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Daily Mirror
20 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Underrated but 'unloved' UK seaside town named among the best in Britain
A beautiful seaside village in the UK has been named one of the best in the country despite it being 'underrated' - and it's the perfect holiday retreat for this summer A town in the UK "that doesn't get the love it deserves" has been named among the best places in the country. Hastings in Sussex is a beautiful seaside town on the south coast of England. It has a population of 91,000 people and a convenient one hour 23 minute train ride to the capital. It is also a good holiday destination for those who don't want to hop on a plane and travel hundreds of miles from home. For a bit of context and history, the town's name comes from the Battle of Hastings, which took place in 1066. The battle resulted in a Norman victory, which marked a turning point in English history and the start of the Norman Conquest. Despite being a great spot for those seeking a coastal holiday, it seems to be quite underrated despite the many good things it has to offer, such as its extensive history and beaches. Travel company Rough Guides has included Hastings in the list of 30 best seaside towns in the UK. The site said: 'Whether you want nice beaches in England, pebble bays in Wales or coastal artists' retreats in Scotland, the UK certainly doesn't disappoint when it comes to seaside towns.' The site also claimed that despite its rank on the list, the town 'doesn't get the love it deserves'. Things to do in Hastings, Sussex One thing about Hastings is that you'll never get bored of it. There are so many activities, both for children and adults, to suit all different preferences. The main attractions are the Hastings Castle, the Hasting Piers and, of course, a visit to the Old Town. For those who like history, there are plenty of museums where visitors can learn about the town's history and the shipwrecks in the English Channel. Some of the key places are the Shipwreck Museum, Hastings Fishermen's Museum Hastings Museum and Art Gallery. However, if you're looking to relax in the sounds of the beach waves, the beach stretches from the Old Town to Bulverhythe and has a mixture of sand and pebbles. For example, Pelham Beach is a popular spot for those travelling with small children. Alternatively, Stade Beach and St Leonards On Sea Beach are great for sunbathing and other water activities. Hastings also has the UK's largest beach-based fishing fleet, and the town praised for its 'ultra-fresh seafood'. Many restaurants specialise in fresh, locally sourced seafood, offering the best fish and chips to other delicious platters, ensuring that locals and visitors have a wide variety of things to eat. Despite being 'underrated', Hastings welcomes around 63,000 visitors a year with around 3.8 million tourism day trips, as the Hastings Town Deal reported. So, if you're thinking of visiting a new place that doesn't involve taking a plane and has a lot of things to do, Hastings is the place for you.
The Herald Scotland
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
He is Scotland's greatest novelist but no-one reads him now. Why?
With originality and verve, he illuminated the turbulent past, mainly of Scotland, but also England and France. Scott's phenomenal productivity was in part the result of finding himself almost bankrupt in 1825. Yet he had been drawn to stories of the great events that shaped Scotland since he was a boy. Despite the demands of his roles as Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire and Clerk of the Court of Session in Edinburgh, Scott turned to fiction with such energy it was as if he were an uncorked bottle of champagne. Read more In the space of 18 years, 27 novels fizzed out of him in a seemingly unstoppable stream, intoxicating readers worldwide and changing forever the face of his homeland. The more vivid the period, the livelier his imagination: Waverley was about the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion; Woodstock about the Cavaliers and Roundheads; Ivanhoe took place in England after the Norman Conquest, while Old Mortality was about the Covenanters. The Heart of Midlothian is based on the Porteous Riots of 1736; Kenilworth was set in Elizabethan England, Quentin Durward in 15th-century France and The Talisman in Palestine during the Crusades. In tribute to his continuing influence, the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction was founded 16 years ago by the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, with the winners announced at the Borders Book Festival in Melrose in June. Previous winners include Hilary Mantel, Robert Harris, Robin Robertson and Tan Twan Eng, and this year's shortlist features novels set in Sicily in 412 BC, the 19th-century American frontier and England in the winter of 1962–3. As a genre, the historical novel appears to be thriving, its perennial success directly attributable to the Laird of Abbotsford. Scott's literary career had begun first as a collector of Border Ballads – Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border – and then with epic poems such as Marmion and The Lady of the Lake. Only in his forties did he turn to fiction. Learning of his change of direction, Jane Austen wrote: "Walter Scott has no business to write novels, especially good ones. "It is not fair. "He has fame and profit enough as a poet, and should not be taking the bread out of other people's mouths. Sir Walter Scott's home in Abbotsford (Image: free) "I do not like him, and do not mean to like Waverley if I can help it – but I fear I must." Scott's fame crossed continents. Eager to see the locations he so vividly