Mike Gerrard's Blog
Posted by Mike Gerrard
I've recently finished writing a book of what in my view are the 50 best places to visit in Europe. It was a challenge compiling the list – you should try it sometime – and although I never thought about the UNESCO list when I was preparing my own, many of the ones I chose had been singled out by UNESCO for special status.
When I checked their list I was surprised how many there were in the United Kingdom, and how few there were in Ireland – just two! Given the beauty and history of that country, I find it astonishing.
Just out of interest and for the record, here first is the list for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland:
- Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd
- Durham Castle and Cathedral
- Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast
- Ironbridge Gorge
- St Kilda
- Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites
- Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of Fountains Abbey
- Blenheim Palace
- City of Bath
- Frontiers of the Roman Empire
- Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret's Church
- Canterbury Cathedral, St Augustine's Abbey, and St Martin's Church
- Henderson Island
- Tower of London
- Gough and Inaccessible Islands
- Old and New Towns of Edinburgh
- Maritime Greenwich
- Heart of Neolithic Orkney
- Blaenavon Industrial Landscape
- Derwent Valley Mills
- Dorset and East Devon Coast
- New Lanark
- Saltaire
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
- Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City
- Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape
By contrast Ireland has only two sites on the UNESCO list, which seems unbelievable. They are:
- Archaeological Ensemble of the Bend of the Boyne
- Skellig Michael
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Browsing on Amazon the other day I found a book called "I Never Knew That About England". It's one of a series of books by Christopher Winn, with other titles covering London, Scotland, The English, Wales, Ireland, and The Irish. If they're all as entertaining as this one, I'll be reading them forever more. The England book is full of fascinating and unusual information about the 39 counties of England, arranged alphabetically from Bedfordshire to Yorkshire. Each chapter has only a short list of places covered, but they're the places about which the author has found out most of the fun facts he is obviously keen to share with the readers. Then each chapter ends with a page or two of short anecdotes about that particular county. About my own county of Lancashire I learn that it's the place where the first steak was dubbed "Sir Loin", the county where the Quakers movement was founded, and where the Spinning Mule and Spinning Jenny were invented, though the author misses the fact that the geographic centre of Great Britain is near a phone box at Dunsop Bridge, and he also (tut-tut) mis-spells the name of my home town! It's St Helens, not St Helen's. Among the stories in the book you'll discover where the first garden gnome in England appeared, where the first true aeroplane flight took place, and hear about England's first speeding ticket, where a policeman was able to catch up with the speeding car on his bicycle. "I Never Knew That About England" is the perfect book for trivia fans, and compilers of pub quizzes everywhere. It's published at £9.99 by the Ebury Press. You can also sign up for a newsletter at the official I Never Knew That website. *
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Not many people can get to call themselves Travel Writer of the Year, and it's time for me to have another go in the annual award competition from the British Guild of Travel Writers. I've never won it yet, but last year my wife Donna Dailey was runner-up, and collected her award and prize at the BGTW Awards Dinner at London's Savoy Hotel in November. I can't tell you how proud I was when she stepped up onto the stage, especially as some of the articles in the portfolio she submitted were written right here on her pages at Suite101. Yesterday I was Googling 'Travel Writer of the Year' to see what came up (OK, it was a distraction from actually writing anything), and was amazed to find a video of Donna receiving her award posted on YouTube. You can take a look at it here. The prize was generously donated by the Cancun Convention and Visitors Bureau, but sadly didn't include a trip out there (for two, of course!) We're both busy getting our entries together for this year's Travel Writer of the Year Award, and will be keeping our fingers crossed from now until November 9th, when the results will be announced at at the Marriott Grosvenor Square Hotel in London.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
I was recently in Durham and as well as seeing the magnificent Cathedral, the famous Durham Miners' Gala and Crook Hall and Gardens in Durham itself, I also saw the wonderful Auckland Castle in Bishop Auckland. Several of these attractions have got together and agreed some discount deals for visitors this summer, to help everyone who's facing up to the credit crunch.
Some of the deals on offer include 2-for-1 admission to places including Auckland Castle, the Weardale Railway, the Tanfield Railway, Barnard Castle, the Bowes Mseum, Crook Hall and Gardens, Durham Castle, the Treasures of St Cuthbert at Durham Cathedral, Prince Bishop River Cruises, the Botanic Garden, the North of England Lead Mining Museum at Killhope, Durham's fabulous Oriental Museum, and several other attractions.
There are other offers too, such as free admission for kids at Hall Hill Farm, shopping discounts, and 10% off selected bike rides with North of England Trike Tours.
The full details are available on the Durham Tourism Partnership website by clicking this link, and you'll also be able to download the discount vouchers. Well done Durham, I say!
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Read here all about the Durham Miners' Gala.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
I've long wanted to see the Durham Miners' Gala. I grew up in St Helens in the north of England, which is best-known for glass-making. But there were collieries too, and with an uncle and a grandfather who both worked in the coal mines I've always been aware of the tough and dirty work that the miners do in the pits.
Although we were a long way from Durham, their annual Miners' Gala was not just a physical get-together for the Durham miners, but was a spiritual gathering of miners from everywhere in Britain. Whether you lived in a mining town in Lancashire or Yorkshire, in south Wales or Scotland, you were there supporting the miners in Durham, as they celebrated the work they were proud of, and remembered their colleagues who had lost their lives.
So to be in Durham last Saturday was a very special day for me. It's rare these days to see such a gathering of working men, especially as the last coal mine in Durham closed in the early 1990s. The miners who helped to build Britain will never be forgotten, though, and it was heartening to see so many young people in the brass bands, continuing the musical traditions, and to see the older men proudly marching. And if there was an occasional tear in my eye, it must have been caused by the wind blowing in off the River Wear.
To read more about the Durham Miners' Gala, click here.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
I've reviewed several London guidebooks, walking guides, guides to the best London pubs and bars, the best London restaurants, and even its movie locations and Beatles links. Here's a list of links, bringing them all together in one place:
Complete London Residents' Guide
Historic London Shakespeare Walk
Historic Riverside London Pub Walk
Posted by Mike Gerrard
England has three entries in the TripAdvisor top ten list, the same as Italy, but with the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland included as well, that makes the UK the best place in Europe for free attractions.
I was delighted to see the list as I spent this morning writing about the Giant's Causeway for my next book, the Traveller's Atlas of Europe. It's published in February 2009 (order your copy today!) and is my personal choice of the 50 'must see' travel sights in Europe. I was fondly remembering my trip to the Giant's Causeway, and all along the fantastic North Antrim coast, so was pleased to see that the users and editors of TripAdvisor acknowledged what a great place it is – and that thanks to the National Trust who manage it, admission is still free (with donations always welcome, of course.)
So here's that list in full, so you can debate whether you agree with the TripAdvisor choice. But I'm not arguing with their pat on the head for the UK:
- Pantheon, Rome, Italy
- National Gallery, London, England
- Museum of the Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, England
- Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, France
- St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral, Brussels, Belgium
- Duomo, Florence, Italy
- Retiro Park, Madrid, Spain
- Westminster Abbey, London, England
- St. Mark’s Basilica, Venice, Italy
- Giant’s Causeway, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
I'm not sure about Westminster Abbey. You can enter for free if you only want to pray, but visitors are requested to pay a hefty admission fee!
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
I've unfortunately never stayed or played golf at the Celtic Manor Resort near Cardiff in Wales, the venue for the 2010 Ryder Cup. But I have been to a big function there, when a few hundred members of the Society of American Travel Writers attended their annual convention in Cardiff. I went along with other members of the British Guild of Travel Writers, having a rare chance to meet up with our American colleagues. We were all stunned by the quality of the Celtic Manor. It was stylish, and then some.
The new Twenty Ten Ryder Cup course is the first golf course in history that has been custom-designed for this biennial tournament between Europe and the USA. The course, and its clubhouse, were opened on 28 May 2008 by the Right Honorable Rhodri Morgan, the First Minister for Wales, which shows how important this event is for the country.
The Twenty Ten course and clubhouse cost about £16 million to build, and have been designed not only to challenge the golfers but also to appeal to the spectators. Steep hillside runs alongside the closing three holes, to allow the maximum number of spectators the best view of the final action. The course is a par 71, and half the holes have water hazards that are described as both picturesque and penalising.
The new Ryder Cup course sounds amazing, and I know people attending the tournament will have a fabulous time. I'm a big fan of the city of Cardiff, and the beautiful area surrounding it. And of the Celtic Manor Resort. I must go and stay there sometime!
Check out the Celtic Manor Resort website and see what I mean.
Find out a little more about the Ryder Cup course and the Celtic Manor Resort by reading an earlier article. Click here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
What's the best bed and breakfast in Britain? Impossible to say. But each year Britain's AA announces the winners of its B&B Awards and highlights some of the people giving outstanding service in guest accommodation in the UK.
The winners this year are:
London B&B of the Year
San Domenico House, Chelsea
Although the 16-room San Domenico started as a luxury B&B, these days's it's more like a boutique hotel in Chelsea, so not quite the average British b&b, and prices start at £230 per night. It's a 3-minute walk from Sloane Square tube station and 45 minutes by taxi from Heathrow, and obviously a superior stop if you want a quality London boutique hotel.
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Funkiest B&B
The Enchanted Manor, Isle of Wight
Landscaped woodlands, outdoor sculptures, indoor artworks, four-poster beds and slipper baths are all part of the experience at this magical boutique retreat on the Isle of Wight.
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Friendliest Landlady of the Year
Margaret Frost, Diggins Farm, Chipping Ongar, Essex
Margaret has been welcoming guests to her 16th-ccentury farmhouse for 8 years, and provides extra treats like homemade cakes, complimentary taxis to Stansted airport, and even surprise gifts to guests who stay a few days.
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AA Guest Accommodation of the Year: England
The Stables Lodge, Lamesley, Newcastle
Indulgent luxury in a 'Hunting Lodge' theme in a semi-rural retreat but close to one of England's liveliest cities, Newcastle.
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AA Guest Accommodation of the Year: Scotland
Fauhope House, Melrose
Luxury 5-star standards in the Scottish Borders in an 1897 house that still manages to feel like home.
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AA Guest Accommodation of the Year: Wales
Tan-y-Foel Country House, Betws-y-Coed
Just 6 bedrooms, all with views over Snowdonia, with country house luxury but an informal feel have won Tan-y-Foel several awards.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
The death of Robert Mondavi on May 16, 2008, at the age of 94, saddened me. It wasn't that I knew him, but I have enjoyed many of his fine California wines, and he was a figurehead and a pioneer in improving American wines. He was also a very real person, a friendly-sounding name at a time when it seemed you had to be a Baron in France in order to make good wine.
When I first drank American wine in England, there was only one choice. It was Paul Masson wine, red or white, and it owed its popularity as much to the fact that it came (as it still does) in unusual large bottles with metal caps that you prised off. Afterwards the wine bottles made good flower vases, or you could put kitchen utensils in them. It's amazing to think back, not so very far, to a time when that was the only non-European wine you would find in most stores. It was a time when Monty Python made sketches about Australian wines – the very notion of a decent Australian wine made us laugh.
It was also about the time when Robert Mondavi was opening his first Napa Valley vineyard, in 1966, independently from his family firm. By 1976 Napa Valley wines, including Robert Mondavi's, were beating the most expensive French wines at the infamous blind tasting in Paris.
Yes, California wines have come a long way in a short time, and the death of Robert Mondavi – the man who invented Fumé Blanc, among so many other achievements – should make us all sad. But happy too for a long and full life.
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Here's a link to a piece I did for Suite101 about visiting Napa Valley vineyards, including Robert Mondavi's.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
It was September 20, 1777, when Dr Samuel Johnson made his famous remark about London to James Boswell:
"Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford."
I am indebted to the Samuel Johnson Soundbite Page, for this and other marvelous quotes by Dr Johnson. This in particular appealed to me right now:
"Sir, if you wish to have a just notion of the magnitude of this city, you must not be satisfied with seeing its great streets and squares, but must survey the innumerable little lanes and courts."
The reason I went looking for that famous Johnson quotation, which is as true today as it was when it was said, over 200 years ago, is because of some London walks I've been reviewing lately. What would Dr Johnson have made of audiowalks, or podcasts? As he was a man of intellectual energy and great curiosity, I'm sure he would have loved them. He would have been fascinated by the way Brick Lane, for example, had changed over the centuries.
And he would have loved the London walks booklets produced by Louis' London Walks, which explore those little lanes and courts, and cover the tapestry of London life that Johnson relished so much, from the Beatles to Jack the Ripper, from the historic riverside pubs (old enough for Johnson to have drunk in them) to Princess Diana, and from the fictional London of Sherlock Holmes to the all-too-real London of the Kray Twins.
Next weekend I'm off exploring Maritime Greenwich, and can't wait. I'm not yet tired of London, and so thankfully not yet tired of life.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
This week I'm wanted as a Venice guidebook expert. A few months ago it was Amsterdam. Before that it was Paris, and before that Athens. Given the recent storm caused by the Lonely Planet writer who claimed he wrote about Colombia without setting foot in the country, you might like to ask if I've actually been to all these places. Well, yes I have. Frequently.
It's a shame Lonely Planet took the flak, because it seems the author concerned only wrote the History section of the guide, and you don't need to travel to a country to do that. The fact that he had a book to promote, about writing guidebooks, means it should all be taken with a pinch of salt, to use one of those clichés we guidebook writers are meant to love so much.
There are several sides to the story, and one of them is that, yes, some publishers pay guidebook writers very little. But there are also guidebook writers who abuse their publishers by not doing a professional job. I know several who take the money and run - though not to the destination concerned.
For the Venice guide I'm updating, the publishers (the AA) not only write it into the contract that I have to go, they are also paying a reasonable sum in expenses. Not enough to stay at the Gritti Palace and dine Michelin-style, but enough for basic living expenses.
Last year I updated my Essential Athens guide and turned it into Essential Spiral Athens, the new-style AA series – after ten days in the city. So yes, most guidebook writers do go to the places we write about. That's the best part! I don't need asking twice to go visit Venice, and maintain my credentials as a guidebook expert.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Lost luggage is one of the worst fears that frequent flyers face. Waiting at the luggage carousel while everyone else's bags arrive, but not yours, is something that we all have a chance of facing at some time in our travels. Yet most lost luggage is not in fact lost. It's more often simply been parted from its owner and its luggage tags, and most baggage is eventually fund and returned to the right people.
The problem with most lost luggage is in finding the right people. Many travelers use a flimsy luggage tag, which can easily be ripped off leaving no owner's details in the bag. If the airline's own barcoded baggage tag also comes off – and it happens – then the bag is unidentifiable. The lost luggage could belong to anyone, anywhere in the world.
There are about 250,000 reports of lost baggage in the United States alone every month. And rising. Six years ago a traveler named Chris Truelove and his wife lost one of their cases. They had to survive a three-week trip on what they could buy locally, and were disappointed by the compensation the airline offered them.
So Chris and his wife set up www.globalbagtags.com. For £9.95 you get a pair of sturdy luggage tags, each of which has a unique code on it. You also get a year's access to the online database. Here you can record your itinerary and contact details, every time you travel, and if your luggage is lost the airline can track you down and get it back to you by going online and finding you. You should also, of course, write the information on a card and put it inside your luggage, for double security. I use them myself and hope I never find out how well they work.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
I expected to enjoy Disney World, Epcot, Universal Studios, SeaWorld and all the other theme parks and fun experiences when I went to Florida recently. The Spiderman ride? Fantastic! Go back and do it again. We went Soarin' at Epcot two days in a row. And who doesn't enjoy Pirates of the Caribbean? But what really blew me away about Florida was the wildlife.
We saw manatees swimming at the Blue Springs State Park, and again at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, just a few miles from the Kennedy Space Center. We saw 'gators, bald eagles and wild pigs, right in the Space Center itself. Injured manatees were being cared for at Epcot and SeaWorld, under the excellent wildlife protection programs that many theme parks operate.
Two of the best days we spent in Florida were when we got out and did some wildlife watching with knowledgeable guides. One was with Boggy Creek Airboat Rides, who are just south of Kissimmee, and with our excellent guide Martin Wallace we saw osprey, bald eagles, snail kites... and, of course, 'gators.
The other great wildlife experience was with Brian Faulk, who runs Canoe Escape and was our guide on a canoe trip of a few miles down the Hillsborough River. It was a rich and relaxing experience, getting up-close views of roseate spoonbills, anhingas, hawks, all kinds of herons and ibis, woodpeckers, and, yes, Florida's 'gators. As Brian said to us at the end of the trip: 'That's an experience you don't get in a theme park.'
The wildlife of all of the United States, not just Florida, is wonderful and precious. Protect it and cherish it.
Read about the Boggy Creek Airboat Rides near Orlando and Kissimmee here.
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Read about the Canoe Escape near Tampa here.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
Last week, fresh back from Florida, I tried to pick my top Orlando attractions. It wasn't easy and I couldn't reduce it to the Top Ten that I'd originally planned to do – but then I also wanted to include our side trips to the Space Coast and to the Tampa Bay area.
This week it set me thinking – could I choose a Top Ten list of London attractions? That would be even harder, as I lived in London for almost 15 years, and we'd only been in Florida for a month! But I decided this time I would definitely keep it to just ten, and try and come up with a list that everyone should absolutely not miss when on vacation in London, whether you're there on a family holiday, honeymoon, business trip, solo vacation or whatever.
Whether you're 17 or 70, there are certain things in London you really have to see, and then you can add some more depending on your personal preferences, whether nightclubs or theatre visits. And I did come up with my own personal London Top Ten, though because of the space restrictions on Suite101's pages, I had to divide it into two. But that made me realise that half of London's top sights are right on the river, and I'd already chosen the River Thames itself.
So here they are, London's Top Ten Attractions, divided into:
London's Top Five Travel Attractions
London's Top Five River Attractions
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
We've just returned from a month in Central Florida, where my wife was researching a new guidebook to Orlando, with excursions as far as Tampa and St Petersburg on the west coast, and the Space Coast in the east. It was a hectic non-stop trip, and my first visit to the Sunshine State. It was an eye-opener, showing me there's more, much mre to Florida than just Disneyland and the other theme parks. Here's a quick run-down of my personal Florida favorites:
- Boggy Creek Airboat Rides: an exciting ride on Lake Tohoe, seeing gators, snail kites and many more.
- Salvador Dali Museum: one of the biggest and best Salvador Dali collections anywhere.
- Bern's Steakhouse: the best steak I've ever eaten, and the biggest wine cellar in the world.
- Ybor City: the historic Cuban quarter of Tampa, and America's cigar capital.
- Soarin' at Epcot: convincing hang-gliding simulator over the California landscape.
- Discovery Cove: swimming with dolphins, the highlight of the whole trip.
- The Silver Spurs Rodeo in Kissimmee: real cowboy skills and thrills.
- Sea World: dolphins, killer whales, manatees and other wonderful wildlife.
- Kennedy Space Center: the Space Shuttle Endeavour was on the launch pad, and we had lunch with an astronaut.
- Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge: seeing gators and hawks, and watching an otter feeding for about 15 minutes.
- Cocoa Beach: laid-back beach resort. We'll go back.
- Spiderman: best theme park ride of all, at Universal Studios.
- Downtown Orlando: great art galleries and impressive restaurants.
- Canoe Escape: a relaxing float down the Hillsborough River near Tampa with an expert naturalist, seeing spoonbills, hawks, woodpeckers, herons, egrets, anhingas and simply enjoying the peace and quiet, and Florida's breath-taking wildlife.
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See what my wife thought was Walt Disney World's Best Ride.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
When we left our home in England we had been battling a plague of carpet beetles. These creatures fly in your windows during the warm summer months, lay their eggs in some dark corner, and the first you know about is when little holes start appearing in your carpet or your favorite clothes as the larvae start munching away. They'll continue to gnaw at your clothes – even cotton and artificial fabrics – till the spring comes when they fly out to the garden and the whole cycle starts over again.
But carpet beetles are wimps compared to the pests we find when we come to Arizona. Bugs eating our clothes? That's nothing. We'd only been here a few days when it was time for our annual termite inspection, and the guy called us out to look at something in the garage.
One of the wooden jambs on the garage door was rotten from the inside, eaten away by the termites. They'd come up from under the concrete garage floor and gone straight into the middle of the wooden support post, and chewed their way up. They're an invisible menace, impossible to detect until the wood and the paint start crumbling, looking like they do when rot sets in. The guy punched several holes in the wood with his screwdriver, showing that the blind little creatures had eaten their way up by a few feet. The post was going to need replacing, after treatment.
So back in England the carpet beetles are probably still tucking into our clothes, while here in Arizona termites are eating our garage.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
One of the Christmas presents my brother gave my wife was 1000 Places to See Before You Die by Patricia Schultz. This hefty book provides a traveler's life list of places you really must see. Not content with a Top Ten Travel Destinations, the author attempts to provide us with, well, what it says on the tin: 1000 Places to See Before You Die.
The wrapping was hardly off when we were checking how many of those Top 1000 we'd enjoyed.
- San Sebastian in Spain – we were there three months ago.
- The Pulitzer Hotel in Amsterdam – we stayed there!
- Vail in Colorado – yes, on the 4th of July.
- Kennedy Space Center – we're going in February.
As travel writers we have an advantage, and ticked off quite a few. But then the truth hits home. This world is a huge place. If we traveled non-stop till we both keeled over, we would never fit in the Pushkar Camel Fair, the Tasman Glacier, a visit to Sandy Lane in Barbados and a Polar Bear Safari in Manitoba. But we're sure going to try!
