American Reacts to Unique UK Tourist Attractions
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- čas přidán 7. 05. 2023
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In this video I react to 10 of the most unique tourist attractions in the UK. Some of these are a bit strange and weird, but all are very interesting. I definitely want to visit some of these tourist attractions when I'm in the UK for the first time.
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• Top 10 WTF UK Tourist ...
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If you ever do get to Portsmouth I recommend visiting the naval dockyard. You'll not only see Nelson's Victory but also some modern warships. I got a submarine tour there when I was a kid.
Don't forget Portchester Castle and Fort Nelson
I grew up in Gosport across the harbour from Portsmouth, the submarine museum (fascinating place including Holland 1 the RN's first working submarine) HMS Dolphin and fort Brockhurst along with fort Southwick up on Portsdown hill are other places of interest, I wanted to mention the hovercraft museum at Lee-on-Solent (next to Gosport) but i'm not sure if it's still open.
And the HMS Warrior! I think its the worlds first ironclad warship if i remember rightly. I'm from portsmouth btw.
Stonehenge is much more than just the few stones you usually see. It consists of procession ways and smaller circles that stretch across the countryside for miles, all linked together. It has all been excavated over the years which has shown just how big it really was. Around the stones themselves were hundreds of burials dating back 5,000 years, they even found the deer antlers that were used to dig the chalk ditches surrounding the stones and thrown back in afterwards.
Indeed, it is one of the most greatest archaeological sites in the world. Thankfully it is still pretty much intact since WW2. My best friends dad was a demolitions expert in WW2. He was ordered by an officer, who called it "a pile of old rocks", to destroy it, for a demonstration on how good their new tech stuff was, compared to the previous tech. Fortunately, at least one person that turned up for the demonstration, knew how important it was as an archaeological site and it all got stopped and cancelled.....
And the whole countryside around - especially to the north - is covered in sites: Silbury Hill, Avebury, West Kennet, and further to Wayland's Smithy and Uffington.
Connected to other stones around England. Scotland. Wales n Ireland n NORTHERN IRELAND.. ELTON JOHN FOLLWED LEY LINES... Big story about not building on fault lines.
Z@@jamesdignanmusic2765 Agree - Wiltshire is a fascinating county.
A must go to for me would be Chatsworth House in Derbyshire! I’d love to see a reaction video on this
I just looked up Chatsworth House in Derbyshire and I can see why you say that would be a must go. It looks beautiful based off the thumbnail. I'll bookmark it and check it out soon. Thanks for the recommendation.
@@reactingtomyroots that’s brilliant! A good follow on video to chatsworth could be the Peak District where chatsworth house sits. If you love the land and hiking, you’ll absolutely LOVE the Peak District!!!
My favourite place to be in the world!
If you type Orkney Neolithic into the search bar you will find loads of inspection ( like Maeshowe ) , I’m orcadian and am very proud of out islands off the very top of Scotland ( we are nearer Norway than London ). Places like the ness of Brodger, Skara Brea which is a Neolithic village dating back to at least 3180 BC, stone circles and a 12 century cathedral in kirkwall called St Magnus cathedral.
I love Orkney, I definitely think Skara Brae is one of the most impressive things I've ever seen. Such a beautiful location as well.
2:26 Love the baffled look on Steve's face!😄 "It's a.....forest with....trees. What's the big deal??"🤣
'Puzzle Wood' is just that- an atractive woodland area, which is often used for filming due to it's landscape of gnarled trees, undulating ground, and wooden bridges over streams. It has a vistors centre- but is essentially a day out in some particularly attractive natural woodland.
I'm always up for a nice hike out in nature. I'll look for a video to check it out soon.
I've been to puzzle wood twice and absolutely loved it. It felt unreal, it was beautiful.
Children certainly have a thing for diggers and such. Today (8th May), a holiday in the UK dedicated to volunteering and community projects, 5-yr old Prince Louis, and 9-yr old Prince George helped their dad work a small digger in a project to help a local scout troop build its new hut and grounds. 🚜😊
You missed hearing that J.R.R Tolkien visited the Puzzlewood area and could have used it as an inspiration to write Middle Earth and Lord Of The Rings. It was in the commentary.
