Product Description

Stonehenge, the Tower of London, York Minster, Longleat - all familiar, all among England's most visited places. But, what about the wonderful Roman villa at Lullingstone in Kent? Or Manchester Town Hall, with its stunning Victorian murals? Or the medieval sculpture at Lanercost Priory in Cumbria. All equally rewarding, all far too easily overlooked. In "Hidden Treasures", Michael McNay pays tribute to England's less well-known gems, highlighting the astonishing masterpieces to be found scattered across the length and breadth of the country.In some cases it may be an entire building that draws his attention, but more often than not it is a particular object or highlight - a painting hidden away in a corner of a stately home, perhaps; magnificent stained glass in an otherwise unremarkable church; a seventeenth-century statue standing on a bleak urban roundabout; a medieval bridge everyone uses but no one stops to looks at. It may be the one thing worth seeing in a rather unpromising village. It may, just as easily, be jostling for attention among better-known tourist sites in the middle of a busy city. Whatever it is, each object or building is lovingly described, and its history given, along with a sense of how it fits in to the story of art and architecture in England.For those already familiar with particular places, "Hidden Treasures" offers an alternative itinerary. For those who dislike crowds, it shows how to leave the tourist trail well behind. And for those who want to stop and look rather than simply glance, it shows where and how to look.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19986 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 560 pages

Review
'Wonderful. If you love England, buy this book.' --Country Life

Review
'The whole lush package is never less than stimulating and I'm already planning summer jaunts on the strength of it.'

Review
'Accessible and engaging, and beautifully illustrated ... If you are holidaying at home this summer, this is a book for your bedside.'

Customer Reviews

An ideal travelling companion for people who think they've seen it all
Having extensively travelled around Britain I was looking forward to reading this and was not disappointed. It shows that you can find something new on even the most well trodden tourist routes, and I was impressed by the broad scope of it. The book is ideal for both city and countryside visits as it covers everything from the Lowry gallery and Gothic town hall in Manchester to Derek Jarman's isolated cottage in Dungeness.

I learnt many things I didn't know, particularly how the art gallery in Exeter hosts a painting of Dartmoor by Edward Burra, which I found interesting as I'd always thought of him as a painter of American scenes, and I was impressed by the way Michael McNay highlights things that have almost been made invisible due to their proximity to better known monuments, such as the statue of Charles I that sits opposite Nelson's Column. It's the kind of book that you can enjoy even if you're not going anywhere, though I'm looking forward to my next trip around England as this will be a valuable companion.

Great Days out.
From childhood I fondly remember days out in my local area to see everything from local museums through to ancient landscape features. It was interesting although after a certain amount of time you've pretty much seen everything that your locale has to offer and wonder where to go next. Well wonder no more. Within McNay's offering is a whole host of days out with things of interest to keep everyone glued as well as generating a bit of local history for the reader. Organised by counties and then alphabetically it's a great way to find each place with some of the hidden treasures that even the local's may not know too much about. A real gem of a find and one that will more than pay for itself when I start taking my nephew to some of these attractions.

A poor attempt to please
I was disappointed at the number of "hidden treasures" left out, and others that are hardly "hidden" are included. St Laurence's Church, Ludlow gets a mention, but not the beautiful carved wooden 15thC Pieta in the Choir - it truly is a hidden treasure. Little needs to be said about York Minster, but surely the wonderful stained glass in the Zouche chapel deserves a mention, as do the roof bosses representing the ascention of Jesus (the soles of a pr of feet seen from below!) and one of Mary (Vict copy of original with breast fed child) feeding her baby with a bottle! Ripley Castle with its wonderful priest's holes isn't even considered, nor is Pickering's church with its medieval frescoes, or Aldbourne's St Michael's where an old fire engine is stored inside the Church. The Scilly Islands are not mentioned but there is much to explore there.
Oh dear! if only he'd used his eyes a bit more.
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