England as You Like It [Paperback]

Susan Allen Toth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 5, 1996

"Tucked into the deep hills of western Dorset, just off the major tourist routes across England, Chedington is so small that its handful of cottages doesn't even appear on some large-scale maps. Here, far from crowds that haunt Blenheim Palace, Stonehenge, Stratford-upon-Avon, or Haworth, I find the England of my dreams--quiet, pastoral, and sometimes endearingly eccentric...."
Join Susan Allen Toth as she takes you along on her fascinating journeys to London, to enchanting gardens, to a fairy-tale castle on the Cornish coast with a history-laden past--and to sights both hidden and known. With a novelist's eye for detail and an intrepid traveler's love of adventure, Ms. Toth reveals the secrets of impeccable preparation, while leaving plenty of room for surprising discoveries. And ever practical, she offers her experience on how to keep a travel journal, how to be your own travel agent, how much time to allow for your visits, as well as the pleasures of bed-and-breakfasts, supermarket souvenirs, and hidden gardens in the city of London. Lively, trenchant, personal, and above all, entertaining, England As You Like It puts the armchair and real-life traveler under the wing of a seasoned and multitalented tour guide.
"A delightfully written book full of anecdotes and tips, lived and learned by the author. Toth's personable style makes readers feel as though they are actually traveling with her through the charming corners and coves of Great Britain."
--The Toronto Sun

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Those familiar with Toth's My Love Affair with England (LJ 8/92) will readily acknowledge her charming, conversational writing style. Her new book is an excellent combination of guide and autobiographical travel writing that will benefit both armchair and potential travelers while entertaining them at the same time. Toth is a strong believer in planning one's own itinerary; her "thumbprint theory of travel" encourages leisurely travel and well-planned exploration of small areas. To enforce this concept, she gives readers a collection of travel essays that recap journeys to Padstow, Helston, and Chedington in England as well as Gairloch and Nairn in Scotland. She concludes with highlights of eight of her favorite destinations. What is most striking about Toth's book is her ability to weave a wealth of information throughout a highly readable text. Recommended as a worthwhile addition to any library travel section.
Jo-Anne Mary Benson, Osgoode, Ontario
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

"Tucked into the deep hills of western Dorset, just off the major tourist routes across England, Chedington is so small that its handful of cottages doesn't even appear on some large-scale maps. Here, far from crowds that haunt Blenheim Palace, Stonehenge, Stratford-upon-Avon, or Haworth, I find the England of my dreams--quiet, pastoral, and sometimes endearingly eccentric...."
Join Susan Allen Toth as she takes you along on her fascinating journeys to London, to enchanting gardens, to a fairy-tale castle on the Cornish coast with a history-laden past--and to sights both hidden and known. With a novelist's eye for detail and an intrepid traveler's love of adventure, Ms. Toth reveals the secrets of impeccable preparation, while leaving plenty of room for surprising discoveries. And ever practical, she offers her experience on how to keep a travel journal, how to be your own travel agent, how much time to allow for your visits, as well as the pleasures of bed-and-breakfasts, supermarket souvenirs, and hidden gardens in the city of London. Lively, trenchant, personal, and above all, entertaining, England As You Like It puts the armchair and real-life traveler under the wing of a seasoned and multitalented tour guide.
"A delightfully written book full of anecdotes and tips, lived and learned by the author. Toth's personable style makes readers feel as though they are actually traveling with her through the charming corners and coves of Great Britain."
--The Toronto Sun

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (March 5, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345401905
• ISBN-13: 978-0345401908
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,563,710 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A soul mate discovered, February 8, 2001

By 

Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: England as You Like It (Paperback)

Susan Allen Toth is a successful writer and professor of English. She's also been carrying on a shameless affaire d'amour with England for some time. (Husband James, obviously an Enlightened Male, is tolerant.) In any case, her affection for that green and pleasant land makes her a soul mate of mine. I've devoured all three of her travel essay books on England, of which ENGLAND AS YOU LIKE IT is one. (The other two in the series are MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH ENGLAND and ENGLAND FOR ALL SEASONS.)

In an unpretentious, humorous, and thoroughly charming style, Susan shares a multitude of suggestions and experiences. How to independently create one's own English travel itinerary. The almost-sublime usefulness of the Ordnance Survey series of maps. ("These are distinctly royal maps. Each, in fact, carries a discrete notation: "Made and published by Ordnance Survey, Southampton. Crown copyright"." The art of flying Coach. The case to be made for overpacking. ("Don't waste time and money looking for it abroad if you can possibly take it with you.") The strategy for buying souvenirs for friends back home. The practical aspects of keeping a travel journal. The joys of shopping locally for food, and eating "in".

