The Smallest House in Great Britain, and other UK Travel Tips

The Internet has become a simply amazing tool for in-depth exploration of any and all topics. My favorites generally relate to travel and my favorite travel sites are those written by locals and experienced visitors to a region. These blogs, forums, and member websites often give you a perspective and insight you'll only rarely get from a guidebooks or tourism bureau, both of which have agendas that often conflict with yours and have severe space limitations. Unless the guidebook happens to cover your exact itinerary you'll have trouble finding printed literature that goes into the deep coverage you'll appreciate from blogs.

Here's a great example of what I'm talking about for the UK:

http://members.accesswave.ca/~tvor/uk2006c.html

UK Holiday Guide from Telegraph

The UK Telegraph is one of the best news sources for all things Britain, and they just published their Summer Travel Guide to the UK here:
www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/760632/Britain-2008-a-summer-holiday-guide.html

For Americans, England offers the comforts of the English language and other western sensibilities but also has the critical historical background to the American Experience. Here in the USA the history of much of our western cultural sensibilities only goes back a few hundred years, where in England you are literally walking the same streets tred by Kings and Queens over a thousand years ago. Dover Castle, on the chalky white cliffs above the town of the same name, played a powerful role in World War II as well as in the reign of King John II circa 1200 AD.

If you visit Dover be sure to hoist an Ale at the White Pony Tavern, one of the oldest in England, located just below the Castle near the many Bed and Breakfasts that guard the street up to Dover Castle.