868 Best Sights in England

At the end of its own peninsula stands this formidable castle, built by Henry VIII in the 1540s and improved by his daughter Elizabeth I. You can explore the defenses developed over the centuries. In the Royal Artillery Barracks, the Pendennis Unlocked exhibit explores the castle's history and its connection to Cornwall and England. The castle has sweeping views over the English Channel and across to St. Mawes Castle, designed as a companion fortress to guard the roads. There are free tours of the Half Moon Battery and regular performances, historical reenactments, and shows for kids.

More than half a million intriguing archaeological and anthropological items from around the globe, based on the collection bequeathed by Lieutenant-General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers in 1884, are crammed into a multitude of glass cases and drawers. In an eccentric touch that's surprisingly thought-provoking, labels are handwritten and items are organized thematically rather than geographically—a novel way to gain perspective. Give yourself plenty of time to wander through the displays of shrunken heads, Hawaiian feather cloaks, and fearsome masks.

At the Black Friars Distillery, Plymouth's most famous export, gin, has been distilled since 1793. You can purchase bottles of sloe gin, damson liqueur, fruit cup, or the fiery "Navy Strength" gin that traditionally was issued to the Royal Navy. Learn the full story on walking tours around the distillery, ending with a sampling in the wood-paneled Refectory Bar. The building originally housed a friary and was where the Pilgrims spent their last night on English soil in 1620.

Beautifully designed, this museum at Cambridge University's Scott Polar Research Institute chronicles the history of polar exploration. There's a particular emphasis on the British expeditions of the 20th century, including the ill-fated attempt by Robert Falcon Scott to be the first to reach the South Pole in 1912. Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen reached the pole first; Scott and his men perished on the return journey, but their story became legendary. There are also collections devoted to the science of modern polar exploration; the indigenous people of northern Canada, Greenland, and Alaska; and frequently changing art installations.

The Peak District's extraordinary geology can be seen up close in this large limestone cave far beneath the 100 acres of Buxton Country Park. Inhabited in prehistoric times, the cave contains, in addition to the standard stalactites and stalagmites, the source of the River Wye, which flows through Buxton. The Country Park paths take you up to Grin Low, home to the Victorian fortified hill marker Solomon's Tower, the remains of several Bronze Age burial chambers, and views of Mam Tor and Kinder Scout. There's also a fun Go Ape! treetop adventure course on site. Admission to the cave includes a guided tour lasting nearly an hour.

Looking for a 19th-century snuff spoon? Perhaps a Georgian salt cellar? What about a 1960s-era minidress? Then head to Portobello Road's famous Saturday market—and arrive at about 9 am to avoid the giant crowds. Stretching almost 2 miles from Notting Hill, the market is made up of four sections, each with a different emphasis: antiques, fresh produce, household goods, and a flea market. The antiques stalls are packed in between Chepstow Villas and Westbourne Grove, where you'll also find almost 100 antiques shops plus indoor markets, which are open on weekdays, when shopping is much less hectic. Where the road levels off, around Elgin Crescent, youth culture and a vibrant neighborhood life kicks in, with a variety of interesting small stores and food stalls interspersed with a fruit-and-vegetable market.

On Friday and Saturday, the section between Talbot Road and the Westway elevated highway becomes one of London's best flea markets, specializing in discounted new household goods, while north of the Westway, you'll find secondhand household goods and bric-a-brac. Scattered throughout, but especially under the Westway, are vendors selling a mishmash of designer, vintage, and secondhand clothing, together with jewelry, custom T-shirts, and assorted junk. There's a Trinidad-style Carnival centered on Portobello Road on the late August bank-holiday weekend, a tribute to the area's past as a center of the West Indian community.

More conventionally parklike than Hampstead Heath, the rolling lawns of Primrose Hill, the northerly extension of Regent's Park, rise to 213 feet and provide outstanding views over the city to the southeast, encompassing Canary Wharf and the London Eye. Formerly the site of boxing matches and duels but now filled with families and picnickers in nice weather, it has been featured in several books—it was here that Pongo engaged in “twilight barking” in The Hundred and One Dalmatians and the Martians set up an encampment in H. G. Wells’s The War of The Worlds. It's also been mentioned in songs by Blur, Madness, and Paul McCartney, among others, and served as a location for films, including Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and Paddington.