described, tourists flocked to Scotland to visit the scenes of his stories and explore his stately home, which was opened to the public in 1833, the year after his death. His evocation of bygone times turned a country once deemed primitive and inhospitable into the alluring backdrop for drama, intrigue and heroism. Thanks to the appeal of his swashbuckling plots and unforgettable characters, and to the romance surrounding the author himself, Scott put Scotland on the map. A natural storyteller, whose grasp of social and political history was profound and enlightened, Scott's impact on literature was transformational. Across Europe and America, writers took their cue from him, notably Balzac, Alessandro Manzoni, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Jules Verne, James Fennimore Cooper, Theodor Fontane, Pushkin, Tolstoy and Turgenev, all of whom acknowledged their debt. Not everyone, however, was a fan. Mark Twain believed his novels exerted a "malign" influence on "the character of the Southerner". By diverting Southerners' attention from the present and future to an idealised past, wrote a frothing Twain, he helped foment the American Civil War. Until the present era, familiarity with Scott's novels was essential for anyone who wished to be considered well-read. To admit never having broached The Heart of Midlothian or Ivanhoe (Tony Blair's desert island book) was to invite derision. Today, sadly, Scott is barely read in his home country. Whereas there have been recent translations of his work in Croatia, Albania, Bosnia and Catalonia, here he has become the Great Unread. Read more People wouldn't thank you for a set of his novels; I doubt if even charity shops would accept them. But although his stories are consigned to library bookshelves, where they gather dust, his legacy endures. The rocket-like Scott Monument in Princes Street is within earshot of the tannoy system at Waverley Station. What other city has named its main railway station after a novel? And all across the UK streets, houses and pubs are called after his books or characters: Marmion Road, Durward Avenue, Waverley Place, Ivanhoe Avenue, Woodstock Road, Peveril Street, Kenilworth Terrace... It is one of literature's great injustices that a writer whose purpose was to bring history alive for as wide an audience as possible is now deemed dry and dull. Neither accusation is fair. Scott has fallen from favour not because of changing taste, although that plays a part; nor because he is now as historic as his subjects, although that too is true. It is not because of his rich, occasionally antique language, or his love of dialect, or his leisurely digressions. The biggest enemy of Scott is time itself—not its passing but readers' lack of it. Modern bestsellers are written to catch the attention quickly and not overstay their welcome. It's a brave writer who produces a novel as long as Peveril of the Peak. But for some of us, the heft of Scott's stories is part of their appeal. In fact, right now I'm off to continue Rob Roy, which had me hooked from the opening page. I may be some time. The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction shortlist: The Heart in Winter, Kevin Barry; The Mare, Angharad Hampshire; The Book of Days, Francesca Kay; Glorious Exploits, Ferdia Lennon; The Land in Winter, Andrew Miller; The Safekeep, Yael van der Wouden. The winner will be announced on Thursday 12 May at 5pm. For details and tickets go to:
The Age
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Writers, I'm on your side – now here's my list of complaints
Reading is my favourite hobby. What's not to like about it? It can be done sitting down and can be combined with other hobbies such as drinking a beer or patting the dog. And, while unwilling to put myself forward to test the theory, I'm convinced it makes you smarter. I'm a kindly reader, by which I mean 'largely undiscriminating'. I consider myself on the writer's side, wanting to cheer their endeavours in any project, however unlikely. Yet, even with a forgiving reader, there are quibbles. With Sydney crammed with authors for the annual Sydney Writers' Festival, could I mention some ways they could do better? Non-fiction books that go on too long Long novels are terrific – you sink into the world of Proust, Doris Lessing or Anthony Powell and want the pleasure to never end. With non-fiction, I'm not so sure. I'm interested to know about the Norman Conquest, I really am, but do I need the six-volume, 5000-page account by Edward Augustus Freeman (as recently reviewed on The Rest is History podcast)? I'm interested, also, in Lyndon Baines Johnson, a consequential president whose biographer, Robert Caro, is considered a genius. But do I definitely want to read four volumes, with a combined 3000 pages, and a fifth still to come? With Caro endlessly extending his efforts – see the recent documentary Turn Every Page – there's the danger, for a slow reader, that the life could take longer to read than it took to live. The fashion to eschew quote marks Some of our arty novelists are dispensing with quotation marks. I'm sure there's a reason, although they have yet to whisper that reason into my trusting ear. In these novels, the characters still speak, and sometimes they think, and – if it's a first-person narrator – they often describe things, and into this lumpy soup wades the reader, unequipped with the usual tools for discerning whether actual speech is occurring. At some point – I imagine it was in 1689 or maybe 1723 – some genius printer thought up the quote mark as a useful concession to the reader. I don't believe this useful invention should be so casually thrown away. I'm on the side of writers! I really am! I'm just trying to understand what's going on!!!
