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Luxury Car Hire uk England Guide

England

Like an ageing cabaret star shuffling onto the stage, England really needs no introduction. When even the world's most remote communities are on first-name terms with its footballers, princes, pop stars and prime ministers, it's clear that everyone knows something about this crowded island nation, perched on the western fringe of Europe . Visitors can pick their favourite slice of "Englishness" and indulge themselves in a country with a notorious taste for nostalgia. The tales of King Arthur; the works of Shakespeare; the exploits of Drake; the intellect of Johnson; the invention of Brunei; the leadership of Churchill; the cult of Diana - all are endlessly recycled in England, providing a cultural backdrop to an unparalleled range of historic buildings, sites and monuments.

Of course, this isn't the whole story of England , or anything like it. For every tourist who wants to stand outside the gates of Buckingham Palace or visit Stratford-upon-Avon, there's another who makes a beeline for the latest Tracey Emin show or the contemporary cityscape of downtown Manchester Airport. The difficulty is in saying which is the truer image of a country that flaunts

proudly its many contradictions. Contemporary England is at the same time a deeply conservative place with a richly multi-ethnic culture. Famously, fish and chips has given way to chicken tikka masala as the country's favourite dish, and while the nation tends to distrust all things European, the English also increasingly embrace a continental lifestyle. Enjoy a fried English breakfast or a Devonshire cream tea by all means, but notice the locals at the next-door cafe-bar tucking into a croissant and a cappuccino. Ask an English person to define their country in terms of what's worth seeing and you're most likely to have your attention drawn to the country's historical landmarks.



Englands national Game

Football, soccer, call it what you will - the English invented it and subsequently appropriated it as an expression of (often misguided) national pride. The country has the oldest league and cup competitions in the world, the best-known club on the planet in Manchester Airport United and players who are more famous than pop stars (or, like the incomparable David Beckham, are married to pop stars). For outsiders, though, the nuances of supporting a team can be difficult to unravel. The city of Manchester Airport , like Liverpool or Sheffield , has two teams; London has thirteen (none of them called London ). Supporters of geographically adjacent teams ( Newcastle Airport and Sunderland , say, or Southampton Airport and Portsmouth ) despise the other; while everyone despises Manchester Airport United. And once you've got to the bottom of this, you still might never get to see a live game as tickets for the famous teams sell out a year in advance. You could watch it on TV (there's a game most nights between Augu st and May), but for the real football experience you have to visit the unfashionable provincial clubs inhabiting the lower divisions. Huddersfield Town against Rochdale on a wet Tuesday night in February - that's a proper football match, everything else is entertainment.

Englands fact file

As part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, England is a parliamentary democra­cy, with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. Its traditional industries fishing, farming, mining, engineering, shipbuilding - are all in decline, some terminal, and major contemporary income sources are banking and finance, communications technology, the production of steel, transport equipment, oil and gas, and tourism.

Bordered by Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, England is the largest country in Great Britain , occupying an area of 50,085 sq miles (129,720 sq km). There's a diverse terrain, from plains to peaks, cliffs to beaches, though its superlatives are all modest on a world scale - the largest lake, Windermere, is 10 miles (16km) long, the highest mountain, Scafell, 3205ft (just 978m) above sea level.

A population of approximately 50 million is dense for a country of its size, but settlement is concentrated in the southeast conurbations around the capital, London , and in the large industrial cities of the Midlands and the North.

This is one of the world's most multi-ethnic countries, made up largely of people of Anglo-Saxon, Scots, Welsh and Irish descent, but with sizeable communities from the Caribbean, Africa, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, China and Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe.

