There is a lot to like about England. Alas, during our summertime tour, the weather wasn’t one of them. We kept hearing things about it like it being the wettest July on record, “a summer washout” or the “earliest named storm” (Antony) washing ashore during our visit. But doesn’t it always rain in England? Apparently not, per the locals who couldn’t stop talking about the wetter than normal weather. Well, we got summer in Portugal before we got here, and we’ll get some more when we get home (and as a footnote, got great Indian Summer weather for our last several days in October in the Cotswolds and London at the end of our trip).
Soggy weather aside, there was a lot to like. Here is our rundown:
1. British Radio. We listened to Absolute Radio all throughout our touring and we had plenty of time to tune in as we drove the motorways, country roads and narrow lanes of England. It has been a while since I’ve listened to a really good radio station, and we really enjoyed this one. It also enabled us to catch up on British rock and relive our affection for pop-rock bands from Britain, in particular, of the 80s and 90s. The station was kind of a cross between the soundtracks of Pretty in Pink and Reality Bites. Now, with a healthy dose of Bowie, Psychadelic Furs, The Clash, Queen and The Cure and 90s American favorites like Alanis Morrisette, Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana back in our diet, we feel fully charged up on English beat.
We also really enjoyed the “Great Movies” channel on the telly and watched lots of, well, great movies whilst in our homes away from home.
2. The Sense of Humor. It’s not that the Portuguese don’t have a sense of humor or get mine, well maybe, but there’s more to being lost in translation when you get into humor. The Brits’ sense of humor aligns with mine (my maternal grandfather was a 1st generation immigrant from Birmingham after all) and we shared many a funny moment chatting up a local at pubs across England. And for a people who are known for having stiff upper lips, we found them to be downright joyful.
3. Speaking English. We had this same observation last summer in Ireland and while we do love Portugal, it is also lovely to be able to communicate whatever you want, wherever you want and whenever you want, without having to think about the words to use and to always understand the response (except for maybe in parts of Scotland or Wales). And let’s be honest, the British have some fantastic expressions. Right ho, lovely. They’ll get you sorted proper whilst you’re here. For more on “talking British”, see Melissa’s hilarious post here.
4. Rich History. There’s so much history. Hundreds of years of kings and queens, usurpers and uprisings, Romans, Vikings and Normans (oh my!), wrongs and, well more wrongs, had already gone down when those rabble rousers in Boston were just getting started with their tea. As I’ve mentioned in other posts, we joined English Heritage for the year which provided access to such sites as Dover Castle, Hadrian’s Wall and Stonehenge and many other lesser known (at least to us yanks) sites. Joining was a tip from a friend who spent extensive time here last year and it was a good one. We made our money back quickly between admission and parking fees. I will note that I never actually received our proper membership cards, despite joining more than six months before we left for England and the website customer service was hard to navigate and unresponsive to any of the several emails I sent. But the onsite customer service is fantastic, and we used the email we received with our membership numbers to get some temporary cards at the first site we visited and used those throughout the tour. If you’re going to be traveling around extensively, seeing a lot of historical sites and here for more than a few days, it may be worth looking into.
Another pass to consider is the National Trust which has lots of sites across England (The Needles on the Isle of Wight, Lizard Point near Penzance and the Cliffs of Dover are among those we visited) but I found the annual membership price too high for the value it would return.
Either way, there’s so much to see and do. I read our Lonely Planet Guidebook cover to cover, we listened to Rick Steves recordings about all of the UK and got countless tips from bartenders or those we just met along the way, and we barely scratched the surface.
5. Small hotels above gastropubs. We stayed in several hotels which were above bistros or gastropubs on our stay. These aren’t typical B&Bs, the food tends to be more gourmet, but not overpriced. Some are in the middle of nowhere and are the only show in town, like the Kilchrenan Inn in tiny little Kilchrenan, Scotland (I realize this is a post about England), others are in busier little towns like Jet Black Jewel in Whitby or the Artist’s Residence in Penzance or the Toll House Inn in Lancaster. We’ve stayed in a couple of places like this in the USA, but they are far more prevalent in the UK and we really liked them.
6. Countryside. Much of the English countryside is absolutely beautiful. From the south coast’s white chalky cliffs to the moors, tors and bogs of Dartmoor Park to the rolling hills of the farms of Yorkshire and the purple flowered moors of North York Park; from the high mountains of Lake Country or the soft, gentle rolling hills of the Cotswolds, we couldn’t stop staring (and to my wife’s chagrin pulling over for just one more “quick” photo of a moor and a sheep).
7. International Cuisine. Perhaps a remnant of her imperial days, England is full of great international foods. You just have to do a little research; else you’ll be full of English breakfasts (which are darn good) and fish and chips (which are too) before the mid-point of your visit. If you like Indian, Middle Eastern, Turkish, Italian, etc., you’ll be able to find it here in a town of almost any size.
8. Speaking of food, the availability of lean ground meat was great. In every grocery we found low fat ground beef and other lean options for our dinners: venison, wild boar and even ostrich. If you do eat meat, the availability of lean ones was better here than in the USA or Portugal. Just check the meat cases in any Tesco, Sainsbury, Co-op or Waitrose.
9. Walking paths. All around England (and the UK for that matter) are a plethora of walking trails, many are maintained, clearly marked and designated by the UK government. Most avoid the narrow and winding roadways or are, at least, on a proper roadway shoulder. It’s a great way to see the countryside and keep off the weight gain as you travel and for as long as the weather cooperated, we were seeking them out. If walking is your thing, check out the National Trails website for options near where you might be visiting.
10. Culture. We really dug the culture. Several years ago, when we were acclimating in Portugal and knew no-one, barely spoke Portuguese, had no access to American television and our only link to the USA was CNN International, we got hooked on The Crown series on Netflix and, while not American, it made us feel a little closer to home and less isolated in a land where we could hardly yet communicate. Just before coming to England this time, we devoured Ted Lasso on Apple TV. Both prepped us for the culture: afternoon tea, finger sandwiches, premiere league football, fish and chips everywhere, Royal watching, BBC or Sky news “Breakfast” (that’s what they all call their morning news shows), a pint with your mates at the pub after work.
This visit just reinforced to us that this is a place we could live (save for all that rain).
The Traveling Ridleys 
0 comments on “Top 10 Things We Liked About England”