England for All Seasons

A book of essays on traveling to England from America. This is a literal guide book to what you will see circa 1996. This is outdated but still quaint if you ever visited England, especially London pre 9/11. Best chapters: Advice for the Guilty Traveler, Lolloping Around London, A Suitcase Full of Books, In Praise of English Rain.

This is the second book I've read from Toth. She and her husband are hardcore Anglophiles from Minnesota, spending much of their time in London while also driving all over the U.K., searching out gardens, castles and animal sanctuaries. These aren't just "my vacation" type memoirs, as Toth has 30 years of traveling about the U.K. and gets to meet with Lords to discuss their property. She's still enchanted with Great Britain decades later, which makes her an easy-going travel companion.

Susan Toth's travel writing is pretty fun to read, as she takes you places you wouldn't normally hear about in England/Scotland/Wales. In this volume, she describes a donkey sanctuary in Devon, the art of garden visiting, the lesser known but pleasantly remote Scottish island of Mull, and England's last-built grand castle, Castle Drogo. Quite enjoyable.