If you’re looking to experience the real England, here are 8 activities that many Brits genuinely enjoy.
 

1. Watch a Horse Race at Ascot

The Ascot Racecourse is located in Ascot, Berkshire, only a 50 min ride by car or train from London. Ascot is one of the most famous courses in the entire world, and is home to the Royal Ascot race in June. What you may enjoy more than the actual horse race is the fashion at Ascot. The racecourse has a dress code whose strictness varies according to where you sit. For example, those sitting in the Royal Enclosure at the Royal Ascot must adhere to a strict dress code: men must wear morning dress that includes a cutaway and waist, in addition to a tie and top hat. Women must wear an appropriate dress (no spaghetti straps and nothing too short), and they must wear a hat or similar headpiece. Thankfully, the dress code isn’t as strict in other spectator sections. Book far in advance for this racecourse, especially if you plan to attend the Royal Ascot.

2. Attend a Performance at the Glyndebourne Festival

Another fashionable event to attend during the summer is the Glyndebourne Festival. This opera festival takes place in East Sussex County, which is accessible by car or by train. From London’s Victoria station, it’s only an hour to the town of Lewes in East Sussex. Operas take place inside the Glyndebourne auditorium, but during the intervals, guests may dine in one of the restaurants, or enjoy a picnic that they’ve preordered. Yes, you can preorder a gourmet picnic basket and eat outside on the grounds of Glyndebourne! Attending an opera here is a truly unique and spectacular experience.

3. Celebrate Guy Fawkes Night

Guy Fawkes Night, or Bonfire Night, has a strange history. On November 5, 1605, Guy Fawkes was found actively participating in a plan to assassinate King James I. When the Gunpowder Plot was foiled, people in London lit bonfires to celebrate, and November 5 was thereafter named a day of thanksgiving. Today, people still celebrate in the name of long deceased King James I. They do so by gathering to light bonfires and set off fireworks. Many times, communities organize the fireworks, so it’s a night for families to come together and enjoy the display. The London fireworks are always quite impressive.

4. See a Christmas Pantomime

Around Christmastime, small, medium, and large theaters all over England put on pantomimes. A Christmas pantomime is truly a British institution. Part comedy, part musical, with storylines from Disney tales such as Cinderella and Peter Pan, it’s a show for all ages. One fun aspect of a pantomime is the audience participation. The audience is expected to boo whenever the villain enters a scene, and warn the “good” players whenever the villain sneaks up on them (“He’s behind you!”). For a genuinely British experience during the holidays, fit a Christmas pantomime in your plans. Tickets for productions at larger theaters can be bought months in advance, and it’s recommended you do so, because they sell out quickly!

5. Eat Sunday Roast at a Local Pub

English food has a bad reputation, but the truth is a Sunday roast can be a very lovely meal. Served as lunch or an early dinner, the dish traditionally consists of roast beef and vegetables, potatoes, and Yorkshire puddings (small muffin-like breads that aren’t sweet at all). The meal attracts many Brits to the pubs on Sunday, so wash your food down with good English ale, and take in the authentic experience. And if you feel brave enough, strike up a conversation with a fellow diner.

6. Take in a Cricket Match

Sure, it’s easy to watch football (a.k.a. soccer) in the U.K., but what about something even more traditional? Cricket, a sport similar to baseball in some ways, is in fact the national sport of England. The game dates back to the 16th century, and it became very popular in British colonies. When traveling, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to see a match, given that there are local clubs all over the country. And if you’re lucky, your visit may coincide with a national team match. During the summer months England has many international matches with rivals such as India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. There’s also the Cricket World Cup that takes place every four years!

7. Shop at Selfridges, not Harrod’s

Harrod’s has more international recognition, but more popular with the British (Londoners especially) is a different luxury department store. Selfridges & Co. or Selfridges for short, is the place to go for high fashion, perfume, house wares, and so much more, including food. The Selfridges food hall is a great place to pick up something for dinner, or even small souvenirs like gourmet teas and chocolates. The flagship store on Oxford Street in London has six floors to explore, so make sure you budget enough time for your visit. And if you happen to be in Manchester or Birmingham, you’ll find Selfridges locations in those cities too.

8. Bargain Hunt on Boxing Day

If you love Black Friday shopping, then you’ll love Britain’s Boxing Day. It’s the after Christmas sale that stores use to clean out their winter stock to make way for the spring lines. Though Boxing Day is technically the first weekday after Christmas Day, most stores hold Boxing Day on the 26th if it falls on a weekend. And though doors don’t open at 4am like in America, the bargains are just as incredible.

