The Victorian Gothic extravagance of Cardiff Castle's Arab Room and Banqueting Hall ● an underground descent into Big Pit guided by former miners ● walking behind the cascading curtain of Sgwd yr Eira in Waterfall Country ● St Govan's Chapel wedged into the sea cliffs, followed by a boat to Ramsey Island's seabird colonies from St Davids ● the summit of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) by Britain's only rack-and-pinion railway ● the battlements of Conwy Castle, where Edward I's medieval fortress still commands the estuary it was built to control

John Rylands Library, Manchester's neo-Gothic masterpiece ● the Roman frontier at Vindolanda and Hadrian's Wall ● Durham Cathedral, the finest Norman interior in England ● crossing the tidal causeway to Holy Island, Lindisfarne ● York's medieval walls, Viking underworld and soaring Minster ● the Mersey waterfront and a farewell ferry crossing at Liverpool

The Victorian Gothic extravagance of Cardiff Castle ● underground descent into Big Pit guided by former miners ● Walking behind the cascading curtain of Sgwd yr Eira in Waterfall Country ● St Govan's Chapel wedged into the sea cliffs, followed by a boat to Ramsey Island's seabird colonies ● The summit of Snowdon by Britain's only rack-and-pinion railway ● Tynwald Hill and the summit of Snaefell on the Isle of Man

Carnac's megalithic alignments and Jersey's Neolithic passage graves ● Loire Valley châteaux including Chambord and Chenonceau ● D-Day beaches at Juno and Omaha with the Normandy American Cemetery ● Mont Saint-Michel's gravity-defying medieval abbey ● car-free islands of Sark and Herm with dramatic coastlines ● Jersey War Tunnels and the Atlantic Wall fortifications

Victorian splendour at Osborne House, Queen Victoria's intimate Isle of Wight retreat with Indian-inspired Durbar Room ● dramatic car-free Sark featuring horse-drawn carriage rides through cliff-top lanes and breathtaking coastal panoramas ● Guernsey's cobblestone St. Peter Port where Victor Hugo's exile house showcases his imaginative interior design ● Jersey's ancient La Hougue Bie passage grave, one of Europe's finest Neolithic monuments dating to 3800 BC ● the historic Snaefell Mountain Railway ascending to summit views of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales ● Tynwald Hill on the Isle of Man, site of the world's oldest continuous parliament.