Ah, the sweet smell of spring is finally here. Flowers are beginning to bloom, the sun has started to shine and there is hope on the horizon for a great British summer!
I’m sure you’ll agree that spending so many months at home has only made our adventurous, curious hearts grow fonder with a passion for travel and exploration.
I will appreciate my upcoming travel trips so much more, and it has only made my job as travel Editor, and the content in our latest issue, seem even more special than usual!
Lockdown might have put a stop to many things, but it certainly hasn’t stopped the travel industry preparing to ensure a super fun and warm welcome once it is safe for visitors to return. From new hotels and luxury spas, exciting holiday resorts full of adventure and off-grid activities, luxury boutique stays in acres of unspoilt countryside and coastline, brand new attractions to immersive one-of-a-kind experiences – it seems there has perhaps never been a better time to explore the British Isles!
With so much ‘British staycation’ wanderlust flying about we couldn’t resist compiling our Ultimate British Bucket List. Deep in the West Dorset countryside we Meet the Makers behind the world’s only vodka made from cows’ milk. We uncover 10 of the most wonderful places to visit in Yorkshire and discover that there’s much more than just Cheddar Cheese and ancient apple orchards to Somerset’s epicurean offering in The Rise of Food and Drink. In search of beautiful destinations where social distancing is made easy, you won’t find better than a remote Sea Garden Cottage on the white sandy shores of Tresco island, a luxury family stay in the heart of Suffolk’s rolling countryside at The Ickworth or a whisky tour around the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, Islay - the Lord of the Isles.
Wherever, and whenever, you next plan to take a holiday in the British Isles, we hope British Travel Journal continues to deliver as your indispensable travel magazine, and wish you a safe and seamless journey full of wonderful memories.
9 For 8BEST DISTILLERY
9 For 8BEST DISTILLERY SPIRIT OF YORKSHIRE Located in the village of Hunmanby, Spirit of Yorkshire is the county’s first whisky distillery. It produces a range of “Filey Bay” single malts whose label features a gannet for the simple reason that Britain’s biggest gannet sanctuary lies on the coast nearby. All the barley used in the distillation process here is grown on the farm of Tom Mellor, co-founder of Spirit of Yorkshire. The water, a crucial ingredient in any successful whisky, comes from a borehole on the farm that is sunk deep into chalky soil. The company even bottles on-site, allowing them to assert that the whole whisky process “from field to bottle” happens here in Hunmanby. One-hour distillery tours cost £12.50. There is also a longer brewery and distillery tour (£22) as Tom and his wife Gill also set up the nearby Wold Top Brewery. spiritofyorkshire.com more inspiration on visiting Yorkshire take a look at the Welcome to Yorkshire website: yorkshire.com 70 BritishTravelJournal.com
BEST LITERARY PILGRIMAGE HAWORTH The Brontë Sisters lived and wrote most of their novels in the parsonage at Haworth, West Yorkshire. This interior of this building has been meticulously restored to how it looked when these three remarkable young women were publishing novels like Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Today the village is extremely picturesque and it’s difficult to believe that in the Brontës’ time it was one of the most polluted places in Britain – one of the reasons the sisters died so young. The Church of St Michael and All Angels, where Rev Brontë preached, still broods over High Street and the Black Bull, where his wayward son, Branwell drank away his talent, still stands nearby on Main Street. You can also see the Old School Room where the sisters taught and the Apothecary Shop where Branwell bought his opium. bronte.org.uk BEST PORT WHITBY Anyone who has read Dracula will know that the Transylvanian vampire arrived in Britain via the port of Whitby. It’s a suitably dramatic town with a ruined cliff-top abbey that has been home to several saints, with narrow streets of red pan-tiled houses below and a memorial to Captain James Cook which gazes romantically out to sea. Cook learned seamanship in Whitby where the harbour was always full of whaling ships, colliers and the herring fleet that contributed massively to the town’s prosperity. Fishing, supported by tourism, is still a mainstay of Whitby's economy and its harbour is sheltered by two Grade II listed piers, both with working lighthouses. The west lighthouse (1831) is 84 feet high and has a foghorn that sounds a blast every 30 seconds during reduced visibility at sea. This is a working harbour designed to protect fishermen whose lives depend on the often stormy North Sea. visitwhitby.com 10 BritishTravelJournal.com 71