I've visited No Mans Land Fort (and the other two forts in the Solent) on a number of occasions. 20 years ago I was part of a management team looking to buy No Mans Land. It was then being run as a commercial business centre/hotel and the guy who'd financed its rebuilding from a disused building into it's then form was looking to sell it. It was then valued at £10,000,000. Sadly we were not able to secure the financing for the buy out due to a number of reasons regarding the access. In any year there are around 100+ days when the tides and wind mean it's not accessible by boat. As The Solent is right in the middle of a number of military establishments it's not always possible to get permission to access it by helicopter. It was therefore felt that as a business proposition, to be operated 365 days a year, it was not really feasible. I then looked again at buying the place in 2018 as it had then been operated for a while by a company (Solent forts limited) and had a new access point on the opposite side of the structure which made boat access a lot easier. It was at that time priced for sale at just £5,000,000 But as Solent Forts were operating it at a loss of over £500,000 a year it was still not viable as a business operation. But it is one of the most interesting places I've ever visited. It has 3 main levels with the walls at the lower level (sea level) being 18 feet thick, granite. Remember, it was built as a fortress! The lower level is a rabbit warren of passages and rooms (old storage rooms). The middle and upper levels have been converted into luxury hospitality areas (bedrooms, restaurants, bars, etc) and on the top (outside deck) there are a number of leisure options. The lighthouse is, in effect, a 4 floor residence. In 2003 the lighthouse was used as the managers/owners apartment. In 2018 it had been incorporated into the main hospitality area offering a number of further letting bedrooms. Sadly I believe it is again closed down as no buyer was found and the owners in 2018 decided to close what was a loss making arm of their company.
You're right, it was still up for sale I believe for £3.6 million at the beginning of this year (shall we go halves) 🤣I live on the Isle of Wight and can see it where I am. C'mon dig deep, let's make a go of it 👍
For military interested men portsmouth is a must see its got everything from the iron age, roman, Norman, tudor through to victorian and modern stuff
Stonehenge is fenced off. However, a few miles away is a village called Avebury which has a stone circle. The village is within and around it and you can get up close to the stones.
Fenced off unfortunately due to visitors chipping off souvenirs
50 years ago when I visited you could get very close to the stones
stonehenge is fenced off for good reason.
I much prefer Avebury as it gives a greater experience.
Portmeirion is absolutely beautiful. We have stayed there twice. Once in the hotel and once in one of the beautiful houses. Worth a visit for sure.
Yes that was a good list of some lesser known attractions. Stonehenge was the odd one out being a world famous tourist stop.
Have a look at British unusual festivals like Coopers Hill cheese rolling, summer solstice at Stonehemge, York Jorvik viking festival, Tewkesbury medieval festival. Whittlesea straw bear festival, Whitby goth weekend, Jane Austen Bath celebrations etc
Couple of places on that list that I’ve not heard about, You learn something new every day as they say! 🙂🇬🇧🇺🇸
To go into the Stonehenge site is expensive and unless you are there for a solstice or equinox you can't get to the stones, they are fenced off.
My tip, drive past, you'll see the stones from a few hundred feet, keep driving to nearby Avebury, it has a bigger stone circle, Silbury Hill ( man made ) and West Kennet Long Barrow. Also worth a visit in the area is Salisbury Cathedral, Stourhead and The Jurassic Coast, all well known to Brits but not so much by the international tourists.
See your puzzled by the puzzle woods. You have totally got it 🤣
If you do go visit the NO MAN'S LAND FORT (in the Solent) off the coast, between Portsmouth & Southsea and the Isle of Wight, there are some other great attractions to visit too in and around Portsmouth. HMS Victory, is a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was ordered in 1758, laid down in 1759, and launched in 1765. With 245 years of service as of 2023, she is the world's oldest naval vessel still in commission. Also, Osborne House, this is is a former royal residence in East Cowes, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. The house was built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a summer home and rural retreat. The Charles Dickens Birthplace Museum is in Portsmouth too....
Last year we went to the Mary Rose exhibition in the naval dockyard, that was fantastic. I would definitely recommend it.
There are stone circles up and down the UK so you may be able to plan around it without going to stonehenge x
I went to diggerland when it first opened when I was a kid haha I loved it 😂
If you want more eccentric tourist attractions in the UK, can i suggest two books.
