One of our lunchtime favourites is the delicious, British dish of Welsh rarebit. Simple to make, rarebit is a slice of toast with a savoury sauce poured over the top – usually consisting of ingredients including cheddar cheese and Worcester sauce.
Some Welsh rarebit recipes date back to 18th century English cookbooks; a very good reason to be proud to be British.
Image credit: thefoodplace.co.uk
Constructed by John Nash in the 19th century, Oxford Circus is the busy intersection in London’s West End, in between Regent Street and Oxford Street.
At the beginning of 2009, Westminster City Council budgeted £4million for a pedestrian scheme to allow shoppers to cross the intersection diagonally in attempt to make the original crossing less congested. This was completed by the November of 2009 and cost a total of over £5million.
Oxford Circus shopping is extremely popular, some of the better-known shops include Nike Town, Topshop and H&M and a grand total of two million people visit Oxford Circus each year.
Image credit: Abigail Silvester
Over the past few decades the festival has undoubtedly become something of a phenomenon worldwide. But what is it about the Great British tradition of donning Hunters and hot pants and heading knee deep into the mud to rock out to Muse or The Killers?
Festivals are definitely just as much about the fashion and lifestyle as they are the music, and in Britain that means combining comfort, practicality and style to combat our Great British weather.
For a nation so small we can truly say we’ve mastered the festival; Glasto, V Fest and Green Man have become fixed points in the summer calendar for most. We don’t need to look abroad for music and camping, whatever the weather we do it best ourselves. Our ‘come rain or shine’ attitude makes the British festival so unique; nothing will dampen our spirits!
Image credit: miss.libertine
With the news that if Yorkshire were a country, it would be placing 7th in the Olympic medal tables, we celebrate the region nicknamed God’s Own Country.
The largest county in the UK, Yorkshire has a strong cultural identity and a rich history. Quirks of the county include Britain’s highest pub, the Tan Hill Inn, which stands at 1,732ft above sea level, Britain’s most picturesque street, The Shambles and a world famous rhubarb crop.
The county is also renowned for its great outdoors; the vast North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales mean that a fifth of the region’s land is National Park and Leeds and Sheffield are known as two of the greenest cities in Europe.
Image credit: tejvanphotos
Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, KBE (born 29 September 1956), Seb Coe, otherwise as Lord Coe is the Chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and former Olympic gold medal winner.
Instrumental to bringing the 2012 Games to London, Coe’s remarkable career began as an athlete. He won four Olympic medals, including a gold in the 1980 and 1984 games for the 1500 meters, along with setting eight outdoor and three indoor world records for middle distance track events.
On retirement from competitive sport, Lord Coe served as a member of Parliament in the Conservative Party from 1992-97.
Coe has been honoured for services to sport with an MBE, OBE and KBE. In 2000 he was made an honorary Life Peer as Baron Coe of Ranmore, Surrey.
This teatime treat is named after Queen Victoria herself! She often would feel hungry in the late afternoon, so would ask her ladies in waiting to sneak her sweet treats along with her tea. Anna, the Duchess of Bedford, was one of Queen Victoria’s ladies in waiting for over ten years and invented the cake as one of the Queen’s afternoon treats.
There are several methods of how to cook a Victoria sponge and although it is a simple recipe, it’s extremely sensitive to cooking times. The basic cake mixture can also be made into several other forms such as cupcakes, chocolate cakes, Eve’s pudding’s and many others. Our favourite version is of course filled with lashing of Duerr’s jam and cream and served with a hot cup of tea.
Image credit: Carwyn Lloyd Jones – Dylunio Creadigol