Blog
30th July, 2025
When I am not writing travel blogs, I live in a university town in the north-west of England, with a population of 50,000 people on the doorstep of the Lake District national park. It has no fewer than 30 pubs. This pub to person ratio is typical of many settlements in the British…
12th July, 2025
A Paradise of Exceptional Richness ‘I pass from one valley to another in this sunny Périgord – land of memory-haunted ruins, captivating romance, and still more captivating truffles; but wherever I wander I have the rocks near me, flashing their entire nakedness under the blue…
4th June, 2025
What is the National Trust? At the end of the 19th century, Britain was in a bit of a state. More than 150 years of industrialisation had polluted the air and water, and the great metropolises of London, Birmingham and Manchester had sprawled out over the land. The population…
19th May, 2025
Literary Heritage More than 150 years ago, author Thomas Hardy described starlight over the county where he lived and which he called South Wessex. 'The sovereign brilliancy of Sirius pierced the eye with a steely glitter, the star called Capella was yellow, Aldebaran and Betelgueux…
4th March, 2025
This year marks the 250th birthday of Jane Austen (1775-1817), the novelist probably best known for Pride and Prejudice. Today, she is closely associated with Bath, where she lived for five years in the early-19th century. Indeed, the Jane Austen Centre celebrates her as ‘Bath’s…