Love this, broken down into smaller stories really nicely. Covers a wide range of locations and different stories. Great historical background and significance given alongside the ghost stories.

The book is set out geographically but I read through the book from beginning to end. This is a fun and light hearted book to read. I didn't find it scary at all, or particularly spine-chilling. We have lifetime National Trust membership and it was fun to read about all the different ghosts which are said to haunt these properties, some of which were familiar to me.

This is a marvellous romp in the corridors of the spooky, the mysterious and the unknown. I enjoyed the historic aspects tremendously. An excellent gift for anyone with an interest in the paranormal.

4 stars.

"Britain's Ghosts" is a captivating account of some of the most haunted locations in the UK. Anna Groves successfully combines breathtaking accounts of ghosts and other sinister beings with an elaborate history into one enthralling book.

One such book takes the reader on the journey of some haunted places, be it the big mansion, haunted inns, ancient abbeys, or places with dense dark woods. Every tale is full of suspense and excitement, where headless horse riders, ghost hounds, witches in trouble, and numerous other uncanny beings appear1. Groves’ way of narration is very interactive and spine chilling making it very ideal for an audience with a craze in the paranormal.

The design of the book is utterly horrible though in a pleasant way; the illustrations are richly atmospheric and the overall effect is that of a creepy page-turner. However, such terrifying, spine-chilling tales, whether true or not, are sure to wind their way into your head and disturb you irrespective of whether one is a sceptic or a believer of ghosts.

All in all, ”Britain's Ghosts” is really a blessing to anyone who gets thrilled by ghost stories and the supernatural. This will make a great present for the Halloween season or whenever you want to read something chilling in nature.

I thought this book looked interesting and a good read for this time of year. I’m sceptical about the paranormal but still interested in ghost stories and watching documentaries etc.

This book is a tour through some of the supposedly haunted locations in the UK. Each chapter is quite short but there’s still plenty of information for each place and the book appears to have been well researched. I found it was good to pick up and read a bit at a time when I had a spare moment.

The book doesn’t try and convince you to believe in ghosts, merely shares the tales and legends that have been told over the years.

I enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone interested in ghost stories and the paranormal.

This book offers a solid overview of some ghostly legends, primarily those tied to National Trust properties, which makes sense since it’s published by the National Trust. It’s a nice collection for anyone curious about haunted sites associated with the organisation.

That said, I feel the title is a bit misleading. It’s not truly a collection of Britain’s most famous ghosts—there are so many well-known legends left out for it to earn that claim. For instance, notable spots like the Skirrid Inn, Cardiff Castle, National Museum Wales, St Fagans, and Llandaff, to name just a few in and around Cardiff, don’t make an appearance. Expanding that to cover all of Britain, many significant ghostly tales are noticeably absent. A more accurate title might be Britain’s Ghosts: Notable Legends from the National Trust and Beyond.

That said, the sections are short, sharp, and well-written, which makes the book accessible to readers who may be new to these stories. I enjoyed it overall, and the accompanying artwork adds a lovely visual touch. I could easily imagine this book on display in a National Trust property, and I’d definitely pick up a copy if I spotted it there.

Thank you to the author, publishers and Netgalley for the ARC of this book. The review is my own.

‘People think that ghosts only come out at night, or on Halloween, when the world is dark and the walls are thin. But the truth is, ghosts are everywhere.’

The perfect book to read this time of year! It had a cosy feel - like ghost stories told around a campfire. One of my guilty pleasure tv shows is Most Haunted and this book definitely has the same vibes - it’s even given a mention!

The stories were intriguing and well written. I found them to be detailed yet succinct and they really painted a good picture of the haunts.

I loved reading about some English history and the corresponding spooky tales. Whether I believe in there actually being ghosts in these places is another matter. But this certainly seems to provide evidence to show there is!

A perfect read for the spooky months, great tor anyone interested in the paranormal and finding out more about buildings throughout England that may be haunted.

ARC copy provided by Collins Reference & NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this, the stories were light hearted and quick enough to be enjoyed. I am from one of the places where the stories are set so it was nice to see such representation. The imagery was cool too!

An anthology of British ghost stories from some of the UK's most haunted castles, national parks, pubs and other buildings.

This was a great book to read over Halloween when all the ghosties are out and about. I wonder how many of the ones from the book have made their presence known over the last few days.

We spend a lot of time at National Trust sites but they don't often tell the ghost stories so I really enjoyed reading about the places I've already been to and learning more about the ghosts that are said to haunt theses places.

I particularly like the story that Hounds of the Baskervilles is based on as that is one of my favourite Sherlock Holmes stories.

Thanks to NetGalley and National Trust Books for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

As a child I had a book called Haunted Britain (perhaps a strange book for a child), I read it cover to cover and every holiday to North Wales or Cornwall I would eagerly ask if we were anywhere near any of the haunted locations. We weren’t and I didn’t see any ghosts.

I picked up Britain’s Ghosts out of a curiosity and a nostalgic hope for something similar.

We get a few pages on each location, and they are entertaining enough. I’m not sure if it was fully formatted on kindle as some of the paragraph breaks seem to have been spirited away. Certainly, the index isn’t optimised for kindle.

This book would be best in the glove box to be bought out on long car journeys with the family, or sat around a camp fire scaring the kids with stories of the local spooks. Overall, it’s not bad, probably what you’d expect.

