Welcome to British Isles Friday! British Isles Friday is a weekly event for sharing all things British and Irish — reviews, photos, opinions, trip reports, guides, links, resources, personal stories, interviews, and research posts. Join us each Friday to link your British and Irish themed content and to see what others have to share. The link list is at the bottom of this post. Pour a cup of tea or lift a pint and join our link party!

Last week, I reviewed London: A Guide for Curious Wanderers, the perfect book for the Anglophile on your gift list. Heather likes the recipes that she discovered in a plant-based cookbook with a proper British title: Proper Healthy by Calum Harris. Tina’s November reading included two books by Roddy Doyle.

Christmas in Notting Hill begins with interwoven montages to introduce our romantic leads. Georgia Bright is an American school teacher, coaching kids in soccer just before the Christmas break. Graham Savoy is a professional football (aka soccer) player in England.

At the end of the introductory material, we learn that Georgia is on her way to London to visit her sister and Graham injured his knee after making the goal.

Now, all we need is for the two characters to collide. Which they do literally at an outdoor market selling Christmas gifts and decorations. Ready – set – romance at Christmas!

An American in the UK is one of my favorite plots these days, so this one delighted me.

Of course, the setting is brilliant. We see decorated doorsteps, Christmas lights hanging over streets, double-decker red buses, ice skaters, and Harrods. The characters attend a holiday carnival and a pantomime, a British Christmas theatrical tradition that I would love to see someday.

Christmas in Notting Hill is a Hallmark movie from 2023, but I watched it on Netflix. I don’t expect much from Hallmark Christmas movies. This one exceeded those expectations and contributed to improving my mood for the season.

Do you have favorite Christmas movies set in the British Isles?