Daily Mirror
17-05-2025
- Daily Mirror
Seaside town with beaches and cobbled alleys looks more like French Riviera
With four beautiful beaches a stone's throw away from the hustle and bustle of the town centre, it's little surprise this seaside gem is so highly rated With four stunning beaches just a pebble's throw from the bustling town centre, enchanting cobbled streets echoing those found in Italy or the French Riviera, and an assortment of vibrant, eye-catching houses that are the talk of towns across Britain - it's hardly surprising that this coastal jewel has scored highly in a recent survey of the "best" seaside towns in the UK. This idyllic harbour town has consistently drawn in tourists looking for a bona fide British beach holiday experience, with local businesses often witnessing queues during peak visiting times. Savvy to the seaside allure, Tenby has smartly reinvented itself to cater to the changing demands of a traditional British seaside destination, serving up the perfect mix of spectacular scenery, golden beaches, abundance of leisure pursuits, and contemporary eateries, having once been stigmatised as a haven for rowdy stag and hen dos. Stepping beyond its historical 13th-century walls, you'll find sun-drenched beaches and striking views of the cliffs plunging into the sea towards the mesmerising Caldey Island. Furthermore, Tenby boasts a lively food and drink scene, its very own brewery, and the most delightful cobbled alleyways where you can savour a pint or sample regional treats, as reported by the Express. The town's colourful homes, which overlook the breath-taking harbour, are instantly recognisable. With a history that dates back to the Norman Conquest, Tenby has been a beloved seaside resort since the Victorian era. Today, it's as renowned for its narrow cobbled streets as it is for its quintessential British seaside charm. Beach lovers will adore the three miles of sandy expanses surrounding the town. Castle Beach was crowned the UK's best beach in 2019 and currently holds a 4.7 out of 5 rating on TripAdvisor. Uniquely, unlike almost anywhere else in the UK, it's just a few steps from the town centre. Wondering why Tenby ranked so high? Here's what else this delightful Welsh seaside town offers. What are Tenby's beaches like? Tenby has four separate beaches, all open to the public. With two Blue Flag awards to its name, Tenby isn't just a looker - it also boasts some of the UK's cleanest beaches. Take your pick from North Beach, South Beach, or the more compact Castle Beach and Harbour Beach, both tucked between the harbour and the cliffs. Whichever you opt for, you're bound to be delighted. According to the Visit Pembrokeshire website, North Beach is "a superb, sheltered, sandy beach with the pinnacle of Goskar rock sticking out of the sand in the middle". It's one of Wales' most photographed scenes, thanks to its picturesque harbour views at the western end. But be warned, it can get busy when the sun's shining. From May to September, there are also dog restrictions on the beaches. Harbour Beach may be the smallest of Tenby's trio, but what it lacks in size, it compensates for in charm. Tucked in the harbour and framed by the town's iconic coloured cottages and castle, it's a hit with families who appreciate being able to keep a close eye on their little ones. From Harbour Beach, you're spoilt for choice with boat outings. Fancy a day trip to Caldey Island, a Tenby sea safari, or getting wet on kayaks and paddleboards? It's all on offer here. For a classic British seaside experience, head to South Beach. With a mile-and-a-half of golden sands and dunes, there's space aplenty even when the tide's in. And with shallow waters ideal for a splash about, it's a paddler's paradise. The intriguing Castle Beach is just a short stroll down a man-made ramp to golden sands, with the imposing St Catherine's Island and its fort emerging from the water at high tide. Visitors who have taken the boat trip to Caldey Island, home to a medieval church, a well-maintained monastery and a unique chocolate factory, disembark at Castle beach. There are also cafes offering refreshments and ice cream on the sand. Tenby is easily accessible via public transport, with Tenby Station being serviced by the Pembroke Dock branch railway.
Business Times
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Times
Why are the British becoming so French?
