Explore Britain: every honest guide in one place
England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, written by people who travel here, not by a tourist board. Here you find every guide we have published: London and its day trips, the castles and abbeys, the four nations and the coast, practical help with visas, flights and airports, and the history that ties Britain to Africa. New guides are added every week.
Did you know?
Twelve stories from our guides that the brochures leave out. Swipe or scroll sideways.
The Georgian mansion of Storrs Hall on Windermere was bought in 1806 by John Bolton, a Liverpool slave trader – Wordsworth was among his guests.
The Lake District – an honest guideBrighton's Royal Pavilion copied its Indian look from Sezincote, a Cotswold house built with East India Company money.
The Cotswolds – an honest guideIn 1758 an Archbishop of Canterbury approved money for buying enslaved people for the Church's sugar plantations in Barbados.
Canterbury and the Kent coastIn 1851 Ira Aldridge became the first Black actor to play Othello in Shakespeare's town – he signed the Birthplace visitors' book "the African Tragedian".
Stratford-upon-Avon and ShakespeareThe Sovereign's Sceptre holds the "Great Star of Africa", cut from a diamond found in 1905 near Pretoria in South Africa.
Top 10 castles in EnglandBy 1800 the Lascelles family behind Harewood House managed 24 plantations across Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Grenada.
Abbeys and heritage sites of EnglandJohn Kent, Britain's first known Black police officer, served in Maryport and Carlisle from the 1830s – his father had arrived at Whitehaven enslaved.
Top 25 coastal towns of BritainYemeni seamen settled in South Shields from the 1890s – and in 1977 Muhammad Ali came to its mosque to have his marriage blessed.
Top 25 coastal towns of BritainEngland's storm overflows spilled sewage 291,492 times in 2025 – check the water quality before you swim, especially after rain.
Best beaches of EnglandWalking to the famous stones is free – the ticket the National Trust sells is for the visitor centre, exhibition and car park.
7 days in Northern IrelandIn 1786 a Belfast merchant tried to found a slave-ship company – a watchmaker spoke against it so fiercely that it was never formed.
Belfast airports guideIn 1846 two Newcastle Quaker women raised the money to buy Frederick Douglass's legal freedom from his former owner.
Newcastle Airport guideThe four nations
Britain is not one country but four, each with its own language, landscape and pride.
Castles, cathedrals, market towns and the long shadow of empire.
A living Celtic language, more castles for its size than anywhere in Europe, and wild coast.
Highlands, islands, Edinburgh and a history of its own.
Belfast, the Causeway Coast and a story of division and renewal.
The story of the island, from prehistory to today.
Castles, abbeys and ancient sites
Almost 100 Welsh castles, Roman forts and mottes, marked free or paid, plus the best of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Tintern, Strata Florida, Neath, Valle Crucis, St Davids and the small Norman churches of Wales.
Coronations, royal tombs, Livingstone's grave and free debates in Parliament.
Two thousand years in one walled city.
The famous stone circle, and the bigger free one you can touch.
Rome's northern frontier, and who guarded it.
Over 40 castles region by region, who runs them, what they cost and which are free.
Fountains, Rievaulx, Whitby, Lindisfarne – and Harewood House, built on Barbados slavery.
The country houses, and who paid for them.
Our own castle photographs for print and publication.
London
Our hub for the capital: areas, sights and hidden history.
Tube times, the Night Tube, buses, river boats, airports and districts.
Money, contactless fares and the unwritten rules.
Museums, ceremonies, views and parks that cost nothing.
What you can see for free, and what costs.
Wren's dome, the Bank of England and the money of the City.
Is it worth £37? The Crown Jewels and Africa's diamond.
An honest guide to the world's most argued-over collection.
Three free museums on one street, and Ethiopia's Maqdala treasures.
The Prime Meridian, the free Maritime Museum and the navy's slave-trade story.
Rubber, quinine and cocoa: how Kew moved plants around the empire.
The world wars, and the soldiers of the empire.
Black British history in south London.
Day trips from London
The castle, the boat trip to the lock, the swans and the old town, with a photo walk.
An honest comparison if you only have time for one.
How to see both, and where the stones came from.
Hot springs, sugar fortunes and Haile Selassie's house in exile.
Becket's murder, the Church's Barbados plantations, and the coast from Whitstable to Dover.
What is open, what it costs, and the first Black Othello in Shakespeare's town.
More of England
The free walls, the Minster's glass, and the African emperor who died in York.
Valley by valley, car-free travel, fell safety – and the slave trader who held regattas on Windermere.
Wool churches, overtourism in Bibury, and the empire money behind Sezincote and Dyrham.
The birthplace, the grave, the RSC – and what is closed.
Region by region, from the Tower to Bamburgh, with the free castles.
Ranked out of 40 for history, architecture, preservation and setting.
