What to do during English Tourism Week 2025

National World - LocalTV

We tour the UK to find out some of the best places you can visit during English Tourism Week 2025.

Transcript

00:00English Tourism Week is here once again to kick off spring in style. And to celebrate

00:16we'll be taking a look at some of our favourite attractions from around the country. So get

00:21ready for Beatles mania in Liverpool, travel back in time in Leeds, head underground in

00:26London and there's something to discover in Newcastle. But first, let's start at the

00:32iconic and delicious Cadbury World in Birmingham. Cadbury World isn't just about chocolate,

00:39it's about history, creativity and fun. Visitors can step into the Aztec jungle to learn about

00:44the origins of cocoa, then see how Cadbury became one of the UK's most famous brands.

00:50There's a real focus on interactive experiences, you can walk through a replica of the original

00:55Bourneville factory, explore Advertising Avenue with its classic TV adverts and even

01:01take a chocolatey ride on Cadbury Chocolate Quest. Cadbury World is a unique attraction

01:06in Birmingham because that's where the business originated from. So in 1824 John Cadbury developed

01:13the Bull Street shop. The business in 1879 then moved out to Bourneville which is where

01:19we are today. Cadbury World is number one in Birmingham, it's a major attraction across

01:24the whole of the UK because we're unique. So we're the only Cadbury attraction worldwide

01:31and we're unique in the UK as well. We're celebrating our 35th year and it's been an

01:36incredible journey because this really replaced the factory tours from the late 1960s. So

01:42we opened Cadbury World in August 1990, expected visitor numbers were 250,000 a year and in

01:49the first 12 months we did over 400,000. As Cadbury World celebrates 35 years it continues

01:56to blend history, innovation and chocolate to delight visitors of all ages. Whether you're

02:02a local or a tourist this Birmingham gem offers a sweet experience that's both fun and educational.

02:09If you're looking for something special to do this English tourism week Cadbury World

02:14might just be the perfect treat. The Stafford London's historic wine cellars are among the

02:22oldest in London and house over 8,000 bottles of fine wines and champagnes. It's also a

02:29place where Prime Minister Winston Churchill supposedly spent many evenings during the

02:35war. Today I'm heading there to speak to a wine connoisseur and find out more about this

02:41historic part of London. We are in one of the oldest cellars in London, roughly we talk

02:47about 380 years back in time and was the private cellar of Lady Lyttelton which at the time

02:55was they were saying that it was the babysitter of Queen Victoria. Well during the Second

03:01World War Stafford was hosting American and Canadian officers mainly so when it wasn't

03:06that safe up in the hotel of course they were coming down to seek shelter and hopefully

03:13maybe with a bottle opener would it be a little bit more funnier I think. Well for sure of

03:18course we knew, we were mostly sure that Winston Churchill passed by the Stafford. He most

03:26likely was a guest in the bar and maybe had any meeting down here and we know for a fact

03:33that champagne was one of his favourite drinks and he was saying that the perfect size to

03:41drink by itself it was a magnum. And talk to me about some of the wines you've got in

03:47here. Alright so we have a beautiful selection of wine. We're talking about something roughly

03:51to 600 bins, 600 different wines roughly, almost there. And we have a wide selection

04:00of course. We are quite strong on French wine with a main focus on Bordeaux and Burgundy.

04:07And do you have a kind of favourite wine that's kept in here? Favourite wine? I had. Unfortunately

04:14we sold it. It was my assistant Cesare that sold it quite recently. It was the Mouton,

04:21Chateau Mouton from 1982 which we had a beautiful pleasure to last year to do the harvest.

04:29The Beatles story which opened its doors in May 1990 is Liverpool's original Beatles

04:35museum telling the incredible story of the lives and music of the fab four. As a unique

04:41and immersive experience the attraction invites visitors to experience Beatlemania first hand

04:46with immersive recreations of key locations in the band's career including Hamburg, The

04:51Cavern Club, Abbey Road Studios and more. Home to an impressive collection of original

04:57or authentic memorabilia. Journey down the long and winding road from George Harrison's

05:02first guitar to John Lennon's last piano and beyond. If you didn't grow up in a Beatles

05:08obsessed household like I did and want a bit more info in your ear they have audio guides

05:13which are narrated by none other than John Lennon's sister Julia. Cementing their place

05:19on the map for those who want to get a feel of what it was like in their heyday as well

05:24as a major tourist attraction The Cavern is still a current live music venue with musicians

05:29making pilgrimages to the spot where the Beatles played over 200 times. This unfortunately

05:36is not the real deal this is a set that has been set up here in the exhibition but it

05:42does have a real authentic feel there's even a fake bar with food and drink. Musicians

05:49do come and play here from time to time too. The Beatles have had a major impact on people

05:55across the world and the legacy of the band has become a valuable asset for their hometown.