And the UK and Ireland? Click here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
As a travel writer who has written a lot about London, and lived there for about 15 years, I've got to know the city pretty well. I lived in Notting Hill, have been up Big Ben, been invited to the Houses of Parliament and dined at some of the best restaurants, like Gordon Ramsay, Nobu and The Ivy. But there's one thing about the city that always excites me, and gets me jumping up and down like a little kid: a cruise on the river.
Lots of PR companies know this, when they want to get travel writers to attend their events. Organise a London river cruise and you're sure of a good turn-out. One of the publishers my wife and I write for, Insight Guides, hold an annual summer party on one of the Thames river cruisers, and they always have a waiting list to attend. They go down the river as far as the Isle of Dogs and views of Canary Wharf, and up the other way to Hammersmith past the Houses of Parliament. To see London lit up at night, especially the buildings along the river banks, is an experience you'll never forget.
That's why I've written a short piece about London river cruises, with links to several of the tour companies offering them. If you're planning to visit London soon, or even if you live there and have never been on the river, take a look at Sail on London River Cruises.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
That was bad timing on my part. The 2008 Six Nations starts on February 2nd with the Ireland-Italy and England-Wales matches, at Croke Park and Twickenham respectively. And will I be staking my usual place on the sofa, glued to the box for the afternoon? Er, no. Three days earlier we fly off to our place in Arizona, where it is safe to say rugby doesn't get a look-in. I know, because I've tried. The USA may have had a team competing at the Rugby World Cup but can you track down any rugby coverage on any of the 4000 TV channels the average household can tune into? Not a chance.
Not that it would help if we could. Less than two weeks after arriving we leave again to spend a month on the road in Florida, researching a guidebook. So on February 23rd, when there are three matches one after the other, we will be – according to my wife's military-style itinerary - in Disneyland. There's a Mickey Mouse joke in there somewhere, given the way one team played in the World Cup, but my Irish friend would never forgive me.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
I grew up in St Helens, which was in Lancashire at the time, though later someone sneaked in one night and moved it into the district of Merseyside. We all suspected it must have been a Liverpool Scally, up to no good. In those days, if Liverpool was European capital of anything it was more likely to be car crime than culture.
Liverpool was our nearest big city, easier to get to than Manchester, and it was where we went to do our Christmas shopping, or sometimes to go to the pantomime, and later as a teenager to see the Beatles and other pop stars like the Rolling Stones, PJ Proby, Stevie Winwood and the Spencer Davis Group, Mary Wells, The Hollies and many more I've forgotten.
As I grew older and realised that history went back a little bit further than the Beatles' first LP (which was the first LP I ever bought), I discovered that Liverpool did have its own distinct history and culture, like no other city in Europe. The docks and the shipping trade was fascinating, Liverpool had one of the world's first commercial ferry services, going across the Mersey between the Liverpool shore and the priory at Birkenhead.
In the 20th century it produced great comedians like Ken Dodd, Robb Wilton, Jimmy Tarbuck, Tommy Handley, Alexei Sayle, Ted Ray, Paul O'Grady, Tom O'Connor and Arthur Askey, there were playwrights like Willy Russell and Alan Bleasdale, and of course the great 1960s days of Merseybeat – the Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer, the Searchers, Cilla Black, The Swinging Blue Jeans, the Fourmost... the list really is almost endless.
So to see Liverpool as the European City of Culture 2008 is really rather special to me. The next twelve months will be - fab!
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
The Ancient Britons never had these problems. England's Stonehenge, which has been a World Heritage Site since 1986, may be put on UNESCO's list of endangered World Heritage Sites. The British Government has abandoned all plans to deal with the traffic congestion in and around the historic site, leaving the ancient standing stones to endure the traffic pollution that has been a source of concern for years.
It took about 3000 years to build Stonehenge in its various phases, and it may take the British Government that long to deal with the traffic problems. It was back in 1989 when the Commons Public Accounts Committee first referred to the setting of Stonehenge as a 'national disgrace'.
In 1991 the Government began assessing various options for relieving the problems caused by the excessive traffic passing too close to the ancient monument. In all some 50 different schemes have been considered, all of which have been abandoned in December 2007 at a cost of £23 million. This decision has had the knock-on effect of forcing English Heritage, which owns and manages Stonehenge, to cancel their own plans for a £67 million Visitor Centre.
The main Stonehenge traffic schemes included a northern bypass, a southern bypass and a tunnel built underneath the stones. Instead, cars and trucks will continue to rumble past on the A303 which goes within 150 yards of the stones. This is the main holiday route from London to Devon and Cornwall, becoming extremely busy in summer and on holiday weekends.
When Stonehenge was awarded World Heritage Site status in 1986, UNESCO told the British Government that it must do something about the traffic. Almost 20 years and £23 million later, nothing has been achieved.
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Read my Visitor Guide to Stonehenge.
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Read my blog about seeing Stonehenge Up Close and Personal.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
This weekend I made my third visit to Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, one of the most impressive of English country houses. It takes a lot to impress a seasoned travel writer who has roamed the globe, but seeing Chatsworth decorated for Christmas really stunned me.
Inside the house each room has been specially decorated, so you still get to see everything but it has all been transformed for the holiday season. This year the theme was a Christmas Kaleidoscope, and each room was decorated with a focus on one of the colours associated with Christmas.
The Great Dining Room had a silver theme and was set for a grand Christmas dinner. The Library was gold and the Chapel was orange, with real orange and cinnamon decorations scenting this glorious private chapel which was built between 1688 and 1693 and hasn't been altered since.
The Christmas Kaleidoscope theme was also chosen because of a new feature, a giant kaleidoscope built by the Chatsworth team. The largest crystal in the Chatsworth collection makes the focal point for the kaleidoscope, which is several feet across. As you turn a large handle the prisms around the crystal rotate, and the predominant colour changes through a delicate series of silvers, yellows, golds and a rich blood-red, amongst others. It was like being a child all over again, and rediscovering some of the magic of Christmas.
Chatsworth's Christmas can be experienced from 3rd November until 23rd December 2007. If you miss it this year, definitely make a date for your diary for Christmas 2008. Look for the evening opening dates too, with special events and a chance to see the house and gardens lit up at night. These are for limited numbers, and sell out quickly, so book ahead. You won't regret it.
For further details visit the Chatsworth Website.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
As we head towards New Year's Eve and the terrific Hogmanay celebrations in Edinburgh, it made me think of the various stories I've written about the Scottish capital in the last twelve months or so. When you're not out partying to see in the New Year, you'll still need to know what else there is to see, where to stay and where to eat. So here's some information for you:
This was aimed at people going to Edinburgh for the 2008 Six Nations Championships, but it applies any time.
Where to Stay in Edinburgh: Budget Options
I wrote this to help people plan the 2007 Rugby World Cup, but it's useful for Hogmanay too
Where to Stay in Edinburgh: Expensive and Mid-Range Choices
Also done for the Rugby World Cup, with a few select hotel choices in the mid-range and more expensive categories.
Read a Guide to the Eccentric Side of Edinburgh
Review of the Edinburgh title in Bradt's excellent Eccentric Guides series.
A guide to Holyroodhouse, the Queen's official Scottish residence.
A visitor guide to one of the city's top attractions.
The Best Whisky Dining in Edinburgh
How you can dine in the Scotch Malt Whisky Society's private dining room in Edinburgh.
Refers to the 2007 Edinburgh Ghost Fest but the website link is there.
The Pet Shop Boys were playing last Hogmanay in Edinburgh, and you can read another blog about planning a visit..
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But most important of all, here's what's happening for Edinburgh's Hogmanay for New Year's Eve 2007 and New Year's Day 2008.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
I seem to have written a lot lately about what's on in London, including New Year's Eve events, where to go on Bonfire Night, the new London Bridge Experience, and much else besides. It's hardly surprising, given that England's capital city is the biggest tourist draw in the UK and Ireland.
So I decided it would be useful to bring all my London articles together in one big blog, for easy reference – for me as well as for you! There are a few duplications, where articles fit into more than one category. All I have to do now is remember to keep it updated every time I write another piece about one of London's attractions.
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LONDON ACCOMMODATION
Twickenham Guesthouses and b&bs
Choosing Cheap Hotels in London
Book Your London Hotel Online for a Free London Events Guide
London's Best Hotel: The Goring?
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LONDON ATTRACTIONS
The New London Bridge Experience
London's Globe Theatre's Cheap Seats
The Old Operating Theatre Museum
Buckingham Palace Visitor Guide
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LONDON EVENTS
London 2007 New Year's Eve Events
London's Guy Fawkes Night 2007
London's Buckingham Palace Royal Wedding Exhibition
Book Your London Hotel Online for a Free London Events Guide
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LONDON FOOD AND DRINK
Tour London's Best Food Market
Valentine's Day Chocolate Nipples from Rococo
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LONDON TRAVEL GUIDES
Complete Residents' Guide to London
Wallpaper City Guide to London
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LONDON WALKS
Download London Walks from Soundmap for iPod/MP3
Download London Walks from Podguides for iPod/MP3
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ROYAL LONDON
Buckingham Palace Visitor Guide
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
To most people the guidebook writer's life sounds like an endless series of free holidays, but when it's your job it has a different meaning. Guidebook writing is no 9-5 existence. If it was then I wouldn't be sitting at my desk most Saturdays and Sundays, keeping up with the deadlines.
This weekend I'm writing a guidebook to Athens while also planning a trip to Amsterdam for the next guidebook writing project. Meanwhile my wife is at her desk updating a guidebook to the Greek island of Rhodes, having just booked a visit to New York to update another guidebook, while trying to decide whether three weeks in Orlando will be enough time to research yet another travel guidebook.
Amsterdam's one of my favourite cities. I've written one guidebook about it, worked on several more, written newspaper and magazine articles and devised and written a podcast walk around Amsterdam for American Express. I need no excuse to visit Amsterdam, guidebook or not, but my next visit will see me wandering the streets alone. While I'm there my wife will be in New York, tramping those mean streets solo.
We have written guidebooks together – to Paris, Dublin, Tunis, Crete and Corfu – and plenty of travel guides solo too. But this time we were offered two separate jobs, needing doing at the same time and both to a fairly short deadline, so it was either go it alone or not do the work at all. Anyone who is self-employed knows the feeling – never say 'no', and worry about the practicalities later.
New York was of course originally New Amsterdam, and Harlem gets its name from Harlem Street in Amsterdam. Our guidebooks will be full of such fascinating facts. It's just a shame we won't be in the same cities at the same time!
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Last November I wrote a blog about a brand new website, Christmas Markets and Festive Events, which enables users to – you guessed it – track down Christmas markets and festive events. The website only covers Christmas events in Europe, from Austria to the UK, but has been updated for 2007 and includes details of the first ever Christmas Market in Hyde Park in London.
The Christmas Market in Hyde Park opens on December 1st, 2007, and runs right through until January 6th, 2008. It will be open every day from 11am until 8pm, but don't expect British festive fare. No, the Hyde Park Christmas Market is a traditional German-style market, which will include a glass of Glühwein, the German Mulled Wine, although as well as German foods and wines there will also be stalls selling toys, arts, crafts and other Christmas gift ideas, and of course Father Christmas will be in attendance too.
There will also be a big wheel in London's Hyde Park, and other fairground rides including a Haunted House, as well as carol singers and other musical events on the Bandstand in the evenings. Hyde Park's Christmas Market will also feature Europe's largest outdoor ice rink, big enough to cater for 400 skaters per hour.
As well as the market in Hyde Park, over 100 other Christmas Markets and festive events are described on the website, from Aarhus in Denmark to Zurich in Switzerland, from Rovaniemi in the frozen north of Lapland to events in Barcelona and Madrid in sunny Spain.
So wherever you're going to be in Europe this winter, if you're looking for ideas for Christmas presents or just want to enjoy the festive market atmosphere, check out the Christmas Markets and Festive Events website. Merry Christmas!
Visit the Christmas Markets website.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
Paris is getting closer all the time. Next month it'll be even closer to me, when the new Eurostar terminal moves from Waterloo in south London to its new home at St Pancras station, on the northern edge of the city centre. Journey times will be cut to a little over two hours thanks to the new high-speed train link from London to the Channel Tunnel.
Amazingly the journey time from my nearest mainline station, Huntingdon, to the centre of Paris will be just 4 hours 10 minutes. The Huntingdon trains arrive in London at King's Cross station, which is right next door to St Pancras.
Taking the Eurostar has always been my favourite way of getting to Paris. Indeed, it's the only way I've traveled to Paris for several years now, and I've forgotten the extra nuisance of getting from the airport into the city centre. By taking the train you go right into the city centre, at the Paris Gare du Nord station. Within a minute or two of stepping onto the platform you're either buying Metro tickets are queuing for a taxi. Or even heading for the brasserie opposite the station for a welcoming steak frites and a glass of Cotes du Rhone.
I even enjoy traveling when I know I'm going to Paris by train. It's the best way to travel, easily. I hate airports. I can just about tolerate flights if I've got a good book, it's not too noisy and there's something to drink. But train travel – it's the most civilised way to go.
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Read my piece about the new times and prices for Eurostar trains to Paris from many British cities by clicking here.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
The town where I grew up, St Helens in Lancashire (or Merseyside as the bureaucrats tried to make it), is known - if it's known at all - for two things. It's the home of Pilkington's glass (where my grandfather and various other family members worked), and of St Helens Rugby League Football Club, the best rugby league team in the world.
However, if you do a bit of digging you'll find that St Helens is also home to several other famous names, including a Playboy model and a Vegas comedian. That isn't a Las Vegas comedian, it's local lad Michael Pennington who became better-known as the stand-up comedian, and now dramatic actor as well, Johnny Vegas.
From Vegas to Hollywood, and the Oscar-nominated actor Pete Postlethwaite. Pete was born in nearby Warrington but went to school at West Park in St Helens, where he was a prefect and I can exclusively reveal here that he once gave me 100 lines: I MUST WEAR MY SCHOOL CAP AT ALL TIMES.
Sadly I did not go to school with Playboy model Louise Glover, which would have been tricky as West Park was a boys-only establishment. But she was also born in St Helens. So too were conductor Sir Thomas Beecham, the Siouxsie and the Banshees drummer Budgie, the motorbike racing legend Geoff Duke, philanthropist John Rylands, David Yates (who directed Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) and Paul Harris, who choreographed the same Harry Potter movie. All those and me too. What a place!
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
Over 500 travel writers and photographers are gathered in Manchester for the 52nd Annual Conference of the Society of American Travel Writers. It is the largest convention of travel journalists in the world in 2007, and there was a royal welcome for the visitors from the USA and Canada when the Princess Royal, Princess Anne, attended the opening dinner in Manchester's huge and impressively ornate Town Hall.
The Lord Mayor of Manchester was also there to welcome the delegates to England's second city and Britain's third most popular with overseas visitors. Only London and Edinburgh receive more foreign visitors each year.
Some delegates arrived early in order to attend some pre-conference trips around north-west England, including the Lake District. During the conference there is plenty to keep them entertained in Manchester itself, including a dinner and stadium tour at Manchester United's Old Trafford ground, and city tours covering such subjects as Literary Manchester, Manchester's Music Scene and Mancunian Ingenuity. Delegates were also enjoying unofficial pub-crawls, late into the night, after extensive research on the city's best and oldest pubs.
A highlight of the opening celebrations was the keynote speech by the world's favorite travel writer, Bill Bryson. Bryson is the perfect choice, being an American who has made his home in Britain and who lived for many years about 50 miles away from Manchester in the Yorkshire Dales. His quip about Yorkshire went down well with the Lancastrians in the audience: 'If you want to know what your shortcomings are you won't find a more helpful bunch of people,' Bryson said.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
Where does a travel writer like to go on holiday? That's a question every travel writer gets asked several times a year. My usual answer is that I like to stay at home, as that's a real holiday from the constant tiring traveling. But who could resist a special cheap flights offer from Ryanair this summer, when the budget Irish airline were giving away 5 million flights across their European network?
My wife and I love Spain but hadn't been for a while. We checked out Ryanair's Spanish destinations and noticed the name of Vitoria. It's the airport they use for flights to Bilbao, which is a short train ride away. But we'd been to Bilbao and, as lovely as it was, decided to stay in Vitoria instead.
Vitoria sounds an interesting city, and has good train connections to places like Bilbao, Pamplona, Santander, San Sebastian and even Madrid, if we wanted to go that far. It's also the gateway to Rioja wine country, which is a good enough reason by itself for going.
The Ryanair cheap flights weren't totally free. You did have to pay 1p for them, but airport taxes and all other charges were included. So we got two return flights to Vitoria for 4p, something our friends in America couldn't believe. Oh how the US airlines need a Ryanair and an easyJet to shake them up a bit.
Of course then we discovered that we had to pay extra if we wanted to take our luggage to Vitoria too: £5 per checked bag each way. Against this, the Ryanair hand luggage allowance is a very generous 10kg (22.05lbs), so we can still take plenty with us. And paying 1p is still a ridiculously cheap flight to Spain. Vitoria here we come....
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
Reviewing the Michelin Guide to Eating Out in Pubs this week made me wonder when pubs first appeared on British streets. After a quick look in the books and on the internet, this is what I found about the history of the great British pub.
The first pubs in Britain arrived with the Romans. Alcohol had been brewed for a long time, but in small communities where no-one ever went anywhere, there was no need to start a business selling ale. Everyone either made their own or bartered it from other people. It was only with the arrival of the Roman roads, which made easier long-distance travel possible, that there came a need for rest stops offering food, drink and a bed for the night.
These first pubs were important because in those days it was more common to drink beer than water. Drinking beer wasn't the social event that it is today: it was a case of survival. Beer was safer to drink than water, and it became quite common for houses in a town or village to put a sign outside indicating to passers-by that they could stop and get a healthy drink of beer there, from ale brewed on the premises.
If a pub also offered rooms for the night, it was usually called an inn, but these days there are plenty of inns which don't provide accommodation. Modern hotel chains like the Days Inn and Travelodge Inn would be using the right historical name... provided they also had a bar serving alcohol. This isn't usually the case, so the Romans definitely would not have approved. They would have carried on straight down the Roman road till they found one that did. And that, in 300 words or less, is a short history of the British pub.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
Everyone's heard of the Great British Chipshop, but not everyone knows there's a village in Cornwall that's called Chipshop. It has a chipshop too, but it isn't called the Chipshop. It's the village pub that's called the Chipshop. And I know all about funny English village names, as I spent the first year of my life in a village called Crank.
One Christmas my brother gave my wife a book that celebrated wonderful British placenames. It was made up of photographs by Dominic Greyer of the road signs to all these places. Called Far from Dull (yes, there is a place called Dull), it began with Fryup and ended with Overend and Boot.
I knew there was a place called Crackpot, as I saw the road sign myself one time in the Yorkshire Dales. I was driving along the B6270 and there was the sign pointing down a side road. I had to go and look, but blink and you missed it.
So what other magical placenames did the book Far from Dull uncover? For a start there's Bethlehem, Palestine, Dallas and California. There are places called Keith, Trevor, Wendy, Homer, Arabella and Mavis Grind, who sounds like she'd be worth knowing.
You could have a drink in Beer in Somerset, see Bedlam in North Yorkshire, go to Brawl in the Highlands, say hello to Farewell in Staffordshire, visit Lover in Wiltshire, try More in Shropshire and take a look at Twatt in Orkney.
Far from Dull even missed a few places too, there's so many to choose from. There's Bumble's Green, Pig Oak, Goosey and Drunkard's Bottom. Though it did include Drinker's End in Worcestershire. And if you get tired of visiting all these places, why, just go to Retire in Cornwall.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Every Saturday The Times in London publishes a Top Ten list of eating places in its supplement called The Knowledge. It might be the Top Ten Pubs in London and the South-East of England, or the Top Ten Thai Restaurants, or Top Ten Family-Friendly Eating Places. I love it and always read it.
Last Saturday was a fascinating list: the Top Ten Celebrity Hang-Outs. We all love to know where the celebs dine. Where do people who can choose anywhere go to munch their lunch or down their dinner? When you can afford to eat in any restaurant on the planet, where do you go for your nosh?
Here is The Times's Top Ten Celebrity Restaurants in London, and some of the faces that have been seen in them. In strictly alphabetical order:
Automat
33 Dover Street, London W1
Recent Celebrity Sightings: Anna Wintour, Bill Clinton, P Diddy
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Bumpkin
209 Westbourne Park Road, London W11
Recent Celebrity Sightings: Stella McCartney, Orlando Bloom, Lily Allen
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The Cinnamon Club
The Old Westminster Library, Great Smith Street, London SW1
Recent Celebrity Sightings: Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Sting
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Cipriani
23-25 Davies Street, London W1
Recent Celebrity Sightings: Simon Cowell, Sarah Ferguson, Naomi Campbell
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Hakkasan
8 Hanway Place, London W1
Recent Celebrity Sightings: Uma Thurman, Nick Moran, Gwyneth Paltrow
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The Ivy
1 West Street, London W2
Recent Celebrity Sightings: Tom Hanks, Piers Morgan, Ricky Gervais
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Nobu
Metropolitan Hotel, Old Park Lane, London W1
Recent Celebrity Sightings: Daniel Craig, Bruce Willis, Jemima Khan
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Tom's Kitchen
27 Cale Street, London SW3
Recent Celebrity Sightings: Pierce Brosnan, Hugh Grant, Dennis Hopper
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The Wolseley
160 Piccadilly, London W1
Recent Celebrity Sightings: Kat Deeley, Ronan Keating, Kate Moss
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Zuma
5 Raphael Street, London SW7
Recent Celebrity Sightings: Lionel Richie, Tara Palmer-Tomkinson
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
Podcasts are increasing in popularity all the time, and visitors to Liverpool can now do their own self-guided Beatles walk round the city centre thanks to a new podcast available from Podguides. There's also another Liverpool city centre podcast walk, which shows the wealth of Liverpool's history by concentrating on just one street – Hope Street.
