Evidence of Roman and Saxon settlements have been found in and around the quiet town of Taunton , making it a site of archaeological and social history interest. It lies on the River Tone, and since the Anglo-Saxon word for a town is tun, it is easy to see how its name came about.

The town's main business was wool until the late seventeenth century when the industry began to decline, but once the Grand Western Canal was built in 1839, giving Taunton better access to markets, its fortunes began to change.

 

 

 

 

Moscombe is a fictional place name, but nearby Tavistock has been built up over the centuries, from prehistoric dwellings to a thirteenth century market town licensed to trade in tin from the Cornish tannaries. Tavistock has grown steadily over subsequent generations to become the pretty town it now is.  Just outside Tavistock is the birthplace of Sir Francis Drake (1540-1596), the 16th century mariner who circumnavigated the globe.

 

Little Compton, equidistant from Truro and Falmouth, is a tiny place tucked away in Philleigh.  Just down the road is the King Harry Ferry across one of the Cornish inlets.

 

Weymouth is an ancient town, with a town charter dating back to the thirteenth century. Its position on the south coast made it a useful place from which to launch ships throughout its history, particularly in support of the WW2 D-Day landings.  It was to Weymouth that the people of Alderney came to escape the German invasion of the Channel Islands.

The road to Weymouth passes through the Golden Triangle, an area of outstanding natural beauty, following the jurassic coast and shadowing the South West Coastal Path running along the coastline.

This is the end of Stevens' internal journey as well as the final destination of his motoring trip. After his stay in Weymouth he will return to Darlington Hall and move on to the next stage: the remains of the day, and the quiet evening of his life.

 

  Salisbury is a medieval city in the county of Wiltshire, its origins going back to the Roman era over 2,000 years ago.

The tower and spire of Salisbury Cathedral constitute the highest medieval stone structure in Britain, at 404 feet. Recent research suggests that massive hurricane damage in 1362 led to wooden renovations having to be made to the interior of the spire.

The original cathedral was built at Old Sarum between 1075-1092; work on the current cathedral began in 1220. Although the main cathedral was completed within 100 years, building works continued over the centuries, concluding with the completion of Wren Hall in 1720.

The Treaties of Versailles and Locarno, ratified in 1919 and 1925 respectively, placed heavy restrictions on Germany to minimize its capacity for future aggression, and imposed a permanent ban on military forces in the Rhineland. Despite these Treaties, Hitler re-militarised the area in 1936. Most historians view it as a provocative act to test the strength of the Treaties and to rebuild the German spirit and pride.

The Rhineland was seen as a buffer zone between France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands to the west and Germany to the east, along the line of the River Rhine.