06:03Beyond the fab four the musical heritage of Liverpool is rich and diverse. In fact the

06:08city has produced more number one hits than anywhere else in the world. I'm Florence Simington

06:19I'm Director of Branding Audiences at the Royal Armouries Museum and we are here in

06:24Leeds today to have a little look around at what we offer. The Royal Armouries presents

06:29an absolutely fantastic day out for families, for couples and really for everyone and we

06:36are a free completely free day out and every single day at the Royal Armouries you can

06:41experience not only our amazing collection of arms and armour but also our programme

06:47of daily activities. We'll have demonstrations because everything in our collection has been

06:54held, has been used, has been designed by people and we really want to try and bring

06:59that to life. They wanted people who could ride horses hard and fast. I did know that

07:04they wanted archers and swordsmen and people with performance skills but most of all a

07:12love of history and the ability to absorb information like a sponge and in 1996 Her

07:19Majesty the Queen opened the museum and I've been here ever since and it's been a wonderful

07:25journey. When I look around the museum it has so many memories and the best jousters

07:31from around the world come to the Royal Armouries. It is seen as the centre, the pinnacle and

07:37in many other ways this museum which sits in West Yorkshire is not a London museum,

07:44it's a national museum celebrated by the Yorkshire folk for the last 30 years so I'm very proud

07:51to be part of the museum. We welcome over 300,000 visitors and arms and armour can be

07:58a kind of tricky subject, it's quite controversial at times but really we're about conflict but

08:04we're also about peace as well and we're about the history of our nation. Behind me we have

08:09a little exhibition about the sort of journey of modern jousting. It started in 1963 with

08:16a chap called John Waller and John Waller's my mentor but also probably the father of

08:22live interpretation as far as history is concerned. In our exhibition which is all about the field

08:27of cloth of gold, a bringing together of England with Henry VIII and the French as

08:35well with King Francis I and that was a real spectacle and what that encompassed was really

08:41an opportunity for Henry VIII to show off. One of the engravings on the armour itself

08:48was actually done by error, this is made in 1520 and here we are today still noticing

08:55the little error that one of the armourers has made. When you go to a glass case and

09:00you look at a sword or an armour the more you look the more you see so my eye gets turned

09:07almost every time I walk through the gallery and as I said I've been walking through the

09:11galleries nearly 30 years so to have something beautiful and new to see every time is a wonderful

09:16place to live and work. The North East is filled with fantastic cultural landmarks

09:22where both locals and tourists can enjoy and learn about this amazing region. Today

09:26I'm at the Discovery Museum located in Newcastle. Discovery Museum quite simply tells the story

09:31of Tyneside and its people from science, engineering, technology and local stories about ships and

09:38ship building and just a really lovely place where all of those stories are shared. So

09:44the event that's taking place on Friday the 14th of March is our Tiny Sparks Takeover

09:50event so it happens twice a year and we're very excited because next week is our biannual

09:55big event and it's happening during British Science Week so it's the perfect time to welcome

10:01our youngest visitors and their families and carers to the museum and they get to take

10:06over the whole first floor of the museum and we have a whole range of simple play activities

10:11that are really hands-on and engaging and exciting for little ones to really get to

10:17explore the collections in a different way. So we've got dress up, we've got sorting and

10:22counting activities, we've got investigating and wondrous objects and also arts and crafts

10:29and they get to come and do all of those things in the museum and on that day for that event

10:35we make sure that older children like school groups for example they come and visit on

10:39different days so on that morning it's really a great opportunity for our smallest visitors

10:44to come and to engage with the museum.

10:48It's created for children from the age of 33 months to five years but younger siblings are

10:52welcome too. The Tiny Sparks Takeover is a highlight in the annual Tiny Sparks programme

10:58at the museum. The smaller scale Tiny Sparks sessions are currently on a weekly basis during

11:02term time which is also great fun for your little ones.

11:08So the event provides a really lovely way to have like a shared learning experience with

11:13the grown-ups and the little ones and lots of our visitors say that when they come into the museum

11:19that it's somewhere that they've been before maybe when they were younger as well

11:22so we find that Discovery Museum is a really sort of nostalgic venue and when parents and

11:29carers come into the museum they have lots of their own stories and memories of being here

11:34and so having that event for our youngest children and their grown-ups means that they

11:38can do something together in the museum and it also introduces them to the museum and its

11:43collections and hopefully they have such a lovely time at that event that they want to come back

11:48again and again as their children grow up. We have plenty of spaces left on the event and you can

11:54head to our website and all the information is there and that's where you can book tickets.

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