"B*llocks to Alton towers" & "far from the sodding crowd"
Stonehenge is an amazing place - but there are other far less visited stone circles which are nearly as impressive (or more so) - Avebury is a must, for instance. Some of the most amazing prehistoric stone sites are unfortunately difficult to get to: Callanish in Scotland's Hebrides islands and several sites in the Orkneys. And the Irish neolithic tomb you bookmarked was almost certainly Newgrange.
Indeed, the stone circles in Orkney are believed to be the oldest stone circles in the UK and the trend spread down throughout the islands.
As mentioned, don’t bother with Stonehenge. Avebury stone circles are accessible to all to walk amongst and are totally free. You can also walk along a processional route from them to Silbury Hill and West Kennet Longbarrow
I live near a public toilet that was converted to a cottage.
I watched a documentary a few months back where they found that Stonehenge had been erected in the same area the Sarsen stones came from. So that is even more mind blowing because it was dismantled and moved to Salisbury plain and rebuilt.
I think you're referring to the smaller Bluestones, which came from Pembrokeshire.
The large sarsens are local.
Love these videos ❤
used to live near the smallest house so went on school trips to Conwy castle and saw the house as well as its only a few mins walk :) also where I live now (Buckinghamshire) theres a place called "hellfire caves" its pretty spooky but its interesting :)
There are a few videos, for no man's Fort, if you just search no mans fort Portsmouth. And as well as, its sister forts, including an abandoned one
Abby pumping station in Leicester is 10 minutes away from my house. Also just cross the street. The national space museum . Two places to visit other side of the road to each other
Stonehenge is part of a network of stone structures linked by ley-lines, like a circuit board sending energy streams across the country. No-Man's-Land Fort is great. I went to a party weekend being held there. Really good.
Puzzlewood. He said it inspired LOTR and… is beautiful? Isn’t that enough to go?
I visited the tiny house a few years ago. I was claustrophobic just walking in the door but it was interesting to see just how small a house could be. I've visited Maeshowe twice and once you get in through the very low entrance tunnel, it's actually quite a high ceilinged room with a lot of Viking graffitti in it 😊😊
ln the case of most of these sites l would agree with Dr Johnson's assessment of Staffa: 'worth seeing, but not worth going to see'.
Steve,are you planning to stay in the uk for a long time? There is so much to see,but these places of interest are significant distances apart. I live in Wales 🏴 and you would need to spend at least a month here ,to appreciate it’s true beauty and even longer for England and Scotland.......Best wishes from Wales 🏴
Hey Steve. I hope you are coming over for about six months!! You won’t fit everything in over a couple of weeks. I live in Dorset and we have the Jurassic coastline where you can walk along the beach and find fossils. There is Maiden Castle in Dorchester (ancient hill fort) Poole Harbour, a huge natural harbour and so much more. Good luck with picking your visits!!
I used to live in the town next to the original digger land. When it opened everyone looked at each other and said…”What!?” But you know, it works!
There’s 3 of these forts in the Solent. I live on the Isle of Wight the other side from Portsmouth and you can walk to one at certain tides.
When you visit London do The London Dundgen as it retells the history of London but in scences played out by actors in parts as you go through.
Also the museums in London are fantastic. There's so many depending what your into - War, Natrual History, Transport, History of Britian, Science, Art you name it London has a museum on it.
Finally Tower Bridge and the Tower of London - both next to each other. Make for some great pictures.
yes Stonehenge is worth a visit they have a exhibition building there, I live about 50 miles away and never been, been past it many times main road to London from west country, you can see it as you pass by, there is talk of building a tunnel for about 3 miles as the traffic passes very close to the stones, and the vibration of big lorries is not helping, however there is a lot of people trying to stop the tunnel being built, so I can not see it happening for at least a few years yet, one thing for sure I will not see it.
Puzzlewood - as a foreign tourist you can give that a miss (it's for British people). Your children would probably be more interested in Robin Hood's den in Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire.
Don't spend too much time in forests - you have plenty in the US.
You'll pass right through them anyway, on the train going through places like Wales or Scotland.