Of course, she also shares some of her favorite places, beginning with the shire of Cornwall in general, and the town of Padstow and castle of St. Michael's Mount in particular. Then, it's on to Ashdown Forest (Winnie the Pooh Country) in East Sussex. Later, we stay with her and James at the Victorian country house of Standen. ("It is not easy to recline with aplomb in one's bath while receiving strangers, but James carried it off very well.") And, the small harbor town of Lynmouth in Devonshire, ominously referred to in a local guidebook. ("Beware the twin honey pots of Lynton and Lynmouth.") For those visitors with more esoteric tastes, there's London's National Postal Museum, at which one can pick up an application to join the Letter Box Study Group, whose avowed aim is "to accumulate and disseminate information on all aspects of Letter Boxes". While in London, she seeks out several of that city's secret public gardens. Then, for those of her fellow Yanks wretched enough to consider England and Great Britain synonymous, she includes two chapters on the Scottish Highlands, and another on two Scottish battle memorials: Culloden (1745), and the site of a B-24 crash in June 1945 on Fairy Loch.

Finally, I must to refer to Susan's thoughts at the very beginning of Chapter One because I myself have luxuriated in the experience before each of my several trips to England (and Scotland):

"Months before we leave for England, I begin to travel. Night after night, I happily settle down with stacks of books, maps, and tattered clippings ... On a large pad of paper I list all the days we will be gone ... Now the work - and the fun - really begin. Curled up on the sofa, I sip my decaf, ponder my list of dates, open a map, and begin to dream."

Susan, bless you for reminding me of those dreams.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hands on driving...., June 6, 2000

By 

Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: England as You Like It (Paperback)

"England As You Like It" is filled with practical information Ms. Toth has gleaned from years of traveling and writing about her travels. Her book is useful in those areas where the topics differ from the standard Blue Book or Michelin Guide, but in areas where annual updates are provided the guides are better. Everything including the telephone numbers changes so rapidly these days one can hardly keep up. For example, Ms. Toth recommends using Consumer Reports, but I have found working with AAA more effective. This doesn't mean I leave everything to them, I don't, I just rely on them for information about flights, car rentals, and other areas of their expertise.

Ms. Toth likes gardens, and so do I so I enjoy her feedback about her experieces. There are many gardens in England, and some of them are more like national forests in the U.S. I like the more intimate gardens, although I make it to Kew every time I travel. Kew Garens has an online site now, so you can check it out. Talk about big changes...

Although we've mastered the automobile on British roads, given current traffic problems in England, we always think twice about driving. The last two times I traveled to England I stuck to trains most of the time. We drove from London to Maidstone in 1993 and it took three hours. We were driving in the middle of the day, and there was no accident. You might want to rent a car only when you need it, and don't pick it up near a large urban area. It's easy enough to get one at the airports, or in middle sized places. We tried that a few years ago and it worked well.

I found Ms. Toth's Thumbprint Theory of Travel was the best feature of this book. She's onto something. No more trying to see England in a week for me. The last time I visited England I stayed at the same hotel for a week. I made day trips by train and bus and was very relaxed. I think I learned much more than I would have by tearing all over and hitting the "high" spots--whatever those are.

We've also learned how to eat in in the evenings. We eat at the fancy restaurants or pubs at midday, then buy fruit, cheese, crackers, water, etc. and eat in at night. Besides, I'm too busy on the laptop writing emails back home to share my day with everyone to be bothered with eating out. Feels good to get my feet elevated too, and they frown on that in restaurants, though I've been known to do it. My husband will massage my feet under the table, but the food servers look askance at his behaviour. Ah, we Americans just can't behave in public.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wealth of Knowledge, April 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: England as You Like It (Paperback)

Thank you so much Ms Toth. After finishing England As You Like It, I joined the Royal Horticulture Society, received my copy of The National Trust Holiday Cottages, and then rented one for next month. I signed up for Consumer ReportsTravel Letter. Just as I was about to rent a car for my upcoming holiday the newsletter arrived with all the information I needed to be an informed rental car customer. I have just about finished another of your wonderful books, England for All Seasons. I keep my road Atlas of Great Britain handy and look up all the places you so lovely talk about. Hoping as I turn each page that each one will be on the path that I have planned for this year's trip. I say this year because I know now that I can not see it all in one trip but to enjoy it the way you do, the way I know I will, I must slow down and saver each country walk or garden stroll. I have made many changes to my vacation plans to incorporate some of the places you describe, thank you so much for your wealth of knowledge. These months of planning have truly been a part of the trip that started for me when I first opened your book. I have been to England on two other occasions. Now with your wealth of knowledge added to my past experience this next trip should be lovely.