England as You Like It

55. England As You Like It by Susan Allen Toth. Toth has written several books about traveling around England, part travel guide, part memoir, they are books of slow, calming travel with lots of manor houses and gardens, usually with her husband James.
This book is geared towards the first-time traveler to England, and as it was published in 1995, much of the travel advice can be skipped as the internet has made things like writing to a historical society for pamphlets obsolete. But these first few chapters can also be read to remember how much effort had to be made back then.
Toth travels by her "thumbprint theory" which is trying to spend a week at a time in an area that covers no more than the size of her thumb on the map. While this show more is a good way to get to know a place better than moving around, it works best for someone who knows they will be returning often.
My favorite chapter was one about Daphne Du Maurier's area of Cornwall, seeing Menabilly, Du Maurier's home and the inspiration for Manderlay, and exploring her neighborhood. But there is also a fun chapter about shopping for biscuits and sweets at Sainsbury's and another chapter explaining why she and her husband prefer packing their own food rather than eating in restaurants. show less

I quite enjoyed this travel guide. True, it begins with a couple of chapters that are now seriously outdated (this book was written in the early 90's, slightly before the Internet could be used for travel research & bookings, and in the long-ago days when you could overpack as much as you wanted for a flight and bring all sorts of food and drink on the plane, etc.)

But then the author gets into the meat of the book. I enjoyed her chapter on how to keep a travel journal, and why it can be so delightful. I loved her descriptions of various out-of-the-way places in the English and Scottish countryside. Pooh country! Bluebell woods! The far northeast Highlands! Only one chapter of the book is devoted to London, and even that focuses on the show more garden spaces.

Her theory of travel (that on one trip, you should only plan to explore an area about the size of your thumbprint on a large-scale map, staying for at least a week in one spot and checking out places no more than an hour's drive away) means that she and her husband were able to soak in much more of their travel experience than your average sightseer rushing from place to place. Ah, for the luxury of being able to take multiple trips to England and not feel like you had to see it all in one go! show less

*with a foray to Scotland--d.j.First ed.