Ferne's United Kingdom Travel Blog

Call it football or soccer, Europe’s love affair with the beautiful game is undeniable and passionate. And that passion will be explored in an entertaining new UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) exhibition at World Museum Liverpool.

Between October 11 and March 1, Only a Game? will look at the human face of football in Europe - from the classic era of the 1950’s to the modern age of global superstars. Included will be rare objects from legendary matches, top European trophies and memorabilia from star players.

It's all part of Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture 2008 and another example of what a broad spectrum of culture is being celebrated. Highlights of the exhibition, UEFA's contribution to Liverpool '08, include:

• Player memorabilia - shirts, medals and trophies of great European players
• UEFA trophies, including the Champions League trophy and UEFA Cup
• A Memory Zone where visitors can mix their own football highlights into a video clip and set it to a soundtrack
• An interactive multimedia football quiz

Find out what else is happening in Liverpool

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The manicured lawns and grounds of many of the UK's stately homes and castles make perfect natural amphitheaters for outdoor performances and events. If you are touring the UK, especially if you've taken advantage of the Great British Heritage Pass, you've probably scheduled visits to a few of these historic places. Check out their individual websites before you travel to see what's going on along your route. You'll likely find concerts, drama, folklore and dance festivals taking place under the stars somewhere along the way.

Just remember to bring (because we are having that kind of summer):

• something waterproof to sit on
• a nice warm sweater
• an umbrella

• Treasure Island at Lulworth Castle in Dorset, July 29. Quantum Theatre presents an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's swashbuckling pirate tale - complete with Long John Silver's parrot Cap'n Flint. Admission is £10 for adults, £5 for kids and under 5s go free. Telephone +44 (0)845 450 1054
• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland at Dudmaston Hall's Lakeside Gardens, in Shropshire, August 2. Intermission will feature an opportunity to dress up as a favorite character (bring your own costume) and take part in an Alice Parade. Dudmaston Hall's tea shop will be open during the evening, serving traditional English summer treats - including strawberries and cream. The organizers suggest you come prepared for all weathers.

  Dudmaston Hall is a National Trust property. Tickets (£15 for adults, £10 for children and £40 families of two adults and two children) are available on the door or online from the National Trust's events page, where you can find loads of other summer happenings.

_{Treasure Island, courtesy of the Lulworth Estate}

The charm of tiny, country schoolhouses may not readily come to mind when you think of a vacation in England. Think again. The Little House on the Prairie did not have a monopoly on quaint, one-room schools.

Cottages4you, a vacation rental company I recommend, has late availability in August on three nostalgic, converted schoolhouses with bags of character plus "all mod cons", in beautiful locations, suitable for families or groups of friends. All are available for at least 7 days, starting August 23:

• Old School House Cottage on the North Yorkshire Moors is 200 yards from a country pub and just a few miles from Rievaulx Abbey and the village of Helmsley, with its inns, castles and dining at The Black Swan. It sleeps 4 and is Ref: 11258 on the Cottages4you website.
• Old School Cottage in Norfolk is a mid 19th century flint cottage near Norwich and the Norfold Broads. It sleeps six, it's pet friendly and it's not far from the village shop. Find Ref: 23775 on the website.
• My favorite is The Old Boys School near Hexham in the North Pennines. It's a Victorian schoolhouse near the Cumbrian borders that's equally well located for explorations of Hadrian's Wall or the Lake District. The owners describe the area as having "the lowest light pollution in the UK". How's that for saying It's bloody dark out there 21st century style? There are loads of stars though. And room enough for six. Ref: MNM on the website.

_{Picture of Rievaulx Abbey in North York Moors courtesy of britainonview}

Remember Blur, the BritPop band turned English alternative rockers in the 1990s? If you do, you may also remember Alex James, the band's bass guitarist. The band hasn't recorded or toured since 2003, but James has been busy elsewhere, writing The Great Escape, a weekly column in the Independent on, of all things, his life as a Cotswold farmer and cheesemaker. (And, before you ask, the earnest looking cheesemaker in our picture is Not Alex James.)

This week, he writes about hosting the British Cheese Awards on his farm last Friday. Apparently 910 different cheese vied for the Best of British title, judged by 60 cheese makers, cooks, gourmets and gourmands. Cheeses with names like Cornish Yarg, Lincolnshire Poacher and, says James, "a highly prized Swiss-style cheese called Desmond …" went after medals.

The judging event - which produced a (pretty long) shortlist of 318 medal winners - was trade only. But the rest of us can partake of a cheesy feast after the grand prize winners are announced in September at the Great British Cheese Festival in Cardiff.

The Festival, September 27 and 28 at Cardiff Castle, billed as Britain's biggest cheese show, will include a market, tastings, cooking demonstrations, master classes and entertainment. Tickets can be booked online through St. David's Hall or by telephoning +44 (0)29 2087 8444.

Visit the Cheese Web to find out more about British Cheeses

_{Stilton cheesemaker: Picture by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images}

Hadrian's Wall, is one of the UK's most popular visitor attractions, stretching across the North of England from Newcastle to Bowness on Solway. But most of us don't know much about this Roman Emperor who pulled the Romans out of Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), traveled with a homosexual companion and had a passion for great architecture.