The ruins Henry VIII left behind, and England's World Heritage sites.
From Bamburgh to Kynance Cove – with the truth about tides, crowds and sewage.
Wales
Every Welsh castle worth the journey, region by region.
Ranked by history, architecture, preservation and setting.
Gower, Pembrokeshire, Llŷn and Anglesey.
Eryri, Bannau Brycheiniog, the Pembrokeshire Coast and more.
Our partner site for Wales, with more castles and photography.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
Loch Lomond, the Cairngorms and the wild places.
City Hall, the murals, the Titanic Quarter and the pubs.
A full, honest review with an audio tour.
Belfast, the Causeway Coast, the Dark Hedges and Derry, day by day.
Rathlin, Fair Head, Strangford Lough and the Mourne Mountains.
The Studio Tour, Castle Ward, Ballintoy – and the dying Dark Hedges.
Coast and food
From Whitby to Portrush: 25 seaside towns, honestly rated – with the slave-trade history the postcards leave out.
What the four nations really eat.
Practical travel
Visas and the ETA for every nationality, checked against GOV.UK.
What African travellers need, and how to avoid refusals.
Airports, airlines and how to fly in for less.
Direct and connecting routes from across the continent.
Every major airport and how to get into town.
The Tube, buses, river boats and fares.
Three trains into London, the 2-litre rule and the £7 drop-off.
Which train to take, and the new Northern Runway.
The Stansted Express, cheap coaches and the long way into town.
The DART, the Luton Airport Express and the ticket trick.
The DLR to Bank in about 22 minutes.
Terminals 2 and 3, the station and the night trains.
The Air-Rail Link and the 2-litre rule.
The 24-hour Airport Flyer, and no railway.
The airport of Wales: the T9 bus and the train to Rhoose.
The Metro into the city for £2.50, and the gateway to Hadrian's Wall.
The 500 bus, the 86A to South Parkway, and when to choose Manchester.
Tram or the 24-hour Airlink bus, and the 2-litre liquids rule.
The 24-hour Airport Express 500, the route via Paisley, and Prestwick.
Belfast International and Belfast City compared, and the ETA at the open border.
Britain and Africa: the shared history
The story most travel sites leave out. Britain's cities, museums and fortunes were built in part on Africa, and Britain is home to one of the largest African diasporas in Europe. Start with the Britain and Africa hub.
Slavery and its money
The Docklands and the Royal African Company.
From London boardrooms to the castles of Ghana.
The port, the ships and the toppled statue.
Europe's greatest slave port, and how it remembers.
The fourth slave port, and its quiet memorial.
The muskets traded for captives.
Slave-grown cotton, and the city that hosted the movement against empire.
A Welsh castle paid for by sugar.
Who was paid when slavery ended, and who was not.
The Africans who led the fight.
African lives in Britain
Kidnapped from the Gold Coast, he wrote against slavery.
How London's Black community was sent to Sierra Leone.
Queen Victoria's African goddaughter.
The years before he led Ghana to independence.
Where a generation of independence leaders met.
The meeting that changed a continent.
Students, nurses, workers and families.
One of Britain's oldest Black communities.
The West African sailors of the British merchant fleet.
Cardiff, Newport and Liverpool after the First World War.
Black British history in south London.
Empire, treasures and memory
What British museums hold, and how it got there.
The Welsh workhouse boy who served Leopold's Congo.
The imperialist who still stands above the High Street.
Kenya's colonial war, and the case won in the High Court.
The British colonies in Africa
Every former British territory in Africa.
From the Cape to the Union.
Southern Rhodesia, Rhodes and the long road to independence.
Northern Rhodesia, copper and independence.
Nyasaland, missionaries and the federation.
The High Commission Territories.
War and memory
The world wars, and the soldiers of the empire.
From Peenemünde to Chiswick, New Cross and Stepney.
The men who fought in Cameroon and East Africa.
The forgotten divisions of the Second World War.
Our partner site on the rocket's birthplace.
Our partner site on the First World War memorial in East Prussia.
Tours across Britain
Day trips, castle tours, Highland journeys and city walks across the UK. Entrance fees are included in the tour price; tips are not included but are always welcome.
Looking for something else? Browse all pages or go back to the home page.
The African side of the story
Britain Adventures is an independent partner website. Our partner sites on Africa and its history are where the stories on this page continue:
- Pan-African: African Independence · Uganda · Egypt · Sierra Leone · All African Radio Stations
- Ghana: Ghana-Net · Cape Coast Castle · Elmina Castle · James Fort, Accra · They Made Ghana · War Cemetery Cape Coast
- Across Africa: Kenya Web News · Explore Nigeria · Gambia Vibes · Zambia Vibes · GhanaFlights.info
- European history: V2 Rocket and Peenemünde · Tannenberg Memorial
Search our Network. Start here.
