of Victorian workers' homes of one sort or another. These are often terraced and often built of brick (where local stone wasn't easily available). Until the law promoted by George Smith was passed, it was quite usual for children to work in the brickfields (long hours, harsh working conditions). Many of the bricks used to build our most famous early Victorian constructions (e.g. St. Pancras station in London) were made with child labour.

The thing about the UK is, I think, that it is a tiny set of islands which has absorbed a vast amount of change over the centuries, including almost entire changes of language and culture. Consequently, what remains to be visited is more varied in landscape, customs, architecture etc than perhaps anywhere else of similar size. Knowing a little about how the UK came into being helps one to better understand its anomalies and quirks.

Although I've travelled a lot, I didn't take a huge number of photos until I became a VT member (and, later, got a digital camera). I've got a very good visual memory and, anyway, I didn't have anyone to show them to!

I've now made pages about lots of UK places. Wherever possible, these have been listed under their county:

England:

Berkshire with Hermitage and Pangbourne

Cambridgeshire , with separate pages for Cambridge and Ely.

Derbyshire: Peak District, Butterton

Devon: Dartmoor, Exeter, Postbridge, Manaton, Thorvertonand Widecombe.

Dorset: Lyme Regis

Gloucestershire: Moreton-in-the-Marsh, Stow-on-the-Wold, Little Rollright.

Hampshire: Silchester

Leicestershire with Leicester, Market Harborough, Somerby and Houghton-on-the-hill

Lincolnshire: Lincoln

Norfolk with Sedgeford, where I spend my summers digging an Anglo-Saxon burial and occupation site.

Northumberland

North Yorkshire and YorkOxfordshire, with Dorchester-on-Thames, Wantage and Oxford

Somerset: Glastonbury

Warwickshire: Kenilworth, Leamington Spa, Warwick, Shipston-on-Stour.

The West Midlands: Dudley

West Yorkshire: Halifax, Hebden Bridge, Sowerby Bridge.

Wiltshire: Salisburyand Avebury

Worcestershire: Worcester

I've been to Orkney, which is a wonderous place and somewhere to which I must return, and also know North Wales well. And yes, I've been to parts of Scotland too, but long before I had a digital camera and long before I even thought of taking photos to show other people!

So in Wales I've made pages on:

Llangollen
the county of Gwynedd
in which we find:

Bangor
Beaumaris (on Anglesey)
Caernarfon
Llanberis

and Snowdonia, another wondrous place.