jodrellbank Archives - Neil Turner's Blog

Something I used to do was ask my Facebook friends a new question every day. It started in 2022, and I managed to keep going every day well into last year before running out of ideas for new questions. One of those questions was how many UNESCO World Heritage Sites have you visited?

I think, in my mind, UNESCO World Heritage Sites are relatively unusual, and that most people would have only visited one or two in their lifetimes. As it happens, there are well over a thousand UNESCO World Heritage Sites across the world, in over 160 countries. 35 of these are in the UK alone. So, with this in mind, here are all of those that I have visited, split by country.

United Kingdom

Durham Castle and Cathedral. I visited briefly in 2005, and at the time only wrote a single sentence about it. I did at least upload some photos.
Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd. These are specifically the castles at Beaumaris, Caernarfon, Conwy, and Harlech in North Wales, of which I’ve been to Caernarfon and Conwy (and will be re-visiting Conwy this summer).
Frontiers of the Roman Empire. This encompasses multiple sites, some of which are in Germany, but the bit I’ve been to is Hadrian’s Wall. This was when I was still at school and before my blogging days, so I don’t have any photos or blog posts to share.
Canterbury Cathedral. This was way back in 2000, when you could enter the Cathedral Close without having to pay anything. My last visit to Canterbury was in 2019 for work, and by then the entire Cathedral Close was pay-to-enter – as I only had a short amount of time before my train home, I didn’t.
Forth Bridge. Specifically the rail bridge, which I’ve been over on several trains – most recently in 2015 when we went to St Andrews for a wedding.
The English Lake District. Apparently the entire national park was also designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017. My most recent visit was in 2012, albeit just for a day which was spent in Keswick and up Latrigg, so that one of my friends could bag her final Wainwright. So although it wasn’t a world heritage site when I visited, I’m counting it.
Ironbridge Gorge. Another one that I have memories of, but my last visit was when I was very young and so I don’t have any photos. Now that I live towards the western edge of West Yorkshire, rather than York, we’re quite a bit closer to Ironbridge and so we may need to plan a trip there.
Jodrell Bank Observatory. Been there three times – the most recent time was last year. It’s a really good day out.
Maritime Greenwich. Been through Greenwich a few times, most recently in November 2022 when we went to the National Maritime Museum. I had only recently re-started blogging at the time, so no blog post about it.
Old and New Towns of Edinburgh. Our last visit to Edinburgh was in 2011, although we passed through in 2015 on the way to St Andrews as mentioned above. Our nine-year-old hasn’t been to Scotland yet so we may need to consider a trip sometime.
Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey. Not been inside of either yet, but we walked past them on last year’s trip to London to show them to our nine-year-old.
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. We visited around the same time as our trip to the Lake District in 2012. Again, somewhere we need to take our nine-year-old in due course.
Saltaire. Our nearest UNESCO World Heritage Site, it being in the same county and neighbouring borough. Blogged about in 2013, but we’ve visited more recently than that.
The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales. North Wales again! We passed through in 2019, on the way back from Sci-Fi Weekender in its final year in Pwllheli, however, it was only designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021. Again, we’ll be back there again this summer.
Studley Royal Park and Fountains Abbey (National Trust). Last visited in 2020, as it was a mostly outdoor place where we could see my parents in person for the first time since the beginning of lockdown earlier that year.
Tower of London. Last visited in 2016, when our nine-year-old was still a baby.
Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City. I’m including this for the sake of completeness as a previous visit in 2010 was during its time as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. However, it was removed in 2021 due to new buildings being constructed that were ‘out of character’. Most recent visit was last year.

Barbados

Barbados has just the one UNESCO World Heritage Site, which is its capital, Bridgetown. I went on holiday with my parents in 2000, as I’d turned 16 and it was their 25th wedding anniversary. To date, it’s the only time I’ve been to the western side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Belgium

La Grand-Place, Brussels. I had a weekend in Brussels with my parents in the early 2000s. At the time, my mum worked for a charity that was applying for a six-figure sum of funding from the European Commission, and so it was decided that she would submit the funding bids in person so that there was no risk of it getting lost in the post. We therefore went as a family and made a weekend of it, travelling down on the Eurostar.
Belfries of Belgium and France. These include belfries in Brussels and also Bruges, which we visited in 2014. Speaking of which…
Historic Centre of Bruges. The whole of central Bruges is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it’s easy to see why as it’s lovely. Previously I’d been briefly with my parents in 1992, on our way back from a holiday in eastern France.

France

France is the country that I’ve visited the most after the UK, so it’s not surprising that I’ve visited several UNESCO World Heritage Sites over the years.

