Curiosity Corner
Discover the flipside of the East - a land full of unusual curiosities. From a chalk lion and pingos, to pyramids and a House in the Clouds. Visit a shell grotto, turf mazes and an underground nuclear bunker.
Bedfordshire
Visit the picturesque village of Old Warden, which in the early 19th C. was recreated into the popular "Swiss" look of the day. Old estate cottages and buildings are adorned with thatched roofs, latticed porches and neo-gothic windows. Just down the road is the Stondon Museum, which although 70 miles inland, is home to an amazing life-size replica of Captain Cook's vessel ‘Endeavour'. Set on the rolling Dunstable Downs, the famous chalk lion was cut from 1932, and took 18 months to complete. Manually dug out with pick and shovel, it measures 480 feet from nose to tail. Nearby is the Whipsnade Tree Cathedral, created by a local landowner in the 1930's. This is a collection of trees planted in the form of a medieval cathedral, with grass avenues forming the chancel, nave, transepts and cloisters. Take a walk on The Icknield Way, a long distance footpath which follows the oldest road in Britain, dating back to Neolithic times (4,000-2000 BC). The village of Willington is home to 16th C. stables and a unusual stone dovecote, with nesting boxes for 1,500 pigeons.
Cambridgeshire
Pay your respects at Wandlebury Country Park, burial site of the legendary Arabian Godolphin - said to be the ancestor of many English racehorses. Then head to Ely Cathedral, to get lost in the floor labyrinth, designed to confuse evil spirits thinking of entering the building. Whilst at the village of Hilton is one of only eight surviving turf mazes in England. Cut in 1660, see if you can reach the central obelisk. The University city of Cambridge is full of curiosities to discover. Look out for the sun/moon dial at Queens' College, which can tell the time in the dark. Whilst the mathematical bridge was reputedly constructed without nails using geometric principles. On the gate at St. John's College are mythical creatures known as ‘Yales', with horned goat heads, antelope bodies and elephant's tails. The clock at Great St. Mary's Church has chimes which were later copied for Big Ben in London. Head north west to walk across one of England's four surviving medieval bridge chapels at St. Ives, then continue to Holme Fen - the lowest point in Britain. In 1851, a cast iron pillar was sunk here, until its top was level with the peat surface. It now rises some 4 metres above the ground - and shows the shrinkage of the land through drainage. The magnificent Peterborough Cathedral has a memorial to gravedigger Robert Scarlett, who buried both Katherine of Aragon (Henry VIII's first wife) and Mary Queen of Scots.
Essex
Start in Britain's oldest recorded town - Colchester, which is dominated by "Jumbo" the water tower. Built 1882-83, it is named after an elephant from London Zoo, which was later brought by the ‘Barnum and Bailey' circus. According to legend, a King called Coel once ruled the town. He had a daughter called Helena, who was the mother of the first Christian Roman Emperor - Constantine the Great. A statue of Helena stands on top of the Town Hall. The King was later immortalised in the nursery rhyme (Old King Coel). Look carefully at The Siege House, where red metal rings highlight timbers peppered with lead shot during the English Civil War. Just outside the town is the Chappel Viaduct, the second largest brick built structure in England - with seven million bricks used in its construction. At Mistley, two twin neoclassical towers are all that remains of Robert Adam's 18th C. church - the nave pulled down in 1870. Built in 1952, go underground at the Kelvedon Hatch Secret Nuclear Bunker - the biggest and deepest cold war bunker in the southeast of England. For some heavenly inspiration, visit England's oldest Saxon church at Bradwell-on-Sea; or ride the little trains to the end of the world's longest (1.33 miles) seaside pleasure pier at Southend. Get lost in the unusual turf maze at Saffron Walden. Made in prehistoric times, it measures 100 feet in diameter.