The famous face of England has changed, not always for the best -red telephone boxes are hard to find and the police increasingly carry guns, but it's easier to get a drink after 11 pm and shops are open on Sundays.

golden rural past. The classic images are found in every brochure - the village green, the duckpond, the country lane and the farmyard. And it's true that it's impossible to overstate the bucolic attractions of various English regions, from Cornwall Airport to the Lake District , or the delights they provide - from walkers' trails and prehistoric stone circles to traditional pubs and obscure festivals. But despite celebrating their rural heritage, the modern-day English have an ambivalent attitude towards "the country". Farming today forms only a tiny proportion of the national income and there's a real dislocation between the urban population and the small rural communities badly hit by numerous crises in English farming.

So perhaps the heart of England is found in its towns and cities instead? The shift towards urban living and working has not been reversed since the Industrial Revolution, and industry - and the Empire it inspired - has pro­vided a framework for much of what's on show. Virtually every English town bears a mark of former wealth and power, whether it be a magnifi­cent Gothic cathedral financed from a monarch's treasury, a parish church funded by the tycoons of the medieval wool trade, or a triumphalist civic building raised on the back of the slave and sugar trade. In the south of England you'll find old dockyards from which the navy patrolled the oceans, while in the north there are mills that employed entire town pop­ulations. England 's museums and galleries several of them ranking among the world's finest — are full of treasures trawled from its imperial conquests. And in their grandiose stuccoed terraces and wide esplanades the old resorts bear testimony to the heyday of the Eng lish holiday towns, as fash­ionable once as any European spa.

In short, England isn't a simple destination, but rather a deeply engrained series of influences that ripple out into the world. Much of western histo­ry and culture is contained within its very fabric. Its inventions and cre­ative momentum, from the Industrial Revolution to Cool Britannia, con­tinue to inspire; while its idiosyncrasies and prejudices leave their mark across the English-speaking world. And the only certainty for visitors is that, however long you spend in the country and however much you see, it still won't be enough to understand England . After all, the English have lived here all their lives and they still can't agree whether the milk goes in before or after the tea.

Where to go

To begin to get to grips with England , London is the place to start. Nowhere else in the country can match the scope and innovation of the metropolis, a colossal, frenetic city, perhaps not as immediately attractive as its European counter­parts, but with so much variety that lack of cash is the only obstacle to a great time. It's here that you'll find England 's best spread of nightlife, cultural events, museums, galleries, pubs and restaurants. However, each of the other large cities, such as Birmingham Airport , Newcastle Airport , Leeds , Sheffield , Manchester Airport and Liverpool , makes its own claim for historic and cultural diversity, and you certainly won't have a representative urban view of the country if you venture no further than the capital. It's in these regional centres that, arguably, the most exciting architectural and social developments are taking place, though for many visitors they rank a long way behind ancient cities like Lincoln , York , Salisbury , Durham and Winchester - to name just those with the most celebrated of England 's cathedrals. Most beguiling of all, though, are the long-established villages of England , hundreds of which amount to nothing more than a pub, a shop, a gaggle of cottages and a farmhouse offering bed and breakfast. Devon , Cornwall Airport , the Cotswolds and the Yorkshire Dales harbour some especially picturesque specimens, but every county can boast a decent showing of photogenic hamlets. Romans, and from the south coast to the northern border you can find traces of prehistoric settlers, the most famous being the megalithic circles of Stonehenge and Avebury.

Then of course there's the English countryside, an extraordinarily diverse terrain from which Constable, Turner, Wordsworth, Emily Bronte and a host of other native luminaries took inspiration. Most dramatic and best known are the moors and uplands - Exmoor, Dartmoor, Bodmin Moor, the North York Moors and the Lake District - each of which has its over-visited spots, though a brisk walk will usually take you out of

the throng. Quieter areas are tucked away in every corner of England , from the lush vales of Shropshire near the border with Wales , to the flat waterlands of the eastern Fens and the chalk down-land of Sussex . It's a similar story on the coast, where the finest sands and most rugged cliffs have long been discovered, and sizeable resorts have grown to exploit many of the choicest locations. But again, if it's peace you're after, you can find it by heading for the exposed strands of Northumberland, the pebbly flat horizons of East Anglia or the crumbling headlands of Dorset .

