This is one of those buildings that have become one on Northampton's landmarks. You can see it from…read moremiles around! I would love to have the chance to go up it and see the panoramic views which I bet are spectacular! This tower I guess was just made even more famous by Mr Terry Wogans bungling comments that it was a lighthouse! He even suggested that the east coast was eroding so quickly that the Government had commissioned the lighthouse ready for Northampton's new coastal location-classic, I love it! The future of the Tower does seem to be hanging in the balance though after urgent structural tests had to be carried out after reports that the tower, designed to have a 20 to 45 year life span, was riddled with concrete cancer. But conflicting reports also suggest: There is also the prospect of the tower being brought back into service as a test tower if a consortium is granted permission to proceed. I do hope that the latter is the case as it would be such a great shame to lose such an iconic building.

The National Lift Tower (once the Express Lift Tower) is one of the tallest buildings in the…read moreMidlands outside of Birmingham. It is known as the Northampton Light House because it looks like a really tall lighthouse and, more importantly, Terry Wogan named it that on his radio show for old people. It's an ugly looking thing anyone who has been to, or past Northampton, would have seen dominate the skyline. It changes color like Ayres Rock at different times of the day, although from battleship grey to River Nene brown. To the locals it's a head scratcher and a rather ignored and forgotten statement of the town. It was built by the Express Lifts Company to test lifts in, of course, which it did for 15 years, opened by the Queen in the early 1980s. But then the Express Lift Company was bought by Otis Engineering and it was quickly closed down and 500 jobs lost and never properly used again. It's still the youngest ever listed building in the UK when awarded that status in 1997 when it closed. It's believed to have received that immediate protected status by English Heritage only because it would be too tricky and expensive to knock it over for Otis, today surrounded by houses and the Saints Rugby Club a mere 200m away. The confusing thing for locals at the time was where else would you test lifts in the UK if it wasn't in this bespoke tower so surely big demand, only one other working tower in the whole of Europe, and so why was it closed? It's even taller than the Americans version. It was like shutting Gatwick Airport at the time. But there are never fatal lift accidents in the news so we clearly don't need it. Presumably its all computer modeled now. It was basically one huge and ambitious waste of money that broke the Express Lifts companies back. Its 418ft (127.5 meters) high and in 2009 was reconditioned so to be used again by lift engineers, mostly for training and minor testing on welds and construction etc. It has six shafts and, of course, no waits for a lift to the top for the amazing view although not open to the public. I have been up on a press day but it was pi**ing down and we were in the actual low cloud base, which was kind of cool in its own way. I would pay two quid to go up there on a sunny day but the council won't go for it, turning down recent planning permission for a 100 seater café and viewing platform atop. One of the lifts moves at 10m per second so money could be made here. Its main earn right now seems to be charity, nearly 150 energetic people a year abseiling down it, which has upset the locals. It has two staircases, one to the top, and another to some conference and office space. The best April Fool story was an airship company had bought it and would be docking their regularly. 120 people complained. Over 800 fell for the April Fool that the tower would be knocked down in 2008 to reuse the concrete for the Olympic Stadium to save money, that, my brilliant suggestion for an April Fool in the paper I wrote for in the summer. You can walk to the bottom of it as it is in a public housing estate and looking up it is an impressive sight, solid concrete structure and gentle curves, described as the 'Brutalist' style of archeology. It's the sort of size of size monolith the Greek and Roman emperors would build for themselves to represent their authority and presence in the great cities of the old Empires. Northampton is not one of the great cities of the Earth. It suitably represents us grey, unwanted and has its head in the clouds. It's also a monolith to the loss of hard industry to China, why there is no longer work for five million Brits.

Amazing attraction even if you don't dive!…read more We came across this place today and I was absolutely amazed by it! There were divers everywhere and supposedly there is a submarine, double decker bus, airplane and all sorts sunken here! It was cool to watch the divers in action. There is also a good little pub where you can sit and watch what's going on out in the water!

I was amazed to find this on Qype. I used to go here over 25 years ago…read more I didn't dive, but enjoyed sitting in the pub while others did. Sorry to hear that it has not been kept up to modern standards.

The Tree Cathedral is another hidden gem of Milton Keynes. I walked in the area back in March when…read morethe trees were all bare but even then it looked insanely cool. I've looked up photos of the tree cathedral in full bloom and it's just beautiful. Constructed in 1986 to look like Norwich Cathedral, I'm sure it's a great spot for small ceremonies. It's divided into various sections all meticulously planned which you can read about on the plaque right in front of the cathedral. It has a nice stone path down the center for easy navigation. Upon reading a bit more on the Tree Cathedral when I got home - you can now scatter ashes there. Peaceful and creepy at the same time. The Tree Cathedral can be found opposite of Willen Lake.

