Unique Places to Stay in England

When visiting England, why stay in chain hotels and pubs when you can experience something completely different: historic places which reflect the history and traditions of this wonderful country.   Who wouldn't jump at the chance to stay in a Saxon cottage, a Tudor banqueting house, an outrageous folly perched on a hilltop with sweeping vistas, or a fancy set within an iconic landscape sculpted by Capability Brown ... or even a castle ... and ...  as an added bonus, to have the place all to your self.

Here I refer to rental accommodation operated by The Landmark Trust and The National Trust.

When you turn the key in the lock and open the door to these properties, you enter into another world - the legacy of those who built and lived in the space before you.  And that is the real attraction of the Trust buildings - something which surpasses the occasional grandeur of the architecture and the sometimes superlative settings.

... anyone who tries to write the social history of architecture must eventually confront the fact that the lives of buildings and the lives of human beings are timed by different clocks.  The form of a building embodies a contradiction: it is the actualization of the social relationships, material resources, needs, and talents of a particular patron, architect, household, or group of builders at a fixed point in time, but it is expected to outlive them and to remain useful and meaningful long after they are gone.  Buildings are expected to last.  Men and women are relatively short-lived by comparison, yet - unlike buildings - they are continually changing.  The passage of time for human beings is fast, bringing with it new ideas, new relationships, new ways of behaving.  These shifts are not only experienced from one generation to the next, but also in the daily lives of individuals as experience unfolds and consciousness evolves.  Thus each generation both changes the buildings that it inherits and builds new ones of its own, expressing and accommodating the relationships, habits of mind and beliefs which are all part of their distinctive culture. 
House and Household in Elizabethan England by Alice T. Friedman (The University of Chicago Press: London 1989) p.4

The Landmark Trust

The Landmark Trust rescues and restores noteworthy historic buildings and rents them out to cover the cost of their operation.  To date, the Trust has about 200 properties scattered throughout England, Scotland and Wales.  They range from whimsical follies to small castles.

Here is a short introduction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz-fhKBf28A

In its pursuit, The Landmark Trust has to negotiate the delicate balance of presenting the buildings with historical integrity, while at the same time, providing facilities to meet the needs of modern visitors.  Click on the following link for an insight into the thought process:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkeyJQWHSY8

The places are delightful:

• situated in wonderful settings (fields, woodlands, historic parts of well-preserved urban areas)
• replete with modern amenities: well-equipped kitchens, bathroom facilities, washing machines on occasion
• restored thoughtfully with a view to preserving the architectural integrity of the buildings both inside and out
• complete with libraries stocked with books on local history/attractions and visitor log books which record previous visitors' advice about local services and places to visit - something you would never get in a typical guidebook
• free from televisions, radios and WiFi service (we used a MiFi hub to access e-mail)
• varying in size, from places with a capacity for couples to parties of more than 12 

To date we have stayed in 6 of the Landmark Trust properties:

• the China Tower, a four story Gothic tower ca 1823 built on the sly by the wife of a rich landowner to celebrate his birthday (folklore holds that he was carried to the top in a chair due to his advanced age ... but not pushed off)
• Whiteford Temple ca 1799 built by a local lad who made good in India, set on a hilltop which presents fabulous views from the floor-to-ceiling Georgian windows (numerous rabbits are a distraction as they hop about)
• the Captains House ca 1825, on the coast of Cornwall, surrounded by ancient Celtic fields enclosed by 2000 year old stone walls 
• Freston Tower ca 1579, a six story Tudor folly near Ipswich with sweeping views over the estuary of the River Orwell (you are surrounded by sheep and flocks of pheasants)
• Beamsley Hospital ca 1593, founded by the Countess of Cumberland as an almshouse for poor widows ... provided that they were of good character and ... Protestant  (seven rooms are arrayed around a central chapel - doors everywhere).  Amazingly, the place fulfilled its original function until the 1970's!
• Swarkestone Pavilion ca 1632 near Derby, a banqueting hall with an architectural aura so compelling that it was once used in a photo shoot for the cover of one of the albums by the Rolling Stones

The prices are very reasonable - comparable to mid-range hotels or B&B's.  And you get far more for your money: 

• there is ample parking (no worries about being scraped by other vehicles)
• you can make your own breakfasts and dinners and shop for ingredients at local stores and markets (the ready-to-eat meals in some of the chains such as Sainsbury's are excellent)
• by dining in at night you avoid the inconvenience and danger of driving home after a bottle of wine (English drinking and driving laws are very strict)
• you are not bothered by the noise of other patrons (the places are exceptionally quiet: birdsong and the rustle of leaves)
• the settings are spectacular: we feasted on the views

By staying in these places you are also supporting the wonderful work of The Landmark Trust.  

The National Trust

The National Trust is also worth considering.  As a general rule, the Trust focuses on larger properties such as rural estates and natural areas, many of which were donated or passed into the hands of the organization as a result of their owners being unable to afford death duties.  Within the properties are situated a variety of buildings, some of which are rented out as vacation properties.  They range from apartments in stately manors and castles to humble estate worker's cottages.  

