The Rough Guide to the Great West Way (Travel Guide eBook)
170 pages
English

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170 pages
English

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Description

World-renowned 'tell it like it is' guidebook

Discover the Great West Way with this comprehensive, entertaining, 'tell it like it is' Rough Guide, packed with comprehensive practical information and our experts' honest and independent recommendations.

Whether you plan to paddle-board through Bath, visit Windsor Castle, marvel at Stonehenge, narrow-boat down the Kennet & Avon Canal or explore the Ridgeway on horseback, The Rough Guide to The Great West Way will help you discover the best places to explore, sleep, eat, drink and shop along the way.

Features of The Rough Guide to The Great West Way:
Detailed regional coverage: provides in-depth practical information for each step of all kinds of trip, from intrepid off-the-beaten-track adventures, to chilled-out breaks in popular tourist areas. Regions covered include: West of London, Berkshire, the southern Cotswolds, Wiltshire, Bath and Bristol.
Honest independent reviews: written with Rough Guides' trademark blend of humour, honesty and expertise, and recommendations you can truly trust, our writers will help you get the most from your trip along the Great West Way.
Meticulous mapping: always full-colour, with clearly numbered, colour-coded keys. Find your way around Bristol, Bath and many more locations without needing to get online.
Fabulous full-colour photography: features a richness of inspirational colour photography, including captivating Kew Gardens, awe-inspiring Stonehenge and the idyllic Cotswolds countryside.
Things not to miss: Rough Guides' rundown of west of London, Berkshire, Wiltshire, the Cotswolds, Bath and Bristol's best sights and top experiences.
Itineraries: carefully planned routes will help you organise your trip, and inspire and inform your on-the-road experiences.
Basics section: packed with essential pre-departure information including getting there, getting around, accommodation, food and drink, health, festivals, sports and outdoor activities, culture, shopping and more.
Background information: comprehensive Contexts chapter provides fascinating insights into the Great West Way, with coverage of history, religion, ethnic groups, environment, wildlife, books, TV and film. 

About Rough Guides: Rough Guides have been inspiring travellers for over 35 years, with over 30 million copies sold globally. Synonymous with practical travel tips, quality writing and a trustworthy 'tell it like it is' ethos, the Rough Guides list includes more than 260 travel guides to 120+ destinations, gift-books and phrasebooks.


Sujets

Informations

Publié par
Date de parution 01 mars 2019
Nombre de lectures 1
EAN13 9781789195309
Langue English
Poids de l'ouvrage 9 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0400€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Contents Introduction The route When to go Author picks Things not to miss Itineraries Basics Getting around Accommodation Food and Drink Sports and Outdoor Activities Travel essentials Festivals and events calendar My Great West Way The guide 1. West of London 2. West Berkshire 3. Wiltshire 4. The southern and Wiltshire Cotswolds 5. Bath 6. Bristol Contexts History Film and TV Music Wildlife Books Did you know…? Great West Way®: Ambassador Network Maps and small print




Avebury
Introduction to the Great West Way
The Great West Way reaches west from the UK capital of London to the ex-industrial powerhouse of Bristol, now one of the country’s hippest cities, covering a distance of some 125 miles in the process. But this touring route is far from an A to B run between urban centres, it is the world’s first multi-modal touring route, a meandering lattice of tracks and trails that include the Kennet & Avon Canal, the Great Western Railway, the River Thames and numerous walking and cycling routes, as well as the main A4 road. However you choose to explore, you’ll be travelling through the soul of England, weaving a pathway between ancient market towns with imposing Georgian architecture, quaint villages built in honey-coloured Bath stone and across the patchwork of woodland, downland and farmers’ fields that rolls out across this quintessentially English area. There is no mistaking which country you’re touring here.



