Yahoo! UK & Ireland Picks of the Week

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Picks of the Week: 11th June 2001

Welcome to Picks of the Week for the UK and Ireland! If you have a suggestion for a cool, useful,
or quirky site you'd like to see included in a future edition, why not send us an email?

Mythical Ireland
We've come over all spooky at Picks Central this week. All manner of weird and wonderful web sites have cast a spell over our screens. Take Mythical Ireland, for instance, with its fantastically detailed sections on Irish myths, megalithic sites, and astronomy. The introduction says, "There is a dim light which shines from the remote distance of the Neolithic past," which, "Carries a message of wisdom, a source of being, a revelation of cosmic unity. It inspires us, it teaches us, it makes us more aware..." We're really too cynical for all that, although we have learned a lot about ancient rites, kerbstones, and all manner of historical stuff from this most comprehensive of sites.
National Urban Forestry Unit
After checking out the Druidic standing stones, the Picks team felt like a spot of tree-hugging. And where better to do it than at the National Urban Forestry Unit site? These guys love trees and aim to explain why they have a vital role to play in improving the quality of life for the millions of people who live and work in towns and cities. The site presents a series of convincing arguments about the importance of trees in urban environments in easy to read chunks. There's a clickable map so you can see projects from all over the UK, and if you're feeling inspired there's a contacts section should you feel like lending a hand, or a green thumb.
The Magic Apostrophe
Any Harry Potter fans out there will love this site. Welsh author Jenny Sullivan writes most excellent children's books, including The Magic Apostrophe trilogy, and her site will give you a glimpse of her weird and wonderful world. The design is very bright and cheery (check out those groovy cursors!) and includes a biography, book extracts, and a teacher's area promoting Jenny's school workshops. Anyone who describes night-time as being, "As black as a spider's knickers," is welcome at Picks Central anytime!
Sherlock Holmes 50th Anniversary Exhibition
The don of danger. The master of mystery. The prince of pipes. Yes indeed, for anyone who loves a good mystery yarn the name Sherlock Holmes is synonymous. This unique and strangely oddball site preserves in cyberspace an exhibition on Holmes which took place at Abbey House, Baker Street in 1951. Click on the one shilling ticket (children, 6d) and enter a trip down nostalgia avenue. Inside, you'll find the original catalogue, and a clickable photo of the centrepiece - a recreation of Sherlock's living room at 221B Baker Street, which allows you to take a closer look at the different exhibits contained therein. So, time travel is possible...
The Witchery Tours
Spookily enough, our final offering for this week is The Witchery Tours. These walking tours take place in Edinburgh and, if the site is anything to go by, will scare you witless. A variety of nocturnal nasties host the walks, including the horribly named 'Foule Clenger' and infamous bodysnatchers 'Burke and Hare'. The Witchery folks also offer a 'guest appearance' service with promises of apparitions for any event. We particularly enjoyed the warning that, "Jumper-ooters are in use on this tour." Boo!

Sites Featured in Picks of the Week:

Mythical Ireland - standing the test of time.
National Urban Forestry Unit - green guys.
The Magic Apostrophe - the power of punctuation.
Sherlock Holmes 50th Anniversary Exhibition - deer stalkers.
The Witchery Tours - things that go bump in the night.

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Previous Weeks' Picks:

[ 4th June 01 | 28th May 01 | 21st May 01 | 14th May 01 ]