travelinwifey

being called "love"

clotted cream

Gardens in the UK can't be beat

I feel most alive when I am there

manor houses

The list of my loves is so long it would take up far too much space

travelinwifey

BTilke that is really sweet about the cats

Scotia

I love all of the above as well but do NOT like seeing Starbucks on practically every corner along Piccadilly. Just didn't seem like London.

crckwc1

Walking the Thames path
theatre
"Phantom of the Opera" (x6 LOL!)
Cornish pasties
"Mind the Gap"
baked beans at breakfast
scones
sticky toffee pudding
everything in the Lake District

mermaid_

My best UK things:

-my husband (one fabulous import from Windsor; thank god he came to the US, liked what he saw and stayed, and thank god even more that he still likes going back to his native land)

-real ale real ale real ale real ale

-endless miles of footpaths

-the sheep and cows you meet on footpaths

-lonely village stone churches with heartbreaking memorials to only sons lost in wars

-crumbling ruins

-food that's not overly sweetened like our American food, ie, yogurt, ice cream, baked goods

-fish and chips wrapped in paper and a serving big enough to feed an army

-Victoria and Albert Museum

PalenQ

I love the cider

though i rarely drink it anywhere else just love the traditional English cider.

Buy it by in 4-packs at supermarkets and sip it in my cozy B&B where i love watching British TV - even though places i stay usually only get the five state-sanctioned channels

Coronation Street is my favorite and i love the breakfast news shows too.

Amazing the lack of advertising like at home.

Britain - so much to love, so little to dislike and even normal dislikes at home can become loves abroad

sheila

Just a quick check in after a few days even busier than usual

signed

Sheila

(proud to be a quirky Liberal!)

samtraveler

I love the UK so much that I often wonder if I was born in the wrong place. Gratefully I've been able to spend a lot of extended time there . . .

On one of my earliest visits to the motherland I loved getting to run my fingers over the old brick on the tiny, two-story town house in Hull where my grandfather lived his entire childhood before emigrating to the US as a teen in the mid 1910's. I also enjoyed a good laugh with the librarian in Hull as I attempted to return a book my grandfather had made off with ninety some odd years ago. They let me keep the book. I left a donation. On this and other visits I am constantly taken a back by how much of my family I see in the faces of the English--one time I swear I saw my mother. I feel truly at home here.

I don't, however, rely on the ghosts of my ancestors for the source of my affection. My personal love affair with this place began as a college student as is now something I share with my spouse and children. Some of what we love and miss (okay, mostly in London) . . .

*Dropping mail in those beloved red post boxes
*The undeniable beauty of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben (especially at night!)
*Endless variety of Kit-Kat bars
*Parks, parks and more parks--mostly St. James's Park and the Princess Diana Memorial Playground
*Postman Pat and his black and white cat
*Marks and Spencers
*Boots
*No. 9 bus
*the Pound Sterling
*the use of the word "sorry"
*the Tube, buses and the Oyster card
*spending a rainy day popping in and out of museums on Exhibition Road
*Escape to the Country and Coronation Street
*Wagamama and Giraffe restaurants (kid favorites!)
*Yorkshire pudding, pasties and digestives
*Small country roads and green, GREEN everywhere
*strolling Kensington early in the morning


This list could go on! I heart the UK!

wombat7

Some are repeats but need to be repeated:
- Pubs - now non-smoking
- Beer in above mentioned pubs
- Grauniad
- Private Eye - Hislop is wonderful
- Radio 4 in the morning with grumpy Humphreys
- Jeremy Paxman
- Cheese, cheese and more cheese
- Indian restuarants
- National Gallery
- Bookshops on Charing Cross Rd - and Hatchards
- Graveyards (except for Madingley which is just too sad)
- Moss - check out those stone and brick walls with moss that needs to be petted
- Tocuhing old stones
- The driving experience - smaller cars and people who can drive
- Sausages
- Gammon
- Footpaths that lead to nowhere
- London in general
- The National Theatre
- Seeing Patrick Stewart in Macbeth - wonderful
- The Proms in summer
etc etc

PalenQ

Fried Mars Bars?

waring

I have a French friend who refers to the English as "lovelies", because we say lovely all the time.

