New Rough Guide to England
English Food and Beer, Budget Hotels, Best Restaurants and Sights
Apr 29, 2007
Click here for a review of the more recent 2008 Rough Guide to England.
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'The most reliable and all-encompassing of the many guides to England,' London's Daily Telegraph said in a review of an earlier edition of the Rough Guide to England. 'An invaluable addition to glove compartment, backpack or suitcase,' they went on.
You would need a big glove compartment and a strong back, though, as the latest edition of the Rough Guide to England weighs in at almost 1100 pages. That figure doesn't even include the several full-colour inserts that the guidebook also includes, such as Coastal England, Festivals and Events (from Glastonbury to Glyndebourne) and, naturally, Pubs and Pints. There's a quote from AE Housman's Shropshire Lad in that last invaluable section:
And malt does more than Milton can
To justify God's way to man
Ale, man, ale's the stuff to drink
For fellows whom it hurts to think
If you want to know the difference between ale, beer, cider and lager, that's all here, as is information on CAMRA – the Campaign for Real Ale.
Gone are the days when Rough Guides were for rough travelers, vacationing on a budget. Here in the London restaurant listings the names of top chefs like Marco Pierre White and Gordon Ramsay are in among the cheaper places, the cafes, snack bars, the gastropubs and ethnic eateries.
If looking for a good guide to London, though, better to buy a London-specific one. Although the section here on the sights is comprehensive, there's less space for hotels and restaurants than in an exclusively London guide. The same for other popular parts of England, like the Cotswolds, Yorkshire Dales, Stratford, Cornwall or the Lake District. If going to just one or two of those destinations, then buy individual guides to each place. If touring England thoroughly, wanting to see everywhere from Land's End to Hadrian's Wall, then this is the guide to pack.
One of the many good things about the Rough Guides is that they do try to cover everywhere. Unfashionable places like Darlington and Sunderland, which are probably not on every American visitor's itinerary, are included – even if the comments are not always flattering. Brash seaside resorts such as Blackpool are also covered, not merely the tourist honeypots like Bourton-on-the-Water, Padstow and St Ives.
The other thing that Rough Guides always does well, in almost every one of their guidebooks, is the extended reference section at the back. Here you'll find in-depth coverage of English history, England's monuments and buildings, the country's wildlife, and cultural information with listings of books and films, such as Harry Potter and Four Weddings and a Funeral. Combine it with 40 pages of the 'Basics', to know before you go, such as visas and money matters, personal safety and internet access, and you probably do have what the Daily Telegraph said: 'The most reliable and all-encompassing of the many guides to England.'
The Rough Guide to England is published by Rough Guides at £15.99 in the UK, $31.99 in Canada and $22.99 in the USA.
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