We hope you’ve enjoyed reading about these local British experiences, and that one day you get the chance to try out a few!

And when you visit England, try to visit the quaint, old-world city of Chester. Check out this guide to Chester hotels for things to do and places to stay in the area.

Lifecruiser Love English Experiences
 

There are a lot of water activities in Stockholm waters, both at the big lake Mälaren and in the Baltic Sea. When taking this photo there were several water scooters out playing around – and I must admit that it looked like a lot of fun!

©Lifecruiser Love Sea activities
 

Menorca is an eastern Balearic island with their main city named Mahon. There is the biggest harbor after Pearl Harbor and it is also one of Europe’s biggest natural harbors.

They say that Menorca is not as exploited as it’s sister islands Majorca and Ibiza, as well as not so much party-life going on. I don’t know if that is still true – if you know, tell us.

One very interesting fact about Mahon is that it is said that the recipe of the mayonnaise (one of our favorites!) once were born in this town and brought back to France after Louis-François-Armand du Plessis de Richelieu’s victory over the British at Mahon’s port in 1756.

Menorca is an absolute must travel destination for horse lovers like us, because the amount of horses per square kilometer is the highest in Europe! They have an own horse called Caballo Menorquin – the islands pride – locally bred black horses, which plays a very important role in the islands traditions and festivities.

Photo by Roser Goula

We will definitely NOT miss the three days traditional summer fiesta, Festes de Sant Joan, in Ciutadella (I want to explore the old town, surrounded by the Contramurada and narrow streets), with sheep-bearing (!), parades, bonfires, riders, competitions and above all: it ends with fireworks.

Then we have the three B’s: Birds, Butterflies and Blooming flowers. Our favorite reasons for going to a special travel destination. To Menorca it would be ideal to go in April and May, to be able to see as many wild flowers (even Orchids) as possible.

I find it very interesting that some of the earliest culture on Menorca was influenced by – among other – the Minoans of ancient Crete (our honeymoon island). Early people of Menorca imitated inverted plastered timber columns at Knossos.

The Menorcan’s have a local favorite drink, the Pomada – Gin (influenced by the Brit’s) mixed with bitter lemon – that I would love to try out. I can imagine that it’s tasty when it’s hot temperatures.

I think I would like to go to Majorca once again and then from there take the ferry over to Menorca, exploring Menorca island as an (long) extension to the Majorca stay.

If you have been to Menorca, please feel free to leave any tips in the comments.

Lifecruiser ♥ Spanish Horses

We found a horseshoe hanging upside-down above our farm door at our summer island Fårö, (Gotland, Sweden), so we had to rotate it and put it up right.

You do know what they say? If the horseshoe is hanging with the opening down, the luck will run out…

Lifecruiser ♥ Horseshoe Luck
 

You will find more at Lifecruiser’s Fårö Island Summer 2010 photos.

If you’re interested in cats, we’ve also filled up with more of them now in our Farm Cats Photo slideshow.

Lifecruiser ♥ Fårö
 

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It started as early as in 1845 (!) with informal competitions that were organized by the owners of the horses carrying the fish and shellfish in the Bajo de Guía beach to local markets and nearby towns.

This race has carried on ever since in this spectacular place – along the Bajo de Guía beach every August. We heard about it last year when we were staying just a couple of minutes from Bajo de Guía in our friends casa.

The Jockeys looks like the ones in the Derby in England and the distances are 1500 and 1800 meters. Many big names within the racing world participate, so if you’re into racing, this would be an event to check out.

This year the Sanlúcar horse race is planned to the 1-3 August for the first stage and 17-19 Aug for the second stage. It all depends on the tides.

We will not be able to go there ourselves this year either, because we have another great trip to Southern France planned.

There has even been talk about starting a similar race in the neighboring Moroccan city of Tangiers, since tanger Bay is ideal for this type of event, but I have no idea what’s the status of it.

The Sanlúcar horse race association also has an own webpage worth to keep an eye on.

Nearest airports to get there are Jerez de la Frontera or Seville. If you have the opportunity, just go there, Sanlúcar town is really nice – great seafood and Manzanilla Bodegas.

Just be careful with the Manzanilla. It can give you a headache…

Lifecruiser ♥ Sanlúcar
 

It was a year ago now since we were in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Andalusia, Spain and experienced the big famous event of the pilgrimage Romeria de San José.

