Page 16 - ELG1909 Sep Issue 466

DESTINATION . The Best of Britain

At home in the English Home Counties

Melanie Butler discovers the allure of England’s Home Counties and its EFL destinations UK

magine a ‘typically’ English town: a neat,
green. safe place with ancient churches, PIXABAY
historic pubs and tea shops.
I Welcome to the Home Counties, the
green belt of semi-rural England that encircles
London. According to lexicographer Laurence Language
Urdang it is, “inhabited on the whole by ‘nice’,
comfortable, and conformist middle-class
people,” a million of whom travel in to work in
London every day.
The British can never agree exactly where
the Home Counties end, but it is clear where
they start. North of London they begin in Centre
Essex, in the rural villages of ‘Constable
Country’ and the oyster fisheries of the
Thames Estuary which surround the ancient
Roman city of Colchester. This was the Roman
capital of the country, now dominated by its
th
Norman castle and known for its 17 century
houses, its museums and its fashionable
modern university. of Surrey where we find the homes of the Rankings
Heading west past the Essex county town Chichester Cathedral is one of the jewels of the Home Counties.
of Chelmsford, we enter Hertfordshire county
and pass the little town of Ware, inhabited villages like Padworth, Twyford and
since at least 4,000 BC. We continue towards Pangbourne. Along the Thames, we come super-rich in Weybridge, the county town of
the cathedral town of St Albans, just half an to the royal town of Windsor and, across the Guildford and nearby Woking, all surrounded
hour by train from London, with its Roman Thames, to villages like Burchetts Green by delightful country villages like Liphook,
amphitheatre, its medieval clock tower and and Bray, known for their award-winning Haslemere and Thorpe.
nearby Hatfield House, one of the most restaurants. Heading down towards the sea, we reach the 2019
magnificent palaces in England. cathedral town of Chichester, the county town
Next, the Home Counties continues Now its ancient streets of East Sussex and one of the hidden jewels
through Buckinghamshire down into of England, with its university, its riverside
Berkshire to Newbury, the childhood home are more known for its Marina and the stunning sandy beaches just to
of Katherine, Duchess of Cambridge, famous university students than the south leading on towards the seaside resort
for its glorious hills, the ‘downs’, and the of Worthing.
stately home of Highclere, where Downton its religious pilgrims. In East Sussex we find Brighton, the lively
Abbey is filmed. student city by the sea, boasting regency
To the east, the Home Counties includes To the south lies Ascot, home to the royal palaces and ancient streets of shops and
Reading, which is surrounded by delightful race course, and then on into the county restaurants, all just 47 miles south of London.
Just to the north, in the Sussex Downs, is
the delightful county town of Lewes and the
PIXABAY seaside resort of Eastbourne, nestled between
the white cliffs of the Seven Sisters and a
National Park. Just down the road lies the
ancient Cinque Porte of Hastings, with its
Norman castle, its fisherman’s huts and its
smugglers caves.
Over the border into Kent, we go through
the port of Folkestone, home of the Eurotunnel,
and up to the county town of Canterbury, the
most famous of England’s cathedral towns,
though now its ancient streets are more known
for its university students than its religious MSTONE BAY, BROADSTAIRS, KENT. GETTY IMAGES: CBCK-CHRISTINE
pilgrims.
Finally, north along the coast is the ‘isle’
of Thanet, with the fashionable marinas of
Ramsgate, the fabulous sandy beaches of
stately Broadstairs, the quiet seaside town
of Westgate on Sea and the bustling artistic
centre of Margate. Stand on the golden sands
and look north across the Thames. You can
just see Essex – our journey through the Home
Highclere castle, in Newbury, was used as the setting for Downton Abbey. Counties has come full circle.
16 September 2019