Hertfordshire
Seek out the totem pole from British Columbia (Canada) at Berkhamsted. Set beside the Grand Union Canal, it is reputedly charmed with mystic fertility symbols. Erected by King Edward I in 1291, the Eleanor Cross in Waltham Cross marks the overnight resting place of his wife Queen Eleanor's coffin on its journey from Lincolnshire to London. Go underground at Royston Cave, a man-made bell-shaped chamber cut into solid chalk. It contains numerous medieval carvings made by the Knights Templar around AD1310. Whilst Scott's Grotto is one of the country's finest - dating from the 18th C. It extends some 67ft into the chalk hillside, and is decorated with flints, shells and coloured glass. Investigate the scene of a national scandal at Rye House Gatehouse, where in 1683 a group of conspirators plotted to assassinate King Charles II as he returned from the horseracing at Newmarket. Then head to the Sir Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum at Tring. Once the private collection of Walter, the 2nd Baron Rothschild, it houses more than 4,000 mounted animal and bird specimens. Piers Shonk is famous for his long and bloody battle with a terrible dragon - and his tomb at Brent Pelham shows a cross driven through the open jaws of the creature.
Take a break in Bury St. Edmunds, with a pint or two in Britain's smallest pub 'The Nutshell' - whose bar measures just over 5 by 2 metres.
Norfolk
15th C. John Chapman was known as ‘The Pedlar of Swaffham'. He had a dream in which if he stood on London Bridge, he would meet a man who would make him rich. This he did, eventually talking to a local shopkeeper who told him that he had also had a dream in which he saw treasure in the garden of a certain Pedlar of Swaffham. Without saying a word, John returned home and found two pots of gold in his garden. He is depicted on the town sign. ‘Go Egyptian' in the grounds of Blickling Hall, where a neo-classical pyramid contains the remains of John Hobart, 2nd Earl of Buckinghamshire. The 400 year old Kett's Oak (nr. Wymondham) is the spot where Robert Kett, leader of the 1549 rebellion (against the growing power of the gentry) made a morale-boosting speech to his followers. See the ‘other' Nelson's Column in Great Yarmouth - built 1817-19 in honour of Norfolk's most famous son. On its top is a statue of Britannia, which faces not out to sea, but inland, reputedly in the direction of Burnham Thorpe, the village where Nelson was born. At nearby West Somerton, the churchyard contains the tomb of Robert Hales, who was known as the ‘Norfolk Giant'. He stood at seven feet, eight inches tall, and weighed over 32 stones. Seek out a pingo or two at Thompson Common - these damp shallow craters left by retreating glaciers during the last Ice Age. Go on a curiosity hunt in the historic city of Norwich: see the shrine to 14th C. Mother Julian, who wrote the first known English book written by a woman; then visit the magnificent cathedral to view the outstanding 14th C. roof bosses and carvings. Look out for Noah's Ark, eight different green men and a little carved owl sitting in its nest. Wayland Wood at Watton was the scene of the 16th C. tale of The Babes in the Wood, when after the death of their parents, a young girl and boy were left in the care of their uncle. In order to steal their inheritance he hired two ruffians to kill them in the wood. But one of them could not carry out the deed, so killed the other, and left the children to starve instead. They feature on the village sign at Griston.
Suffolk
Seek out the bronze statue of ‘Snooks' the dog at Aldeburgh. He was the pet of two much-loved doctors of the town. Take a walk from here along the beach (past the giant scallop shell sculpture) to Thorpeness. This former fishing hamlet was transformed into a fantasy holiday village. Go rowing on the mere with its islands named after ‘Peter Pan', then view the House in the Clouds, a cleverly disguised water tower. By the 12th C. Dunwich was the capital of East Anglia. However it's downfall was the constant erosion by the sea of the sandy cliffs on which it had been built. Over the centuries, parts of the city toppled over the edge. Today on stormy nights you can reputedly hear the bells of the drowned churches. Just up the coast is Southwold, where the pier has a mechanical water clock, plus mad and unique machines to try in the ‘Under the Pier Show'. Take a break in Bury St. Edmunds, with a pint or two in Britain's smallest pub ‘The Nutshell' - whose bar measures just over 5 by 2 metres. Whilst in the Abbey Gardens is a metal seat made from the wing of a B-17 Flying Fortress plane. Visit the village of East Bergholt on Sunday to see the heaviest bells in England rung by hand. They are housed in a temporary wooden cage erected in 1531 as the church tower was incomplete. Ipswich is noted for the Ancient House, which has carved depictions of the four then-known continents of Africa, America, Asia and Europe (Australia had not been discovered yet). Just to the south, Edward Bright wanted a view of a church from his house, so he built the ‘Tattingstone Wonder' in 1790, which is actually two cottages, plus a three-sided tower. End your tour at Lowestoft Ness, the most easterly point in Britain.