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BEATLES LIVERPOOL MP3 WALK
The downloadable Beatles MP3 walk is narrated by well-known Beatles expert Spencer Leigh. It shows why these downloadable walks are so popular, as instead of making your own way round Liverpool city centre, you'll be given a personal audio tour by a leading Beatle expert. Spencer Leigh is the author of Twist and Shout! And Let's All Go Down the Cavern, as well as a biography of that other great Merseyside pop icon, Billy Fury.
Spencer Leigh's Beatles podcast takes you on a tour of the places where the Beatles played, the pubs where they would meet for a drink, where they bought their guitars and records, where they met with Brian Epstein, and other places that have now gone down in Merseybeat history.
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HOPE STREET LIVERPOOL MP3 WALK
Hope Street is one of Liverpool's best-known and most fascinating streets. It is appropriately the street which runs between Liverpool's two major cathedrals. One of the best-known curious facts about Liverpool is that its Anglican cathedral was designed by a Catholic and its Catholic cathedral was designed by an Anglican.
Blue Badge Guide Diane Cox devised this walk down Liverpool's Hope Street, which is narrated by Liverpool actor Roy Carruthers. As well as the two Liverpool cathedrals, the Hope Street walk takes in the Everyman theatre, the famous Philharmonic Hall and the equally famous Philharmonic pub – to which the Beatles were no strangers.
If the two Liverpool walks are as good as the London Podguides walk around Southwark that I sampled, and reviewed for The Times, then I will definitely be downloading them both to add to all the Beatles tunes already on my MP3 player!
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To get prices and download details for the two Liverpool MP3 walks, visit the Podguides website by clicking here.
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Read about the Podguides London MP3 walks by clicking here.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
A major new TV series in Britain being broadcast over the summer of 2007 on ITV1 attempts to find Britain's Favourite View. From John o'Groats to Land's End, from the Giant's Causeway to the Isle of Skye and from the Wuthering Heights of Top Withens to the Gower Peninsula near Swansea, what will be chosen as the very best British landscape?
Maybe it might even be a cityscape, as some of the best views in Britain are right in the middle of our big cities. Some of the suggestions include Waterloo Bridge in London, the Newcastle skyline, Blackpool with its tower, Belfast, Edinburgh and the Liverpool waterfront.
Various celebrities have been invited to nominate their personal favourite view, and they will of course appear in the TV series. These include Rory Bremner, who chooses Edinburgh, Vic Reeves who goes for Stonehenge and Lesley Garrett who nominates Swaledale in the Yorkshire Dales.
A special website has been set up on which you can browse through all the celebrity choices plus another 45 ideas of what might be Britain's favourite view. You can also enter a prize draw competition to win a luxury weekend break for two in the Yorkshire Dales, along with a Virgin Balloon Flight high above the landscape. You can order a special map, too, which shows 43 of the locations. And you can also browse the suggestions by region or by theme, so even if you don't watch the ITV1 series, you can still use the website to inspire your own vacation ideas.
To visit the Britain's Favourite View website, click here.
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And this is the list of the celebrities and their own personal choices for Britain's Favourite View:
- The Isle of Skye, The Highlands - Rt Hon Charles Kennedy MP
- Edinburgh - Rory Bremner
- Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland - Janet Street Porter
- Hadrian’s Wall, Northumberland - Clive Anderson
- Newcastle - Tim Healy & Denise Welch
- Strangford Lough, County Down - Eddie Irvine
- Wastwater, The Lake District, Cumbria - Sally Whittaker
- Swaledale, The Yorkshire Dales - Lesley Garrett
- Blackpool, Lancashire - David Dickinson
- Liverpool - Jamie Redknapp
- The Gower Peninsula, Swansea - Katherine Jenkins
- Bath - Sir Ranulph Fiennes
- Stonehenge, Wiltshire - Vic Reeves
- Waterloo Bridge, London - Meera Syal
- Seven Sisters, East Sussex - Des Lynam
- St Ives, Cornwall - Rolf Harris
Posted by Mike Gerrard
I'll be both delighted and disappointed when the Rugby World Cup kicks off in France on September 7th. Is it really so close at last? France play Argentina in the opening match at the Stade de France in St-Denis, on the northern side of Paris. And the very next day England start their campaign to retain the trophy with what should be an easy match against the USA in Lens. On the same day New Zealand play Italy in Marseille, and Australia meet Japan in Lyon.
For me it will be the beginning of an exciting tournament, and not only because of the rugby. I've been involved with my wife in writing most of the Official Travel Guide to the Rugby World Cup, and she has taken most of the photos in the book. Once the book was out of the way, though, it was time to write pieces for newspapers and magazines, all of whom want to get in on the World Cup action one way or another.
So the excitement will be tinged with disappointment, as the whole huge enterprise which occupied so much of our lives finally comes to an end.
This week we received copies of the Ryanair inflight magazine, for which I'd written an article about Bordeaux, where the Ireland team will be based. My wife provided several photos for what was an interesting story – the involvement of the Irish 'Winegeese' in the Bordeaux wine trade. Not many people know that Irish emigrants were heavily involved in building up the wine business in Bordeaux, and became some of the most important people involved in the trade.
I love the way the Ryanair magazine's design team came up with a big graphic of a bunch of grapes, with one of the grapes cleverly turned into a rugby ball. It looked terrific. But we'd no time to admire that before the picture editor of The Times is on to us, looking for photos for another piece I'd written, to be featured in the Times' travel pages this Saturday, August 18th. That covers just three of the main cities: St-Etienne (Scotland's base), Nantes (where Wales and England both play) and Bordeaux (where Ireland have two matches.)
Can England do it? Well, not on present form, but I'll still be cheering them on, of course – and enjoying revisiting some of the towns and stadiums we toured last year when researching the book. Only on TV, though, as no – we didn't get any tickets!
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
Well if you ever plan to motor west were the first words of the first song on the Rolling Stones first album, which came out in 1964. I was more of a Beatles fan but my school friends raved about this Stones album, which was the one which turned me into a Stones fan too.
The Stones first album was a great album, still one of their best. They covered songs by Rufus Thomas, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Willie Dixon, Jimmy Reed and that great songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland. There was one original Jagger-Richards song too, Tell Me (You're Coming Back), the first Jagger-Richards song ever released, and a great song it is.
In fact the Stones first album was heavily into brackets in song titles. Apart from Tell Me (You're Coming Back) there was the Bo Diddley song I Need You Baby (Mona), an instrumental jam called Now I've Got a Witness (Like Uncle Phil and Uncle Gene) and the opening track (Get Your Kicks On) Route 66.
Route 66 was made into a magical, almost mythical road trip for me by that Rolling Stones cover version of the Bobby Troup song, that I played over and over. It winds from Chicago to LA – wow, what a road that must be! More than 2000 miles all the way. Amazing! I lived 200 miles from London and that seemed another planet.
The America that was created for us teenage Brits by rock music lyrics was a place of myth and legend, back in the 1960s before cheap transatlantic flights and mass tourism. Would we ever get to see any California girls, or visit Memphis, Tennessee? And what about Flagstaff, Arizona, or Gallup, New Mexico? And don't forget Winona!
Little do we know what fate has lying in wait for us. I become something I never planned to be – a travel writer. I get to go to America. I see a statue of Rufus Thomas in Memphis, visit Graceland, see Hank Williams' childhood home, go way down yonder to New Orleans and on one unforgettable occasion picked up a hire car and really did find myself 90 miles out of Atlanta by sundown.
And Route 66? I recently got my kicks at last by seeing the signs and driving along some of the Mother Road in the SW USA with my American wife. Who has now written about Route 66. Click here!
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
The Queen was on TV last night, on the BBC's 6 o'clock News, touring the new exhibition at Buckingham Palace which opens today. The Royal Wedding Exhibition is part of the celebrations for the Queen's 60th wedding anniversary, coming up in November. She married Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, on 20th November 1947, and the exhibition is the first time that many of the items have been put on show, and the first time that many of them have been seen in the same place.
The displays were obviously bringing back memories for the Queen, who was the 21-year-old Princess Elizabeth when she married Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, who was made Duke of Edinburgh before the marriage. The Queen's memories must have been mixed, as it is was quite a controversial marriage at the time.
Lieutenant Mountbatten was born on Corfu, and his grandfather was King George I of Greece. Prince Philip had to renounce his claims to the Greek throne before he could marry Princess Elizabeth. He was also a member of the Greek Orthodox Church, marrying someone who would probably become the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. It is said that the Queen's Mother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, did not approve of the marriage – just like any other family marriage then! But controversial or not, the Queen's 60-year marriage has proved to be the longest marriage ever for any British monarch.
After their marriage Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh went to live in Clarence House. To read about visiting Clarence House click here.
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To read a Visitor Guide for Buckingham Palace, click here.
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And to read more about the Buckingham Palace Royal Wedding Exhibition, including details of how to get tickets, click here.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
Which are the best Athens guidebooks? I was in the Greek capital two weeks ago, updating my own Essential Athens guide, which will be expanded and published as the new Essential Spiral Athens guide by AA Publishing in March 2008, and by other publishers in different countries.
But while I was hauling myself around the hot streets of Athens (the temperature averaged 95 in the shade the whole 10 days we were there) I was also carrying round with me a selection of other good guidebooks to Athens. But which are the best Athens guidebooks? It was my job to find out as I was also writing a piece for the travel pages of The Times in London, comparing notes on which of the several recent guides to Athens had coped best with the many changes and improvements that there have been in the Greek capital in the years leading up to, and subsequent to, the 2004 Olympic Games.
The Athens Olympic Games had a major impact on the city which has been fascinating to see, for someone like me who has been going there regularly for over thirty years now. Hotels were improved, a stunning new Metro system was introduced, big areas of the city centre have been pedestrianised, new museums opened and old ones renovated and expanded, new parts of the city have been regenerated and the standards in restaurants increased: Athens now has three restaurants with Michelin stars, something unheard of a few years ago.
It's hard for guidebooks to keep up-to-date when a city is changing rapidly like this. Even as you write, you know of new attractions that will be open (or ought to be) by the time your book comes out, but you can't describe them as you can't get in to see them. But some books and some guidebook writers manage the job better than others. You can read what I had to say about the best Athens guidebooks by reading my piece in The Times by clicking here.
You may have to register if you're not taken straight to the page itself, but it's a quick and free process.
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AND THE BEST ATHENS GUIDEBOOK IS...
Here's the bottom line, though, on which Athens guidebook I thought had kept up-to-date with the pace of change in recent years, by including many of the exciting new hotels and restaurants, by being most accurate with opening hours and other practical information, and for being easy to carry around and refer to.
The Best Athens Guidebook? In my view it's The Best of Athens, published by Lonely Planet in 2007, at £6.99 in the UK and $14.99 in the USA.
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Also recommended among the best Athens guidebooks, despite being a very slim guide to all that's hip and cool in Athens, is the Wallpaper Guide to Athens. Read my review of that book by clicking here.
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See a list of my other guidebook and travel book reviews by clicking here.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
Bruce Chatwin is now regarded as one of the greatest travel writers of his generation, and in the 1970s, along with Paul Theroux, he revolutionised and revitalised travel writing as a genre. He was a charismatic figure, and I was lucky enough to meet him a few times, and be able to read his first travel book, In Patagonia, in manuscript form, hot off his typewriter.
In 1977 I was working in London for the literary agent, Deborah Rogers. Bruce Chatwin was one of her clients, and she handled the contracts for his first few books, including In Patagonia. It's amazing to think that he was then 37, as he was a slim and boyish figure, but had already packed a lot into his life. He had worked at Sotheby's and become an expert in Impressionist Art, then studied archaeology before joining the Sunday Times Magazine as an advisor on art and architecture, and later as a writer.
Chatwin left the Sunday Times Magazine in memorable and typically Chatwinesque fashion, by sending them a telegram from South America, saying 'Have gone to Patagonia.' It was that journey which he turned into a lyrical travel book, In Patagonia, the manuscript of which he brought into Deborah Rogers' office one day. He needed a second copy, so my tiny claim to fame is that I showed him how to work the photocopier, and chatted to him as I helped him run off another copy of the manuscript.
Everyone in the office loved Bruce, even if his eccentric ways sometimes maddened them. He had such charm you would forgive him anything. We all read the manuscript, and loved that too, and so wanted it to be a success for him. I don't think anyone knew quite how successful this, and his later books, would be.
Chatwin's writing ranged wide, and he deliberately broke down the barriers between fact and fiction. It always amused me that his wonderful novel On the Black Hill won the Whitbread First Novel of the Year award, when it was actually his second work of fiction. His previous book, The Viceroy of Ouidah, was also a work of fiction. So too were chunks of his 'factual' travel books, like In Patagonia and The Songlines. Chatwin claimed that it didn't matter. They were stories, and they either worked or they didn't.
In Patagonia certainly worked. I didn't buy a copy, as I'd read it in manuscript and there were always copies on the office bookshelves. I'd struggle to buy one now. A copy of that first British edition was recently on offer on the internet for $7500. I wonder what that manuscript would be worth today?
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Read blogs about those other great travel writers, Bill Bryson and Eric Newby.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
To be honored as the best hotel in the world, in whatever category, is a major accolade. The Four Seasons George V in Paris has been voted by readers of the Zigat Guides as the Best Large Hotel in the World, and I'm not about to disagree. I haven't stayed in every large hotel in the world, but I've stayed in a few and dined in some others, and can safely say that the Four Seasons George V is the best hotel I've ever stayed in.
I might be biased, of course. When my girlfriend and I arrived to check into the Four Seasons George V a few years ago, something strange happened. Our bags were whisked away at the reception desk, and a young lady led us to one side and into the elevator. We zoomed up to one of the top floors, and when the doors parted there were two people to greet us. We'd been upgraded, I was starting to see, and were led down a sumptuously-decorated corridor to our room. Or rather, our suite.
'We've put you in the Honeymoon Suite,' the young lady said, and though we weren't on our honeymoon – we weren't even engaged – we were not about to argue. She gave us a tour, which involved walking about half a mile around the vast living room and bedroom, and then out onto one of the two balconies. I'd never seen a room like it. Two balconies, one on either side, and one of them with perfect views across Paris rooftops to the Eiffel Tower.
'This is one of our best suites,' said the young woman. 'The only one that's better is the Presidential Suite, over there.' We gazed across to the balcony of the Presidential Suite, which seemed to be empty. We had the rooftops to ourselves. We also had a half-bottle of wine, which we opened and sipped in the late afternoon Paris sunlight, looking at that unforgettable view of the Eiffel Tower.
Being upgraded like that is one of the occasional perks of the travel writer's life. They don't happen that often, believe me, but when they do, they're appreciated and enjoyed. We certainly intended to enjoy this one. We were only there one night, but we made the most of it. We didn't leave the room between checking in one afternoon, and checking out at one minute to noon the next morning. And by the time we checked out, we were engaged. Is the Four Seasons George V the best hotel in the world? You bet!
Posted by Mike Gerrard
It's over ten years now since I made my first visit to Greece's Ionian Islands, to research and write what I naturally hoped would be the best guidebook to Corfu. I'd written guides to other parts of Greece, to Athens, Mainland Greece and the Greek Islands, but the invitation to write a chunky guide to just one island was a wonderful opportunity.
My only hesitation was that in those days Corfu still had a bit of a reputation as an island that attracted British lager louts. I was more interested in the island that attracted Gerald Durrell, whose hilarious book My Family and Other Animals tells of his childhood on Corfu. His brother, the novelist and poet Lawrence Durrell, appears in that book as a bit of a fall-guy, and later wrote his own account of Corfu, the equally enjoyable Prospero's Cell.
Other writers who have covered Corfu include Henry Miller, whose book The Colossus of Maroussi is a classic, and more recently Emma Tennant, who lived on the island. The artist Edward Lear also visited Corfu. My fears about the lager louts were unjustified, as the island then had started to change its image. The once notorious resort of Benitses was cleaning up its act, and the clubbers and boozers were mainly restricted to the resort of Kavos on Corfu's southern tip.
I spent my first few days in Corfu Town, which I loved. It had far more of a European feel than I'd expected from a Greek island capital, with several fine museums, great restaurants, and a sophisticated feel to it. I was also lucky to find a hotel that matched that, the Bella Venezia, which was a great place to hole up and write up my notes on the day we had a terrific autumn storm, when the sky went black, thunder rumbled round the bay, lightning flashed and rain pelted at the windows. Luckily it didn't last long and I was able to visit the rest of the island in pleasant sunshine, taking in the beach resorts and tiny mountain villages.
I'd lost touch with my book a little, as I'd been busy when time came round to update it. Guidebooks are normally updated roughly every two years, but I always seemed to have something else on when update time came round. But last year I spent three weeks on Corfu and was able to work again on what the publishers decided should be a brand new and overhauled edition.
This morning my big fat Corfu guidebook arrived, with a new look to the cover. I still get a kick out of seeing my name in print, especially on a book cover. And I still love going to Greece. My next trip will be in a fortnight, to update my guidebook to Athens. I can't wait.
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After I posted this blog, a Suite101 reader wrote to tell me about his Corfu website, which looks pretty good to me, so if you're planning to visit Corfu, check out the Holiday Corfu website by clicking here.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
Someone gave me a bottle of English sparkling wine for my birthday last month. Not too many years ago you would have wondered if this was a joke, a bottle they'd been given and had been waiting for the chance to pass on to someone else. Well, if they had then the joke was on them. I had the sparkling wine on my birthday with some Scottish salmon and it was wonderful. English wine these days has to be taken seriously.
I'm not a wine writer so can't give detailed tasting notes about what this English wine was all about. In fact we were too busy enjoying it to remember the wine-tasting routine we'd learned on a visit to Bordeaux last year. A few years earlier, again for my birthday as it happens, my wife and I had joined a wonderful and fun Champagne Weekend in France, organised by the wine travel specialists Arblaster and Clarke. We traveled by coach to Reims, the heart of the Champagne region, and were sampling the best French champagne at breakfast, lunch and dinner. It was one of the best weekends we've ever had, and we did actually manage to take some notes and learned to tell a good champagne when we tasted one.
The English sparkling wine that I had for my birthday this year was every bit as good as some we sampled in Champagne itself. When we poured it into our champagne flutes, saved for special occasions, the bubbles fizzed up from the base of the glass in thick profusion, a good starting sign. They continued to fizz as we stuck our noses in and sniffed. I once went on a wine cruise when the wine expert Jilly Goolden gave some lectures, and 'stick your hooter right in the glass' was one piece of advice that stuck with me.
The English wine smelled good, and it tasted even better. It didn't surprise me to go to the vineyard's website and learn that an earlier vintage of the same sparkling wine won a prize for the Best Sparkling Wine in the World in the International Wine and Spirit Competition in 2005. Now that's impressive!
The sparkling wine that so bowled me over was the 2004 Merret Bloomsbury sparkling white wine from the Ridgeview Wine Estate. The name Merret, by the way, is in honour of one Christopher Merret who was making sparkling wine in England at least 30 years before the French started making it, and 70 years before the first champagne house in Champagne was established. So did the English invent champagne? Who knows – but I'll certainly drink to it.
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To find out more about Ridgeview sparkling wines visit their website by clicking here.
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And to find out more about English wines, and food, check the website for Food from Britain. Food from Britain sponsors English Wine Week and helps promotes English wine and supports English Wine producers all year round. Click on their website here.
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To read about England's largest vineyard, click here.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
I've been doing some research this week about Napa Valley, for a project I'm working on, and being a sucker for facts and figures, I came up with the following information and statistics about wine production in California's Napa Valley.
- The name Napa means 'land of plenty' to the local Wappo Indians.
- Napa Valley contains over a quarter of California's wineries, yet makes only about 4% of California's wine production.
- Napa Valley is only about thirty miles long, and a few miles wide.
- The southern end of Napa Valley is at sea level, at San Pablo Bay, and the northern end rises to 362ft at Calistoga.
- A pioneer named George C Yount is credited with planting the first grapevines in Napa Valley, although wild grapes had grown there for centuries. Yount was the first American to be given a land grant by the Spanish, and planted grapes in what is now Yountville in about 1838-9.
- In the 1850s, there were ten times as many vines in Los Angeles as in Napa Valley.
- In 1858 John Patchett opened Napa Valley's first commercial vineyard, and in 1861 this was followed by Charles Krug opening the first commercial winery. In the next 40 years, over 140 new wineries opened, several of them still in existence today.
- In 1965 Robert Mondavi left Charles Krug estate to set up the first big winery to be established in Napa Valley since before the days of Prohibition.
- In blind tastings in Paris in 1976 Napa Valley wines beat several prestigious French labels, proving that the area could produce the finest quality wines in the world. Napa Valley was firmly on the world wine map.
- There are now over 200 wineries in the comparatively small Napa Valley area, and they attract over five million visitors annually. In the whole of California, only Disneyland sees more visitors.
- The main grape varieties in Napa Valley include including Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Sangiovese and Zinfandel.
- Only 9% of Napa Valley is planted with vines, and at the most another 3% is all that would be suitable for vine-growing, which is why the cost of suitable land is at a premium.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
When I was researching the Official Travel Guide to the 2007 Rugby World Cup, I saw a lot of hotels. I saw cheap hotels, mid-price hotels and deluxe hotels too. Although mostly I got to stay in the cheap ones!