PalenQ

And i love those greasy spoon cafes with downhome English food - though they seem to be dying away gradually in more effete areas like central London in favor of Pret a Porter, starbucks, sub shops, etc.

Yet there are many in the suburbs and though i rarely eat this kind of food much i seek it out in England

Just love the scrambled eggs, beans on toast, tomato, etc.

It's not just the food but the places themselves - nothing fancy - unlike most of europe where cleanliness is the rule these places serve food on tattered plates often, chipped coffee cups - yes the unpretentiousness and utilitariansim is what i love

and the swoosh of them preparing your coffee - the steam sound

Just love those old-time English cafes - like Roy's Rolls on Coronation Street though his cafe is the creme de la creme of cafes i've been in.

nona1

Mr N, who isn't British, loves the queues here! Seemed a strange thing to love when he first mentioned it...but compared to the alternative, I now see his point.

MissPrism

Have a look at http://www.classiccafes.co.uk/
London's greatest Twentieth Century vintage Formica caffs

PalenQ

MissPrism-

wow thanks a lot - never heard the term 'formica caffs' will track some of the classics down.

PalenQ

The thing i love the most about British travels is the British - the way they speak - all the variations from Queenie dialect to Cockneys and Midlands (one told me once they speak like they have a mouthful of marbles), Scots and Irish.

Besides the variety of dialects it's just the British demeanor that i like. The oft sarcastic humor like we've seen so much of on Fodor's from UKites, etc. Always feel welcome in Britain.

Margo

samtraveler--I, too, have an interest in all things British. Love the history in those islands and their contribution to the history of Western Civilization. I especially appreciate the British National Trust for preserving the old structures, ruins and the natural beauty of the islands. When I travel by car, I try to take the A roads, B roads and single track roads that end in some ancient churchyard or castle ruin.

Among my favorite places are (and there are many more:

Castle Coombe--for well preserved medieval village

Tarr Steps--for pleasant walk through Exmoor Park

Tintagel--for its amasing location selected in King Arthur's time

Rievaulx Abbey ruins--spectacular setting

Linlithgow Palace, birthplace of Mary,Queen of Scots, and Fotheringhay, the village where she lost her head.

Stately Homes (and there are many),
Chatsworth
Blenheim
Waddesdon Manor
Osborne House

Castles,
Caernarfon
Elcho
Castell y Bere--ancient, interesting site in Wales
Windsor
Bamburgh

Gardens,
Bodnant Gardens in Wales
Stourhead
Alnwick

So there are a few things that I love.

And waring--Talk about Pork Pies--Did you read that a Pork Pie won the prize as the tastiest food in Britain in some recent contest?

Also, another poll found that Worchestershire sauce was deemed the British food item that contributed most to the world cuisine (or something like that) Go figure.

Margo

Oh, and I forgot my favorite BBC show--East Enders!!
We don't get Coronation Street here.

PalenQ

THE CHIPPIES

Though i rarely eat junk food at home i love to stop by these oft dumpy looking places to get some Chips - they always ask 'wrapped or unwrapped' and i take them unwrapped for immediate consumption

The Chips (frenched fried potatoes) are usually huge and piping hot - i dump some vinegar on them and ask for ketchup as well

they seem saturated with grease as witness the wrapping paper being soaked thru with it.

The staff is invariable of Mid-East extraction it seems and always quite friendly.

These are unpretentious places that seemingly would not pass health codes in the U.S. The vinegar bottle is typically a plastic thing that looks pre-war

they also sell fish and chips of course and though i used to do the fish too the fish i just find too soggy and too greasy.

Savouries are there as well - sausages that often look like they've dried and shriveled after being under the heat lamps so long

But whatever i cherish these places, the likes of which seem to have disappeared from central tourist London.

Josser

You obviously don't go to proper chippies.
Fish and chips should not be soggy.
The best ones are as near the coast as possible.