Read More About England on GoNOMAD

The author uses a stile during her ramble in the
Cotswolds.

Read More about England on GoNOMAD

Southwest England: A Valentine's Day Ramble in the Cotswolds

We spent four days in the pretty Toadsmoor Valley, as soggy and alluring as its charming name, hiking England’s Cotswolds hills in February, getting roses in our cheeks and drizzle down our necks.

Our plan? Book a strategically located holiday cottage in Bisley-with-Lypiatt, that toddlin’ town: whose history predates the Domesday Book (eleventh century AD), genteelly rural, and nearly the center of the Cotswold region. We booked a 17th-century stone stable on a working stud farm dedicated to raising the Queen’s Highland ponies. Pleasant whinnying in the morning... Read more

Dartmoor, England: Preserving an Ancient Man-Made Wilderness

Dartmoor is famous as an area of outstanding natural beauty. But in fact, most of it is man made.

Sitting on the top of Hound Tor, an ungainly stack of boulders looking out over the bracken-covered slopes, it’s hard to believe. But the landscape is not all prehistoric plate tectonics and wild ferns.

The rolling fields and hedgerows, the ancient green lanes, the herds of ponies and even some of the strange rock formations are the continuing work of centuries of farmers.

And now Dartmoor, one of the last remaining wilderness areas of the UK, is under threat. Its farms and native breeds are in decline, and before long the few remaining farmers may have to give up as costs rise and demand for their produce dwindles.

But there is one new herd on the moor that might save it. The tourists... Read more

England by the Book: A Guide to the Best Bookstores and Libraries

It is said that a book can be a machine to think with, full of highlighter marks, scribbles, and dog-eared pages. A book can be a work of art, with delicate engravings and hand tooled leather that smells of autumn days and dust. Or, it can simply be a chew toy for a new baby.

However you feel about books, England is a bibliophile’s paradise with delectable libraries and bookstores. After all, the English had the first newspapers in the 1690s, sponsored the first lending libraries in the 1800s, and were some of the most prolific book collectors in history... Read more

The nave of Lincoln Cathedral

Lincolnshire, England: Two Thousand Years of History

Foreign travel fuels the soul and lights the imagination, and nowhere is this truer than in Lincolnshire, England. The Northeast is home to incredible secrets and romantic adventures. Lincolnshire Blue Badge Guide Vic Hughes sums it up nicely. “It’s the center of the universe… It’s absolutely one of the most exciting places in England!”

In its heyday, Lincoln was the second largest, wealthiest, most influential city in England. It was a major strategic trading port (River Trent) and thrived on agricultural wool farming and religious importance. From crumbling Roman fortresses to mystical cathedrals to enchanting castles, its legacy dates back more than 2000 years... Read more