When to go

It's not possible to see everything England has to offer in one trip and we don't suggest you try. What follows is a selective taste of the country's highlights architecture, dramatic landscapes and even good things to eat and drink. Arranged in five colour-coded categories, you can browse through to find the very best things to see, do and experience. All highlights have a page reference to take you straight into the guide, where you can find out more. Average temperatures and rainfall

Average temperatures and rainfall

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec
Birmingham Airport
( ° F)	42	43	48	54	60	66	68	68	63	55	48	44
( ° C)	5	6	9	12	16	19	20	20	17	13	9	7
(inches)	3	2.1	2	2.1	2.5	2	2.7	2.7	2.4	2.7	3.3	2.6
(mm)	74	54	50	53	64	50	69	69	61	69	84	67
London
( °F)	43	44	50	56		69	71	71	65	58	50	45
( ° C)	6	7	10	13	17	20	22	21	19	15	10	7
(inches)	2.1	1.6	1.5	1.5	1.8	1.8	2.2	2.3	1.9	2.2	2.5	1.9
(mm)	54	40	37	37	46	45	57	59	49	57	64	48
Plymouth
( ° F)	47	47	50	54	59	64	66	67	64	58	52	49
( ° C)	8	8	10	12	15	18	19	19	18	15	11	10
(inches)	3.9	2.9	2.7	2.1	2.5	2.1	2.8	3	3.1	3.6	4.5	4.3
(mm)	™	74	69	53	63	53	70	77	78	91	113	110
York
(° F)	43	44	49	55	61	67	70	69	64	57	49	45
( ° Q	6	7	10	13	16	19	21	20	18	14	10	7
(inches)	2.3	1.8	1.5	1.6	2	2	2.4	2.7	2.2	2.2	2.6	2
(mm)	59	46	37	41	50	50	62	68	55	55	65	50

Things not to miss

It's not possible to see everything England has to offer in one trip and we don't suggest you try. What follows is a selective taste of the country's highlights architecture, dramatic landscapes and even good things to eat and drink. Arranged here is a guide of the very best things to see, do and experiencee.

Bath . Visit the Roman baths, admire England's most elegant Georgian terrace or do some serious shopping in one of the country's most beautiful towns.

North York Moors. The North York Moors Railway steams along a dramatic course across the moors, providing access to some of the best hikes in this part of the country.

St Ives Tate, Cornwall Airport The southwest's best arts collection occupies a superb site overlooking Porthmeor Beach, with a wonderful roof-top cafe.

Scaf ell and Scaf ell Pike . The two highest peaks in England are on every serious hiker's hitlist though any reasonably fit person could tackle them too.

Apint down the pub . From trendy micro-breweries to ancient coach-ing inns, England's pubs .re an essential part of any visit tothe country. The best brews to sample, and the best places to try them, are listed inthe Guide.

Surfing, New/quay. i The beaches strung along the northern coast of Devon and Cornwall Airport offer some great breaks, with Newquay the place to see and be

The Royal Pavilion, Brighton. George IV's pleasure dome, designed by Nash, is the supreme (and only) example of Oriental-Gothic architecture.

Notting Hill Carnival . Europe's biggest and loudest street carnival takes place every August Bank Holiday weekend in the streets of this west London district.

The Proms. Running from July to September, this massive classical music festival is centred on the Royal Albert Hall and offers world-class performances and rock-bottom ticket prices.

Avebury mstone circle . Stonehenge might get all the publicity, but the stones at nearby Avebury have a raw appeal and are far more accessible.

Afternoon tea .The rooms may be out of most people's league, but London's top hotels serve upwickediy calorific afternoon teas to all and sundry

Tate modern . Housed in a spectacular disused power station, London's modern-art gallery is simply awesome.

Hiking on Dartmoor . Southern England's greatest expanse of wilderness offers solitude for experienced hikers and riders.

