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''Theme Parks, Zoos, etc.''
* [[Alton Towers]] -- with—with eight roller coasters, it's considered the top UK theme park. Its theme tune, used in many advertising campaigns and in the park (including a version done by "cavemen") is Edvard Grieg's "In The Hall of the Mountain King".
** The Pleasure Beach, Blackpool is considered to be Britain's top ''amusement'' park -- despitepark—despite being far more compact than Alton Towers, it has more and better coasters, including the Grand National (Europe's only Möbius-loop coaster, and said to be one of only three remaining) and the Big One (when it opened in 1994, it was for a while the world's tallest). It also has ''the'' Roller Coaster -- thereCoaster—there were of course gravity rides before this one, but this was the first ever to be given that exact name. Some even rate PBB the ''world'' number 1, ahead of Cedar Point in Ohio (though CP has one more coaster than PBB).
* Edinburgh Castle -- [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]].
* London Zoo. Excellent aviary; the penguin pool is a good example of 1930's design.
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* Some other castles, too, but a lot got destroyed during the English Civil War.
** Try Warwick castle, Bodiam castle, Rochester castle (very similar to the Tower of London, only without a thousand years of additions).
** Bodelwyddan and Conwy Castle in Wales are far better preserved than the majority of English ones. The majority of castles in famous places (including Edinburgh) and less famous (Bamburgh -- greatBamburgh—great place, do visit) look more like they were built as lordly residences than as defensive hardpoints.
** Try Norwich, actually. One of Britains most complete Norman Castles. Big, ugly defensive block, that sits on the highest (artificial) point in the city and GLARES at you.
** As well as its cathedral Durham also has a nice Norman castle which has the distinction having been continuously occupied for 900 years. However, since people live in it the guided tour can't actually show you that much of it, but it is just opposite the cathedral so you can do both in one day.
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* Stately Homes, many and various, many boast a haunted room or some-such.
** Blenheim Palace is probably the biggest and the best, while Ightam Mote in Kent is one of the most interesting and most intimate.
* Cathedrals. Lots of cathedrals. English cathedrals are unlike any in Europe, having developed a distinct architectural style during the height of cathedral-building in the middle ages. It's commonly thought that possession of a Cathedral is required for official "city" status in the UK. This isn't actually true -- citytrue—city status is granted by royal charter -- butcharter—but the majority of places with cathedrals are cities, even when they'd otherwise be fairly insignificant small towns such as St. David's in Wales.
** A newspaper article once pointed out that the UK has somewhat more cities than it has Anglican cathedrals. On the other hand, three London boroughs -- Londonboroughs—London (more usually known as "City"), Westminster and Southwark -- haveSouthwark—have Anglican cathedrals, but only the first two are cities.
** Quick picture tour:
*** [http://photos.igougo.com/images/p112752-Durham_England-Durham_Cathedral.jpg Durham Cathedral] is probably the most magnificently situated, and its chunky Norman architecture has been used as parts of Hogwarts.
*** [http://www.gloucestercathedral.org.uk/uploads/images/Gallery/Exterior/cloister_garth.jpg Gloucester] -- the—the cloisters have also been used as parts of Hogwarts; they are also the earliest example of fan vaulting, although Hereford has a fine example of proto-fan vaulting which they claim to be the earliest. The cathedral has a mix of styles all the way from Norman through to Victorian (but still Gothic), due to roof fires, an aisle collapsing, and extensions. The east and west windows are particularly impressive, were removed during WWII, stored in pieces, then lovingly reconstructed after the war.
*** [http://robertarood.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/ripon-cathedral.jpg Ripon] is positively intimidating (that huge, dark echoing space) and in an otherwise nondescript market town
*** [http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/CBU/Coventry/Coventry_New_Cathedral.JPG Coventry] is the most modern (built to replace [http://www.bbc.co.uk/coventry/content/images/2006/03/02/old_cov_cathedral_ruins_380x280.jpg one destroyed in World War II]). A popular urban legend states that British intelligence were apparently warned of the Coventry raid, but Churchill elected not to evacuate the city as doing so would have given away the fact that the German codes had been cracked. In fact, they were aware a big raid was coming but not of the target. The Cathedral is now the only attractive part of the city centre.
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* The Royal Armouries aren't bad. It focuses solely on infantry arms and armour (so don't expect tanks - go to the IWM for that). Sites in Leeds, London and Portsmouth.
* But if you really like tanks you must go to Bovington Tank Museum near Bournemouth in Dorset. It has one of the largest and best preserved collections of tanks in the world.
* Near London Bridge Station, Southwark Cathedral, Borough Market and the Globe Theatre is a small, easily overlooked museum -- themuseum—the Clink Prison Museum in Clink Street. Yes, this is where the term "clink" came from; it isn't onomatopoea as usually supposed.
* The National Museums and Galleries of Wales, a collection of free to enter museums all over Wales. Mostly about Welsh industries St Fagans is quite interesting, as it is a more ''building'' museum, as in it collects old buildings.
 
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