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Englande unofficial second national anthem isJerusalem, and it is about the legend thatJesus might have travelled with Joseph ofArimathea to England. e words describethe beauty of England, and so it should beexperienced to the full. It is important toremember that England is not London,just like New York isn’t New York City.One could argue that you have to get outof London to experience England properly,

and so that is what we suggest you do.However, for the moment we are not goingto trek upon England’s mountains or grass(saving that for later) but we are headed tothe sea. Because England does have a loveaffair with seaside towns, having a historyof ruling the seas (ahem, “Rule Britannia,Britannia rules the waves”), it would beamiss not to start at the shore. Seasidetowns are an incredibly popular staycationdestination, from their early days whenVictorians were visiting, to the Edwardiansand now today. It was the Bank HolidaysAct of 1871 and the extensive railways thatallowed both the wealthy and the factory

workers to travel to the seaside for somefun and adventure. Seaside towns offeredpiers for strolling or arcades and games,and people would enjoy ice cream and fishand chips.

Getting away and enjoying a bit of sea-side air is perfect for our first bucket listadventure. Margate is an excellent choice.Located on the northeast point of Kent, itis ideal for a taste of English seaside. etown dates back to the 1200s, withMargate first mentioned in 1264, but thecurrent spelling from 1299. Sandy beachesare a gem to find, and Margate has 15 ofthem. In the early 1800s, bathing ma-chines were devised to take ladies out intothe water, allowing them to dunk andswim with a veil of cover from the on-looking masses, protecting modesty at all

costs. ere is a Shell Grotto that isquite famous, with more than

four million shells deco-rating underground

passages. Seaside towns

typically consistof a town with aclock tower, apier with someentertainment

From Stonehenge to Loch Ness,Snowdonia to Belfast, Britain truly isGREAT! When enquiring about what to dowhen you come to this fine country madeup of other countries, the list is endless.What should you do? Where should you go?How can you fully experience this incrediblepart of the world by soaking it all in andleaving with more than just an “I’ve beenthere” attitude? Be prepared to beamazed with our Bucket list of Britain.

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and the beach. Margate has it all. eirclock tower was built for Queen Victoria’sGolden Jubilee (but finished two yearslater in 1889) and includes a ball thatdrops at on the hour at 1pm. It was out ofcommission until a few years ago and soeven today you can enjoy the mechanismthat marveled the Victorian seaside visi-tors. Margate had a Victorian pier until1978 when it was destroyed in a storm. Inplaces like Brighton, the pier holds therollercoasters. Luckily for Margate, therollercoasters are still there in a place calledDreamland. You may have seen the adver-tisements for it recently, as it was just reno-vated and reopened in 2015. It’s a vintageride park, with one of the oldest roller-coasters on the sea � the Scenic Railway �dating from 1920. Now Grade II listed, itgives riders a thrilling view as they whizaround the bends and turns.

But England isn’t just seaside towns. It’stiny villages and shires that hold true totraditions and routines. One of the more

delicious routines is a scone. Youmay be familiar with the sconefrom afternoon tea, which can bequite a lavish affair in a posh hotel inLondon. Yet, all around England, you canfind cups of tea aside delicious scones incafe windows that are larger and heartiercompared with their overpriced and small-sized hotel compatriots. A scone is simplya quick bread, made from wheat flour,sugar, baking powder or baking soda, but-ter, milk and eggs, and baked in the oven.ere is a controversy on how to pro-nounce it: (rhyme with ‘cone’ or ‘gone’)and even more debate on whether to putyour jam or clotted cream on it first.However you do it, eating a scone is some-thing you should accomplish while visitinga small English town or village.

If we are going more regional, then wealso should mention the Eccles cake. So, ifyour visit to an English village takes younorth and through Manchester, you’ll needto stop in Eccles for a traditional cake.Each year, the town celebrated the con-struction of its church and at this eventthere was cake. Today you can pick up anEccles cake and feel the weight of the rich

ingredients like butter, butter, and but-ter. (ey warn you not to microwavethem for fear of an explosion!) ere is abakery in Eccles today that claims tohave been baking these beauties for threecenturies, so you should definitely taste abit of history while passing through.

ScotlandWe go back to the 11th century whereKing Malcolm III summoned contest-ants to a foot race to the summit of amountain to find the fastest runner to behis royal messenger. en, we skip to1703 when Laird of Grant summonedhis clan, requiring them to wear a gun,sword, pistol and dirk – a traditionalScottish sidearm. Finally, we time travelto the Victorian times, when theHighland Games took the form that weknow today. Events take place between

Today you can pick up an Eccles cake and feel the weight of the richingredients like butter, butter and butter…

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So all of those games have made youhungry? Why not try haggis? Don’t turnyour nose up to it just yet, the descriptionis way more disgusting than the taste.Vegans look away now. A national dish socelebrated, it has an entire day and poemdedicated to its creation. Burn’s Night iscelebrated on January 25th, and a 1787poem by Scottish poet Robert Burns“Address to the Haggis” describes thebeauty and pride of this food as “greatchieftain o’ the puddin-race.” e earliestrecipe reference dates to 1430, while otherorigins come from the wives of ScottishHighland cattle drivers making food fromwhatever ingredients were available, andstuffing them in a sheep’s stomach for thejourney. Consuming one today is tradi-tionally offal (lamb’s heart and lungs),onions, oatmeal, salt, pepper, stock andwater, all stuffed into a sheep’s stomach forboiling or roasting.

WalesWales is a country, formerly a principality,and an important part of Great Britain. Inthe 1700s, King George III would offerWelsh titles to English gentlemen as re-ward. is is why the family who ownHighclere Castle (where Downton Abbeywas filmed) are known as Carnarvon,

named from Carnarvon Castle inWales. Prince Charles, the Prince of

Wales is heir to the throne. Histitle has been given to the

first-born son of themonarch since 1301

when the title was cre-ated for Edward of

Caernarfon, the futureEdward II.