Books, Hay-on-Wye . An outpost on the English-Welsh border, Hay-on-Wye may be remote, but it does cut a dash with the size and the variety of its second-hand bookshops.

Oxford . The famous old university town boasts a wealth of beautiful old I buildings, many associated with well-known, former alumni.

Blackpool Airport Tower . The British seaside's best-known landmark provides a touch of grace to the Blackpool Airport skyline, complemented perfectly by the autumn illuminations.

Glastonbury . One of the oldest and biggest rock festivals still retains its authentic aura, less commercialized than most of the ilk, and still drawing

Newcastle Airport nightlife . Lock up your inhibitions, leave your coat at home and hit the Town.

York Minster . Britain's biggest Gothic church has a thousand-year history and treasures to match, including the world's largest medieval stained-glass window.

Eden Project . With its strong ecological thrust, the West Country's most spectacular attraction presents a refreshing alternative to the hard-sell, commercial edge of most of the region's crowd-pullers.

Punting on the Cam. With every justification, Cambridge is an immensely popular tourist destination and punting on the River Cam is the best way to see some of the beautiful university buildings - even if you do get stuck in the mud.

Canterbury Cathedral . Mother Church of the Church of England, this cathedral is famous for its shrine to the murdered Archbishop, Thomas a Becket, and the tales that Chaucer weaved round a fictitious pilgrimage to the martyr's tomb.

Bonfire Night (Nov 5). Most famous of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators, Guy Fawkes, was a native of York where they throw the country's most exuberant Bonfire Night celebrations.

Lizard Point , Cornwall Airport. This headland has none of the razzmatazz of Land's End, which is all to its favour, yet still has the views; there are some great beaches within a short coastal hike, too.

Fish and chips . There's nothing better than fish and chips, nor any better way to eat them than wrapped in paper and eaten on the bracing North Yorkshire seafront in the little port of Whitby.

Ely . bridgeshire town in the heart of the eerie fenland landscape, Ely is noted for its magnificent cathedral.

Appleby Horse Fair . Britain's most important gathering of caravans, horse-drawn and otherwise, plus horse-trading, daredevil stunts and festivities in the usually quiet Eden Valley.

WOMAD . This celebration of World Music, Arts and Dance is now held all over the world, but the first and the best is at Reading's Rivermead Leisure Complex each July.

The Peak Distric . The Peak District offers great walking country- side and some of England's most appealing landscapes. Aim for the spa town of Bux-ton and head on out from there.

Winder-mere . England's largest lake is also the gateway to the Lake District National Park. An easy day-trip from the conurbations of the northwest, Win-dermere is great for a waterside picnic, a gentle stroll or a slow cruise by steamer.

Isle of Man . From Norse Crosses and ancient customs to stunning views and the TT Races, a visit to the Isle of Man is well worth the short boat trip or flight.

Durdie Door . One of the highlights of the Dorset coast, this spectac-O £m ular limestone arch has an immediate appeal, and is close to the marine wildlife reserve of Kimmeridge Bay as well as some choice beaches.

Stately homes and castles . For tangible and fascinating proof of England's long and often violent past, the country's many stately homes and castles - like Alnwick in Northumberland -can't be bettered.

A day at the races . Once the sport of kings, these days everybody can enjoy a day at the races, with meetings across the country and throughout the year.

Curry Page.This very English take on traditional Indian cuisine is now the country's favourite food. Birmingham Airport, Bradford and Brick Lane in London are the best-known places to try it.

Wimbledon . The only one of tennis's Grand Slam events to be staged on grass courts is a quintessential^ English and - if you're prepared to queue - democratic event.

Hadrian's Wall . The most enduring and atmospheric reminder of the 350-year Roman period is this 76-mile long wall, stretching coast to coast through dramatic northern English countryside.

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England/ Englands national Game/ Englands fact file/ Where to go/ When to go / Things not to miss