This is an ancient tradition from around 1280 for the Spanish people to make a pilgrimage to the White Dove, the Virgen del Rocio – in the church in El Rocio, Huelva.

It’s done 3 times a year. This one was around the Dia de San José (San José Day) in March, with people from Andalusia participating. There is also one in May and another one in the autumn, but that one is by foot.

There is a telling about how the third voyage of Christopher Columbus (1498) had to delay the departure from the Sanlúcar port until the crew returned who was on the pilgrimage of El Rocio.

We were absolutely stunned, because Sanlúcar was invaded by thousands and thousands of gorgeous Spanish horses, with wagons or riders (Romero’s) and even donkeys etc.

Where ever we looked there were horses and peoples in a very festive mood. We had such a good time just watching this stream of equipage coming into town – and it never seemed to stop, an endless stream it was.

I’ve never seen so much horses in my whole life and those were beautiful Andalusian horses mostly. This one looks almost exactly like in a saga!

We soon found out why they came exactly that way: they were planning to cross the river Guadalquivir with the ferries, to get to the Doñana National park which they’re riding through to get to El Rocio.

Can you imagine to pack yourself in with all those horses on the ferry to cross the river?

They were jammed and the ferries (several) went back and forward in at least 2 days to get them all over!

They had a lovely road in front of them, staying overnight in the national park, some sort of camping out. You can see that they’re well prepared with their wagons. What a feast!

Sanlúcar looked very empty afterward when they all had left, abandoned like a good old Western ghost town.

The place where they were heading, El Rocio, looked very similar to an old Western town with sandy streets and places to tie up their horses outside the saloons… Ehrm, I mean restaurants.

Yes, we just had to follow them there to see when they arrived at their goal and had an absolutely fabulous day, photographing, eating and drinking, watching the people and horses.

Something that’s very striking on some of the horses, are their manes. Just have a look at this gorgeous one:

This is such a combined folk feast really, on one hand something religious, on the other hand an excuse to have a giant party and meet family members, relatives and friends. We love it, such a fantastic experience.

First thing they did when arriving was to go straight into the church and visit the virgin to be blessed by her. As you can see the church is very well maintained, a really beautiful church.

When they came out, some of them went to rest I’m sure, but there were some very persistent romero’s that kept partying on the horseback all evening!

We couldn’t force ourselves to leave that festive atmosphere with the singing and partying Romero’s, so we stayed late in the evening having such a good time. Ah, what a memory.

Little did we know that we should be so lucky to aim our stay in Sanlúcar at the right time to be able to see one of Spains most famous romeria‘s, which for a horse lover like myself, was like being in heaven. It was a traffic stocking, but by horses!

This was only the small one, the big Romeria del Rocio is in May (I think it’s 27 May – 3 June 2009): when people comes from the whole Spain: up to a million of them! Just to see the lady.

There are 4 main routes:

1. Sanlúcar, used by people from Cádiz province
2. Los Llanos from Almonte (the oldest one)
3. Moguer, used by those from Huelva province
4. Seville, most popular for other provinces and even from abroad

If you’re planning to go to Andalusia, be sure to go there during the Romeria in May – though I suspect that you have to book your accomodation well in advance as always when there are big events.

See Lifecruiser’s Romeria San José photos overview if you’re short on time – or all of them in the Romeria San José photo slideshow.

It was such a great time and we wouldn’t mind going back another time!

Lifecruiser ♥ Andalusian horses
 

Feeling thirsty? Stop at the kiosk as this rider did in Sanlucar de Barrameda, Spain, last year when we were there.

Come back here for the rest of the amigos – not only drinks – in a day or two.

Lifecruiser ♥ Spanish horses
 

When out on roadtrips it’s not always an easy task to take photos. There is not enough places to stop the car to go out and shoot photos and when shooting photos from the car, it’s quite bumpy and the sight is not clear.

I liked how this photo turned out though, the contrast between the interesting architecture of the house, the horse and the car on the street.

One thing to reflect is the fact that they don’t have any riding helmets on, even though they’re riding on the streets in traffic. In Sweden that would have been unthinkable.

As a genuine horse lover, one thing that I love with the whole of Spain, not only at Tenerife Island, is the opportunity to see beautiful Spanish horses.

Many of them have a lot of Andalusian blood lines in them, which clearly shows. The Andalusian horse is such a beautiful horse, one of my absolute favorites. Lots of muscles, intelligence, beautiful moves and long horse manes.

The horse in the photo above was clearly not used to the street environment, making it a bit nervous and “on the toes”, notice the white foam at the neck of the horse.