We rented a cottage on the large Boscott Park estate SW of Oxford.  The manor house was an unexpected discovery, especially the fabulous Faringdon Collection  and the gardens.

A few hints:

• make sure to have GPS supported navigation (we used a Garmin device with mapping for Europe and North America which could be updated)
• The Landmark Trust properties do not have WiFi.  We used a MiFi device to support our iPads and used a wireless speaker for sound.  The SIM cards are readily available at Carfone Warehouse or service providers such as EE (which has the best cellular network in England).  
• Reserve your accommodation well in advance of your trip as many properties are very popular and fill up quickly.  
• Read the library books.  They have been selected carefully to open insights into the local/regional history, folkways and tourist attractions.  
• Walk: the buildings are located in bucolic settings blessed with numerous pathways.  Nothing beats a walk at dawn along a river or a spectacular coastline in Cornwall.  

Slow Travel

We have slowed down and now rent properties for week-long periods instead of 3 or 4 day time slots.  By "settling in" we are more able to take the pulse of the countryside and savour our visits to local sites.  We find that we also have far more time to chat with people.  Already, we are planning our next visit to England.  It has much to offer, especially wonderful accommodation offered by The Landmark Trust and The National Trust.  

Here are a few of the places where we stayed during our last two visits. Click on the photos to get an expanded view. 

Whiteford Temple

China Tower







Captain's House

Beamsley Hospital

Freston Tower











Swarkestone Pavilion

More about a Potential Market Correction

I have reduced my exposure to equities and plan to trim my holdings even more.  See the previous post.

Here are some additional readings which explore dimensions not covered in the previous post.

One sign that investors are increasingly willing to pay more for less: Compared with the combined sales of all its companies, the S&P 500 is trading at its highest level since 2000.
Nevertheless, it’s far from obvious what will trigger the next downturn or when investors should get out. 
Everything is Crazy and Markets are not Freaking Out

Financial planners have a huge shock in store for them from groundbreaking research into the stock market’s long-term risk.

Contrary to what everyone for years has assured us, investing in the stock market does not become safer as our holding periods lengthen. On the contrary, risk increases the longer we hold stocks. This means we no longer can reassure ourselves or our clients that things will work out only if we are willing to hold on long enough.

The ownership structure of the stock market is, I think, a possible reason why equity markets have persisted at high valuations.  Retirement-related holders are almost compelled to hold equities because there are few alternatives to earn cash to satisfy the obligations/expectations of people requiring an income in retirement.  Further, other holders (mutual funds and their ilk) find it difficult to sit on the sidelines to await more enticing valuations - this as a result of pressure from their clients for "action" and the inability of most money managers to "do nothing".

In a white paper, Steven Rosenthal and Lydia Austin of the Tax Policy Center have broken out exactly which kind of investors own the stock market. They found that a majority of corporate stock is owned by different types of retirement plans, the largest being IRAs and defined-benefit plans.

Of the $22.8 trillion in stock outstanding (not including US ownership of foreign stock and stock owned by "pass-through entities" such as exchange-traded funds), retirement accounts owned roughly 37%, the most of any type of holder.
Who Actually Owns the Stock Market

Some commentators have attributed part of the stock markets' recent performance to the "Trump effect".
The Trump Effect on Financial Markets

I fear that his sojourn will end very badly: incoherent, inconsistent, prone to dismiss the views of others, etc.  Past history is replete with examples of self-centred populists catering to the base instinct of the crowd during challenging times.  They often meet bad ends.

Crowds are fickle and moods can change particularly when "encouraged" by the establishment when it feels threatened.  The fate of Girolamo Savonarola comes to mind.  He was a Dominican friar who preached in Florence in the late 1400's.

He was known for his prophecies of civic glory, the destruction of secular art and culture, and his calls for Christian renewal. He denounced clerical corruption, despotic rule and the exploitation of the poor. 

... he instituted an extreme puritanical campaign, enlisting the active help of Florentine youth.

Savonarola hinted at performing miracles to prove his divine mission, but when a rival Franciscan preacher proposed to test that mission by walking through fire, he lost control of the public discourse.

Under torture Savonarola confessed to having invented his prophecies and visions, then recanted, then confessed again.  In his prison cell in the tower of the government palace he composed meditations on Psalms 51 and 31.  On the morning of 23 May 1498, the three friars were led out into the main square where, before a tribunal of high clerics and government officials, they were condemned as heretics and schismatics, and sentenced to die forthwith. Stripped of their Dominican garments in ritual degradation, they mounted the scaffold in their thin white shirts. Each on a separate gallows, they were hanged, while fires were ignited below them to consume their bodies. To prevent devotees from searching for relics, their ashes were carted away and scattered in the Arno.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girolamo_Savonarola
Execution of Florentine friar Savonarola

The "undoing" of President Trump is a distinct possibility: to date he has demonstrated a capacity to demean the establishment and divide large segments of his electorate.  The consequences of his potential comeuppance may include volatile movements in markets - an event which may be the turning point to unleash a torrent of "cleansing" factors such as market over-valuations, high levels of government debt etc.