However, you CAN go hire-wire walking and zip wiring in some - including flying right over a huge lake with only your cable to stop you falling the hundreds of feet below you.!!
I've stayed on an island which only has a hotel and nothing else.
There are quite a few dotted around - don't forget, there's no other country in the continental Americas or in Europe which is completely surrounded on all sides by water.
(the only exception is Iceland and one or two small islands which are hardly big enough to call 'countries'.).
Puzzlewood is amamazing.
My mum took my son to digger land when he was a child and he absolutely loved it. He spoke about it for many years afterwards. And the photos mum took of him there, his face was beaming with joy.
Also.. I’ve been in that tiny house too when I was a child too! It was incredible how they fit everything essential in there
I've never heard of Diggerland, it looks pretty cool. Wish I'd heard of it when my grandson was a bit younger, he would've loved it. He's a bit old now and too cool to have fun ☹️
@@denniswilliams160 ooh I'll have to tell my daughter about the Yorkshire one, she lives over that way, her boyfriend is a farmer and their little girl is 18 months old, she loves driving in tractors and farm vehicles with her dad. I bet she'd love Diggerland 😁
Maeshowe is older than stonehenge, it has viking graffiti inside.
A couple of miles away is scara brae which is a neolithic village, well worth the trip to Orkney see these and other relics
My dad has been to the fort in the Solent. It’s fantastic. We live by the Solent and love it. Portsmouth is wonderful city with a rich naval heritage. It’s the home of HM Royal Navy. 😊
No man's fort. There were originally four of them built to protect the Solent and the approaches to both Portsmouth (which was and is the home of the Royal Navy) and the Isle of WIght (where I am fortunate enough to live) One suffered structural damage as it subsided, cracked and disappeared beneath the waves. The other three are still there. Overlooked by huge fortifications on the Isle of Wight and from Portsmouth Island itself. Portsmouth has several top museums. The Royal Navy museum is, without any doubt one of the most fascinating museums on the planet. The whole area is surrounded by castles and forts dating from Roman times onwards. IMHO one of the best holiday destinations in the UK the Isle of Wight gives you the natural beauty (though it has a few fortresses/palaces also) and Portsmouth has the history. If you're ever back this way - treat yourself.
Uffington White Horse/Waylands smithy and the ridgeway if you fancy a walk with views and history, Principality of Sealand for something a bit different, The channel Islands - Jersey, Guernsey & Sark etc - The Islands were the only British territory invaded and formally occupied by the Nazis in WW2. Lindisfarne for some Viking history in the UK, and Anglesey for Welsh interest - including the home of the longest named place in the UK - and some interesting ancient pagan/druid history. War tunnels in Kent, Norfolk Broads, Hampton Court, The RNLI - Lifeboats, Hadrian's Wall, Colchester and Silchester for some Roman history. St Ives & The Lizard for beautiful Cornish (Cornwall) locations. The history of The New Forest. I could go on 😂
Pevsner guide books are good for touring places that are off the radar. Worth buying but recommend 2nd hand because they can be pricey. The last one i bought was full of annotations so 2nd hand can be helpful too!
Puzzle wood is where Star wars VII was filmed. the surrounding area (forest of Dean) has had various film and tv locations including Harry Potter and young Merlin.
Porthmeirion and the littlest house are only about an hour or so away from each other. Also around there is a number of castles like Conway . Although the beauty of Snowdonia is breathtaking so well worth staying there for a bit .
The toilets in the Philharmonic Pub in Liverpool are worth the trip. The pub itself is good, but the men's bogs are a sight.
If you're planning on visiting check out the accomodation that the Landmarks Trust have they aren't cheep but they do have interesting places to stay cottages yes but also castles, towers, etc etc oh and they have a stone built pineapple you can stay in.
Look up the smallest pub in Britain too. It’s not as small as that house but not by much
When you visit Stonehenge don't go off wandering around in the country side. It's also home to the royal tank regiment.
Stonehenge. I’ve lived in the UK for 70 years. I’ve driven passed Stonehenge many times but it’s always been too busy to stop. Avebury, Wiltshire. Loads of stones, smaller but more of them and less visitors and costs. The main road goes through the stone circle and i almost the same distance from London.
For more on the history of Stonehenge, there is a great video by Dan Snow(History Hit).
