Portmeirion, a Welsh Italian-style village

First time I have heard of Portmeirion was when I was watching TV channel about the travelling. For a good minute or so I was convinced the place is in Italy with all its colours and architectural features. I couldn't be more wrong. Portmeirion is a beautiful place in Wales, on the peninsula on the coast of Snowdonia. Once you are there, you can easily forget about the outside world. You will actually be on your journey to Mediterranean. 

Portmeirion was a life project of Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis (1883 - 1978) who acquired the site in 1925 for ljust under £5,000. As he recalled, it was"a neglected wilderness - long abandoned by those romantics who had realised the unique appeal and possibilities of this favoured promontory but who had been carried away by their grandiose landscaping... into sorrowful bankruptcy."

Jorvik Viking Centre, York

When visiting York, you have to be sure you spent some time at Jorvik Viking Centre. It will took a good part of your day, but you will be overwhelmed with the experience. Not just the great education centre, but also an entertainment for the whole family without an exception.

The Jorvik Viking Centre was opened in 1984, after extensive excavation at Coppergate, to show that Viking society wasn't just violence and warfare but one of trade, commerce and crafts. It is built on the very same site of archaeological research. That was possible thanks to unusual oxygen-free conditions in the soil that helped preserve many materials that normally rot away to dust. These conditions meant that minute details of everyday life in Viking times could be recreated to allow you to experience life in a busy street in York (Jorvik) on 25th October 975 AD. The buildings and objects you see were all found here and are reconstructed at the level of the Viking-Age ground surface.

Fish and Chips - essential British food

Some people may say that the traditional British meat is beef. The beef meat in Britain is of very good quality, and its crown is Sunday lunch - roasted beef, mash and roasted potatoes, seasonal vegetables, Yorkshire puddings and gravy. But, for many people the quintessential British food would be a good old deep-fried meal of fish and chips.

The word "chips" Charles Dickens first mentioned in "A Tale of Two Cities" in 1859. Henry Mayhew, 19th century social  researcher, journalists and reformer, called fish and chips the food of the poor in 1861. And it was, for long time, a food of working-class.

Historians think that battered fish came to England with Portuguese Jews, Marranos, in 16th century. Though they were officially Christians, they were secretly practising Judaism. Friday is the Christian world's fish day, so they prepared their fish meals on Friday, but have eaten it cold on Sabbath.  The written source from 1544 tells us “that the favourite diet of Marrano refugees” [from the Inquisition in Portugal] was fried fish, sprinkled with flour, dipped in egg and breadcrumbs".

Blists Hill Victorian Town, Shropshire

Have you heard of Blists Hill town? Well, you have to have a good map, because it is not a real town. It is Victorian town borrowed from the past and presented to us now. To enjoy and learn. Blists Hill is a museum set in over 50 acres of land where iron was once smelted, coal and clay were mined and where bricks and roofing tiles were made. The remains of those industries can still be found on site, but in the same landscape a small industrial town has been created.

Much pleasure can be had by wandering around the site, looking in the buildings, listening to the customed demonstrators and getting involved with the various activities. Like any town anywhere in the UK Blists Hill would have been shaped by its geography, how it communicated with its neighbours and the rest of the country and most importantly, what type of work was available for its residents.

B (British) B (Broadcasting) C (Corporation)

BBC is one of the world's  most known public-service broadcaster with the headquarter in London. It is an oldest and biggest broadcasting company in the world, with 23.000 employees in total. Services are also available online and on video. Our network of correspondents provide impartial news, reports and analysis in 32 languages from locations around the world.

The 1920s saw the end of the amateur radio enthusiasts, and the beginning of a professional broadcast organisation. That was how BBC started - as small private, radio amateur owned establishment. In October 1922, a consortium of radio manufacturers formed the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) and the man who change the history of broadcasting in Britain was John Reith (1889 - 1971). 

British icons: Red pillar letter boxes

Wherever you go in UK, you will bump on them on every corner. Can you guess what I have on my mind? Pillar boxes, of course. Postal pillar boxes are certainly British icon. If you ask anyone who never be in UK about the things that are unique there, the red pillar box will be on this list. And they are special in many ways. Their look is unique, they have an interesting history and represent tradition.

Most traditional British pillar boxes produced after 1905 are made of cast iron and are cylindrical. However, it is possible to see the hexagonal Penfolds (named after the architect who designed it, John Penfold), and an oval shape that is used mainly for the large "double aperture" boxes most often seen in large cities like London and Dublin. In recent years boxes manufactured in glass-fibre or ABS plastic and these are for use in indoor locations (shopping malls, supermarkets...).

Harlech Castle, Wales

If you visiting northern Wales, go and see one of the most beautiful sites is Harlech Castle, very well preserved 13th century building, which is today part of the Snowdonia National Park. To reach the Harlech town and the castle, you have to go up to very steep road. It was quite challenging even for a car! The small town is beautiful and quaint steep streets are full little shops and tea rooms, mostly built with dark stone.

Harlech Castle is renowned for its spectacular location on a rocky crag, overlooking the sea and framed by the mountains of Snowdonia beyond. Not only is the site picturesque but it is also eminently defensible and King Edward I's skillful master mason, James of St George, exploited this unique position to the full.