Thanks to Netgalley and National Trust Books

This is a book that has been supported by the National Trust who look after many of the sites featured within it. So right from the start the reader knows that it will be well researched and beautifully produced. However, I did feel that I’d lost out with the Kindle edition by only seeing the lovely illustrations as thumbnails and the layout seemed to be a little skew whiff. It would have been good to see the book as it was intended to be seen.
As you might expect there is an emphasis on stately homes and castles as that is what I associate the National Trust with but there are also battlefields, open spaces such as Dartmoor and Wicken Fen as well as museums, pubs and hotels.
In the introduction the author discusses the coming, in 2002, of the TV show ‘Most Haunted’ which was eventually classed as entertainment and the beginnings of the ghost story from Pliny the younger in ancient Rome and up to the present day. England purportedly has more ghosts than any other country in the world and the 19th century academic, M R James, is acknowledged as one of the finest, if not the finest, writer of ghost stories.
Although there are plenty of stately homes and castles, other places were a surprise such as Cannock Chase in Staffordshire. This has been described as
‘a portal to another dimension’.
There have been human sacrifices, the meeting of two ley lines and also since the 1970’s, a black eyed young girl has been allegedly seen. Venture there at your peril! I remember a notorious murder case involving a child there in the 1970’s.
‘Britain’s Ghosts’ is divided into seven regional sections so that the reader can read up on what might await them before they arrive at their chosen destination. There is also a comprehensive index at the back.
The writing is lively and has just the right tone. Folklore also features heavily which enhances the legends and stories.
Although the book also included more familiar places and experiences such as the Treasurers House in York and the Tower of London, it also contained the very creepy tale of Sir Henry at Blickling Hall whose body was rejected by the very earth itself. One of the saddest was the Lost Lad and his dog in the Peak District who both froze to death and still roam the area. There is also the Thackray Museum of Medicine which is an ex-workhouse and the gruesome tale of the Yorkshire Witch, Mary Bateman, and what happened to some of her body after death.
The author also mentions that:
‘interest in ghosts endures even in this modern age, and the belief, or at least a desire to believe, in something in the hereafter is quote common.’
and she refers to an Ispos MORI poll of 2017 in which 38% of respondents classified themselves as believing in ghosts and a similar number reported that they’d seen one.
However, the book doesn’t dwell on the more macabre elements such as the Torture Chamber at Chillingham Castle and mummified cats.
Although I expected a number of Grey Ladies and White Ladies, there were also Pink Ladies and Blue Boys.
This would be great book to read at Halloween when a knocking on the door may herald trick or treaters or something else….
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC.

I have since bought the book. The stories are interesting, yet not too scary. So, it is quite good for younger audience.

I would have liked liking this book, but it really doesn't do anything new. The stories are repetitive - even within the book itself.

A decent book with an interesting overview of historic Britain. I especially liked the areas that had true stories behind the ghost story.

A chilling and entertaining account of haunted National Trust houses and grounds. As someone who has been a National Trust member for years and who has visited many of these sites, it was really cool to read about the ghostly creatures that live and haunt these places. I also enjoyed the touch of humour delivered by Groves, the writing style added personality to what would have otherwise felt like a textbook read. The illustrations were fab too, overall a perfect book for this time of year.

It doesn’t have to be the spooky season to enjoy this book about ghosts, but it does as certainly fun to read it just before Halloween. The National Trust published this lavishly illustrated volume about Britain’s most famous ghosts and it’s an absolute must for both history buffs and lovers of the supernatural

I received a free copy of, Britain's Ghosts, by Anna Groves; National Trust Books, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is the perfect time of year for ghost stories, its getting colder, the leaves are changing, and their is something in the air. This book had some pretty good ghost stories from all over Britain. I did not have a favorite, some were creepier then others.

This book of British ghost stories, published by the National Trust, is written with a cosy, fireside tone which is easy to read, and which softens the more bloodthirsty tales. My favourite story was about the ghosts of Roman soldiers in a basement in York spotted by a teenage plumber in 1953.

The illustrations by Augusta Akerman, which look like they may be woodcuts or linocuts, are beautiful, and often more frightening/haunting than the stories themselves (for example the stunning artwork on pages 67, 77, 120 and 149.) Given the emphasis on place, I would have found it useful for some maps to be included too, perhaps for each region, to show the locations of the sites.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy.

A fantastic collection of ghostly tales gathered by the National Trust, which take readers all across the British Isles - including Northern Ireland, which is so often left out of these kinds of anthologies.

Each tale is retold in a clear and engaging way, spanning no more than a few pages each, making it perfect for dipping in and out of. It’s also organised clearly by location, so becomes a handy guidebook for the more macabre tourist. I loved the illustrations - eerie and evocative, they matched the tone and content of each story well. It’s a perfect little read now the nights are drawing in, and would make a lovely gift for ghost and/or history enthusiasts.

A book that seeks – and finds – a suitably intelligent, 'just the facts' way to discuss Britain's ghosts. Just because it's a National Trust book doesn't mean that they only feature in National Trust properties, and it's only when we leave Dartmoor, Glastonbury et al behind and cross to the SE and London that the Trust is actually mentioned as owning anything here. What we don't get is an explanation for everything, we either believe in ghosts or we don't, and we read these pages for the almost dry way they just report the hauntings (and the fascinating cursed sword from Glencoe). Nothing is heightened to detail every instance of poltergeist activity, nothing is ramped up to chill the reader.

In some ways the book can be too staid – one entry was too concerned with connections to the Gunpowder plot rather than the actual spooks, and when the author does try to shake some levity into things to counter the dryness it is too noticeable, and too noticeably not working. But it's still a very good achievement, and in documenting things that are related to the National Trust and probably haven't been mentioned in too many of the copious similar books, then it remains of interest to even the oldest of hands at this subject. Not quite as old as the singular hand creeping about the four-poster, or the one lopped off a stalwart Royalist at Edgehill, but old hands all the same...