The 2007 Rugby World Cup is being held in France, though for some reason the organisers have decided that Cardiff and Edinburgh will stage some matches too. I'm sure the Welsh and Scottish fans aren't complaining, although the England fans might as they'll have to keep on the move to follow their team. England's games are played in Lens in northeast France, then they move to St-Denis near Paris, on to Nantes and then back to Paris for their final qualifying match against Tonga.
In contrast, Wales play two matches in Cardiff and two matches in Nantes. Scotland play their first match in St-Etienne, then come back to Edinburgh for two more, then go back to St-Etienne for their final qualifier against Italy. Ireland play twice in Bordeaux and then move on to St-Denis and Paris. Host nation France play two matches in St-Denis, one in Toulouse and one in Marseille.
You'll find full details of all the matches, all the stadiums, recommended hotels and restaurants, and all the tourist attractions too in the Official Travel Guide, which runs to over 300 packed pages. It's a huge book, and you can find further details (including glowing press reviews, hem-hem) by clicking here.
However, I've also given some basic information on personal hotel recommendations in some of the cities elsewhere, so you can get a flavour for the book. Click on the links below for hotel information on the cities listed:
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
I first went to Athens in my backpacker days, and stayed at a campsite in the northern suburb of Kifissia before taking a ferry to Hydra and some of the other islands. I saw John Cleese on Hydra, an unmistakable figure which caused a Dutch girl in our group to point and squeal: 'Ah, Monty Peethon!' With impeccable timing we'd arrived on a big Greek feast day, but hadn't booked any accommodation. After queuing at the tourist police, who made a few phone calls, we were sent round to a house somewhere behind the Hydra clock tower where the lady owner dragged bed frames and mattresses out of mysterious rooms and we all ended up sleeping on the balcony.
Since then I've visited Athens lots of times and it's become one of my favorite cities. It's like an old friend with lots of faults who drives you mad at times, but you still like them. However, unlike people who just tend to get older, fatter, balder and grumpier, this old friend has grown more beautiful as time has gone by, and is a very changed city from when I first went there in what now seems like the 19th century.
My first lengthy visit to Athens was back in 1993, when I was researching one of the first guidebooks I wrote, the AA's Essential Mainland Greece guide. It was a wonderful week or so of exploration, seeing every sight that Athens had to offer, and eating out all over the city – always my favorite part of researching a guidebook. I'd already spent a few weeks driving several thousand miles all over the Greek mainland, from the eastern border with Turkey to the northern border with Albania, and down to the very southern tip of the Peloponnese. The worst part was driving across Athens from Piraeus to the old airport, and anyone who has ever been to Athens will know what a driving nightmare that would have been.
So after a day lying down in a darkened room to recover from the worst drive I have ever had in my life (and that includes accidentally having to drive through the middle of a street market in Volos), I was able to explore Athens. My base then was the Adonis Hotel on Kodrou, on the edge of the Plaka. It's still there, still cheap, and from what I hear from other travelers it's just as good and friendly as it was to me back then.
My current budget favorite is the Attalos, where I stayed while working on my National Geographic Traveler Guide to Greece, and where I'll be staying again soon on my next visit when I return to update my Essential Athens guide for the AA.You can see the Adonis, the Attalos and some other cheap Athens hotels I recommend by clicking here. To contrast with that, I've also listed a few of the best hotels that Athens has to offer these days – the new chic Greek boutique hotels, and the 5-star places with spas, pools and designer bars. Read that by clicking here.
Athens can now offer Michelin-starred restaurants and other fine gourmet dining, as well as the cheap hole-in-the-wall budget places where you can still get good food and great atmosphere for a few euros. It's been wonderful to watch the transformation, and I can't wait for my next visit. At least I know I won't be sleeping on someone's balcony.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
I recently reviewed the 2007 edition of the Michelin Guide to Paris (click here to read the review.) I wasn't surprised to see the name of Alain Ducasse at the top of the list (purely alphabetically!) of the ten best Paris restaurants which this year have earned the coveted three Michelin stars.
Just how special is three Michelin stars? Well, I've been fortunate enough to sample Alain Ducasse's food twice, and let's just say that if the food fairy waved her magic wand and offered to treat me to a meal in any restaurant in the world, I would be on the Eurostar heading for Alain Ducasse at Plaza Athenee.
My first Alain Ducasse meal was at his previous restaurant at 59 avenue Raymond-Poincare, while I was researching the Paris title in the 'Time for Food' guidebook series which I created for Thomas Cook. I'll save the story of the creation of that series for another day's blog, but my stomach has been forever grateful for the idea.
At that first meal I can still remember the wonderful black truffle soup and his spectacular signature starter of langoustines with caviar. Before the meal I was privileged to meet the great man himself, who I was interviewing for The Independent newspaper. I recall him seeming to be nonchalant about how you achieve not just high standards but such consistency, in two places, day after day. He likened the kitchen staff to an army, and said that a recipe was a recipe, and if you followed it exactly, you got the exact same results every time.
On a later visit to Paris I was researching Dorling Kindersley's Top Ten Paris guide with my wife, Donna Dailey, and there was no doubt where I wanted to take her for the highlight of the visit, as a reward for all the street-pounding hard slog that goes into researching a guidebook. By now Alain Ducasse had moved into his new restaurant at the Hotel Plaza Athenee, a more stylish and modern place than his previous kitchen, but the food was, if possible, even better.
We were having the tasting menu, and I suggest that if you're ever eating at Alain Ducasse, you hang the expense and do the same. The langoustines and caviar were still on the menu, the kind of dish where on the first bite you squirm with pleasure from the perfect combination of two of the most delicious flavors on earth. Course after course the dishes kept on coming, but never so big that you felt over-indulged.
The final course was the dessert of Baba aux Rhum. Yes, rum baba, a dish that used to be on English menus when I was a kid. But it never tasted like this, nor was it ever served in the way that Alain Ducasse's waiters presented it. I won't spoil the theatrical surprise, but it was the perfect climax to the best meal I've ever eaten in my life. Gordon Ramsay? The two best meals I've ever eaten in Britain. But Alain Ducasse? The two best meals I've ever eaten anywhere in the world. In Paris, of course.
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Visit the Alain Ducasse website.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
Not many people can claim to have been seen naked in the Times of London, Britain’s newspaper of record, but that is one of my rare claims to fame. My bare bottom has graced the Times’ travel pages, when I wrote about what was, at the time, Greece’s only nudist hotel: the Vritomartis near Chora Sfakion on Crete, the biggest of the Greek islands.
I am not, by nature, a naturist, but for a writer a story is a story. I was talking to my writer friend Dea Birkett one day, and she said that the travel editor at the Times was looking for someone to write a piece about a nudist holiday. I volunteered. I write for the travel pages of the Times, and mostly the articles come and go without much comment. When this one appeared, it seemed that every person I knew had seen it, and of course commented on it. I never knew so many people read the Times.
The hotel I stayed at, the Vritomartis on Crete’s southern coast, not far from the lovely little town of Chora Sfakion, was absolutely delightful. As an introduction to nudist holidays, it was perfect. Nudity was not allowed inside the hotel, but was expected around the swimming pool and on the nearby beach. The grounds were full of brightly-colored flowers and lush greenery, making it look like a real Garden of Eden. The food was good and the staff were amazingly friendly.
The Vritomartis was such a good hotel that I also wrote about it here on Suite101 recently, when I called it the only nudist hotel in Greece. Life being what it is, a few weeks later I saw a small news story in the Times (where else?) about a new nudist hotel opening on Kefalonia, in Greece’s Ionian islands. What made this newsworthy was that the new resort, the Vassaliki Naturist Club, was being opened by an English couple, and the wife, Samantha Taylor, was retiring from her job as an investment banker in order to do it.
So Greek nudity seems to be spreading. What Mark and Samantha are doing is a bold venture, and I wish them well. And it just goes to show that you should always read the Times. And that’s the naked truth.
Read about the Vassaliki Naturist Resort on Kefalonia here.
Read about the Vritomartis Hotel on Crete here.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
I had two emails within half an hour of each other this morning, both asking me the same question: how can I become a travel writer? Both were from people studying tourism at university, not connected with each other, and both of them obviously felt that studying tourism was perhaps one way to a life of travel and getting paid for it: the life of the travel writer.
So what advice can I give? How on earth did I become a travel writer, that might be a start. It was quite easy, really. I went on holiday to Greece one year, to Rhodes, and I thought I'd write an article about it. I sent it to one of the main British daily newspapers, the Daily Telegraph (I was ignorant enough to try starting at the top), and to my amazement, the travel editor bought it.
Next time I went on holiday, I wrote another travel article and sent it to the same travel editor. She bought that one too. I think she must have liked my style. I did it again, after another holiday. And then I asked the $64,000 question – what about all these free holidays I hear about? The travel editor told me that if I came up with an idea she liked, she'd ask me to do it and then I'd contact a tour operator and they'd probably be glad to organise the trip for me. So I did, and I went off to Luxor in Egypt.
And that was the start of a rather unexpected career. I was writing about computer games at the time. I never planned to become a travel writer, which is the case with most of the travel writers I know. How did they become travel writers? Some were teachers, some were backpackers, one ran a restaurant, one was an accountant, two were civil servants. They all ended up being full-time travel writers, so I don't think there's any particular secret. Certainly none of them went to university and studied tourism, but that doesn't mean you can't break into it that way either.
If you have a compulsion to travel, and a compulsion to write about, you've got the basic things that you need in order to set you off on the path. One travel writer friend of mine said that he has reduced his advice to would-be travel writers to a bare minimum. He just tells them to travel a lot, to write about it, and to send the work in to editors. And that really is all there is to it.
It might increase your chances a little if you read some books about travel writing, like my own downloadable book (shameless plug, click here), or travel writer Cathy Smith's book (click here). Cathy also writes on Historic Travel for Suite101.
And you might want to take a look at the travel writing competition being run at the moment by Bradt Travel Guides and the Independent on Sunday. Get the details on that from the Bradt Travel Guides website here.
That really is it. How to become a travel writer? Travel. And write about it. And good luck.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Here are links to book reviews, mainly on Suite101's UK and Ireland travel pages.
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ACCOMMODATION GUIDES
Organic Places to Stay in the UK
Unusual Hotels of the World
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BRITISH AND IRISH HISTORY AND CULTURE
A Journey into Ireland's Literary Revival
The Myths and Legends of Britain and Ireland
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FOOD GUIDES
Michelin Eating Out in Pubs Guide 2007
Michelin Eating Out in Pubs Guide 2008
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COOKBOOKS
Made in Great Britain by Aiden Byrne
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Eccentric Oxford
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Click to see the separate list of London guides
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Best of Britain Guide: Devon
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The Rough Guide to England
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WALES
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The Rough Guide to Ireland
Lonely Planet Encounter Guide to Dublin
Rough Guides Directions Guide: Dublin
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The Lonely Planet Guide to Great Britain
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A Journey into Matisse's South of France
Wallpaper City Guide to Paris
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GREECE
Wallpaper City Guide to Athens
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ITALY
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NETHERLANDS
Wallpaper City Guide to Amsterdam
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A Journey into Steinbeck's California
Washington, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest (Lonely Planet)
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The Times Holiday Handbook
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TRAVEL WRITING
Jennifer Barclay: Meeting Mr Kim
Tom Chesshyre: How Low Can You Go?
Charlie Connelly: In Search of Elvis
Jennifer Cox: Around the World in 80 Dates
Anna Nicholas: A Lizard in My Luggage
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How to Write and Sell Travel Articles
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GENERAL WRITING ADVICE
How I Write by Janet Evanovich
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
Writing my piece today about Liverpool's role as European City of Culture in 2008, and mentioning the Beatles Story down at Albert Dock, took me back to 1964 – when I saw the Beatles play live on stage at the Liverpool Empire.
Beatlemania was at its peak, and getting tickets to see the Fab Four play in concert was something you could only dream about. Luckily they decided to play this concert at the Liverpool Empire exclusively for members of the Beatles Fan Club. I'd joined the Fan Club as soon as it was formed, and I was lucky enough to get two tickets. I gave one to a friend from school, and we set off on the bus from my home town of St Helens into the big city – Liverpool.
We were two of very few males in the audience, as the Empire Theatre was filled with screaming female fans. It was the 8th of November, 1964, as I found out by checking this Beatles website. You can find out almost everything the Beatles did at every hour of every day, somewhere on the internet or in a book. Guests on the Beatles package tour were a Liverpool singer named Tommy Quickly, The Remo Four, Sounds Incorporated, Michael Haslam (who he?) and the fabulous American singer Mary Wells, who had a big hit with My Guy.
I can say that I saw the Beatles live on stage, but I can't say that I heard them. I can still remember the atmosphere. Girl fans were screaming throughout the show, just at the thought that the Beatles were in the building somewhere. Of course the compere and the other acts would wind them up, and encourage more screaming.
When the Fab Four finally emerged, the screams almost took the roof off the theatre. You couldn't hear the vocals at all – amps in those days had nothing like the power of today. You could hardly even hear the guitars and drums, and sometimes had to guess what songs the Beatles were singing. I can't remember the set list, except that they closed the show as they always did at that time with Twist and Shout.
Hearing Beatles music isn't usually what takes me back to that screaming Sunday night in Liverpool. It's when I hear the Mary Wells record of My Guy on the radio that the memory time-travels me back to the night when I saw John, Paul, Ringo and George on stage in Liverpool.
Click here to time-travel back to the present and the future, and read what's happening as Liverpool prepares to be the 2008 European City of Culture.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
It's here at last. The culmination of a year's work arrives with the postman knocking on the door, and holding a parcel. I sign for it and rip it open. My wife Donna is hanging out the washing in the back yard (the glamorous life of the travel writer), so I rush out and show her a copy. It's the book that's occupied our lives for much of the last twelve months: the Official Travel Guide to the Rugby World Cup 2007. And we have to say, trying to set all bias aside – it looks terrific.
So how do these things happen, that's what people always want to know. How do you get a job like that? It really began as far back as December 2005, when my wife and I went to a Christmas lunch at the wonderful Mosimann's in London. It's an annual lunch given by a travel PR company with the clever name of Travel PR. There we met Hope Caton, who runs the guidebook publisher Purple Guides with her husband Robin and designer Sharon Platt.
At that time Purple Guides had only produced guides to Italy, all of them written by Hope herself. We both liked Hope's company and we kept in touch. Fast-forward a year and thanks to their stylish Italy guides, Purple Guides win the contract from the International Rugby Board to produce the Official Travel Guide to the Rugby World Cup 2007, being held in France with some matches in Cardiff and Edinburgh. By now Hope knows of our love of France, and my interest in rugby, having grown up in the rugby-mad town of St Helens.
Writing and photographing the guide is too big a job for Hope to take on herself, as she'll also be working behind the scenes on planning, editing, designing and publishing the book. Donna and I are hired to cover eight of the twelve cities involved in the tournament, and Hope will do the other four.
There then follows a frantic time for all of us. I organise visits to Edinburgh and Cardiff, and in-between them a 5-week visit to France taking in Lyon, St-Etienne, Marseille, Montpellier, Toulouse and Bordeaux, and excursions from each of those cities to places we've always wanted to see, like Arles, Aix, Cognac and Carcassonne. We travel by train, thanks to France Rail, and work with the local tourist boards to try to pack as much into our 5-6 days in each city as possible.
It's a fabulous trip, yes, but busy and totally exhausting. We're on the go from morning to night every single day, except for the last couple of days when we manage to grab some time for ourselves. Even then, we're writing about the fabulous Chateau Mirambeau for the rugby guide, and I'm writing an article about it for a magazine.
When we get back home, of course, the work's only just beginning. The next few months see us writing something like 60,000 words, Donna organising and captioning several thousand photos, from which the editors make their choices. They are busy laying out the pages, and sending them to us to look at and comment on, and between us we put the book together in time for the launch, last Sunday, before the England-France match at Twickenham.
And if you want to see the result of our labours, or just read more about the Official Travel Guide to the Rugby World Cup 2007, click here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Traveling back to the UK from our winter home in Arizona, we were waiting to board the British Airways flight at Phoenix Airport when the lady sitting next to me started to chat. She and her husband were going to London and then Venice, and we started swapping travel information. She encouraged me to look at the Slow Travel website and tell more people about it. I did, and I will!
Slow Travel defines itself like this: 'Slow Travel is independent travel where you enjoy a deeper level of experience by staying in one place longer and seeing the things that are close to you. It is an easier, simpler and slower way of traveling.'
Slow Travel encourages travelers to spend at least a week in one place, and so get to know the area better. It isn't about seeing the whole of Europe, or even the whole of Britain, or just England, in seven days. It isn't about travel where 'If it's Tuesday it must be Belgium.'
The Slow Travel website also encourages you to book 6-12 months ahead, to use the internet to plan your trips thoroughly, to think in one-week segments and, for each of those weeks, make your home in a foreign country. Slow Travel encourages you to take one-week vacation rentals, and in that way get to know the local community and local area. Slow Travel isn't a vacation rental company, and does carry hotel reviews on its website – but it thinks that week-long vacation rentals result in more rewarding trips.
The hotel reviews are posted on the website alongside restaurant reviews and other information provided by the slow travelers themselves. They're real reviews, posted by people who have gone somewhere, paid for it, and wanted to share their experience – for good or bad.
The Slow Travel movement, like the Slow Food movement, has a fondness for Italy, and other Mediterranean countries like France and Spain where slow travel is a way of life. In fact, places where slow everything is a way of life. But the Slow Travel website also covers the UK and Ireland, North America, Switzerland and increasingly in other countries around the world.
One of the best features of the Slow Travel website is the section on detailed trip reports. This is the nitty-gritty of other people's travels: New York, Mexico, Seattle, Florence, Venice. I read someone's account of a recent trip to Paris and it gave me some excellent restaurant recommendations for my own trip there next month. I'm updating a guidebook, the AA Explorer Guide to France, so some of those recommendations may end up in the book. That's the way travel should be – fellow travelers passing on tips, and good places getting the praise they deserve.
I've quickly become a Slow Travel fan. And all because of a chance encounter at Phoenix Airport. I didn't even get the couple's names. But I bet they enjoyed Venice.
Check out the Slow Travel website yourself by clicking here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
My wife and I were recently in Cardiff, researching the Official Travel Guide to the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Our Cardiff friends, the writers and photographers Pat and Charles Aithie, told us there was one thing we must not fail to do. Under no circumstances were we to miss a guided tour of Cardiff Castle. They even tried to get us behind the scenes to see some of the rooms not normally open to the public, but the man with the power to do that was away on holiday that week!
A guided tour of a castle, we wondered? How can Cardiff Castle be any different from dozens of other castles we've visited? As travel writers touring around Europe a lot, we do get to see more castles than most people. So why were Pat and Charles so adamant that we tour Cardiff Castle?
As soon as we started the tour of the castle, and the guide unlocked the door that led us into the room under the clocktower, we knew why. It was a room devoted to the subject of time, like something from a stage set or a fantasy film. There were signs of the zodiac, days of the week, suns, moons, hunting scenes that told of the seasons, painted tiles, gold and Gods.
This was just the first of the many magnficent rooms that we saw, and they were just a small portion of the many more that exist in Cardiff Castle. It really was a castle like no other we've ever seen anywhere.
You can read a little about the man behind the ornate decoration, William Burges, in my Article about Cardiff Castle. There's more about the Bute family too, who lived in this castle in the middle of Cardiff – though for only six weeks of each year. Read the Article by clicking here.
For more information about the Rugby World Cup Guide, click here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
People are sometimes disappointed when they visit Stonehenge and discover that they have to view the ancient stones from a short distance away. No longer can you get up close and personal, and touch the mysterious stones, and feel some of their history and magic. Well, not unless you know about one of their special secrets.
A few years ago I went to Stonehenge at dawn and presented myself at the closed Visitor Centre. I was allowed in, introduced to the night watchman and escorted through to the Inner Circle. I was right inside the stones, where few visitors are allowed. The guard retreated discretely and I was allowed to spend time alone with the ancient stones of Stonehenge.
How did I achieve this magical feat of visiting Stonehenge alone? Did I pull some strings? No. Was it through some personal connections? No. Was it because I'm a travel writer? No. Was it bribery pure and simple? No, not unless you count the fee of a few pounds that I paid. The truth is that anyone can have Stonehenge to themselves, but there is, naturally, a long waiting list. All I did was fill in the forms, paid the fee and waited.
The organisation which looks after Stonehenge, English Heritage, accepts bookings for private visits to the ancient monument outside of normal opening hours. Numbers are strictly limited and you can expect a wait of at least a few months. If you're visiting from outside the UK, start making enquiries about suitable dates up to a year beforehand.
To organise a private visit to Stonehenge obviously takes some planning, but the experience is well worth it. The fee of a few pounds is negligible. As well as having the standing stones to myself, I also learned a lot from talking to the guard, as we walked back to the Visitor Centre. He told me what it was like to be a night watchman there at Stonehenge, and to watch foxes, badgers and other night creatures by the light of the moon. And, of course, what it felt like to be out there among the stones of Stonehenge alone, when there was no moon, and the wind was howling.
Read my Visitor Guide to Stonehenge by clicking here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Continuing my series listing the official tourist office websites for the UK and Ireland, this seems a good place in which to explain what the different names of this region mean.
Great Britain means England, Scotland and Wales, and the Isle of Wight is part of England.
The United Kingdom's full title is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, so it's Great Britain, as above, combined with Northern Ireland.
The British Isles means the United Kingdom, plus Ireland, and the offshore islands like the Channel Isles and the Isle of Man.