THE air in the corner of Battersea where I live is suffused with the smell of butter thanks to a new bakery-cum-café. August Bakery produces bread and croissants in such delicious profusion that the place is permanently packed. At weekends (which these days appear to start on Friday), people queue around the block from eight in the morning for their little piece of baked paradise. Is this one of many signs that Britain is turning into France? The British and French have had a turbulent relationship since at least the Norman Conquest in 1066 (I have on my shelves a fat book entitled A Thousand Years of Annoying the French by Stephen Clarke). Charles de Gaulle vetoed British membership of the then European Economic Community in 1963 and 1967 on the grounds that, as a maritime nation, the British looked to the world rather than to the continent. Many Britons voted for Brexit in 2016 for the same reason. One leading Brexiteer, Peter (now Lord) Lilley, kept a portrait of De Gaulle on his office wall during his various ministerial appointments. Yet rather than turning toward the world, the British seem to be doing everything in their power to turn into their old rival. England now has 450 wineries producing 3.15 million bottles annually. The sparkling wines are even good. The shelves of supermarkets such as Waitrose and Marks & Spencer testify to how Britons over 40 now prefer wine to beer. Britain can now boast many first-rate restaurants and farmers' markets (though the average British provincial town is still not a patch of its French equivalent). There is even a popular category of pubs — gastro pubs — that specialise in things like duck confit or steak frites rather than fish and chips or shepherd's pie. The queue outside the August Bakery on a Friday morning is also testimony to Britain's enthusiasm for another aspect of French culture: a work-life balance tilted more toward life. A decade or so ago, the British scoffed at France's taste for taking a month-long vacation in the summer and reading books such as Bonjour Paresse ('Hello Laziness') by Corinne Maier, which describes how she got away with doing nothing at work, and Absolument dé-bor-dée! ('Absolutely Snowed Under'), which describes how French public-sector workers competed to do as little as possible. Now scoffing has turned into imitation. Nine million working-age Britons are 'economically inactive'; 43 per cent of Britons tell pollsters it would be a good thing if less importance was placed on work compared with 40 per cent of French; 93 per cent say that leisure is important to their lives compared with 86 per cent of French. If popular culture is pushing Britain in a French direction, Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour government is also pushing it. Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, is masterminding a Labour Employment Rights Bill that aims to reinforce employment rights, entrench statutory sick pay and family leave and outlaw zero-hour contracts; it will, in other words, make the British labour market as rigid as the French. Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, is in the process of creating a national energy champion, Great British Energy, which is intended to boost the production of clean energy. The British political system is well advanced in its transition from a parliamentary system into a French-style presidential system. Successive British prime ministers have gathered more and more power into their own hands. The British Foreign Office is now all but irrelevant from a strategic point of view, as the big decisions are taken in Downing Street. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 2 pm Lifestyle Our picks of the latest dining, travel and leisure options to treat yourself. Sign Up Sign Up The electorate is also fracturing along French lines. France has seen the two main postwar parties, the conservatives and the socialists, first lose their monopoly of power and then enter sharp decline. For the first time since the Second World War, it's possible to imagine this happening in Britain, particularly to the Tories. France has also seen a radical right party, previously called the National Front and now the National Rally, move from the periphery to the centre of politics, with the largest number of opposition delegates in the French parliament and deep roots in provincial France. Nigel Farage's Reform Party is currently 10 points ahead of Labour in the polls and is building a professional political machine in left-behind Britain. Moreover, Farage is abandoning his residual Thatcherite politics in favour of Marine le Pen-style state activism. Starmer's embrace of hardline immigration policies this week shows just how frightened he is of Reform. The provision of fresh-baked croissants to the citizens of Battersea and beyond is a cause for celebration. So is the profusion of first-class restaurants and wineries. But other aspects of Britain's ongoing Frenchification are more worrying. The French may work relatively short hours, but they are also among the most productive workers in the world. The British, by contrast, are likely to combine short hours with low productivity. The French have a long tradition of staffing state companies with the brightest products of their educational system. The British tend to staff them with either local bureaucrats or failed businesspeople. There is a big difference between Britain's accidental and gerrymandered presidential system and France's carefully crafted one. The British prime minister works in a rickety town house rather than the Élysée Palace and is sorely lacking in support staff. He must also perform residual but time-consuming parliamentary duties such as appearing at prime minister's question time, a ritual that no less a public performer than Tony Blair described as 'nerve-racking, discombobulating, nail-biting, bowel-moving, terror-inspiring, courage-draining'. Hence a troubling dynamic in Britain's national transformation: Our embrace of both presidential politics and national champions will almost certainly speed up the advance of Nigel Farage and his band of gilets jaunes. But at least we'll have a better supply of croissants and coffee to comfort us as we watch Vichy rise. BLOOMBERG