Before you head north to see his wall, find out more about Hadrian at the British Museum's spectacular special exhibition, Hadrian: Empire and Conflict. The exhibition opens next week (July 24) and will run until October 26.

Included are works from all over the Roman Empire, including the Vindolanda excavations in Britain, North Africa, Israel, Turkey and the former Soviet state of Georgia. They've never been seen together before. Some, like the massive head pictured here, recently excavated in South West Turkey, have never even been seen in public before.

The exhibition explores the life, love and legacy of Hadrian who reigned between AD 117 and 138. It's packed with surprising and little known facts. Did you know that he commissioned the Pantheon in Rome? Or that he married a woman to become emperor but named a city after his boy lover, who drowned?

Tickets for the exhibition, sponsored by BP, cost £12. To guarantee admission to what is sure to be a very popular exhibition, visit the website to book tickets in advance.

_{Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images}

Once upon a time - a very long time ago - I stumbled upon the little North Yorkshire town of Helmsley, quite by accident. I was so ignorant of my surroundings then that I didn't even know I was in the middle of one of the UK's best national parks, The North York Moors.

I was that great rarity, at the time - an out of season American - and the locals noticed - so I didn't stay ignorant for long. The owners of historic looking hostelry where I had stopped for lunch summoned the local national park warden, who duly arrived bearing brochures. Later, he invited me to tea with his Mum where there were more brochures and advice about the impressive Rievaulx Abbey in the North Ridings, nearby.

All of this was one of the stand-out experiences of my first trip to Europe. And the historic looking hostelry I found was The Black Swan. It's still there, still standing on the village square that looks exactly the same as the day I found it all those - ahem - many years ago.

Inside, however, it's all change - as Valerie France, our regular contributor from the North, discovered on a recent visit. The rooms are comfortable and stylish, the dining glamorous. But, it seems, the warm welcome has not changed at all.
Read Valerie's review of The Black Swan Hotel in Helmsley

_{The man in blue, one of our intrepid Northern inspectors, checks out the shopping in Helmsley, North Yorkshire. Photo © Valerie France}

• The Lloyds TSB Welsh Proms Top Welsh and British musical performers - including Bryn Terfel, Tasmin Little, and several Welsh and British National Orchestras - celebrate 25 years of St. David's Hall - the Welsh National Concert Hall - between July 12 and 26.
• The National Eisteddfod of Wales, four huge days of music, poetry, drama, folklore, even a rock festival
• Cardiff Castle Open Air Theatre The Lord Chamberlain's Men perform Much Ado About Nothing. Bring a picnic, a deck chair and a cool drink.
• WOW on the Waterfront an amazing free street - and harbor - theatre event, this year featuring the French Compagnie Malabar with acrobats, jugglers, dancers and spectacle setting sail on a ship of dreams.

Check out the rest of the Cardiff Festival schedule

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• Hunger pangs along the way with nothing in sight but hamburger chains and fried chicken joints - or worse, nothing in sight from the main road at all.
• Stuck between trains, planes or buses with time to kill in a strange place and no idea what, if anything, is worth seeing.
• Ready for a touring break but unsure whether there is anything worth stopping for nearby.

The list is still pretty short but you can make it grow. Have you:

• eaten at a pub, bistro, tea shop or restaurant, near a main touring road, that you think is worth recommending?
• found a family attraction that the kids really loved where you least expected it?
• discovered a shop full of desireable clothing, pottery, crafts, artwork, that is really off - but not that far from - the beaten path?

• adding your comment below
• emailing me at gouk.guide@about.com
• or writing about it in the UK Travel Forum

Even better, it's not too late in the season to find some excellent value deals on vacation home rentals, in good locations, for this summer and early autumn.

But I also think that finding a cottage or cabin to rent in a foreign country is a bit like figuring out the bus schedule in a new city. Where do you begin? How do you find out about vacation homes? Who can you trust?

The best way is to start out with a few good websites. That's where I come in. I've been looking around and checking things out for you:

Where to Find the Best UK Vacation Rentals - And What to Avoid
What to Expect from Self Catering in the UK
Stay in a Castle Without Breaking the Bank
Self-catering Cottages to Rent From the Queen

The science blogsphere has been buzzing about this experiment for years - with doom sayers suggesting that starting up the LHC could produce new particles called strangelets, monopoles and, gulp, even black holes that could consume the Earth.

I hasten to add that some of the best brains in the world have looked into this and have concluded that no, the end of the world is probably not nigh. But...

If you are in Liverpool this summer, you can get the lowdown on the Big Bang Experiment, learn all the facts and, possibly, scare yourself silly at the free, Big Bang! exhibit at the World Museum Liverpool. The exhibit, put together by London's Science Museum, is touring the country and will be in Liverpool until September 22 - that is if we are all still here...

• Find out all about the Big Bang! exhibition at the World Museum, Liverpool
• Read more about Liverpool, European Capital of Culture 2008