All the countries (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland) are independent countries.
Ireland is not part of Great Britain, but is part of the British Isles, though the description isn't always popular because of the links with Great Britain, from which Ireland is a totally independent nation.
If you need a visual explanation of all that, there's a good map on Wikipedia: click here. And don't worry if you get it wrong - so do many of the people who live here!
Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Isle of Wight Tourist Boards
Guernsey: http://www.ghtf.co.uk
Isle of Man:http://www.gov.im/tourism
Isle of Wight:http://www.iwight.com
Jersey: http://www.jersey.com
Check the list of England's Tourist Boards by clicking here.
Check Scotland and Wales Tourist Boards by clicking here.
Check out the UK and Ireland National Tourist Boards by clicking here
Posted by Mike Gerrard
I spent much of 2006 working on the Official Travel Guide to the Rugby World Cup 2007. As I was born in the rugby-mad town of St Helens in Lancashire, I've been a rugby fan ever since I could hold a rattle. So as a travel writer it was a dream assignment – to be one of the principal authors on the official guide. Even if it was the rugby union world cup, rather than the superior game of rugby league, it was still a terrific project to be involved in.
I wrote most of the book, with my wife Donna Dailey, who also did most of the photography for the guide. We were helped by Hope Caton, who covered the venue cities we couldn't get to. As I'm writing this, the book is being printed, and Donna and I can't wait to see the finished copies, as you can imagine.
We have a good idea what the World Cup Guide 2007 will look like, thanks to the wonders of technology. Although we're in Arizona right now, and the publishers are in London and the printers in Slovenia, we've been able to see most of the chapters as PDF files, and make some last-minute corrections. We downloaded them thanks to the free wifi network at the wonderful Green Valley library, as we don't yet have internet access at our new home here.
On a computer screen the various chapters look fabulous, and we've been reliving our visits to the world cup venue cities we covered: Edinburgh, Cardiff, Marseille, Montpellier, Toulouse, Bordeaux, St-Etienne and Lyon. What a trip! But it was of course followed by several months of hard work doing the writing, sorting and captioning the photos, writing extra text to fill gaps when the pages were laid out.
Hopefully a few early copies of the book will be winging their way towards Arizona soon, a place where I think it's safe to assume that the word 'rugby' does not get said very often.
For more information about the Rugby World Cup Guide, click here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
I've written in a previous blog about my introduction to Northern Ireland, doing a small-group tour which took in tourist hotspots as well as off-the-beaten-track activities. It's the ideal way to see Ireland and especially Northern Ireland. When I first went people were a little surprised, as the Troubles were still going on – even though no tourist had ever been hurt in any incidents. It was a great shame, as the people there were as warm and as welcoming as anywhere else in Ireland.
Today Northern Ireland is much more popular, and I'm envious of anyone joining one of the Vagabond small-group tours there, which are running throughout 2007. They go to some of the places I visited, like the Giant's Causeway on the stunningly beautiful Antrim coast. But they do lots of other things too, and this is how the company itself describes the Northern Ireland tour:
Pristine coastline, vibrant cities, ancient mythology and a politically diverse cultural landscape await discovery for the discerning traveller. After 30 years behind borders, Northern Ireland has emerged as one of the most exciting holiday destinations in Europe. In 2007 Vagabond Tours are heading north on fully-guided, small-group 5 Day Adventures. In their custom-built Land Rovers Vagabond explores off-road, the hidden corners of the province. Drive through forgotten forests and on remote deserted beaches. Climb the Giant’s Causeway and ride the rope bridge at Carrick-a-Rede. Learn to surf off the Antrim or Donegal coasts. Study the political murals in Belfast and Derry or take a horse trek on the sandy shores. Walk the Bloody Sunday Trail; hike through unspoilt Glenveagh National Park; discover Europe’s highest sea-cliffs. And each night relax in superb Spa Hotel or B+B accommodation. Departs Dublin. It’s the north, but not as you know it.
For more information on this Northern Ireland small-group tour, or any of Vagabond's other award-winning tours, visit their website by clicking here.
To read a little more about Vagabond's other adventures click here
Posted by Mike Gerrard
When we come to Arizona for the winter, we leave the heating on in our house back in England. The landlords insist on it. A few years ago a previous tenant didn't bother, and didn't switch the water off either. He left for several weeks, the temperature dropped below zero, a pipe in the attic froze and then burst. For several days water poured from the attic and down through the house. The landlords were not happy bunnies. So we leave the heating on and the water off. Still, in Arizona we don't need to worry about such things.
Where we live, south of Tucson, it's a desert climate. And deserts get cold at night. It often drops below freezing, when we cover our jade plant for protection against frost. Walk round the neighbourhood and where you once saw lemon trees you now see what appear to be sheet bushes. One back garden normally full of small shrubs looks like a Ku Klux Klan convention.
The other morning we woke up after a freezing night to find we had no water. I rang the neighbour to see if their supply was affected, but everyone else had water. He's quite a handyman so came over to take a look. He checked there was water coming into the house, that there wasn't a leak, then paced round the house, inside and out, trying to figure out what the problem could be.
He was baffled. He rang a plumber friend, who was equally puzzled. A frozen pipe, maybe? A third call was coming to the same conclusion when we heard gurgling in the pipes. Water began flowing. The problem? Round the back of the house there was a section of water pipe about six inches long which wasn't insulated against the cold. It must have frozen overnight, but thankfully didn't burst. It just needed to warm up a little for the water to start flowing again.
Later, down at the hardware store, the aisles were filled with people buying long tubes of insulation. There were dozens of them waving in the air. It looked like an alien invasion. As we paid, the guy in front of us said he'd heard it had been the coldest night since the early 1960s. It was colder than… Good grief. It had been colder than England! A few days later it was snowing. Life sometimes just ain't fair. Welcome to frozen Arizona.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
An important postscript to this Blog: due to building delays Dickens World is not now scheduled to open until 10am on 25th May 2007.
Stepping back in time to Dickensian England, Dickens World in Kent will take you on a fascinating journey through the lifetime of Charles Dickens. You will be immersed in the urban streets, sounds and smells of the early 19th century, and get the chance to meet a cast of colourful nice and nasty Dickens characters and visit many captivating attractions.
There will be Europe's largest dark boat ride, to take you on a thrilling trip from the depths of London's sewers to a magical flight across the roof tops of London, with lots of exciting splashes, twists and turns along the way. The scary ghosts of Ebenezer Scrooge will come back to haunt you in the innovative Haunted House and children can have fun on the quest to discover Fagin's Den, a hidden soft play area. A 250-seater Victorian theatre features an entertaining show with the latest special effects, along with live supper shows in the evening.
The tall Dickensian courtyards allow visitors to wander freely around the imposing streets, alleyways, and shops, and dodge the Artful Dodger, the mean Fagin, or Little Nell who may all be hanging around! There is also a themed restaurant, a 3D experience, a School Room revealing the dreaded disciplines of Victorian education and Newgate Prison highlighting the tough crime and punishment of the era.
Practical Information
Dickens World is situated at Chatham Maritime in Kent, a few miles from the historic town of Rochester. It has excellent motorway and rail links, close to the M2, M20 and M25, and is just a mile away from Chatham and Rochester stations, where trains run to London Victoria. The Eurostar link at Ebsfleet is 15 minutes away and opens in 2007.
Prices will be £12.50 (US$24) for adults, £7.50 (US$14.50) for children, and £10.50 (US$20.30) for concessions.
Dickens World will be open from 10am to 7pm daily (excluding Christmas Day) from April 2007.
Read about Walking Dickensian London by clicking here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Owned by the Duke of Roxburghe, the Roxburghe Hotel resides within the privately owned Roxburghe Estates on the outskirts of Kelso. The Hotel has been nominated for five awards for 2007: Scottish Wedding Hotel of the Year; Scottish Hotel Staff Excellence Award; Scottish Country House Hotel of the Year; Scottish Golf Hotel of the Year and the Scottish National Chef of the Year.
The free wedding coordination service makes each wedding at the Roxburghe a very unique and personalised experience. Individuals may have a civil or religious ceremony at the hotel either in the conservatory with its light and airy ambience, on the manicured lawns outside the house and from spring 2007 there will also be use of the marquee, situated adjacent to the house.
The Roxburghe offer wedding guests exclusive use of the hotel, to include, the grounds, gardens, croquet lawn and woodlands in addition to the twenty two bedrooms, a number of which have recently been refurbished, and designed by the Duchess herself. The food is provided by Michelin trained Head Chef Keith Short and wedding buffet options include, Vanilla Baked Gammon; Oak Smoked Salmon and Cream cheese Roulade, with desserts to include Border Tart, White and Dark Chocolate Cheesecake and Passion Fruit Fool with Shortbread Biscuit. The bridal party may enjoy a pre-wedding pampering session at the onsite Health and Beauty Suite while lovers of the great outdoors may indulge in a number of country pursuits including golf on the Championship golf course, Clay Pigeon Shooting and Archery.
The Scottish Hotels of the Year Awards is the largest national awards event for the hotel hospitality industry, and the judges' decisions are supported by online voting by the public. The results will be announced at an awards ceremony in Glasgow on 25 February 2007.
Visit the Roxburghe Hotel and Golf Course website by clicking here.
The Roxburghe provides a free wedding coordination service. Contact Event Manager, Jules Scott by clicking here.
Cast your own vote in the Scottish Hotel of the Year Awards by clicking here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
LondonMonthly is an excellent London events guide – and what’s more, it’s free. I signed up for it recently myself, to keep in touch with what’s happening in London every month. It covers drama, rock concerts, sporting events, dance, classical concerts, art exhibitions, family attractions and events – in short, everything that’s happening in England’s capital city every month.
You can browse the month’s events, select the ones that interest you and create your own personalised, printable listings guide. You can also generate information on events local to you
If you’re planning a visit to London and want a little advance notice on what events are happening, maybe to enable you to book tickets for plays or concerts, or for those important exhibitions, you should definitely sign up for LondonMonthly.
Sign up online at www.LondonMonthly.com
Read how to get a free personalised London events guide when you book your accommodation. Click here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
The unique and hugely popular award-winning Mary King's Ghost Fest returns to Edinburgh in May 2007. The city-wide event lasts ten days, from Friday 11th May to Sunday 21st May. It has become a regular favourite on the Edinburgh festival circuit with its strange and quirky events attracting visitors throughout Scotland, the UK and overseas. This unusual, off-peak festival sets out to explore and uncover more about the dark tales and strange paranormal activity for which Edinburgh is internationally renowned.
New events this year will enable visitors to take part in a series of unusual and unique experiments as well as learning about the haunted nature of many of Edinburgh's famous sites. Highlights of Ghost Fest 2007 will include scientific studies to try to explain paranormal occurrences, overnight vigils at previously unexplored underground sites, screenings of cult horror films as well as new workshops, tours, talks and demonstrations at some of Edinburgh's most haunted locations.
In 2006 Mary King's Ghost Fest became an award-winning festival when it was short listed for a prestigious national Scottish Thistle Award for its outstanding achievements. This award helps to re-enforce the high standards and quality of the festival set by the organisers at Mary King's Close visitor attraction, Edinburgh.
The festival takes its name from one of Edinburgh's most famous residents, Mary King, who lived, at the top of one of the Closes off the Royal Mile until her death in 1644. The Close, later named after her, was preserved when the City Chambers was built over the site in 1853, and what remains today is a strange underground time-capsule of small houses and spaces, steeped in mystery and shrouded in dark stories. Mary King's Close is thought to be one of the city's most haunted locations, as well as an award-winning visitor attraction, so it is therefore fitting that a number of key events are to take place at this venue throughout the festival.
For further information on the Mary King Ghost Fest 2007 visit the website by clicking here.
And read about Britain's Haunted Hotels by clicking here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Beatrix Potter, whose story was recently filmed as Miss Potter starring Renee Zellweger (read about it by clicking here), loved her food. So too did the characters in her children’s books, and the Lindeth Howe Country House Hotel, at Windermere in England’s Lake District, has celebrated the author’s local connection by putting some of the dishes from the books onto his menu.
Chef Graham Gelder says: ‘Beatrix Potter has very strong links with the hotel. She stayed at Lindeth Howe on two summer holidays and then bought the house for her mother to live in. Her characters clearly enjoyed their food. In fact, they seem to spend much of their time either eating or searching for food. So I thought it would be appropriate to include some of the tastiest items from the stories in our menus.’
The Beatrix Potter Lunch Menu starts with Cream of White Onion Soup. Benjamin Bunny is seen with Peter Rabbit in Mr McGregor’s garden collecting onions for his Aunt. The meal continues with Mutton Chops and Cumberland Herb Pudding. Stumpy the dog carries a parcel of mutton chops in The Tale of Pig Robinson, while Johnny Town-Mouse tucks into a herb pudding at the home of his friend Timmy Willie. Herb puddings are a local dish from Cumberland, made of vegetables and herbs. The lunch finishes with a Trio of Tarts with blackberries, gooseberries and strawberries together with fresh cream, like those enjoyed by Appley Dapply.
The hotel has also created an afternoon tea where, like Timmy Willie at the end of The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse, guests will be able to dig into some nice juicy strawberries, together with some cream.
For further information on the Lindeth Howe visit their website.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
17 January – 4 February: CELTIC CONNECTIONS
Read all about Glasgow’s Celtic Connections music festival by clicking here. But as an added bonus for visitors in town for Celtic Connections, Dine Around Glasgow takes place 8 Jan to 5 Feb allowing people to enjoy a fabulous meal and some great music. Participating restaurants offer set price menus at £15 and £25 which will represent great value and superb quality. Book at www.bestglasgowrestaurants.com.
15 – 25 February: GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL
Building on last year’s success, attracting 10,000 people to more than 80 films over 10 days, the Glasgow Film Festival returns with more film-related features and events celebrating Glasgow’s passion for the pictures and the film industry’s passion for the city.
Now in its third year, Glasgow Film Festival 2007 promises to be more exciting and vibrant then ever, featuring some ninety films over 10 days, at venues citywide. Expect gala screenings of some of this year’s most hotly anticipated films including the award-winning German hit ‘The Lives of Others’ and Robert de Niro’s ‘The Good Shepherd’.
Also sample exciting home-grown talent with a specially developed ‘Great Scots!’ strand of great Scottish films, new and old. Or pay homage to The Duke, as ten of the great John Wayne’s most celebrated films are screened to mark the centenary of his birth. See the website by clicking here.
8 – 24 March: GLASGOW INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL 2007
The Magners Glasgow Comedy Festival has established itself as one of the city’s cultural highlights, second only to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in attracting some of the best comedians in the world.
The Glasgow International Comedy Festival includes top national and international stand-ups, hilarious comedy dramas, workshops and industry events, plus a separate programme exclusively for kids. Hot tickets this year include Russell Brand, Jimmy Carr, Paul Merton and Alan Carr, with home grown talent such as Frankie Boyle, Karen Dunbar, Fred MacAulay, Tam Cowan and Stuart Cosgrove. Original masters of comedy like Cannon & Ball will play alongside rising stars like Andrew Maxwell, Chris Addison and Lucy Porter. And don’t miss the moving tribute to The Essential Chic Murray.
See the website by clicking here.
For more information on visiting Glasgow and some fantastic accommodation deals, log on to http://www.visitscotland.com/citybreaks
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Here's another part of my series of listings of all the official tourist boards in the UK and Ireland, who can help you with independent advice when you're planning your travels. This time it's the turn of Scotland and Wales. If you don't know which places are covered by which region, just click around the websites till you find what you're looking for. You're sure to come across something surprising while you're travelling in cyberspace!
Scotland
Aberdeen and the Grampian Highlands: http://www.aberdeen-grampian.com
Angus and Dundee: http://www.angusanddundee.co.uk
Ayrshire and Arran: http://www.ayrshire-arran.com
Dumfries and Galloway: http://www.visitdumfriesandgalloway.co.uk
Edinburgh: http://www.edinburgh.org
Fife: http://www.standrews.co.uk
Glasgow: http://www.seeglasgow.com
The Hebrides: http://www.visithebrides.com
Highlands: http://www.visithighlands.com
Orkney: http://www.visitorkney.com
Perthshire: http://www.perthshire.co.uk
Scottish Borders: http://www.scot-borders.co.uk
Scottish Heartlands: http://www.visitscottishheartlands.com
Shetland: http://www.visitshetland.com
Wales
Cardiff: http://www.visitcardiff.com
Carmarthenshire: http://www.visitcarmarthenshire.co.uk
Mid Wales: http://www.visitmidwales.co.uk
Pembrokeshire: http://www.visitpembrokeshire.com
Check the list of England's Tourist Boards by clicking here.
Check out the UK and Ireland National Tourist Boards by clicking here
Read about British Isles travel advice by clicking here
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Here's the second of the listings I'm doing, of the various official websites of the tourist boards in the UK and Ireland. This time it's English tourist boards, including the regional tourist boards of England and the major English cities. If you see one I've missed, just email me and I'll check it out and make sure it's added. And if any of the links don't work, you should first give it a while and try again, and if the link then appears to be broken, report it to me and I'll check it out.
English Tourist Boards: Regional and Cities
Birmingham: http://www.beinbirmingham.com
Blackpool: http://www.visitblackpool.com
Cheshire and Chester: http://www.visitcheshire.com
Cumbria: http://www.cumbriatourism.org
East of England: http://www.visiteastofengland.com
Heart of England: http://www.visitheartofengland.com
Lancashire: http://www.visitlancashire.com
Liverpool: http://www.visitliverpool.com
London: http://www.visitlondon.com
Manchester: http://www.destinationmanchester.com
North East England: http://www.visitnortheastengland.co.uk
South East England: http://www.visitsoutheastengland.com
South West England: http://www.visitsouthwest.co.uk
Western Lake District: http://www.western-lakedistrict.co.uk
Yorkshire: http://www.yorkshirevisitor.com
Check out the UK and Ireland National Tourist Boards by clicking here.
Read about British Isles travel advice by clicking here
See how to get your free London events guide when booking your London hotel by clicking here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
I thought it would be useful if I listed here the official tourist board websites for the countries I'm covering on these pages. I'll start with the five main ones, and in weeks to come I'll post the lists for the regional boards in each country, then they'll all be here together for handy reference, so keep checking.
UK AND IRELAND NATIONAL TOURIST OFFICES
England: http://www.enjoyengland.com
Ireland: http://www.ireland.ie
Northern Ireland: http://www.discovernorthernireland.com
Scotland: http://www.visitscotland.com
Wales: http://www.visitwales.com
Check out a list of England's Tourist Boards by clicking here.
Check Scotland and Wales Tourist Boards by clicking here.
Read about British Isles travel advice by clicking here
See how to get your free London events guide when booking your London hotel by clicking here.
Read about being a vagabond on holiday in Ireland by clicking here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
My first visit to Northern Ireland was with a tour company with a difference. Celtic Journeys took me and a few other people on a special small-group tour of the north, looking in on the Antrim Coast, the Giant's Causeway, Rathlin Island, the Bushmills Distillery, the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge and a few other sights along the way. We saw some of the obvious tourist places, but also went off-the-beaten-track. My most vivid memory was going out with one of the tour leaders one evening and watching young badgers coming out to play as the sun was setting. I loved it so much I went back to travel with the same guys again.
Celtic Journeys is, alas, no longer going, but I feel a sense of their spirit of fun, and a desire to show visitors something of 'the real Ireland', in a small tour company called Vagabond. A Vagabond adventure is a fully-guided and flexible, small-group adventure tour of Ireland. The mix of fresh air and outdoor activity combined with cultural information and Irish history sounds to me like an unforgettable Irish experience.
Some of the activity options include:
- Horse-riding
- Hiking ancient trails
- Exploring hidden tombs, castles and stone circles
- Sea-Kayaking
- Surf lessons
- Optional boat trips to Atlantic islands (Skelligs/Blaskets/Clare Island)
Vagabond runs tours year-round and in 2007 their 5-day and 7-day adventures are scheduled weekly from March to October. Trips include
- The Dingle Peninsula – take timeout to stroll the deserted beaches.
- The Beara Peninsula – undiscovered and awesome scenery.
- The Ring of Kerry – explore the hidden corners away from the coaches.
- The Cliffs of Moher – The world’s most inspiring cliffs.
- The Skellig Islands – Optional day trip to Ireland’s Macchu Picchu.
- Connemara – Breathtaking wilderness of the west.
A typical Vagabond Adventure includes:
- Wonderful Overnights – B+B’s and small hotels. Irish welcomes guaranteed.
- Outdoor Activity – optional walks, strolls or hikes, surfing, sea kayaking, horse-riding.
- Ancient Culture – ruined castles, churches, stone circles, empty famine villages.
- Traditional Music – local musicians in hidden Irish pubs.
For further information on these and other Vagabond adventures or tailor-made tours of Ireland click here
Posted by Mike Gerrard
If it's December 7th, then I'm on my way from England to Arizona, where we're lucky enough to be able to spend some of our time. We'll be there till early March, and I thought I'd post a Blog to keep you in the picture as it could be a few days before the Discussions messages get looked at.
It's the blessing and the curse of modern technology, isn't it? In the 'old' days, like about ten years ago, when you were traveling somewhere you were effectively out of contact. Sure, you could ring from the hotel, at vast expense, and send the compulsory postcard home, but today you can keep in touch with almost anyone, from anywhere at any time. It still stuns me, sometimes. Someone reading Suite101 in an internet café in India might read one of my Articles or Blogs, send me a message which travels all the way to England or Arizona, and if I happen to be at my desk I can hit Reply and they might have an answer a minute later.