Arles, Roman and Romanesque Monuments. I’ve been to Arles more than once, with the most recent visit in 2003. It’s an amazing place – Arles retains its Roman amphitheatre.
Canal du Midi. I’ve been past bits of it. It’s a 150 mile long canal from Toulouse to the Mediterranean Sea at Agde, which I last visited in 2003.
Reims Cathedral. Also visited in 2003, as my parents usually travel down by car over several days.
Historical centre of Avignon. I’ve been to Avignon a few times, as we used to use Auto-Train (aka Motorail) quite a lot. My parents would take several days driving down, stopping off at places of interest on the way, but we’d put the car on the train and travel back overnight to save time on the return journey. Sadly, these services were discontinued in 2019.
Saint-Émilion. I’m pretty sure I have been here, but don’t ask me when.
Mont Saint-Michel. Last visited in 2018, in a holiday that I haven’t written about yet but probably will do later this year.
Banks of the Seine. Our most recent visit to Paris was in 2013 for our honeymoon.
Pont du Gard. As a child, I rowed an inflatable dinghy under it.
Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley. Specifically Lascaux, which I visited in 1998 with my parents.
Roman Theatre of Orange. Again, been there some time in the 1990s.
Loire Valley. Visited most recently in 2023, but also in 2018.
Historic Fortified City of Carcassonne. Visited a couple of times, most recently in 2003.
Nice. Last visited in 2001 when I went on a fly-drive holiday with my parents.

Greece

I have been to Crete, which is home to several UNESCO World Heritage Sites, but as I was only three years old at the time, I don’t really remember it.

Ireland

I have been to Ireland – well, Dublin. There are two UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Republic of Ireland, but neither of them are in Dublin, so I haven’t been to them.

Italy

I have been to Italy twice – once to Venice, in 1999, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and once on a day trip in 2001 to Ventimiglia, a town known for its markets on the French border, which isn’t.

Jordan and Oman

I have been to Amman in Jordan, and Muscat and Salalah in Oman, but this was a work trip so I didn’t get to see any of the heritage sites whilst there.

Romania

I was lucky enough to go on an A-level Geography field trip to Romania in 2001. Whilst there, I got to see the Danube Delta and some of the Villages with Fortified Churches in Transylvania.

Spain

I’ve been to the northern coast of Spain once, staying near Santander, but it was thirty years ago and so I can’t remember whether we visited any of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites there.

Switzerland

I’ve been to Geneva once, all the way back in 1992, but not to any of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites elsewhere in the country.

Where next

I’ve hinted at a few places that we may go back to in the UK. Next month, there’s a possibility I may check off another international UNESCO World Heritage Site, but I can’t be sure that it’ll happen yet.

Last June, I took our then seven-year-old to Jodrell Bank in Cheshire. Because you get an annual pass for free, we decided to make a return trip a few weeks ago, and this time we brought Christine. Christine had never visited before; before last year, I had been once with my parents in the 1990s.

The star of the show at Jodrell Bank is the Lovell Telescope, which was the largest radio telescope ever built when it was finished in 1957. It remains the third largest moveable radio telescope in the world, only beaten by telescopes in Germany and the USA. The last time we came, it was parked and was pointing directly at the sky. This time, it was in use, and we got to see it move ever so slightly a couple of times during our visit.

Interestingly, the Lovell Telescope was built without planning permission. However, it’s now a Grade I listed building, and Jodrell Bank is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

As Jodrell Bank is still an active research facility (it’s part of the University of Manchester), it’s a designated ‘radio quiet’ zone. This means turning all mobile devices off, or to airplane mode, throughout your visit. I even turned Bluetooth and Wifi off on my camera.

Pavilions

Besides the Lovell Telescope, there are four pavilions that visitors can go to. One focuses on the work that the telescope does now. This includes an exhibit which updates the list of known exoplanets each month, and the locations of other radio telescopes across the world. Another is a lecture theatre, used for a couple of talks each day. The third has the usual shop and café, as well as a clockwork orrery that you can wind up.

The newest pavilion is the First Light Pavilion, at the far end of the site. This was opened in 2022, and from the outside looks a bit like the Tellytubby house as it’s covered with grass. Inside, there are really thick concrete walls (radio quiet zone, remember) and an interactive exhibition about Jodrell Bank and its history. There are videos projected onto old panels that were salvaged from the Lovell Telescope during its most recent renovation.

Also in the First Light Pavilion is the ‘space dome’, an auditorium with an immersive curved screen. Some shows are included with your entry (one is narrated by Prof Brian Cox, because he’s a Manchester physicist) and others cost extra, such as We Are Stars which is narrated by Andy Serkis. We gave it a miss the second time we went, as we’d seen it before at the National Space Centre near Leicester.

It’s a good place to visit, and I think kids from the age of seven up will get a lot out of it. It’s interesting for adults too.

Accessibility

Jodrell Bank is on one level on flat ground, and so there should be no issues getting around in a wheelchair. There is an autism familiarisation guide on the web site. It’s open Tuesdays to Sundays, plus bank holidays. There’s a large car park, but the nearest major railway station is Macclesfield and it’s a 20 minute taxi journey from there. Alternatively, there’s a station at Goostrey and a 2.5 mile walk along narrow country lanes.