Diggerland 😂😂😂 I live down the road from that, Rochester is definitely worth a visit, can reccomend places to stay if you come over this way.. its near them redsands towers in another one of your videos.. and a great area to visit anyway
Abbey pumping station is 2 miles from my home in Leicester. Just across the road UK is the national space museum. With real rockets So one to you might as well go to both
Puzzle Wood, I agree with you Steve
Abbey Wood pumping station is also known as the Cathedral of Sewage
My son loves diggerland. Dont live to far from one. Mind its expensive. Its £65.00 for two people on the day and 53.00 to pre book. But once your in the place you can go on the rides as long as you want.
I stayed in Spitbank Fort a few years ago. Really nice hotel for only a few guests.
I believe that it has recently been sold and I’m not sure if they’re planning on reopening it.
The Solent forts are currently both closed so that No1 pick is not available (unless you want to hire it as a film venue).
Stonehenge is actually part of a larger site than people realise there are a load of stone circles all over the UK and another older wooden henge built at Durrington wall that's near Stonehenge there is now a belief that these stone circles are also linked to the Holy lands of Jerusalem..
Stonehenge is also a lot older than the Pyramids of Egypt effectively showing that the UK wasn't just a Archipelago of Barbarians at that time but a fully functional operational society in its own right used by the Druids and Pagans alike
I'm from Portsmouth and that fort is no longer a hotel. It is for sale though!!
I took my Parents to No Man's Land Fort for their Wedding Anniversary. It's a fabulous hotel.
You can walk around the stones on summer soltice and winter soltice limited number of tickets aviable.
Took my son to Diggerland yrs ago it's fantastic he loved it . 😊 There is a Peppard pig world too .
Peppa
Other commenters have rightly pointed out that there are many other megalithic structures in the British Isles than Stonehenge, many a lot more atmospheric. They are particularly in Wittshire (south) ( e.g. Stonehenge, Avebury), or in Orkney (far north) (Maes Howe, Skara Brae); but they're all over the place. They date from about 3,000 - 2,000 BC, and it is now generally accepted that astronomy was very important to their builders. There are important astronomical alignments at Stonehenge (Midsummer/Midwinter Sunrise), and in tombs;; in New Grange in Ireland, and I think in Maes Howe, the sun streams down the narrow entrance passage on Midsummer's Day.
Steve you have got a mammoth task on your hands if you want to go to the Orkney Islands or Fingles Cave which is at the top of the UK plus see some sights in London you will be swamped with info 🤣London is 1 and a half miles to Bath by train in the south west of Uk easy distance from Stonehenge south west, Puzzelwood in Gloucestershire , Cotswolds , Oxford all place near each other , or even a jolt up to York well worth and a visit Chester is another so you need months to travel if you include Scotland 🤣🤷♀️
try looking at Blackpool it has our own eifel tower style building , a theme park that is 127 years old, ballrooms 3 peirs and more
pleasure beach is amazing!
You need to visit Bamburgh castle in Northumberland where im from its a great place to visit
I think with puzzle wood, it just looks like it was created as a fairy type landscape for a movie or something, but it's just how it is just natural
You should check out Scotlands Callanish Standing Stones aswel
yes, the shots of Puzzle Wood don't really depict the uniqueness of it. there are manmade structures that are very organic looking but its the gnarled trees and lumpy ground that are different.
the bars and restaurants built in old public toilets are weird. A lot of them are in convenient places, and interesting in a victorian way, sometimes protected because of that. they are also small, so a good place for start up businesses.
Diggerland is definitely a big Go To if you've got kids into that sort of thing.
Maeshowe is a NEOLITHIC chambered CAIRN on the Orkney Islands.
Maeshowe is more than 5000 years old, the Narrator said.
Puzzle wood is not natural. It's lots of little canyons, caused by collapsed iron ore mines. Beautiful. Used in star wars 7
I’ve been on Spitbank Fort, there are 3 of these in the Solent.
The forts in the Solent are amazing....... I live just a couple miles from them....
stonehenge has had repairs done to it some of the stones put back on tops and such
As a Forest of Dean native, I will tell you what my dad told me when I was a child and he was taking us for a walk in the woods and we were like "Lets go to Puzzlewood" "We live in a forest I'm not paying more than 30 quid so we can see some trees" It's been in some movies and TV shows but I agree with my dad, it's just monopolization of trees, not worth spending some money to see.