The stone battlements and turrets of moated Raby Castle, once the seat of the powerful Nevills and currently the home of the 11th Baron Barnard, stand amid a 200-acre deer park and ornamental gardens. Charles Nevill supported Mary, Queen of Scots in the 1569 uprising against Elizabeth I; when the Rising of the North failed, the estate was confiscated. Dating mostly from the 14th century (using stone plundered from Barnard Castle) and renovated in the 18th and 19th centuries, the luxuriously furnished castle has displays of art and other treasures. Rooms in wonderfully elaborate Gothic Revival, Regency, and Victorian styles are open for public viewing, as are the 18th century Walled Gardens and the Coach House, home to a collection of coaches and carriages dating back to the Georgian era. Note that there may be a little disruption as the site is currently undergoing a restoration project, which will see heritage buildings turned into event spaces, restaurants, and shops as well as the creation of a new walled garden. The castle is seven miles southwest of Bishop Auckland.

This handsome, early-18th-century villa, which was the Greenwich Park ranger's official residence during the 19th century, is home to the Wernher Collection, nearly 700 artworks that were amassed by the diamond millionaire Sir Julius Wernher (1850–1912). Once housed in his fabulous stately house, Luton Hoo in Bedfordshire, the collection ranges from old master paintings to Renaissance jewelry and assorted pieces of decorative art and curios from the medieval period onward, including the gorgeous Madonna of the Pomegranates from the workshop of Sandro Botticelli. The Ranger's House is just under a mile's walk from the DLR station at Greenwich, or you can catch a bus there from Greenwich or Deptford DLR.

The 19th-century waterway known as Regent's Canal officially starts in Little Venice in West London, but you'll find this quirky section east of City Road Basin. Join the towpath, where horses once walked as they pulled barges carrying all manner of cargo, at Wharf Road in Islington (N1), then head east on foot or by bike to experience the East End from an unusual perspective. What was once a no-go area is now a route lined with trendy cafés, floating bookshops, and a distinct community of water-dwelling Londoners. Regent's Canal runs through Hackney before heading south through Bethnal Green and Mile End, ending up at Limehouse Basin and the River Thames. Or you can continue eastward by turning off along the Hertford Union Canal at Victoria Park, a route that eventually leads to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

The formal cultivated Regent's Park, more country-house grounds than municipal amenity, began life in 1812, when John Nash was commissioned by the Prince Regent (later George IV) to create a master plan for the former royal hunting ground. Nash's original plan included a summer palace for the prince and 56 villas for friends, none of which were realized except for eight villas (only two survive). But the grand neoclassical terraced houses on the south, east, and west edges of the park were built by Nash and reflect the scope of his ambitions.

Today the 395-acre park, with the largest outdoor sports area in central London, draws the athletically inclined from around the city. At the center of the park is Queen Mary's Gardens, created in the 1930s, a fragrant 17-acre circle containing more than 400 varieties of roses that is a favorite spot for weddings. Just to the east of the gardens is the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre and the Boating Lake, which you can explore by renting a pedalo or a rowboat. Heading east from the rose gardens along Chester Road past the Broad Walk will bring you to Nash's renowned white-stucco Cumberland Terrace, with its central Ionic columns surmounted by a triangular Wedgwood-blue pediment. At the north end of the Broad Walk, you'll find London Zoo, while to the northwest of the central circle is The Hub, a state-of-the-art community sports center that has changing rooms, exercise classes, and a café with 360-degree views of the surrounding sports fields, used for soccer, rugby, cricket, field hockey, and softball. There are also tennis courts toward the park's southeast (Baker Street) entrance, and the park is a favorite north–south route for cyclists.

Regent's Park also hosts two annual events: the prestigious Frieze London art fair and Taste of London, a foodie-oriented extravaganza.

