Warming-up.

Are you a culture hunter? What is the list of things that you do while visiting a foreign country?

What places of interest would you like to visit in the UK? What makes them so famous and visited by tourists?

     Read the guide to British cultural holiday. What other British sights would you include in it?

     Make sure you understand the meaning of the following words and word-combinations:

heritage

nationwide

cultural tour operators

to reveal

passageway

gritty industrial heritage

vehicles

to travel by ferry

geological collections

a cracking playground

packed with eccentric bibelots

architectural features

a working naval dockyard

surprisingly fascinating for children

pithead baths

British culture heritage

A guide to British cultural holiday, including the 10 best heritage and culture sights and attractions nationwide, places to visit on the Isle of Wight, in Snowdonia, Cumbria and Scotland, from castles and battle sites to museums and historical places of interest. You will also find a list of recommended cultural tour operators.

1. Skara Brae neolithic village, Orkney

In 1850, a storm disturbed a sand dune on the main island of Orkney, revealing a 5,000-year-old village of single-room houses linked by covered passageways, each with an integrated set of stone furniture.

2. Agatha Christie’s holiday house, south Devon

Greenway was Christie’s much-loved summer refuge beside the River Dart in Devon (she came every year from 1938 until her death in 1976, but never wrote here), which has been restored to its Fifties heyday. Take the Dartmouth Steam Railway, walk along the river or travel by ferry.

3. Beamish Museum, Co Durham

When Beamish opened in Co Durham in 1970, celebrating our gritty industrial heritage was a novel concept. The open-air museum of life in north-east England in Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian times displays reconstructed buildings, restored vehicles and a rich archive of social history, paintings and photographs.

4. Dinosaur Isle, Isle of Wight

Dinosaur Isle is a pterodactyl-shaped museum near Sandown that contains the island’s geological collections. Timewise, it knocks even Skara Brae into a cocked hat: some of its rocks are 126 million years old. Look out for the excellent exploration walks with palaeontological and geological experts.

5. Abbotsford, Roxburghshire

For the 19th-century poet and novelist Sir Walter Scott, Abbotsford was the realisation of his dreams and ambitions. The story is moving and the house a delight, packed with eccentric bibelots and architectural features. It has a cracking playground, a visitor centre with an exhibition on Scott and lovely walks: take a picnic and laze by the River Tweed.

6. Take the train in Snowdonia, North Wales

Two Victorian railways run either side of Mt Snowdon: the Welsh Highland Railway once carried slate and quarrymen and starts in Caernarvon, chugging 25 miles over the foothills and the Aberglaslyn Pass to its destination at Beddgelert.

7. Portsmouth Dockyard, Hampshire

Portsmouth is still a working naval dockyard, and its brick-walled historic section hit the headlines in 2013 with the triumphant unveiling of the new museum that houses the Tudor warship Mary Rose.

8. Hadrian’s Wall, Northumbria and Cumbria

What did the Romans ever do for us? They built a wall (two actually, but this one is by far the more famous) along the northern edge of their empire in Britain.

9. Big Pit National Coal Museum, South Wales

The Big Pit, a former working coal mine at Blaenafon with winding gear, historic buildings and pithead baths, is part of the National Museum of Wales.

10. Westminster Abbey, London

There has been a church on this site in London for 1,000 years and the abbey has formalised royal births, marriages, deaths and coronations for most of that time. It’s mesmerising for adults, with more than 3,000 burials and memorials, Edward the Confessor’s shrine and a fine Chapter House, but also surprisingly fascinating for children, with lots of charming detail at eye level, a museum and, in the summer, a lovely hidden garden.

Questions to discuss:

1. What do you think of your country’s (modern/traditional) architecture?
2. What do you think of the UK’s (modern/traditional) architecture?
3. What are some buildings around where you live that you like?
4. Is it better to build concrete block buildings that are cheap, easy to build and all look the same or more expensive buildings that have varied design?
5. Talk about the construction industry and real estate industry in your country.
6. There are many types of houses (underground, eco-friendly, rural, apartment). What kind of house would be your ideal house?
7. How much does architecture affect people’s moods?
8. Have you ever been interested in architecture?
9. What makes a good interior for a restaurant? Office? Home? Classroom?
10. Smart buildings are being built now that can do lots of things. What would you like to see buildings be able to do in the future?
11. What kind of style of buildings do you like? (Traditional, Modern, Crazy, Functional, etc.)