Not for the next few days, though. In Arizona the house is pretty new for us, and we don't yet have an office set up. We'll have our laptop, but at first no internet connection... unless my neighbor's wifi network can be picked up in our front yard! If not, we'll be relying on the wonderful Green Valley Library, or the Green Valley Computer Club, to stay in contact with the rest of the world Monday-Saturday. I just had an idea. Maybe we shouldn't get an internet connection at all. At least that way we'd get Sundays off.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
London has 15,000 pubs and bars and finding the best is not always easy. But now, in conjunction with Beefeater Gin, Diffordsguide has compiled the definitive handbook on all the interesting pubs, historic hotel bars and cutting-edge cocktail bars to help you discover the hidden gems in every London neighborhood.
Diffordsguide to London’s Best Pubs And Bars is bang up-to-date, has colour pictures with every entry and has listings for places that are particularly recommended for categories such as: ‘alfresco’, ‘beer’, ‘wine’, ‘cocktails’, ‘gastro’, ‘views’ and ‘historic interest'. At only £4.97 the 224-page guide makes a fabulous present. It really is a pocket-sized passport to a great night out. Every one of the 252 entries is included purely on merit. With the support of Beefeater – the iconic London Gin - Simon Difford, the Editor of the Guide, has been able to ensure that all reviews are totally unbiased and independent.
Simon Difford has been involved in most aspects of the drinks industry from running his own off licence and wholesale company to importing and brand creation, but is best known as a drinks writer and publisher. Simon founded CLASS Magazine in 1997, a title which became the leading UK style bar title before he sold it to William Reed Publishing to prepare for the launch of his range of drinks-related guide books in 2001. The best known of these, Diffordsguide to Cocktails, is now in its 6th edition with 2,000 colour illustrated recipes.
The Diffordsguide to London's Best Bars and Pubs is available in bookshops, from Amazon in the UK (click here) and from Amazon in the USA (click here)
Read about Walking Dickensian London by clicking here
See how to get your free London events guide when booking your London hotel by clicking here.
Interested in touring London's best food market? Click here
Posted by Mike Gerrard
I just came across this neat list of suggestions for holiday gifts for the travellers and writers in your life. If Father Christmas is in need of inspiration for some present suggestions, just click here!
Posted by Mike Gerrard
The Waldorf Hilton is inviting guests to enjoy a slice of the hotel’s iconic history along with their deliciously decadent contemporary English Afternoon Tea. At 3pm on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, guests will have the opportunity to take a guided tour of the hotel discovering interesting tales and historical facts about the Waldorf and the Aldwych area. This is followed by an afternoon tea of finger sandwiches, Waldorf baked scones and clotted cream, and one of Chef Patissiere Colin Bennett’s exquisite cakes accompanied by a selection of fresh leaf teas and a glass of champagne. This traditional menu item has been served in the hotel since its opening in 1908.
The Waldorf, known as The Waldorf Hilton since January 2004, has an illustrious history dating back to that 1908 opening. Set in the heart of London’s theatre land, the hotel has attracted a string of stars from all over the world. Gertrude Lawrence, Sir Thomas Beecham, Elizabeth Taylor, Pavarotti, Pierce Brosnan and Dame Judi Dench are just a handful of show business icons who have stayed at the hotel.
The Aldwych was built as a wide tree lined crescent developed for King George VII to get his carriage more effortlessly from Buckingham Palace to the East End and eradicated swaths of undesirable slum dwellings in the greatest land clearances since the Great Fire of 1666. The Aldwych has served since then as the hub of theatre, and the Beaux-Arts classical Waldorf Hotel sits between the famous Novello Theatre which itself has been through a number of transformations since it opened as The Waldorf Theatre in 1906 and the Aldwych Theatre that opened in 1905.
The Waldorf Hilton Afternoon Tea and Historical Tour is priced at £29.50, including a complimentary glass of champagne. Homage Patisserie is open for Afternoon Tea from 2.30pm to 5.30pm daily and the history tours are at 3pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. For further information and to book contact +00 44 (0)20 7836 2400 and visit the Waldorf Hilton website for accommodation information.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
If you're looking for ideas of what to do and where to go in Dublin and the East of Ireland in early 2007, you're spoilt for choice. Here are just a few suggestions of Irish events and festivals, including sport, music, literature, history, St Patrick and shamrocks. Now, how Irish is that mix?
Lord Mayor's New Year's Day Parade, Dublin
1 Jan
Celebrate in style as marching bands from across the world play in the new year in Dublin's city centre.
Temple Bar Traditional Irish Music & Culture Festival, Dublin
25 - 28 Jan
This four day festival in various Temple Bar venues represents the best of Irish culture, featuring authentic music, traditional dance and lively theatre. To find out more, click here.
Feile Bride, Co. Kildare
27 Jan - 4 Feb
A very historic and moving event, including the celebration of the Perpetual Flame of Brigid, a sacred fire which burns to this day in Kildare. Want more information? Click here.
Rugby Six Nations, Croke Park
11 Feb Ireland v France
24 Feb Ireland v England
Feel the thud, crunch and raw passion of the Six Nations tournament at Ireland’s largest sports stadium. Click here for further details.
Navan Shamrock Festival, Co. Meath
7 Mar
Parades, fairs, fireworks, music and laughter: everything you need for a festival you'll fondly remember for years to come. Visit the official website here.
St Patrick's Carnival & Parade, Bray Co Wicklow
14 - 19 Mar
Featuring live music, a colourful parade, firework display and Ireland's biggest festival funfair on Bray Promenade's Golden Mile! For dates and details, click here.
St Patrick's Festival, Dublin
15 - 19 Mar
Ireland's biggest party will be livelier than ever in 2007. There'll be music, theatre, family carnivals, street arts, dance and more in five days of memorable festival fun! Find out more by going to the website here.
Maria Edgeworth Literary Festival, Co Longford
30 - 31 Mar
Longford's enjoyable literature festival includes workshops, readings and musical performances, as well as a National Poetry & Short Story Competition with a prize fund of €2000 (US$2600/£1350). There's more information to be found by clicking here.
Read about being a vagabond on holiday in Ireland by clicking here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Seasonal skating - such a nice ice break – for one week with Classic Cottages for £69 (US$133) per person
Get your skates on - the ice has returned to Eden. The Eden Project's Winter Festival, 'A Time of Gifts', features an ice rink offering traditional, seasonal fun in a modern setting. Other activities include a Cornish choir singing in the Warm Temperature Biome around a dramatic fire pit. A 40-minute ice skating slot costs £4 (US$7.75) per person and can be booked online at www.edenproject.com. Stay nearby at Oyster Cottage (sleeps six), a delightful property in the fishing port of Mevagissey. A week's stay from 9 December costs £69 (US$133) per person (£411/US$795 total). Visit the Classic Cottages website here.
Christmas Food Fair in North Devon: 2 for 1 offer at Penhaven, from £50 (US$97) per couple per night B&B
Visit the Eggesford Christmas Food Fair on Saturday 16 December for the opportunity to try and buy a range of fare to see you through the festive season. Wonderful Devon produce includes biscuits, chocolates, cakes, quiches, pâtés, preserves and chutneys. Stay close by at Penhaven Country House Hotel, in Parkham, which offers 12 comfortable rooms, a popular restaurant and a lovely bar. Take advantage of a 'two people for the price of one' offer before Christmas and stay from just £50 (US$97) per couple per night on a B&B basis. Visit the Penhaven website here.
Torchlight walks in the woods, stay with Classic Cottages for £84 (US$162) per person
Enjoy the silent night by joining a national park ranger for a torchlight walk through the woods at Dulverton National Park Centre on 3 December. Stay at nearby Watermill Cottage (sleeps four), just two miles south of Dulverton on the Devon-Somerset border, and explore the rugged beauty of Exmoor too. The footpath from the cottage owner's 30-acre estate to the Exe Valley Way provides wonderful views. A week's stay from 1 December costs £84 (US$162) per person (£336/US$650 total). Visit the Classic Cottages website here.
Prices are given in sterling and converted to dollars at the time of writing. To check the current exchange rate click here
Posted by Mike Gerrard
At last! There is now a single website that travellers and web surfers can go to, for information on Christmas markets and Christmas events throughout Europe. It covers England and Scotland, and other European countries from Austria to Switzerland, including France and Germany.
You can search the new Christmas Markets website by country or by city, from Aarhus to Zurich, via Christmas events and markets in places such as Bath, Berlin, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Geneva Lyon, Oxfordshire, Prague, Vienna and York – and many other towns and cities too. Also included is information of Tourist Attractions offering Festive Events leading up to Christmas.
The site is exceptionally easy to navigate, with up-to-date details and local Tourist Board contact information. The website will be continuously updated and will also soon include details of local hotels and restaurants, and additional attractions visitors may wish to experience during their visit.
To try out the new website for yourself, and search for those Christmas markets and Christmas events, click here.
Interested in touring London's best food market? Click here
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Cork’s finest hotel, Hayfield Manor, invites its guests to indulge this Christmas and New Year, before kicking off the New Year in their stylish new spa “Beautique at Hayfield Manor”, developed in conjunction with Elemis Spa Therapy.
Hayfield Manor is the only 5-star hotel in Cork, and is just one mile from the centre of the city. Cork is one of Ireland's favourite cities for a city break holiday, perhaps second only to Dublin. Hayfield manor is a member of the Small Luxury Hotels of The World group and is patronised regularly by dignitaries, celebrities and Royalty.
Christmas (24th – 26th December)
Arrive in time for afternoon tea and listen to local carol singers before candlelit dinner is served in the elegant dining room. Evening mass is then followed by mulled wine and warm mince pies. On Christmas Day, a champagne reception and a visit from Father Christmas with presents for the children precedes a traditional Christmas lunch and an afternoon at leisure. After a Jazz Brunch on Boxing Day, guests are encouraged to explore some of the local countryside or simply enjoy the hotel’s exclusive leisure facilities.
There is a dedicated playroom and movie suite to keep children entertained, and a special high tea will be served daily. Babysitters can be arranged with a minimum of 3 weeks prior notice, subject to availability.
Prices from Euro 890.00 (US$1165) per person sharing a Superior Double Room (and excluding dinner on Boxing Day).
New Year
There will be a Champagne reception followed by a Black Tie dinner and dancing to a band. On the 1st January, guests can kick back and relax in the private health spa. The signature treatment is the skin specific facial, with Urban Cleanse and Skin IQ devised especially for men. There are also a full range of massage, body wraps and body exotic treatments to choose from.
Prices from Euro 320.00 (US$420) per person sharing a Superior Room.
For reservations or further information visit: www.hayfieldmanor.ie.
Read about being a vagabond on holiday in Ireland by clicking here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
The spectacular switch-on of Glasgow’s Christmas lights in mid-November marks the beginning of the city’s march towards the big day in inimitable Glasgow fashion. The streets of Glasgow are paved with opportunities to get that perfect Christmas gift and enjoy yourself into the bargain!
Between now and December 25, there’s a feast of festive entertainment in Glasgow, including Glasgow on Ice in George Square (November 25 – December 24), classical performances by both the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and Scottish Ballet’s critically acclaimed adaptation of ‘Cinderella’.
Giving the city that little bit of extra pre-Christmas sparkle is ‘Exquisite Jewels – the Art of Carnet by Michelle Ong’ – an exhibition of more than 100 pieces created by Hong Kong-based Michelle Ong, including some worn by Kate Winslet and Mischa Barton. The exhibition is at the Burrell Collection in Pollok Country Park until December 10.
Meanwhile the shopping just doesn’t get any better. Glasgow is the most exciting and diverse shopping centre in the UK outside London’s West End, and the city’s Buchanan Street ranks up alongside Fifth Avenue and New Bond Street as one of the most attractive shopping thoroughfares in the world. Glasgow has developed more than its fair share of shopping malls, department stores and high street names as well as a wealth of specialist outlets, which offer visitors a different, 'local' retail experience.
The sheer joy of shopping in Glasgow, however, is that the city’s three main shopping districts – city centre, Merchant City and West End – are all laid out in a compact, walkable space. The city centre and Merchant City are moments from each other, while the West End is accessible via a short ride on the Subway.
Park and ride is available at several Glasgow Subway stations – Shields Road being the main one on the south side and Kelvinbridge in the West End – and Buchanan Galleries and St Enoch Centre shopping centres offer almost 3,000 parking spaces between them.
Hotel accommodation in Glasgow is both plentiful and affordable thanks to a 40% increase in the number of visitor rooms in the area in the last six years. Details of the full range can be found at www.seeglasgow.com.
Read about Glasgow's cheap hotels by clicking here.
Read about the Glasgow Celtic Connections Music Festival by clicking here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Details of Kylie – The Exhibition have been announced. It opens at the V&A Museum in London in February 2007, and then goes on to tour to Manchester and Glasgow. Read all about it in my article posting. And now here are the all-important details:
Ticket information
Tickets to the exhibition are free. Timed tickets are in operation. Advance booking is strongly recommended and tickets will be available from 1 December 2006.
In person at the V&A – in advance or on day of visit.
Free, there is no charge for pre-booking in person at the Museum
Advance online booking.
(Tickets can only be booked more than 48 hours prior to visit)
Up to four tickets per household can be booked online. There is a booking fee of £2 per
transaction. Book online at www.vam.ac.uk/kylie
Exhibition tour details
The exhibition has been organised by the Arts Centre, Melbourne, Kylie’s home town, and draws on the collection Kylie donated to their Performing Arts Collection. The exhibition was shown in four venues in Australia in 2006 attracting 500,000 visitors. For further details about the Arts Centre's Kylie Collection visit www.theartscentre.net.au/kylie
In the UK the exhibition will travel to the V&A, London (8 February-10 June 2007); Manchester Art Gallery (30 June-2 September 2007); and the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow (21 September 2007 -13 January 2008).
See how to get your free London events guide when booking your London hotel by clicking here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
A new movie with big names is always a boost for the area where it was filmed, especially when the area is as beautiful as England's Lake District, in Cumbria. But will the scenery outshine the star of Miss Potter, Renee Zellweger, who plays the writer Beatrix Potter? We'll know when the film is released on January 5, 2007.
Beatrix Potter wrote 23 books about such popular children's characters as Peter Rabbit, Squirrel Nutkin, Mrs Tiggy-Winkle, the Flopsy Bunnies and Jemima Puddle-Duck. In contrast, some of Renee Zellweger's movies so far have been Bridget Jones's Diary, Cold Mountain, Murder in the Heartland and Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation!
So successful were Beatrix Potter's books that she was able to buy and run a sheep farm in the Lake District, to which she added cottages, land and more farms. When she died she left it all, including 15 farms and 4000 acres of land, to England's National Trust, to look after it for future generations. In the Lake District you can visit The World of Beatrix Potter, which Renee Zellweger and other cast members also visited while filming the new movie.
The movie also stars Ewan McGregor and was directed by Chris Noonan, of Babe fame. You can read more about it, and about Beatrix Potter's Lake District, by clicking here.
Find out about visiting Beatrix Potter's home, Hill Top, by checking on the National Trust website here.
Check out this new website too: www.visitmisspotter.com
Read the Miss Potter Movie blog here.
Read about the Lake District hotel which has put on a special Beatrix Potter Menu by clicking here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
If you're a Pete Doherty fan and are visiting Kingsand in Cornwall, then you have to check out the Old Boatstore Cafe. The rock star and boyfriend of Kate Moss visited the cafe and left a few crumbs behind from his cheese, tomato and pesto toastie. It joined the display of other celebrity left-overs, including the photographer David Bailey.
For the full story check the BBC website by clicking here
Posted by Mike Gerrard
For the first time, overseas visitors to London can obtain the electronic smartcards that provide Londoners with the cheapest way of getting around. The Oyster card can be charged with money to pay for Underground, bus, DLR (Docklands Light Railway) and tram journeys without queuing for tickets.
Visitors can buy multiples of £10 and £20 up to a maximum of £90 (a £3 deposit for the card applies), and while they are in London they can ‘top up’ their card at various outlets including Underground stations, or by phone. The card, if used for multiple journeys on the same day, will always calculate the cheapest fare for that day. Initially the cards will go on sale in India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Spain, Portugal and the USA, followed by the rest of VisitBritain’s online shops by March 2007. The websites offer a range of great value products for attractions and travel in the UK.
From today, November 19, anyone traveling on London's public transport system must use the smart technology of their Oyster card at the start and end of every journey. By doing this, the Oyster card will calculate the cheapest available fare that day for the journey made. If you forget to use your card at the start of the journey (by touching the card on the card reader), then when you use your card to exit, you will be charged the maximum fare.
Oyster cards are available to purchase before you leave home on VisitBritain’s on-line shop: www.visitbritaindirect.com.
For more information about Oyster cards and London transport generally, visit the Transport for London website: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/
Read about Walking Dickensian London by clicking here.
See how to get your free London events guide when booking your London hotel by clicking here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Learn to cook in Gordon Ramsay's kitchen? Sounds like an impossible dream, rather than a kitchen nightmare. But the Tasting Places company helps home chef's dreams come true by arranging cookery courses in several of London's best gourmet restaurants. These include Gordon Ramsay's flagship restaurant in Chelsea (re-opened in September 2006 after a £1 million refurbishment), Ramsay's protégé Angela Hartnett at The Connaught, Eric Chavot's 2- Michelin Star The Capital and one of the best Indian restaurants in the world, Chutney Mary.
The Nahm Halkin, at the Halkin Hotel, became the first Thai restaurant in Europe to earn the coveted Michelin star, under Australian chef David Thompson. Thompson and head chef Matthew Albert offer a short series of courses, taking cooks through the various elements of Thai cuisine. Courses here, and in other restaurants such as Moro and Terence Conran's Blue Print Café, usually take place on a Saturday morning and culminate in a sumptuous lunch. In the case of Angela Hartnett at The Connaught, this is at the Chef's Table and includes a wine tasting.
Courses run throughout 2007 and details and prices of the cookery master classes can be found on the Tasting Places website. Click here.
See how to get your free London events guide when booking your London hotel by clicking here.
Interested in touring London's best food market? Click here
Posted by Mike Gerrard
The Restaurant Critic of The Times, Giles Coren, dined at the Goring recently and highly recommended their restaurant. His review can be read in their online edition by clicking here. You will need to register if you're not yet a registered Times Online reader, but it only takes a few seconds.
My own piece about the Goring Hotel can be found by clicking here.
Read about Walking Dickensian London by clicking here.
Interested in touring London's best food market? Click here
Posted by Mike Gerrard
The budget no-frills airline easyJet has announced that it will start a new daily route from Edinburgh to Munichin April 2007. The low-cost carrier says that it expects to take about 100,000 passengers on the new route in the first twelve months of operation. Other new routes from Edinburghare expected to be announced over the next few weeks.
Visit the easyJet website by clicking here.
Read about the Edinburgh GhostFest by clicking here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Looking for a child-friendly hotel in Britain? In this article in the travel pages of the Sunday Times, Adam Raphael of the Good Hotel Guide, picks his ten best. To read about his choices, with contact details and prices, click here.
If you're not registered with the Times/Sunday Times Online you'll need to do that first, but it only takes a few seconds.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
The Royal Festival Hall – London’s concert hall built for the 1951 Festival of Britain -- is set to re-open in June 2007 as part of a major redevelopment of The South Bank Centre beside the River Thames. The opening concert is expected to feature four orchestras and 250 musicians in a unique event. A new extension building alongside Hungerford rail bridge has already opened, with retail and food outlets including Foyles and Wagamama.
The improvements to the Royal Festival Hall will include better acoustics, seats with increased leg room and more cushioning. It also features a new Education Centre with studio and performance spaces, and improved access, including a glass lift to all levels.
Major features of the redevelopment are the foyers with many aspects of the original 1951 design reinstated, including roof terraces, enlarged entrances and a new Riverside Café in its original location. The opening season will also include a ballet gala and a museum show by sculptor Antony Gormley. The opening concert will feature all four resident orchestras: the London Philharmonic, the London Sinfonietta, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Website: www.southbankcentre.org.uk
Read about Walking Dickensian London by clicking here.
Interested in touring London's best food market? Click here
Posted by Mike Gerrard
With 2007 marking the centenary of the Scouting movement worldwide – it is 100 years since Robert Baden Powell held an experimental camp for boys on Brownsea Island, Dorset -- the Scout Association is planning a series of events across the UK.
The focus of a year of celebrations is the World Scout Jamboree (July 27-August 8) which will involve 40,000 scouts and leaders camping at Hylands Park, Chelmsford in Essex for 12 days. International dignitaries in attendance will include Queen Elizabeth II and the King of Sweden. Day tickets will be available.
Another highlight will be the Sunrise Camp on Brownsea Island (July 20-August 1) where two scouts from every Scouting country come together to build ‘peace between countries’. The exact anniversary of the first camp in 1907 (August 1) will see the entire camp wake to watch the sun rise.
The National Trust, the guardian of Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, welcomes hundreds of scouts and guides to the island every year and has its own celebrations planned for the centenary. These include a new activity centre on the existing campsite; an exhibition in the Baden-Powell Camp Centre; guided walks on the Birthplace of Scouting and family activity days.
Websites: www.scout.org.uk; www.nationaltrust.org.uk.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
A new website, www.boutiqueboltholes.co.uk, boasting 'cottages to rival boutique hotels' and aiming to cater to the growing demand for ‘hometels’, has been launched. The properties featured are available for short lets, often by the night, and, along with stylish interior design, offer services ranging from housekeepers, private chefs, beauty therapists and even cocktail waiters!
