Dickens visited Salisbury in the 1840s, calling in on the great essayist William Hazlitt’s son, also William, just north of the city, and writing its ancient White Hart inn into Martin Chuzzlewit.

A magisterial masterpiece of Early English building, topped by what was for generations the tallest spire in Christendom at 404 feet. Yet the entire building stands on foundations that penetrate a mere four feet into underlying wetlands fed by a lattice of streams and springs. 

A tour de force of greats. Furniture by Chippendale, landscaping by Capability Brown, and architecture by John Carr. It’s perched within 1,000 acres and still home to the Lascelles family. There’s a library groaning with leatherbound books, and bedrooms with stunning silken four-posters. 

A derelict building in the West Yorkshire Moors. It’s believed to be the inspiration for the Earnshaws' house in Wuthering Heights – despite bearing no aesthetic resemblance to Emily Brontë’s descriptions. Either way, it’s a great trek accompanied by a satisfying feeling of achievement on arrival.

The Compton Verney Art Gallery and Park is situated Warwickshire between Leamington Spa and Banbury. Home to six diverse collections of nationally and internationally significant art from around the world. 

This little-known Warwickshire festival has been listed in the ‘top five for the mind’ by the Guardian, and ‘as a place to revel in nature and discuss the big ideas’ by the Independent. There are workshops on memory improvement with ‘the grand master of memory’, Michael Channon.

Breweries are no longer simply making beer: they are pulling pints, too. Reviving the old idea of a ‘taproom', craft brewers are opening to the public for a few sessions a week. There are a dozen or so in London but breweries in northern cities have also flung open their doors. 

Nigel Havers, Denis Lawson and Stephen Tompkinson are touring Yasmina Reza's comedy Art. I saw it in Cambridge at the start of the tour and I highly recommend it. Three top-notch actors in a sharp production – we are in safe hands.

There are few things better on a sunny day than Newcastle's quayside. Stalls of bric-à-brac that emerge every Sunday give it a very sociable feel. For those of you who enjoy a vista, nip up to the viewing platform of the Baltic Centre for stunning views of the city.

The Literary and Philosophical Society was set up in 1825 as a place for discussion and debate. Now it is the largest independent library outside London. It is housed in a beautiful building in the centre of town and is well worth a look – to borrow a book, organise an event or just for a bit of peace and quiet.

The monument honouring the political career of Charles, Earl Grey, which included the successful passage of the Great Reform Act of 1832, towers over Grey Street, in Newcastle's city centre. The tour is not so much a tour as a climb, but the Newcastle city guides tell a wonderful tale of the local landmarks and the monument's history.

Newcastle city centre is home to numberless fine pubs but, for my money, the Charles Grey has to be the best. It's slap-bang in the middle of Newcastle, by Grey's Monument. The bar is on the third storey of the pub and overlooks the entire city. The wood panelling and leather furniture give it plenty of character –and the food isn’t bad, either.

The Quilliam Brothers Tea House is tucked away behind Newcastle University's campus and has a tea for every occasion, with at least ten different varieties of Darjeeling alone. If you go, do have a nibble on some of its fabulous pastries - its citrusy sponges are particularly good.

Unparalleled escapism enhanced by the joy that my fellow classicists have rejected the 8-part series wholesale. I’d prefer the costumes to be less BBC sackcloth and more Hollywood Bronze Age but the gods are great.

Take in the passing landscapes captured by train-mounted cameras during a rail journey through forests and mountains between Bergen and Oslo, Norway. Available to download from Netflix.

Watch again this great BBC2 reminder of how irreverently but honestly funny David Allen was, via iPlayer.

BBC Four Collections delve into the archives to select classic full-length BBC TV programmes and make them available for you to enjoy once again.

Visit colonial Trinidad with it’s cobbled streets and colourful houses. For the very best time, stay at Casa Esther. Hear the clip-clop of hooves in the morning then sit back in a rocking chair and enjoy banana, papaya and pancakes for breakfast in the leafy courtyard.

St. Martin's is one of the less well-trodden isles of the Scilly archipelago. It has beautiful white-sand beaches in Little Bay and Great Bay, and is the perfect terrain for a half-day stroll and a pub lunch.

We hear a lot about anorexia, be it in documentaries, on the news or in popular culture but Laura Freeman's explanation in The Reading Cure is unique. It does not offer a solution but it looks at a life after diagnosis, the fightback. It is pleasantly unclinical and examines the disease from an altogether more human perspective.

One of the most enchanting and unlikely museums. It is located here because graphite was discovered and mined in the hills above the town, which became a centre of pencil manufacture. Behind the museum is a derelict pencil factory, which was abandoned ten years ago.

A surreal garden, it is the oldest and most extensive topiary garden in the world. It looks particularly good when painted – eg by Norman Stevens RA. The trees are mostly 300 years old and are in shapes such as A Judge's Wig, Great Umbrellas and A Jug Of Moroco Ale.

Plan a trip to the Isle of Wight to coincide with the annual Isle of Wight Garlic Festival, the island's biggest summer show. While the eponymous garlic is the focal point, the festival is also host to food, art and carafts stalls and is located just outsdie Newchurch.

The third-largest cathedral in the world. Gothic architecture that goes on and on and on… and it doesn’t appear to have weathered through the centuries. Make sure you cover your shoulders and your legs – even in northern Italian heat of summer – or you’ll be forced to wear a kimono.