Welsh green dragons, which donot exist, are one of the dragons men-tioned in Harry Potter, and there is a reddragon on the flag of Wales. e reddragon is said to be the symbol of KingArthur but in Wales today you’ll have toexperience their other native winged crea-ture: the red kite. Once pushed to thebrink of extinction with only a few re-maining, they are now a strong breed thatfly throughout the middle of Wales.

Celebrate these airborne acrobats whilevisiting some of the 600 castles across thecountry. e largest is Caerphilly Castle,the oldest is Chepstow Castle, the mostmedieval is Conwy Castle, and the mosttechnically perfect is Beaumaris Castle.Harlech Castle was built by Edward I inthe 1280s and was the last castle to fall tothe Parliamentarian armies in 1647. esebuildings give Wales the claim of “castlecapital of the world”, and with 100still standing and the otherruins still visible, it’s thebest place to pretend toslay a dragon!

Wales is blessedwith SnowdoniaNational Park, theperfect place forcamping.Established in1951 and covering

May and September, so you can be flexiblewith your schedule. Expect to find athleticevents with heavy objects like hammers,dancing competitions clad in tartan, andfeats of strength including tug of war andcaber tossing (it’s a pole!).

Be aware that the Queen and her familylove the Highland Games, so you’ll bedoing as the royals do! Your ears will ringwith the sounds of bagpipes, which werethe preferred alarm clock of choice byQueen Victoria. If you haven’t found anyScottish ancestry roots, don’t let that stopyou from donning a kilt and trying a stepor two of their lively dance moves.

Oh, and there might be some whisky onoffer. If you are going to truly tasteScotland, you must wash it down with asingle malt scotch whisky. e malt refer-ences the malted barley and the singlemeans it is from one distillery. ‘Whisky’ al-ways describes the Scottish products, while‘whiskey’ is bourbon from the UnitedStates. Once tasted, it is impossible to mis-take the two. While volumes can be writ-ten about drinking this complex alcohol,you can break it down to a few flavour cat-egories: sweet, clean, smokey, peaty. ereare many combinations of these, whichmeans you will never run out of whisky to try!

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827 sq miles, itdraws campers, hikers,

nature lovers and conserva-tionists from all across the world

to its diverse area of mountains, fields,coasts and sand dunes. A long weekendgetting back to nature is the perfect anti-dote to busy city stress but for those whodon’t want to get too dirty, glamping isquite popular and readily available.

Perhaps your morning will start with thesmell of fresh Welsh cakes on the campfire?A delicious concoction of flour,butter/lard, currants, eggs, milk, andspices, such as cinnamon and nutmeg,should not be confused with scones.Adding grated apple changes their name to‘apple dragons’.

Northern IrelandMystical legends and epic history are in

store for you in this corner of the country. After hopping on a ferry or flightfrom all major airports, you’ll be

transported to your next discov-ery. One of the major landmarks

in Northern Ireland is Giant’sCauseway. is stunning nat-ural landscape was createdfrom cooling lava that flowedfrom volcanic activity inCounty Antrim 50 to 60 mil-lion years ago. As it flowed

through the chalk bed,the cooling

process made

it similar to drying mud as it fracturedhorizontally. e plateau is made up ofmounds called ‘biscuits’, and UNESCOmade it a world heritage site in 1986.

Legend has it that the columns are theremains built by a giant called FinMacCool, who had been challenged by aScottish giant to a fight. Fin built thecauseway so they would have a place fortheir fight. With this in mind, you mightfeel as if you have unearthed another partof the world. Plant your flag and take amoment to breathe in the scenery. Flatseems flatter. Blue seems bluer. ere is awhisper on the wind.

Alternatively, you have the hustle andbustle of Belfast to keep you entertained.One of the treasures is the Titanic Belfast,a museum we recommend on our bucketlist for a few reasons. Yes, it is a museum toa tragedy but stay with us. After all, thiswas a feat of engineering that had neverbeen seen and has not been replicated. It isa story of tremendous ambition, incredibleheartbreak and the compelling hunt forremnants of the event. Going through themuseum, you can sense the full heart ofpride that Belfast had in building thisenormous ship. You can sense the anticipa-tion of the passengers, their excitement tobe part of such a momentous occasion.

From this, you might question whatevent we have in modern time that canequal this desire to not miss out. And thenthe fate of the ship takes course, but thesorrow is quickly lightened with the feelingof intrigue at the stories that surface andthe items that survived. A visit to this mu-seum is an emotional rollercoaster thatleaves you with both melancholy and a de-sire to be more than you are today. But the

building alone isspectacular, reflecting Belfast’s historic shipindustry in a celebration of design byAmerican-born architect Eric Kuhne andAssociates.

Belfast Pride is something that can beseen on its walls, literally. e murals thatdecorate the sides of buildings and homesall over the city tell the heroic, tragic andcourageous history of the people andevents in modern times. Check out thewebsite www.belfast-murals.co.uk and ex-plore visual depictions of Loyalist,Republican and social moments.Described as a mirror of political change,you can see these in Derry, too. Someshowcase local heroes like IRA leaderBobby Sands, the Great Irish Famine orIrish myths.

Britannia and beyondIt’s pretty daunting to come up with abucket list for Britain but with this coun-try breakdown, we reckon this might bejust the way to explore and immerse your-self. Oh, and God save the Queen!

Amber Raney-Kincade is the American Tour Guide in London, offering walking tours andprivate hire to those looking to explore on foot. Find out more at

www.AmericanTourGuideInLondon.com or follow her on Twitter @AmericanLDN