Wisley is the Royal Horticultural Society's innovative and inspirational 240-acre showpiece, beloved by horticulturalists across this garden-loving country. Both an ornamental and scientific center, it claims to have greater horticultural diversity than any other garden in the world. Highlights include the flower borders and displays in the central area, the rock garden and alpine meadow in spring, and the large and modern conservatories; look out for the giant strelitzia (birds of paradise) plants. There's also an impressive bookstore and a garden center that sells more than 10,000 types of plants. The garden is eight miles northeast of Guildford.

One of the three oldest stone-built castles in England and considered to be one of Britain's finest examples of a Norman fortress, Richmond Castle sits in a commanding position 100 feet over the River Swale. If you climb the 130 steps to the top of the 12th-century great keep, you are rewarded with sweeping views over the Dales. Originally built around 1071 by the first Earl of Richmond to subdue the unruly inhabitants of the North, the castle retains much of its curtain wall as well as three chapels. There's also an even earlier, two-story structure known as Scolland's Hall, which was built in the 11th century and is believed to be the oldest great hall in England. During World War I, conscientious objectors were imprisoned in the castle, and you can still see the graffiti they inscribed. A path along the river leads to the ruins of golden-stone Easby Abbey. A historical note: when Henry Tudor (son of the Earl of Richmond) became Henry VII in 1485, he began calling his palace in southwest London after the site of his family seat, leading to that part of the city becoming known as Richmond.

This enormous park was enclosed in 1637 for use as a royal hunting ground—like practically all other London parks. Unlike the others, however, Richmond Park still has wild red and fallow deer roaming its 2,500 acres (three times the size of New York's Central Park) of grassland and heath. Its ancient oaks are among the last remnants of the vast, wild forests that once encroached on London in medieval times. The Isabella Plantation (near the Ham Gate entrance) is an enchanting and colorful woodland garden, first laid out in 1831. There's a splendid protected view of St. Paul's Cathedral from King Henry VIII's Mound, the highest point in the park; find it, and you have a piece of magic in your sights. The park is also home to White Lodge, a 1727 hunting lodge that now houses the Royal Ballet School.

The perfect marriage of architecture and landscape, Rievaulx (pronounced ree-voh) Abbey sits in a dramatic setting two miles northwest of Helmsley, its soaring arches built to precisely frame the forested hillside rushing down to the River Rye. Founded in 1132 by a French Cistercian sect (there's a 13th century shrine containing the remains of the first abbot, William, at the entrance to the Chapter House), Rievalux soon became one of the most powerful monasteries in Britain. By the end of the 13th century, the abbey was massively wealthy thanks to the monks involvement in the wool trade. The evocative ruins still give a good indication of how vast it once was, from the church's huge 13th-century presbytery (one of the finest examples of Early English architecture in northern England) to the imposing refectory (dining hall). You should also get a glimpse of the 12th-century cloisters with their (reconstructed) symmetrical columns.

By the time of the suppression of the monasteries in 1538 under Henry VIII, the abbey had shrunk dramatically, with only 23 monks still living there. The new owner, the Earl of Rutland, subsequently dismantled what was left of the abbey, sending off the roof leads and bells to the king and allowing villagers to cart away the abbey's stones to build their houses. What remains is a beautiful ghost of the magnificent building that once stood here. From Rievaulx Abbey it's a short climb or drive up the hill to Rievaulx Terrace, an 18th-century escarpment with a magnificent view of the abbey. At either end of the woodland walk are two mid-18th-century follies in the style of small Palladian temples.

The hot springs have drawn people here since prehistoric times, so it's quite appropriate to begin an exploration of Bath at this excellent museum on the site of the ancient city's primary "watering hole." Roman patricians would gather to immerse themselves, drink the mineral waters, and socialize. With the departure of the Romans, the baths fell into disuse. When bathing again became fashionable at the end of the 18th century, this magnificent Georgian building was erected.

