MY HOLY place is a stretch of water with a view of Ely Cathedral. The lake is one of a group of one-time clay pits, worked for 150 years before being abandoned, exhausted, late in the 20th century. The pits filled with water from the Ouse; the wou...

I FIRST fell in love with Whitby as a teenager. Leaving my teachers and fellow pupils fast asleep in the guest house rented for our geography field trip, I donned my wellies and cagoule and — as the sky turned from pink to orange with the rising s...

William Whyte on the Île Saint-Honorat, a short boat ride away from Cannes

IN THE background of our photograph are two Victorian church towers in Taunton, both made of sandstone. On the right is an imposing church dedicated to St James and, on the left, a few streets further away, is the even more imposing Taunton Minste...

NEAR Smerwick Harbour, on the north-western edge of the Dingle Peninsula, in Ireland, is the oratory of Gallarus. It appears dull and bleak in its isolated setting, but it is one of the best-preserved stone churches in Ireland, and is now on the c...

AS A very small boy, I used to spend summers at my uncle’s hilltop vicarage. When people talked about heaven, I knew where it was. From the window on the staircase, you could see the Lakeland hills; outside was a noble yew tree that I loved to hid...