Thursday, November 20, 2014

LET'S TRAVEL THE WORLD! Fun facts about England...something to consider as a pre/post cruise trip!

1. English people consume more tea per capita than anybody else in the world (2.5 times more than the Japanese and 22 times more than the Americans or the French). 2. Among the three ghosts said to haunt Athelhampton House, one of them is an ape. 3. The Slimbridge Wildlife & Wetlands Trust is the world's largest and most diversified wildfowl centre. It has the largest collection of swans, geese, and ducks on Earth, and is the only place where all six species of Flamingo can still be observed. 4. Mother Shipton's Cave near Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, is England's oldest recorded tourist attraction. Its owner, Charles Slingsby, fenced off the site in 1630 and started charging visitors to gape at this so-called petrifying well. The mineral-rich water from this uncanny spring has the ability to give objects a stone-like appearance after a prolonged exposure. 5. Silburry Hill, in the English county of Wiltshire, is the largest man-made earthen mound in Europe. It was built about 4750 years ago. 6. The stone circle at Avebury is the largest in the world. It was built between 5300 and 4600 years ago and covers 11 ha (28 acres). The outer circle is surrounded by a bank and ditch long of 1.5 km (1 mile). 7. Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest royal residence in the world still in use. It was originally constructed in 1070 and rebuilt in stone in 1170. 8. The custom of afternoon tea was devised in 1840 by Anna Russell, Duchess of Bedford, who felt the need for an extra meal between lunch and dinner. She began inviting her friends to join her, and the custom quickly spread around British society and throughout the British Empire. Britain's first tea room was opened in 1864 by the Aerated Bread Company at London Bridge.

Posted at 08:41 PM