The collection ranges from the cowboy kitsch of Cliff Barns in Norfolk, to the minimal elegance of Berkeley House in Tetbury, and the seaside chic of ‘The Apartment’ in St Ives. Rentals are from £150 (US$280) per night based on four sharing the two-bedroom ‘Apartment St Ives’.
The founder of the Boutique Boltholes website, Sian Williams, said: 'Boutique Boltholes are more ‘self-indulgent’ than ‘self-catering’. In the same way that most people would pick the space, privacy and freedom of a villa over a hotel when overseas, why not do same here? You’re more likely to find design classics and original artworks at a Boutique Boltholes property than country pine and chintz.'
Seven properties are currently on offer with a further four in the pipeline and more to be added on a monthly basis. To date, properties are all UK-based but the portfolio is expected to include overseas properties from January. The current collection ranges from indulgent escapes for couples or small groups, to huge properties for up to 30, which are ideal for celebration breaks or even corporate events.
For more details see www.boutiqueboltholes.co.uk
To read my piece about Baby-Friendly Boltholes, click here
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Tucked away in the heart of the Cairngorm National Park in The Scottish Highlands is the Macdonald Aviemore Highland Resort. The resort is the gateway to some of Scotland’s most breathtaking scenery. With the UK’s only reindeer centre a few miles away and the chance to sleddog with huskies it’s the perfect place to capture the Christmas spirit – and you never know, it might even be white!
The family-friendly resort boasts extensive shopping facilities. ‘The Brands are Gathering’ has famous names including Paul Costello, Miss Sixty and Ralph Lauren, as well as gifts, toys and books for all the family and fine Scottish foods and delicacies.
Dining in the hotel varies, with five restaurants to choose from. They range from the fine dining Aspects serving locally sourced gourmet dishes, to the Highland Food Court, which offers good value family food.
Santa Break
This two day break is ideal for families. Kids can meet Santa in his magical forest workshop to receive a free present, visit the reindeers and huskies, travel to the highest snow capped mountain, and if weather permits, can sledge on the green. Children will also love the resort’s Pantomime, Dick Whittington, and adults can enjoy the extensive spa and leisure activities. The family package, based on two adults and up to two children sharing a family room, start at £245 (US$470) for two nights. The price includes breakfast and dinner on the first night in the Highland Food Court and the Christmas cabaret dinner on the second night.
Festive Family Fun
Make a real occasion of Christmas with this four night family break. The package includes four nights accommodation, all meals, tickets to the Christmas Panto, Dick Whittington, family ceilidh, Christmas show and Christmas Day Santa parade with Rudolph the red nosed reindeer and friends, a visit to Santa’s workshop and a Boxing Day banquet. Prices start from £150 (US$285) per child and £245 (US$470) per adult.
For reservations click on their website: www.aviemorehighlandresort.com
Posted by Mike Gerrard
A new website is devoted to Robin Hood, the celebrated Nottinghamshire folk hero and his merry band of men. The website includes the 'six original tales' such as 'The Little Gest of Robyn Hood' and 'Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne' which were written as four-line rhymes. It also asks 'Who is Robin Hood?' and includes the history of Robin as seen by film and TV viewers over the years. There is a downloadable trailer for the latest BBC television series of his adventures which has been a recent popular hit on British TV.
Nottingham, a lively city, is 130 miles north of London and surrounded by delightful market towns and countryside. The Robin Hood website, part of Experience Nottinghamshire’s marketing, features places to visit around Nottingham and Sherwood Forest and suggested short break packages in the area.
I like Nottingham. It's the kind of regional British city so often overlooked by overseas visitors as they don't really know too much about it. Yet there's lots to see and do, including one of the many claimants to the title of the oldest inn in England – one day I'm going to draw up a list of all the pubs who claim to be the oldest! But meanwhile, if you're at all interested in Robin Hood then this website is a must.
Website: www.visitnotts.com/robinhoodbreaks.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Virgin Atlantic has developed a new menu specialising in British produce for its Upper Class passengers onboard flights originating from the UK for 2007. The initiative will launch in December 2006 complete with a two-week menu of traditional British Christmas food over the festive season. The concept of introducing seasonal specials will be a feature throughout 2007.
Andrew Day, Food & Drink Development Manager for Virgin Atlantic, said: 'We tested a ‘Best of British’ menu earlier this year and our passenger feedback was so overwhelmingly positive that we decided to implement a year long ‘Best of British’ menu to ensure we could build on the success of the trial and deliver quality food in true Virgin style. We will be offering Upper Class passengers a wide variety of freshly prepared food that will combine the following elements – the best of home grown British produce with a contemporary twist on traditional and using quality local seasonal ingredients from regional suppliers.'
Starters will include dishes such as Broccoli & Hartington Creamery Stilton soup. Main courses range from traditional beef hotpot served with roasted winter vegetables to a creamy fish pie with Taw Valley or Davidstow cheddar cheese mash topping served with creamed leeks and carrots. Desserts that will feature on the menu will be a festive rhubarb trifle and a Bramley apple and blackberry crumble served with custard.
The Freedom menu offers a wide selection of light bites, main meals and snacks that can be ordered at any time during the flight allowing the passenger to eat what they want when they want. There is also a specialist cocktail service onboard selected flights, where a Bombay Sapphire mixologist offers a choice of cocktails for passengers at the onboard bar in the Upper Class cabin.
The award-winning Upper Class Suite, consists of a reclining leather seat for take off, a place to sit and eat a proper meal opposite your partner, the longest fully flat bed in the world with a proper mattress for sleeping on, a private onboard bar to enjoy a drink with your friends, a private massage zone and four limousines per return trip. The Upper Class experience also includes Drive Thru Check In, the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse, the restaurant style inflight Freedom menu and a state-of-the-art inflight entertainment system.
For further information visit the website: www.virginatlantic.com
Posted by Mike Gerrard
The world is seeing a new side of London's Buckingham Palace. Floodlights have been switched on to allow visitors to enjoy the full spectacle of the monarch's London home throughout the long winter nights. A total of 59 LED, connected to no less than 1,300 metres of cable, now highlight the main architectural highlights of the building, with six of the lights being fixed into the ground to spotlight the three portico columns.
Not all sections of the Palace are lit, but the most famous aspect of the Palace is there for all to see: the balcony which has played host to generations of royalty and been the centrepiece of some of the nation's most memorable occasions, from Royal weddings to birthdays to victory celebrations marking the end of World War II.
What's more, it's been officially announced that the lights are to remain in place during the winter months for the rest of the Queen's reign.
Predictably not everyone is happy - green campaigners have already condemned the move as irresponsible!
Want to be one of the first London visitors to see the new spectacle? Coach House London Rentals, the leading specialist in short term central London rentals still have a few properties available over the Christmas and New Year Period, including some larger properties sleeping 6-10. Full details plus availability check their website: www.rentals.chslondon.com.
Read about Walking Dickensian London by clicking here.
To read about Royal Windsor: Castle and Queen click on http://ukirelandtravel.suite101.com/article.cfm/royal_windsor__castle_and_queen
Posted by Mike Gerrard
For London 2007 New Year's Eve Events click here.
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London’s official celebration of New Year will include a spectacular fireworks display at the London Eye observation wheel, marking the midnight moment on 31 December. Choreographed by renowned pyrotechnician Christophe Berthonneau, it will be seen from high ground and balconies all over the capital and shown on BBC television. Website: www.visitlondon.com.
Soul music fans can look forward to David Gest’s All-Star Soul Spectacular over the New Year weekend. To be staged December 29-31 at the Cadogan Hall, London SW1, the production has Grammy and Oscar award winners including Peabo Bryson, Stylistics lead singer Russell Thompkins, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Deniece Williams, Freda Payne, Billy Paul, Dorothy Moore and William Bell. The line-up includes a 20-member band and dance team. Tickets cost from £49 (US$95), with those for the New Year’s Eve concert costing £125 (US$240) and £150 (US$285). To book call +0044 (0)20 7730 4500. Website: www.cadoganhall.com.
Or how about seeing in the New Year with samba dance classes? That’s the plan at London’s Thistle Marble Arch Hotel, which will have a celebration evening with a difference. Its New Year's Eve package includes cabaret dinner with wine in the ballroom, champagne at midnight, the live Samba dance classes, band, dancers and a disco until 2am, for £67.50 (US$128) per person. Other Thistle Hotels are planning their own specials over the festive period. Website: www.thistlechristmas.com.
The Four Seasons Hotel on Park Lane is preparing a gourmet gala dinner on New Year’s Eve. The cost is £225 (US$430), including wines at each course. Reservations, tel: +0044 (0)20 7907 5323. Website: www.fourseasons.com
Posted by Mike Gerrard
17 of Marriott’s Greater London hotels, from The Grosvenor House Hotel to Marriott County Hall Hotel, have achieved Green Globe certification, the most respected worldwide standard for sustainable travel and tourism. They are among the first UK hotels to achieve this standard which gives London visitors the choice of booking with a hotel group that has demonstrated a measurable commitment to reducing the environmental impact of its business activities
Rapidly growing environmental concerns have led to more and more individuals and businesses making travel and tourism choices that minimise the impact on the environment, whether for holiday, business travel, conference or training purposes. Green Globe accreditation, which was created from the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio, certifies that the organisation, from a destination to a hotel, cruise ship or destination, is adhering to specific environmental and social standards.
Reg Easy, MD of Green Globe Global, explains: 'Having Green Globe gives clients the assurance that Marriott’s London Hotels have been independently assessed and that they meet our environmental and social standards.'
Stuart Bowery, general manager of the Marriott County Hall Hotel and chair of Marriott’s London Business Council said: 'We are delighted to be among the first UK hotels to have achieved Green Globe certification. It is testament to our commitment to reducing the environmental impact of our business activities, and recognises the efforts of every one of our associates at every level in the company.'
Green Globe is a worldwide sustainable travel and tourism standard that is internationally recognised and those booking a Marriott-operated, Green Globe accredited hotel will be making a positive environmental choice. Green Globe 21 standard is the most recognised and respected sustainability standard in Travel and Tourism. It was created following the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio where the principles of sustainable travel were defined in agenda 21 and adopted by 182 governments worldwide. It was from these principals that the World Travel & Tourism Council developed the Green Globe standards.
The Marriott hotels which have achieved Green Globe certification are: Bexleyheath, The Grosvenor House Hotel, Heathrow, County Hall, Grosvenor Square, Kensington, Maida Vale, Marble Arch, Regent’s Park, West India Quay, Hanbury Manor, Slough/Windsor and Waltham Abbey; Renaissance Hotels at Chancery Court, Gatwick, Heathrow and Reading.
Visit the Green Globe Global website here: www.greenglobeglobal.com
Visit the Marriott Hotels website here: http://marriott.co.uk
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Children’s favourites Winnie-the-Pooh and Dr Who share centre stage with Sergeant Pepper, the Stiff Upper Lip and the Peak District, as new Icons of England, voted for by the public and selected by a panel of experts. Their iconic status is confirmed today (November 10) as ICONS – A Portrait of England – www.ICONS.org.uk - announces its fourth wave of national icons.
The project, which launched in January, now includes 74 official Icons of England which have been given the star treatment online with themed in-depth features, quizzes, video clips and interviews on the site. Funded initially by Culture Online, part of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, ICONS has attracted more than 700 nominations, with people voting and commenting on their favourite icons. More than 800,000 people have visited the site.
Icons on the site already are:
- Alice In Wonderland
- The Angel of the North
- The Archers
- Big Ben
- Blackpool Tower
- The Bobby
- Bowler Hat
- Brick Lane
- Cricket
- A Cup of Tea
- The Domesday Book
- Eden Project
- The FA Cup
- Fish and chips
- Fox-hunting and the Ban
- Globe Theatre
- Hadrian's Wall
- The Hay Wain
- Hedges
- HMS Victory
- Holbein's Henry VIII
- Jerusalem
- The King James Bible
- The Lake District
- Lindisfarne Gospels
- Magna Carta
- The Mini
- Miniskirt
- Monty Python
- Morris Dancing
- Notting Hill Carnival
- Oak Tree
- The Origin Of Species
- Oxbridge
- The Oxford English Dictionary
- Parish Church
- The Pint
- Pride And Prejudice
- The Pub
- Punch and Judy
- Queen's Head Stamp
- Robin Hood
- The Routemaster Bus
- Rugby
- Sherlock Holmes
- The Spitfire
- SS Empire Windrush
- St George's Flag
- Stonehenge
- Sutton Hoo Helmet
- Tower of London
- White Cliffs of Dover
- York Minster
And the new arrivals as Icons of England today are revealed as:
- Winnie-the-Pooh
- Westminster Abbey
- Stiff upper lip
- Narrow-boats on canals
- Cheddar
- Rolls Royce
- English Weather
- The Tube Map
- The V Sign
- The Robin
- The Peak District
- Ironbridge
- Guy Fawkes Night
- Dr Who
- Sergeant Pepper
- The Thames
- Red telephone box
- The Rose
- Wimbledon
- Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding
- Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management
Celebrities ranging from Michael Palin, Greg Rusedski, Sir Henry Cooper, Dame Ellen McArthur to Griff Rhys Jones have all joined in the ICONS debate about what makes an Icon of England.
"When I was a lad in Sheffield, the Peak District was some kind of exotic, faraway land which I could get to without spending a lot of money. I explored the Peak District on my bicycle, so it was somewhere I kind of discovered myself. It was a wonderful place to be let loose in. Up there on the tops there was really lovely scenery with fantastic views. The Peak District provided me early on with the inspiration to travel and go to places that were different from where I lived." Michael Palin
"Wimbledon is the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world. As a tennis player your dream is to play there. The history and beauty and the all-important Centre Court is what makes it so special. Your mind runs through all the greats who have played on the hallow ground. May Wimbledon always stay the same – it is one of my Icons of England." Greg Rusedski, England tennis player
Visit the ICONS website: www.ICONS.org.uk
Posted by Mike Gerrard
I've been hearing good things about London's new Hoxton Hotel, where you can get rooms for as low as £59 a night (US$112). It's a place that seems to combine the approach of a boutique hotel with the no-frills of a budget airline. And like low-cost airlines, the sooner you book, the better chance you have of getting a bargain rate.
I haven't stayed at the Hoxton Hotel myself, but there's a thorough report on the place in the travel section of the UK's Independent newspaper, which you can read by clicking here: http://travel.independent.co.uk/uk/article1914255.ece
The Hoxton Hotel's own website is at www.hoxtonhotels.com.
Read about Walking Dickensian London by clicking here.
Interested in touring London's best food market? Click here
Posted by Mike Gerrard
At the weekend Britain's Guardian newspaper carried a travel piece in which various writers reported in on England's food. As it's a subject I know people are really interested in right now, I thought I'd list the link in case you missed it. It's well worth a look, so click here.
You might need to register if you try to click on the link, but it's a quick and painless process that takes less than a minute. Or you can go to the Guardian's front page and click on the Travel section: www.guardian.co.uk.
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Interested in touring London's best food market? Click here
Posted by Mike Gerrard
To mark the 400th anniversary in May of the first permanent English settlement in America at Jamestown, Virginia, the Museum in Docklands is hosting an exhibition celebrating the importance of London and Londoners to this event. Journey to the New World: London 1606-Virginia 1607 (November 23 2006-May 13 2007) will use clothes and coins, prints and maps and maritime instruments to help illustrate the story of the settlement. Open daily, adults £5 (US$9.50). Visit the website: www.museumindocklands.org.uk
Another exhibition, at the British Museum, is looking at the earliest visual records of the flora, fauna and people of America. A New World: England’s first view of America (March 15-June 17 2007) displays some 70 watercolours by John White which gave Elizabethan England its first view of America. Open daily, adults £7 (US$13). Visit the website: www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk.
The most comprehensive exhibition for 30 years of the work of the artist William Hogarth opens at Tate Britain (February 7-April 29 2007). It examines Hogarth's whole range of work from elegant conversational pieces to salacious brothel scenes and highlights his contribution to the development of British modern art. Open daily, adults £10 (US$19). Visit the website: www.tate.org.uk
The first ever exhibition of fans from the Royal Collection will be on display at The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace (November 17 2006- February 11 2007). Unfolding Pictures: Fans in the Royal Collection brings together over 80 examples of fans from the early 17th century to the 1930s, passed down through the royal family and used at weddings, christenings and coronations including a leather fan said to have belonged to King Charles I. Open daily, adults £7.50 (US$14.25)7. Visit the website: www.royalcollection.org.uk
Kylie Minogue’s gold lame hotpants form part of the display in a free exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Kylie (February 8-June 10 2007) examines the Australian performer and style icon with 45 costumes, accessories and images. Open daily, free. Visit the website: www.vam.ac.uk.
Read about Walking Dickensian London by clicking here
Posted by Mike Gerrard
London’s biggest free annual event will take place December 15-17 on the banks of the River Thames. The Frost Fair is set against the backdrop of Shakespeare’s Globe and Tate Modern and will start with a lantern procession on the 15th at 4pm. Bankside will be transformed into a winter wonderland with stalls selling food and gifts, along with ice sculpting and entertainment.
Glenlivet Reindeer from The Crown Estate in Scotland, Santa’s grotto and a wreath making workshops are all part of the programme of events for the first Winter Woodland at the Savill Building in Windsor Great Park, starting at the end of November. The Savill Building contains a shop, gallery and restaurant and is situated within The Savill Garden, four miles from Windsor Castle (half an hour’s drive from London). Website: www.theroyallandscape.co.uk.
Follow in the footsteps of King Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth I and Francis Drake at the Joust Christmas Gourmet Feast in the Great Hall of Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire. This realistic medieval banquet on December 14 is accompanied by jesters and fortune tellers and is an opportunity to see this historic castle (completed in 1153) as it might have been used. Tickets cost £90 (US$170). To book phone +00-44 (0)20 7482 0115 or visit the website at: www.joust.info.
London’s Oxford Street Christmas Lights will be illuminated on Thursday November 9 (until January 6) in a free event starting at 6pm. This famous shopping street, home to Selfridges department store and many more, will be transformed by three-dimensional chandeliers suspended between the 300 shops and restaurants. To find out more, visit www.oxfordstreet.co.uk.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
When people think of European river cruises they tend to think of continental Europe and rivers like the Rhine, the Rhone and the Loire. But there's lovely cruising to be had on the upper reaches of England's River Thames. Luxury cruises too, on the hotel barge Actief, operated by European Waterways.
The Actief is 100 years old in 2007, and to celebrate that fact, European Waterways is offering a special discount on all its 2007 Actief cruises, if bookings are made before 31st December. The discount of £270 per person will apply to all bookings, whether you're booking as a single traveler, a couple or chartering the entire vessel for a special group event.
The six night cruises start for most people by being picked up after Sunday lunch at the Goring Hotel in central London, which I've written about elsewhere (click here). After a visit to the medieval village church at Ewelme, where Chaucer's grand-daughter is buried, there's time for an English cream tea and later a Champagne reception.
On Monday you cruise to Oxford, and on Tuesday through the countryside which inspired Kenneth Grahame's classic book, A Wind in the Willows. The week continues with visits to Henley-on-Thames and the River and Rowing Museum, and to the medieval village of Hurley. Here Ye Olde bell claims to be England's oldest inn, founded by monks in 1135.
After a visit to a boatyard it's on to Cliveden, former home of the Astor family and with fabulous gardens to visit. the final day's mooring is right below Windsor Castle, from where there's a visit to Eton College, founded in 1440 and alma mater to the royal princes, Prince William and Prince Harry. After free time for shopping and touring, there's a farewell dinner and next morning a return transfer either to Heathrow Airport or back to the Goring Hotel. So if you're thinking of exploring the European Waterways in 2007, don't forget the River Thames!
To find out more about the cruise and European Waterways visit their website at www.gobarging.com.
The Goring: London's best hotel? Read my Article about the Goring here: http://ukirelandtravel.suite101.com/article.cfm/london_s_best_hotel_
Posted by Mike Gerrard
If you want to have a quality Christmas break in London this year, then the Athenaeum Hotel offers 5-star luxury comfort. It's right on Piccadilly in the heart of London's West End, so many of the major theatres and daytime attractions are within easy walking distance.
You can walk to Buckingham Palace or Harrods, stroll in Green Park or go shopping along Oxford Street with equal ease. Regent Street is even closer, with its fabulous Christmas lights. And with double rooms on offer from £110 (US$210) per night, if you were planning a London visit for the holiday season, take a look at their website by clicking here.
You can also read my piece about upscale London b&b's by clicking here.
Interested in touring London's best food market? Click here
Posted by Mike Gerrard
'Have dinner on us,' that’s the generous invitation from The Lake Vyrnwy Hotel,just over the Shropshire border in Powys – for autumn and winter breaks until end of January. Valid for all midweek stays (excluding Christmas and New Year) in a lake view room, this special offer means guests paying for B&B will also receive a fabulous five-course complimentary dinner each evening, which usually costs £33.50 (US$65). Room prices start from just £80 (US$155) per person per night, based on two sharing.
The Lake Vyrnwy Hotel is a Victorian country house hotel that sits in the 24,000 acre Vyrnwy estate, which is filled with wildlife. Bird watchers will be especially pleased as 16,000 acres of that estate is a protected reserve managed by the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds). The hotel provides free maps and marked nature trails to enable guests to fully enjoy the birds and other wildlife.
Other activities on offer include tennis (if it's not too cold!), fishing, cycling, canoeing, rock climbing and archery, amongst many other things. Falconry, white-water rafting and 4-wheel driving are also available, but only for groups of eight people or more.