Almost the entire Roman bath complex was excavated in the 19th century, and the museum displays relics that include a memorable mustachioed, Celtic-influenced Gorgon's head, fragments of colorful curses invoked by the Romans against their neighbors, and information about Roman bathing practices. The Great Bath is now roofless, and the statuary and pillars belong to the 19th century, but much remains from the original complex (the Roman characters strutting around, however, are 21st century) and the steaming, somewhat murky waters are undeniably evocative. Tours take place hourly for no additional charge, and you can visit after 6:30 pm in July and August to experience the baths lighted by torches. Wear sensible shoes as the ancient stones are uneven and can be slippery. A state-of-the-art Learning Centre helps students learn about the town's history and heritage.

Adjacent to the Roman bath complex is the famed Pump Room, built in 1792–96, a rendezvous for members of 18th- and 19th-century Bath society. Here Catherine Morland and Mrs. Allen "paraded up and down for an hour, looking at everybody and speaking to no one," to quote from Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. Today you can take in the elegant space—or you can simply, for a small fee, taste the fairly vile mineral water. Charles Dickens described it as tasting like warm flatirons.

Burlington House was built in 1664, with later Palladian additions for the 3rd Earl of Burlington in 1720. The piazza in front dates from 1873, when the Renaissance-style buildings around the courtyard were designed by Banks and Barry to house a gaggle of noble scientific societies, including the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Royal Astronomical Society.

The house itself is home to the Royal Academy of Arts and an ambitious redevelopment for the academy's 250th anniversary in 2018 has meant that even more of its 46,000 treasures are now on display. The statue of the academy's first president, Sir Joshua Reynolds, palette in hand, stands prominently in the piazza. Free tours show off part of the collection and the excellent temporary exhibitions. Every June through August, the RA puts on its Summer Exhibition, a huge and eclectic collection of art by living Royal Academicians and many other contemporary artists.

This family-friendly museum is housed in a recently refurbished Victorian building. The centerpiece is the extensive Making History gallery, a giddy mix of objects imaginatively illustrating the city's history and covering everything from Roman pottery to memorabilia from World War II. The geology section is thrillingly enhanced by the latest video technology, and there are also excellent ethnography and archaeological collections, natural-history displays, and works by West Country artists.

Greenwich is on the prime meridian at 0° longitude, and the ultimate standard for time around the world has been set here at the Royal Observatory since 1884, when Britain was the world's maritime superpower. The observatory is actually split into two sites, a short walk apart: one devoted to astronomy, the other to the study of time. The enchanting Peter Harrison Planetarium is London's only planetarium, its bronze-clad turret glinting in the sun. Shows on black holes and how to interpret the night sky are enthralling and enlightening, and there are dedicated shows for young children, too.

Across the way is Flamsteed House, designed by Sir Christopher Wren in 1675 for John Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal. The Time Ball atop Flamsteed House is one of the world's earliest public time signals. Each day at 12:55, it rises halfway up its mast. At 12:58 it rises all the way to the top, and at 1 pm exactly, the ball falls. A climb to the top of the house also reveals a 28-inch telescope, built in 1893 and now housed inside an onion-shaped, fiberglass dome. It doesn't compare with the range of modern optical telescopes, but it's still the largest in the United Kingdom. Regular wintertime viewing evenings reveal startlingly detailed views of the lunar surface.

In the Time Galleries, linger over the superb workmanship of John Harrison (1693–1776), whose famous maritime clocks won him the Longitude Prize for solving the problem of accurate timekeeping at sea, paving the way for modern navigation. Don't miss the Camera Obscura, which showcases views down to the river below. Outside, a brass line laid among the cobblestones marks the meridian. As darkness falls, a green laser shoots out, following exactly the path of the meridian line. The hill that is home to the observatory gives fantastic views across London, topped off with £1-a-slot telescopes to scour the skyline.