There are some videos on yt showing how stonehenge was built.
Hey buddy👍 just seen this, no man's land fort between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight is up for sale if you want it 90000sq ft with 23 bedroom hotel the original price tag was £4.25million or $ 5. 25now just a snip at £3.6million or $ 4444560 it has a helipad(helicopter not included🤣) there are 3 main solent forts in the solent, no man's land, horse sand, spitbank and in 2020 all three were up for sale, not sure of the situation with the other 2 now but the price tag was still up at the beginning of this year for no man's land. I can see no man's land clearly where I live on the Isle of Wight a small island beneath Portsmouth on the south coast of England 25x15mls pop 140000approx ✌️
You must check out the Cotswolds
Would love to see you watch a few tv shows from the uk 🙃 I think you would enjoy them,
would I lie to you? ; is a fantastic show, it’s a panel show, the known people (uk famous people) change each episode and they have two teams and make up lies or tell a true story to the opposite side and they have too listen to the story, decide if it’s true or a lie to get points. Vice versa.
Look up Beamish Living Museum. My favourite place to go. Full day trip.
Thanks for the recommendation Katriona. I'll bookmark it and try to check it out soon.
Yes it has been excavated and burials found.
🤣Steve I think you will be swamped if your limited for time seeing so many other places although Stonehenge Southwest England ,Puzzlewood Gloucestershire southwest England Port Meirion in North Wales, plus London all these places are in easy reach from the Capital with Bath and the Cotswolds , but lovely as they are Fingal Cave & Orkney Islands are way up in Scotland and beyond it would take you forever negotiating such a trip you need months to travel to such places but good luck if you can do it 👍🤣🤷♀️
8:03 It's not very big, it stops at the point where it hits the Conway Castles outer wall. Which you can see in the photo's. I could barely get inside the door. tee hee !
I think it's time you stopped looking, get the family and come, we think you're great, and would love to welcome you all.
Unfortunately for Stonehenge it had to be fenced off due to idiots chipping pieces off for souvenirs and spraying graffiti. Only archaeologists and caretakers are allowed in, apart from modern day druids who are allowed hold ceremonies there at the summer solstice.
got my picture taken outside that tiny house, i'm 6"5 lol, love wales anyway, my picture is me at the house lol
LOL That place looks even smaller than I thought it was when you're standing beside the door.
@@reactingtomyroots lol, you need to visit us over here, you'd love it 👍🏻👍🏻
Newgrange is the one in Ireland. It's unreal
If the Americans think that Stonehenge is so wonderful they can have it!
In the UK there are Puzzle trees. I don't know the Latin name. They are not originally from UK. The trees are beautiful look like tales
Do you mean monkey puzzle trees? They originally come from South America: there’s a large in the garden of the National Trust property near where we live.
I'd like to know what's so special about Puzzlewood too, never heard of it!
Portmeirion is fascinating, I went there a few years ago. The surroundings are absolutely stunning too.
It sounds as though you would enjoy Stonehenge as it seems you have a genuine interest in it. Many of your fellow countrymen flock there in droves because Rick Steeves tells them they should, then complain that "it's just a bunch of rocks in a field"!
Puzzlewood is special because it is basically an ancient jungle, it is beautiful. Also, part of the force awakens film was filmed there.
Whenever I see someone reacting to a Mojo “10 best…..” video I audibly groan. They are always poorly researched and superficial in presentation. As you said… where’s the context. I don’t know how they get away with it. In any case “10 best..” is so subjective that this title is worthless. Notwithstanding that your reactions are always a pleasure to watch and your enthusiasm never flags….Onwards and upwards!
Sounds like you need to stay here for a year all the Places you want to see, lol
When you do visit the UK, why not visit Benjamin Franklin House near Embankment Station, he lived at 36 Craven Street.
It's in London.
On Dartmoor there are these fairly unique volcanic rock formations called tors. The locals like to mess with tourists and tell them that were made by prisoners from Dartmoor prison who were sentenced to hard labour.