My wife and I visited here a few years ago and it was a memorable event. As our group arrived we…read morewere greeted at the front door by the butler and shown to a study for tea and cookies. The Earl Spencer meet us there and gave us a tour of the home that was once where princess Diana grew up. A beautiful estate home filled with great works of art and artistic pieces. A large collection of old China that is still used to this day for events. Then on to walking through the gardens and the memorial for princes Diana on a large lake in the back. The stables are also of course grand and beautiful to look through. There is also a gift shop near the stables where you can buy things related to Althorp and princes Diana. For all those who love princess Diana and wanted to see where she grew up this is definitely a place that you need to visit.

Knebworth house, gardens and park is a brilliant family day out. The grounds are huge, the gardens…read moreare interesting, and the house is beautiful. You can park the car by the house and gardens, and also at the bottom of the park. For the kids, there is a huge adventure playground (best to do this on the way out as it's right at the bottom of the park, miles from the house and gardens), which has a good range of play equipment for pretty much any age range. In the summer they have a free bouncy castle too. The gardens are seperated into different areas, and it is all very well signposted so you won't get lost. The dinosaur garden is really good, and the kitchen garden smells heavenly in the right seasons. There is a fun maze too. The house itself is really beautiful, and you can pay extra to have tours. I could go on forever explaining everything here, but I won't. Rest assured it is well worth the entrance fee. The cafe is really expensive so take a picnic!

Wenn Ihr in der Gegend seid: das Schloss ist sehenswert,…read morewenn Ihr die Jagd liebt, aber auch, wenn die Schätze der Herrschaften Euer Interesse wecken könnten. Aber der Garten und insbesondere, der angefügte Landschaftspark mit seinem riesigen, alten Baumbestand, wird Euer Staunen erwecken. Solche Bäume sind selten geworden in Europa. Aus dem Touristen-Flyer: Woburn Abbey has been home to the Dukes of Bedford for over 300 years and is still home to the 15th Duke and his family today. When the 6th Duke inherited Woburn, Humphry Repton, the famous landscape gardener, was commissioned to produce designs to improve the gardens and park. Follow the Garden Trail information boards to find out more about the Abbey Gardens and the redevelopment over the past five years to recreated and replant Reptons original features and themed garden areas.

This is the most random but awesome thing in all of Milton Keynes! I didn't believe my friend when…read morehe said there was a pagoda in MK, but alas, he proved me wrong. Tranquil and chill Peace Pagoda is an absolutely beautiful structure among the grounds of Willen Lake. The Milton Keynes Peace Pagoda was completed in 1980 and the first in the western world. Anyone who knows me, knows I'm a peace loving, tree hugging hippie at heart so to see a structure that just conveys the message of peace among all hit a heart string in me. Not far from the pagoda is a Nipponzan-Myōhōji monastery. While taking in the views we passed one of the groundskeepers who was friendly as could be. For up to date updates on the pagoda, keep up with their blog: http://mkbuddhism.wordpress.com/.

It is very lovely to look around and relax/meditate near the Peace Pagoda…read more Please look all the stories around this Pagoda. Really peaceful and beautiful place. You can come here by bicycle or on foot and it worths to visit.

The gardens are quite large but not in pristine condition although the hedges were impressive…read more Disappointingly the cruck cottage was locked out of use and in obvious disrepair and the falconry eas closed on the day of our visit as it was a dog-friendly day, which wasn't so customer-friendly for the houndless visitors. At this April time of year the garden was not as good as it will be in summer so the visit was not great value for money. The shop is very limited, the other third-party shops were closed. The house was not open but we knew that before coming, it may be best to visit when it is open. Unbelievably the one cubicle in the gents' toilet had a door that could not be closed owing to the position of the WC bowl. The disabled persons' toilet was situated in the ladies. So there was no option to use the WC consistent with common decency. I guess the WC had been replaced by a very stupid plumber. I am not shy but others might be offended if they entered to see a man sitting on the toilet with the door open.

While obviously most famous as the burial place of Diana, Princess of Wales, that's not just what…read moreit's all about. The exhibition is extremely thought provoking and the walk around the island where Diana is buried gives pause for thought but don't forget there's a house there that's been the Spencers' home for many hundreds of years and is equally worth looking at so don't just visit the Diana parts and go, there's much more to it than that and it's well worth taking the time to look! If you need a break then there's a very nice cafe or, if the weather's good you can have a picnic. As far as I know photography isn't a problem around the gardens although I think it was forbidden inside the exhibition rooms. The house holds events during the year, next year there's a literary festival in June.