The city's most remarkable building is this delightfully over-the-top domed and pinnacled fantasy. Built as a simple seaside villa in the fashionable classical style of 1787 by architect Henry Holland, the Pavilion was rebuilt between 1815 and 1822 by John Nash for the Prince Regent (later George IV). The result was an exotic, foppish Eastern design with opulent Chinese interiors. The two great set pieces are the Music Room, styled in the form of a Chinese pavilion, and the Banqueting Room, with its enormous flying-dragon "gasolier," or gaslight chandelier, a revolutionary invention in the early 19th century. The gardens, too, have been restored to Regency splendor, following John Nash's naturalistic design of 1826. For an elegant time-out, a tearoom serves snacks and light meals.

Overlooking Bancroft Gardens and with views along the River Avon, the Stratford home of the world-renowned Royal Shakespeare Company is undoubtedly one of the best places in the world to watch a Shakespearean play. The company has existed since 1879 and today boasts three Stratford venues: the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, the Swan Theatre (on the site of the original Shakespeare Memorial Theatre), and The Other Place. There's a great rooftop restaurant at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, plus a popular Behind the Scenes tour. You can also ascend to the theater’s tower, for free, for a panoramic view of Stratford.

Designed by Norman Foster, this hangarlike building on the campus of the University of East Anglia holds the collection of the Sainsbury family (British supermarket billionaires). It includes a remarkable quantity of 20th-century works, including pieces by Picasso, Degas, Giacometti, Bacon, and Modigliani. Rotating exhibitions include big-name photography and art shows. If this museum were in London, it would be wall-to-wall crowded, every day. Buses 22, 25A, and X25 run from downtown Norwich.

Salisbury is dominated by the towering cathedral, a soaring hymn in stone. It is unique among cathedrals in that it was conceived and built as a whole in the amazingly short span of 38 years (1220–58). The spire, added in 1320, is the tallest in England and a miraculous feat of medieval engineering—even though the point, 404 feet above the ground, is 2½ feet off vertical. The excellent model of the cathedral in the north nave aisle, directly in front of you as you enter, shows the building about 20 years into construction, and makes clear the ambition of Salisbury's medieval builders. For all their sophistication, the height and immense weight of the great spire have always posed structural problems. In the late 17th century, Sir Christopher Wren was summoned from London to strengthen the spire, and in the mid-19th century Sir George Gilbert Scott, the leading Victorian Gothicist who designed the Houses of Parliament, undertook a major program of restoration. He also initiated a clearing out of the interior and removed some less-than-sympathetic 18th-century alterations, returning a more authentically Gothic feel. The spartan interior is enlivened by the remarkable lancet windows and sculpted tombs of crusaders and other medieval notables. Next to the cathedral model in the north aisle is a medieval clock—probably the oldest working mechanism in Europe, if not the world—made in 1386.

The cloisters are the largest in England, and the octagonal Chapter House contains a marvelous 13th-century frieze showing scenes from the Old Testament. Here you can also see one of the four original copies of the Magna Carta, the charter of rights the English barons forced King John to accept in 1215; it was sent here for safekeeping in the 13th century. There are bookable tours of the Tower, the Library (which dates from 1445 and has more than 10,000 books, some 800 years old), and the Stonemasonry Works.

Join a free one-hour tour of the cathedral, which leaves two or more times a day. For a peaceful break, the café in the cloister serves freshly baked cakes and pastries, plus hot lunches.

Not far from the old-fashioned seaside resort of Hunstanton, Sandringham House is where the Royal Family traditionally spends Christmas. The redbrick Victorian mansion was clearly designed for enormous country-house parties, with a ballroom, billiard room, and bowling alley, as well as a shooting lodge on the grounds. The house and gardens close when the royals are in residence, but the woodlands, nature trails, and museum of royal memorabilia in the old stables remain open, as does the church, which is medieval but in heavy Victorian disguise. Tours give you access to most rooms, but steer clear of those occupied by current royals. The house is 20 miles southwest of Wells-next-the-Sea.

With attractions ranging from entertaining to educational exhibits—like the Wonderlab interactive gallery, where kids can perform their own scientific experiments, and an exhibition on the fight against superbugs—the Science Museum brings the subject alive for visitors of all ages. Highlights include Puffing Billy, the oldest steam locomotive in the world; Watson and Crick's original DNA model; and the Apollo 10 capsule. The Information Age gallery, devoted to communication networks from the telegraph to the Internet, was opened in 2014 by Queen Elizabeth II, who marked the occasion by sending her first tweet. The Winton Gallery, all about mathematics and its applications, has more than 100 math-related objects, such as a 17th-century Islamic astrolabe and an early version of Alan Turing's Enigma machine.