They had to take another way to not accidentally bump into our car (even though we tried to keep a distance) and to calm down the horse.

There will be more posts of the Andalusian horse later on when I’m gonna write more about our Spain trip from last year, so if you love horses, be sure to keep an eye on Lifecruiser.

Lifecruiser ♥ Spanish Horses
 

The main reason for us to go to Vienna were my birthday gift from hubby, something I’ve always dreamed about since I were a kid: to see the gala performance of the Spanish Ridingschool at Hofburg Palace.

No wonder I was jumping up and down of excitement when we went there and had a glass of Champagne before the performance were started. I was as bubbly as the Champagne – and giggly!

Every year they choose the best stallions for this fabulous performance, which has traditions dated back to as early as in the 16th century.

“The Spanish Riding School in Vienna is the only institution in the world which has practiced for over 430 years and continues to cultivate classical equitation in the Renaissance tradition of the haute école”.

That my dear friends, translated to none-riders means unbelievable jumps and tricks with the horses that only an extremely trained horse with very good hereditary factors can manage. You can compare it to an elite gymnast in it’s best shape!

The performance may look like it’s easy to visitors that’s not into horse dressage, but it takes many, many years to train both the horses and the riders to reach this elite level.

Perhaps I love the Lipizzan horse a bit more than others because I’ve been a part time owner of a Lipizzan gelding for a couple of years, back in the mid 80′s.

He was such a wonderful, really ALIVE horse with a very bubbling positive, fun attitude, but also quite a challenge to ride sometimes!

The horses at Hofburg really got some nice space there and they were so wonderful, just have a look at this youngster I did manage to snap a photo of. Quite unusual stable too.

The Gala performance is in what must be one of the most beautiful riding hall in world, the “Winter Riding School” at Vienna Imperial Palace Hofburg – main entrance Michaelerkuppel.

This part of the building is called The Michael Wing and is from the 18th century. I was so blowned away by this simply fantastic architecture!

Some of the most powerful people in Austrian history has lived in Hofburg Palace, including the Habsburg dynasty, who ruled the Austro-Hungarian empire. Currently it serves as the residence of the President of Austria.

It once was the Habsburg’s winter residence, while Schönbrunn Palace was the summer residence. Not to miss is the fact that the Palace even was the birthplace of Marie Antoinette in 1755.

At the entrance of the building is the most exquisite portal. In the photo you can also get a feeling of how tall the building are.

It was very difficult to take photos there, not only because there were tourist crowds, but also because of all the horse carriages running through there – I almost got myself run over when taking this photo below.

Looking up at the ceiling may not be the wisest to do when you’re in the middle of the traffic…. *giggles*

In front of the Michael Wing is also long lines with horse carriages offering you a nice ride, though as always quite expensive I guess. We didn’t have the time to take a ride.

For me it’s such a wonderful sight that I only saw the horses and actually missed to take photos of some of the other details of the architecture and statues, since I only had eyes for the horses!

So, what did I think about Hofburg Palace and the Gala Performance of the Spanish Ridingschool then?

Was it worth the bother and above all, the money for the ticket? (Cost SEK 1563 ($258 / €170 where €15 was postage fee).

Yes, without doubt was it worth it and especially for me or anyone else that’s interested in horses! I also love how easy it was to book the tickets using online ticketing software as I wrote about in the post To book a cheap trip to Vienna.

The architecture and atmosphere of this building is amazing and the Lipizzan horses are truly outstanding.

I have to add though that I really don’t think that it was as much Gala over the performance – don’t take me wrong here – it was an excellent elite performance, just not as much glitter and festive as I did expect.

I’d suggest that they skip to call it Gala to not wake up false expectations.

The only negative thing made me very sad: unfortunately you’re NOT allowed to take any photos in there during the performance, not even without the flash. That’s why I only have one photo.

They watched me like hawks as soon as I just moved my camera a bit, I had harsh hawk eyes on me. I saw others that did shoot lots of photos, but never got corrected by the guards. My bad luck…

I can understand that the flashes can bother the horses if you’re in the very front row, but in my case I don’t think that they would even have noticed.

So I’ll have the performance only in my memory. For the rest of my life for sure, who can forget those wonderful moments?

See also the overview of Lifecruiser photoset of Hofburg Palace & Spanish Ridingschool (42 photos).

Lifecruiser ♥ Spanish Ridingschool
 

Other sources of information:

The Spanish Ridingschool
Piber Federal Stud
Hofburg Palace Wikipedia
Vienna Ticket Online