The route
The Great West Way runs between Bristol in the west and western London in the east, passing through the counties of Somerset, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Berkshire en route and dipping into the southern parts of Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire as it approaches the capital.
If you start in Bristol and head eastwards along the Great West Way your first major stop is likely to be Bath , a city so beautiful – and so historically important – that it has been UNESCO World Heritage-listed as a cultural site. Stretching northeast of Bath and into Wiltshire and Gloucestershire is the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), a bucolic paradise of rolling hills and picturesque, somnolent villages that tempts you out onto two feet, or perhaps two wheels.
East of the Cotswolds is the rest of Wiltshire, a large county that is mostly rural and relatively unknown as a destination in its own right but is nevertheless home to the world-famous prehistoric UNESCO World Heritage site of Stonehenge and Avebury , the ever-onscreen village of Lacock (seen in both Downton Abbey and Harry Potter ) and a large chunk of another Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the North Wessex Downs . Wiltshire also boasts some of the Great West Way’s most appealing towns and villages, including Marlborough , Corsham, Calne, Devizes, Bradford on Avon, Trowbridge, Chippenham, Malmesbury and Castle Combe , as well as plenty of pubs, tearooms and country walks in the beautiful Vale of Pewsey .
Abutting Wiltshire in the heart of the North Wessex Downs is Berkshire , an unsung county that runs east into London’s environs and hosts big-hitting sites such as Highclere Castle (the real “Downton Abbey”) and Windsor Castle (the world’s oldest and largest inhabited castle) as well as the towns of Hungerford , Newbury and Reading . Travel further east along the River Thames to Henley on Thames (famous for its annual Royal Regatta), Marlow and Maidenhead .
The North Wessex Downs give way to the Chilterns here, yet another Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a wonderful place for a cycle. Finally, the Great West Way comes to its spectacular conclusion in western London where you’ll find Richmond Park , a royal park home to hundreds of free-roaming deer, and the world renowned Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, a garden that is home to the world’s largest and most diverse plant collection.
When to go
England is much-maligned for its changeable weather but the Great West Way traverses the far south and the driest part of the British Isles. Visit in summer and you can expect a reasonable amount of sunshine and warm temperatures that don’t require a jacket most of the time. This, though, is peak season and July and August see much of the population taking time off to travel in their own backyard. A better time to visit is the spring (roughly March to June) or the autumn (September and October) when you can still expect plenty of dry weather and the days remain long, with light evenings ideal for sitting in pub gardens. Winter (December to February) is a better time to visit than you might think, with those traditional pubs and tearooms coming into their own. This is a country used to carrying on regardless in chilly, wet weather and you can expect decent heating in your hotel room, roaring fires in the pubs and a “stiff upper lip” attitude that means everyone pretty much shrugs and gets on with it – albeit with more clothing and an umbrella. Christmas is big here too and can be a great time to visit, with tons of events running throughout December. Bear in mind, though, that England largely shuts down between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, when many businesses are closed.
< Back to Introduction



from Left THE FAT DUCK; The Brewhouse Clock, LACOCK ABBEY; NARROWBOATING, kennet & avon canal
Author picks
Our author Helen Ochyra grew up on the Great West Way ( GreatWestWay.co.uk ). Let her lead you to the very best the route has to offer with her selection of handpicked highlights.
Tasty treats Bristol has recently emerged as a gastronomic hotspot and no visit to the city is complete for me without at least one meal at Cargo, a series of ex-shipping containers turned hip restaurants down by the harbour. One of my favourites is Woky Ko , which does fabulous bao buns. There’s now great local dining at pubs along the Great West Way, including The Three Tuns in Great Bedwyn, the Sign of the Angel in Lacock and The Snooty Fox in Tetbury. Finally, there really is nowhere like Heston Blumenthal’s three Michelin-starred Fat Duck . My meal here has me raving about it more than a year later and I can’t imagine I’ll ever enjoy a dinner more.
Terrific towns Bray in Berkshire is a must-visit for foodies, with not only the Fat Duck but also The Waterside Inn serving up three Michelin-star cuisine and there are lovely walks along the Thames to boot. In the Cotswolds, Lacock is an obligatory stop for Harry Potter fans, who might recognise the cloisters at the Abbey, while Tetbury is packed with historic architecture and traditional pubs. Wiltshire is home to several appealing market towns, including Marlborough and Corsham but the top pick has to be my hometown of Devizes , where you’ll find a gorgeous marketplace, a Victorian brewery that still uses Shire horses and the impressive engineering feat of the Caen Hill lock flight.
Brilliant boating There are few better ways to spend a sunny English evening than in a beer garden, glass in hand, with your bed for the night moored just a few metres away. Hire a narrowboat on the Kennet & Avon Canal and every night of your trip can be just like this, with the added joy of pootling along through jade and golden countryside, chatting to locals as you cruise past them at strolling pace. Numerous companies hire out boats and even the most vehicularly challenged will quickly get the hang of driving one.


Our author recommendations don’t end here. We’ve flagged up Helen’s favourite places throughout the guide, highlighted with the symbol.
< Back to Introduction

33 things not to miss
The Great West Way runs through the very soul of England, tempting you to stop regularly and to spend more time exploring and discovering – there is always something new around the next corner. These 33 highlights are some of the best things to see and do along the route.



1 Stonehenge This UNESCO World Heritage stone circle is perhaps the world’s most famous prehistoric monument. Book well ahead for a Stone Circle Access visit that lets you inside this ring of megaliths – before the site opens to the public for the day.



2 royal ascot One of England’s best horse racing meetings is a four-day extravaganza, starting each day with a royal carriage procession featuring the Queen herself. The perfect an excuse to buy a hat.



3 lacock abbey Harry Potter film fans might recognise some of the rooms off the cloisters in this ancient National Trust country house, which is also where the earliest surviving photographic negative was created.



4 Westonbirt, The National Arboretum Wander through ancient woodland and discover rare, exotic species at Westonbirt, The National Arboretum, home to dozens of so-called “champion trees”, the largest or tallest of their kind in Britain.



5 the cotswolds England’s largest designated AONB stretches for miles of rolling hills and quaint villages built in honey-coloured stone. A more perfect landscape is hard to imagine.



6 climbing the rigging at brunel’s ss great britain Ahoy there, sailor! This is your chance to prove your nautical skills with a clamber up the rigging of this early Victorian ship. You’ll reach heights of 82ft above Bristol harbour and the very brave can continue out along the yardarm.



7 narrowboating the kennet & avon canal Hire a narrowboat and cruise the Great West Way at walking pace. The 87 miles of canal can be tackl

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