Overshadowed by a three-story blue-glass wall, the Wellcome Wing is an annex to the rear of the museum, devoted to contemporary science and technology. It contains a 450-seat theater (where you can visit the ocean floor or the Hubble space telescope via IMAX) and Legend of Apollo—an advanced 3-D motion simulator that combines seat vibration with other technology to re-create the experience of a moon landing. The entire first floor has been transformed into five galleries devoted to the history of medicine, and the family-friendly Wonderlab (£9) is full of interactive exhibits, live science shows, and demonstrations. There are also adults-only after-hours-themed events on the last Wednesday of every month. Admission is currently by prebooked ticket only.

This museum tells the story of the city's residents—from the earliest settlers through the Romans and Saxons to the present—via artifacts from maritime, local history, archaeology, and archive collections as well as through audiovisual installations. Ships, notably the great clippers, feature prominently, especially in the main exhibition devoted to the impact on the city of the sinking of the Titanic, which departed from here in 1912. An interactive model of the ill-fated ship and a wealth of footage and photos provide insight into the lives of the crew, many of whom were recruited locally.

This spectacular theater is a replica of Shakespeare's open-roof, wood-and-thatch Globe Playhouse (built in 1599 and burned down in 1613), where most of the Bard's greatest works premiered. American actor and director Sam Wanamaker worked ceaselessly for several decades to raise funds for the theater's reconstruction 200 yards from its original site using authentic materials and techniques, a dream that was finally realized in 1997. "Groundlings" (patrons with £5 standing-only tickets) are not allowed to sit during the performance, but you get the best view of the stage and the most authentic viewing experience. Fortunately, you can reserve an actual seat on any one of the theater's three levels, but you will want to rent a cushion for £2 (or bring your own) to soften the backless wooden benches (cushions must be booked when you book your tickets). The show must go on, rain or shine, warm or chilly, so come prepared for anything. Umbrellas are banned, but you can bring a raincoat or buy a cheap Globe rain poncho, which doubles as a great souvenir. From October to April, and occasionally in the summer, the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, a 350-seat re-creation of an indoor Jacobean theater lighted by candles, offers plays and concerts in a less-exposed though still atmospheric setting. Some Wanamaker benches are backless, and there are fixed standing positions in the theater's upper gallery.

The 50-minute "Shakespeare's Globe Experience" is offered hourly and combines a guided tour of the Globe with an interactive exploration of how theater crafts bring the plays to life as well as a history of the theater (from £25). There are also special family-friendly tours on weekends and daily during school holidays for £46. Tours of the Wanamaker Playhouse are offered on an occasional basis and must be arranged directly with the theater; availability varies and is subject to change depending on performances and other events. From mid-February until October, you can also book a tour of the surrounding Bankside area, which emphasizes places Shakespeare would have frequented, including the archaeological remains of the nearby Rose Theatre, the oldest theater in Bankside. There are also themed tours such as famous crimes in the neighborhood (Shakespeare was called as a trial witness to three) and tours relating to current theater productions.

A half-timber house typical of its time, the playwright's birthplace is a much-visited shrine that has been altered and restored since Shakespeare lived here. Passing through the modern visitor center, you are immersed in the world of Shakespeare through a state-of-the-art exhibition that includes evocative audio and visuals from contemporary stagings of his plays. The house itself is across the garden from the visitor center. Colorful wall decorations and furnishings reflect comfortable, middle-class Elizabethan domestic life. You can view his father’s workshop and you can see the very room where Shakespeare was born. Mark Twain and Charles Dickens were both pilgrims here, and you can see the signatures of Thomas Carlyle and Walter Scott scratched into the windowpanes. In the garden, actors present excerpts from his plays. There’s also a café and bookshop on the grounds.