The Lake Vyrnwy has views of Snowdonia, and isn't far from attractions such as Powis Castle and the Hanging Gardens, Welshpool and the Centre for Alternative Technology. Sounds like there's plenty to do to help you work up an appetite for that free dinner when you get back to the Lake Vyrnwy.
To check out the hotel's website and some sample menus, click here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Jersey's Fete de Noue (which means Christmas Festival in the lovely local language of Jersiais) has been going now for seven years. It's a combination of Christmas fun and arts festival and shows that December is a wonderful time to visit the Channel Islands. People think of them as a summer destination, but their southerly location and the protection of the Bay of St Malo mean they're the warmest and sunniest part of the British Isles.
The Fete de Noue includes lots of fabulous winter entertainment, including winter wonderland walks, a Normandy market, a funfair, moonlight parades, Christmas markets with roast chestnuts and mulled wine, ghoulish walks around historic sites, Christmas carols, gourmet walks, a grand Christmas Concert with the Jersey Symphony Orchestra... the list goes on and on, as does the Festival which runs from 1-24 December.
The Modern Hotels group is offering special Fete de Noue three-night stays from £109 (US$208) per person, or four-night breaks from £129 (US$246) per person. These twin-share prices are valid throughout November and December and include a return ferry crossing from Weymouth or Poole in Dorset, transfers and accommodation with breakfast at the Mayfair Hotel in St Helier.
To book, go to the Modern hotels website by clicking here.
To find out more about Jersey's Fete de Noue and download this year's programme by going to the events section of the Jersey Tourism website, click here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
As I've got a flight booked with British Airways on their wonderful direct route from London to Phoenix, I received the following email from them this morning, so pass it on for the benefit of anyone travelling to or through the UK, Ireland and the rest of the EU (European Union).
"The new rules apply to all air travellers travelling from any EU airport, as well those travelling from Switzerland, Norway and Iceland, regardless of their destination. The changes will be effective from November 6, 2006.
Liquids must be held in individual containers not exceeding 100ml (approximately 4 fl. oz).
Limited quantities of liquids, gels and pastes may include:
- Shampoo
- Creams
- Suntan lotions
- Toothpaste
- Hair gel, hair spray
- Perfumes
- Liquid or aerosol deodorants
- Cosmetics such as mascara and lip gloss
- Water and other drinks, soups and syrups
- Other items of a similar consistency
All liquid containers must be carried in a separate clear plastic, zip-top or re-sealable bag that does not exceed 20 cm x 20 cm (8 inches x 8 inches) or one litre capacity.
Items must fit in the bag comfortably and the bag must be completely closed.
At the airport security search, the plastic bag must be removed from the cabin bag and x-ray screened separately.
The new policy will also mean the customers travelling on flights from the UK will now be able to take the same quantity of liquids through airport security search points in their cabin bags from this date."
For more information, visit the British Airways website by clicking here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
LEONARDO DA VINCI: EXPERIENCE, EXPERIMENT AND DESIGN 14 SEPTEMBER 2006 - 7 JANUARY 2007 This exhibition provides an unrivalled insight into the mind of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), featuring 60 superb examples of his drawings from British collections brought together for the first time. A number of Leonardo's notebooks are also part of the display ADDITIONAL LATE OPENING: EVERY SUNDAY UNTIL 20.00 (EXCEPT 24 AND 31 DECEMBER) Admission £10, Concessions £5/ £7, joint ticket with At Home in Renaissance Italy £12. Bookings 0870 906 3883 or bookings.office@vam.ac.uk
AT HOME IN RENAISSANCE ITALY 5 OCTOBER 2006 - 7 JANUARY 2007 The riches of the Renaissance interior, and its central role in the flowering of Italian art and culture, are the subject of this exhibition. Masterpieces by Donatello, Carpaccio, Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, Titian and Veronese, as well as exquisite treasures once in the Medici collections, demonstrate how works of art were originally conceived for affluent Renaissance homes.
ADDITIONAL LATE OPENING: EVERY SUNDAY UNTIL 20.00 (EXCEPT 24 AND 31 DECEMBER) Admission £7, Concessions £5
Joint ticket with Leonardo da Vinci: £12.
Bookings 0870 906 3883 or bookings.office@vam.ac.uk
TWILIGHT: PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE MAGIC HOUR 10 OCTOBER - 17 DECEMBER 2006 Twilight's otherworldly and alchemical qualities have long attracted artists. This exhibition draws together works by contemporary photographers and video artists who have explored the visual and psychological effects of twilight. The exhibition includes bodies of works by leading photographers Philip-Lorca diCorcia and Gregory Crewdson, alongside emerging talents such as Liang Yue and Chrystel Lebas and will feature a specially commissioned film installation by Ori Gersht. Admission £5, Concessions £4. Bookings 0870 906 3883 or bookings.office@vam.ac.uk
NEW GALLERY JAMEEL GALLERY OF ISLAMIC ART The V&A's new Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art shows over 400 treasures from the Middle East. A highlight is the famous Ardabil carpet from 16th century Persia, the world's oldest dated carpet and one of the largest in the world. Masterpieces of Egyptian rock crystal, Turkish ceramics, textiles and metalwork tell the story of Islamic art in the Middle East from 9th century to the First World War.
For further details of the exhibtions and events in the V&A in December, visit their website by clicking here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Are you going out anywhere to celebrate Guy Fawkes Night? If you want some last-minute ideas for celebrating November 5th in London then read my Article on London's Guy Fawkes Celebrations here.
But it's never too early to plan ahead, so November 5th seemed a good day to publish a piece letting you know about the biggest fire festival in Europe. This takes place at Lerwick in the Shetland Isles of Scotland at the end of January. As the end of January is more likely to find me in southern Arizona than northern Scotland, it's probably an event I'll never get to witness. So I asked two top Scottish experts who have been there, Hugh Taylor and Moira McCrossan, to tell you all about it. You can read their account of the day's events here, and see one of Hugh's amazing images of the longship burning and one of the local 'Vikings' too.
The article will also tell you where to get more information from the local tourist office, who can help you plan a trip and book accommodation before it all goes. But you'll have to be quick, which is why I'm putting the information up now and not the day before it happens!
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Wales is a beautiful country, and I'm very fond of it. Each year my parents would take us off for our annual summer holidays in North Wales, to places like Rhyl, Prestatyn, Llandudno and Gronant. We'd make trips to explore Snowdonia, visit the castles at Conwy and Caernarvon, and go and see the Swallow Falls at Betws-y-Coed. More recently I've got to know Cardiff well, and the nearby Brecon Beacons. So I'm delighted to see a new guide to Wales, About Wales, which shows the country in all its glory.
About Wales is the latest in a series of handsome books produced by the Cardiff-based publishers, Graffeg. They've previously published books about Cardiff, the Welsh National Opera, Food in Wales and the Welsh landscape. The Graffeg books are distinguished by their impressive use of excellent colour photography, and by their choice of expert authors.
The author of About Wales is David Williams, who also wrote and took some of the photographs for Graffeg's Landscape Wales and About Cardiff books. He's a Welsh-speaking graduate of the University of Wales, so safe to say he knows his subject.
From my look through the book, he knows his way round a camera, too. They're the kind of colorful photos that really make you want to get out there and be joining in whatever's going on. You'll see what I mean as the excellent Graffeg website allows you to look inside the book and see ten sample spreads from it: click here.
About Wales lists over 250 things for people to do or to visit, along with accommodation and restaurant suggestions too. It's not cheap at £14.99 for a paperback, but it's large format (250mm x 200mm) and is more of a cross between coffee-table book and guidebook. My only worry is that it's such a good-looking and well-produced book, that you may not want to stick it in your backpack or throw it in your car like you would a regular guidebook. But that's a minor concern and Graffeg (it's the Welsh for Graphics, by the way) are to be congratulated on About Wales.
You can order About Wales online at the Graffeg website. Click here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
The Irish budget airline Ryanair has reduced its baggage limit from 20kg to 15kg, only eight months after increasing it. The checked baggage limit rose to 20kg in March at the same time as charges were first introduced, but from November 1st passengers will only be able to check baggage weighing up to 15kg. The cost will be £7 (US$13) per bag, or £3.50 (US$6.50) per bag if paid in advance.
From November 1st, if your checked baggage weighs more than 15kg then a charge of £5.50 (US$10.50) will be applied per kilogram, up to a maximum of 32kg per bag. Ryanair has changed its checked baggage charge several times so far this year. When introduced in March 2006 the charge was £5 (US$9.55), then in September it was raised to £7 (US$13.40). Ryanair has also been criticised because individual baggage limits can no longer be shared between people travelling together.
Ryanair is not the only carrier to have introduced fees for passengers' checked baggage. On September 1, easyJet introduced a charge of £10 (US$19.10) to check in more than one piece of luggage to the hold, or £5 (US$9.55) if paid in advance. Passengers traveling from the USA, Canada and other countries, and then making onward European flight bookings with Ryanair, easyJet and other budget airlines, are advised to check these additional charges before booking, as they do keep changing.
Visit the Ryanair website by clicking here.
Visit the easyJet website by clcking here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Glasgow is one of the UK's cheapest cities when it comes to hotel rooms, according to a survey released by hotels.com, the online hotel booking agency. The survey compares hotel room prices in major cities across the United Kingdom between April and June this year.
The average price of a hotel room in Glasgow was £73 per night. That compares with £91 for London, £98 for Belfast, £100 for Edinburgh and a massive £120 for Cardiff. The most expensive place was Bath, where rooms cost an average of £130 a night – almost twice the cost of a night in Glasgow. The only two major cities that were cheaper than Glasgow were Nottingham at £70 a night and Luton at £58. With all due respect to the last two, I think it shows that Glasgow offers the best bang per bucks in the UK at the moment.
It also shows how Glasgow has come on since the 1980s, when its reputation as a tough city meant that no-one in their right mind would think of it as a city break destination. In 1984 Glasgow only had four hotels! Today there are 114 Glasgow hotels with 12,500 rooms and with over 30,000 people working in the hotel business. And very often every hotel room is full when a big event is on.
Bearing in mind that readers of Conde Nast Traveler recently voted Glasgow the best place in Britain for foreign visitors, you'd better book well ahead if you're planning a visit. And if you're not - why not??
To find out more about Glasgow's attractions visit the See Glasgow home page by clicking here.
Read about Glasgow's Celtic Connections Music Festival by clicking here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
It sounds like the Christmas of your childhood dreams – log fires, Christmas trees, crisp winter walks, a Christmas carol service in the local church, mulled wine, music and far too much wonderful food and drink. The Ardanaiseig hotel in Kilchrenan, by Oban in Argyll, on the west coast of Scotland, will be having all that and more for guests lucky enough to book into one of its 16 rooms over the Christmas holiday period.
As well as winning the Most Romantic Hotel in Scotland Award this year at the Scottish Hotel Awards, the Ardanaiseig and its Chef de Cuisine Gary Goldie have recently been placed top in a survey of the best five Hotel Restaurants in Scotland published in the Glasgow Herald newspaper.
The owner of the Ardanaiseig is Bennie Gray, the founder of Gray's Antique Markets in London. They'll be familiar to anyone who's been a regular London visitor. It does mean that the hotel has some splendid antique furniture around, in keeping with its history. It was built in 1834 for Colonel Archibald Campbell of Clan Campbell, and stands by Loch Awe in the Scottish Highlands.
Right on the shores of Loch Awe is, not surprisingly, the Boat Shed. This has now been turned into luxury self-contained accommodation, with its own sitting room and small kitchen. Am elevated king-size bed also gives breathtaking panoramic views across the loch – quite a sight to wake up to on Christmas morning. Other Christmas treats include a gourmet five-course dinner on Christmas Eve, a traditional Christmas lunch followed by a seafood buffet in the evening. Then on Boxing Day you can walk by the loch or into the Highlands, to work up an appetite for the Black Tie dinner on Boxing Day evening. There's also dancing at a ceilidh too.
And the price? It's from £160 (US$300) per person per night for full board, based on two sharing for a minimum of four nights. But you can get a 20% discount by booking before December 1st. Click here.
To read about Glasgow's cheap hotel room rates, click here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
The Monty Python musical Spamalot opened last week in London's West End, following on from its successful run on Broadway. It made me wonder whether visitors to the historic English university city of Cambridge, only about twenty miles from where I live, are aware of the place it has in the history of British comedy?
Without Cambridge there might be no Monty Python's Flying Circus, and so no Spamalot. There might be no Fawlty Towers, no Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, no Beyond the Fringe. Many of Britain's greatest modern comic talents went to Cambridge or Oxford, but Cambridge in particular with its Footlights reviews seemed to attract some of the greatest comic names.
So to reveal a little more about Cambridge's comedy connections I've written an article about the city, which you can read by clicking here.
For the official Spamalot London site click here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Green travel doesn't mean boring travel. Sustainable tourism doesn't mean doing without travel's little luxuries. The Foot Trails walking holiday company have won an award for 'Tourism Experience of the Year', thanks to their walking holidays in England's West Country.
The company was only formed four years ago by husband and wife team David and Alison Howell. They have lived and walked in the West Country all of their lives, covering Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset and the Cotswolds. In 1995 they took three months off to walk through France from the north coast to the south coast, and it was then that they hatched their plan to set up their own walking holiday company. It took a while to turn it into reality, but as the Chinese philosopher said: 'The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single footstep.'
One thing that the couple agreed on was that walkers deserve their creature comforts at the end of the day. If you've walked for ten or fifteen miles, hopefully in sunshine but perhaps in rain, then you've earned a comfortable room and a tasty meal at the end of the day. The Foot Trails walks and weekends were devised with just that in mind.
One look at the Foot Trails website had me hooked, and requesting copies of their mini-brochures that are available by email. A weekend to see England's wonderful bluebell woods caught my eye, especially as one of them coincides with my birthday. Another option that I really want to do is their Inn to Inn self-guided walk, where you end up each night at a lovely English country inn, for good company, good food, good beer and a comfortable room.
So congratulations to Foot Trails on their award. I'd never heard of the company before but now I've found out about them I want to go on one of their holidays immediately. The hard part would be choosing which one. Just take a look at their website and I think you'll agree. Click here
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Yesterday I wrote about my sadness at the death of Eric Newby, the kind of travel writer who was full of life. Game for an adventure, as any of his travel books show, Newby was one of the last of a certain breed of gung-ho English adventurer, who never lost his sense of humor.
I interviewed Eric Newby on the phone once, for a piece I was writing about travel writers and their notebooks. I wanted to know what kind of notebook they used, when did they write their notes, how did they protect their precious notes against loss or theft? Ten years later, I remember two of the things Eric Newby told me, without even referring to my own notes.
Newby said that he always used a pencil for his note-taking, never a pen. On the journey that resulted in his first book A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush he used a pencil, partly because it wouldn't freeze as a pen would in some of the extreme conditions he encountered. But the main reason he stuck with a pencil, he told me, was that one day the horse he was riding went into a river and it was much deeper than expected. His saddlebags and notebook got soaked, and he realised then that if he'd been using a pen (this was in the days of fountain pens) he would have lost his notes, but his pencil notes were still readable when his notebook dried out.
His best story gave me the punchline to my article. When he did his book Slowly Down the Ganges, his notebook was a huge accounts ledger that he'd picked up somewhere. Partway through the trip he managed to leave it behind on a seat on a railway platform. He only realised what he'd done when they got off at their destination. He said he left his wife Wanda behind 'in a rat-infested hovel' and took a rickshaw back through the night all the way to the previous railway station. The ledger wasn't there. He roused the station manager from his bed, and to his relief the man said he had the account book in his office. Newby thanked him profusely, but the manager waved the thanks away and told him: 'Oh, it is only a work of literature, and of no interest to anyone.'
Read yesterday's Blog by clicking here.
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Read a blog about that other great travel writer Bruce Chatwin.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
The Concert in the Gardens will be one of the highlights of this year’s Royal Bank Street Party, which takes place in Edinburgh City Centre on 31 December 2006. In addition to the artists playing on the main stage at the Concert in the Gardens, there will be another three stages within the arena featuring other live acts from 10pm. Tickets for the event go on sale on Saturday 28 October.
Paolo Nutini said: “I am over the moon to be asked to play at the Hogmanay festivities in Scotland. It’s a thrill to be playing at home on the most special night of the year. I hope that we can really pull out all the stops and make sure the crowd has a roaring good night.”
Neil Tennant from the Pet Shop Boys added: “It’s great to be invited to play the party of the year in Edinburgh and we are really looking forward to putting on a memorable show.”
Pete Irvine, director of concert organisers Unique Events, said: ”Paolo Nutini has seen his debut album, These Streets, go platinum. The Pet Shop Boys are one of the most consistently successful artists in pop music. Their latest album, Fundamental, has been received as a career high and their new live album, Concrete, was released this week, while their live show has been the huge hit of this year’s European festivals and is currently getting rave reviews in the USA. They promise a special Hogmanay Hits Extravaganza and with the excitement of Paolo Nutini, this year’s Concert in the Gardens will be the best yet.”
Tickets for the Concert in the Gardens which are priced at £40.00 and £32.50 (plus £2.50 booking fee) go on sale on Saturday 28 October at 10am and are available in person from Edinburgh’s Hogmanay box office: The Hub, Castlehill, Edinburgh, EH1 2NE, by telephone on +44 (0) 131 473 2000 or buy online at www.edinburghshogmanay.com.
Other tickets which are currently available include: Royal Bank Street Party pass; The Royal Bank Street Party Packs; Ceilidh in the Gardens; the New Year Revels; Candlelit Concert tickets; vouchers for Torchlight Procession; the One O’Clock Run.
For more information about visiting Edinburgh for Hogmanay, or to book accommodation, go to www.visitscotland.com/citybreaks
See also my other Hogmanay blog by clicking here
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Eric Newby died on Friday, and I felt sad at the news. He is probably one of the reasons I'm a travel writer. I was a teenager when I found a copy of his book A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush in a second-hand bookshop. I think it was the title that appealed to me. It was wonderful, funny, evocative, beautifully descriptive of people and places. I knew I never had it in me to do that kind of adventurous journey, but it opened up to me the idea that there were other worlds out there to be explored.
When I first started writing full-time doing general magazine pieces, I always fancied doing a bit of travel writing. Well, who wouldn't? But everyone I met who had tried it all made it sound impossible to break into. Then I went to a travel writing evening held at The Observer newspaper, part of a series of evenings where they wanted to show off their new headquarters and to encourage closer ties with their readers.
Eric Newby was there, as he had been their Travel Editor and was still writing for them. He was brilliantly anarchic, disagreeing with their current Travel Editor Desmond Balmer on several things in an admirable 'devil-may-care' kind of a way. He and his wife Wanda circulated afterwards, and Eric encouraged me to try travel writing. I think he'd had a few. I can't remember what he said – I think I'd had a few too as I was nervous – but I remember coming away feeling more positive about trying.
I did try, and was lucky enough to sell the first travel piece I ever wrote, to The Daily Telegraph. I began suggesting ideas to them. One was to interview travel writers on how they kept notes when they were traveling, and how did they make sure they didn't lose them. I wrote to Eric Newby, and he rang me up. 'This won't take long, will it?' he said in a gruff manner which immediately made me nervous. Thirty minutes later he was still regaling me with stories. As I'm almost at the end of my Blog word-count for today, I'll tell you some tomorrow.
To read Part 2 click here
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Read a blog about that other great travel writer Bruce Chatwin.
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Posted by Mike Gerrard
Hotels are fine but you can get much more from a vacation in a city like London if you stay with a host family in a b&b. It can be easier on the budget too. Uptown Reservations has over 80 upscale London b&b's on its books, all in prime locations like South Kensington, Chelsea, Knightsbridge and right in the heart of the West End – yes, people do live there! Prices start from £72 (US$135) for a single room or £95 (US$180) for a double/twin room, including taxes, breakfast and your own private bath or shower room.
The Uptown Reservations website (click here) doesn't have a full listing of its properties, as they prefer to find London visitors exactly the right home for them. Some hosts will make you feel part of the family, while others will leave you to be independent if you wish. If you're planning to visit London's theatres a lot, then a room in Soho means you can walk home afterwards. If you're traveling with children and want to spend time in the museums, a place in South Kensington will put them right on your doorstep.
The hosts are all different too, of course. One's a photographer whose Kensington home has rooms furnished with flair, one whose bathroom is in a kind of cosy crypt, reached by going down a spiral staircase. Other of these upscale London b&b's are owned by actors, businessmen and diplomats. They are all happy to help you with your vacation, almost like having your own private concierge, and can be a more accurate unbiased guide to restaurants and shows than any guidebook. One home is owned by a real English Lord, whose central London house has its own private ballroom. Now wouldn't that be something to tell the folks back home!
Visit the Uptown Reservations website by clicking here.
Read about Walking Dickensian London by clicking here
Posted by Mike Gerrard
England's National Trust has looked after Thomas Hardy's Cottage since it was bequeathed to them in 1948. Located in Higher Bockhampton in Dorset, the inspiration for Hardy's Wessex novels, the cottage was built by Thomas Hardy's grandfather. The novelist and poet was born in the cottage in 1840, and lived there until he was 34. During that time he wrote two novels in the cottage, Under the Greenwood Tree and Far from the Madding Crowd.
Hardy's admirers have always been able to visit the cottage in summer, but the National Trust is now proposing to allow visitors to rent the cottage throughout the winter months too. It will be a way of keeping the cottage open all year round, as otherwise it remains locked once the summer visitors have left. Because the cottage needs to be kept as much as possible as it was when Hardy lived there, visitors will have to be prepared to live life as it was in the 1840's Dorset countryside.
So what will life be like in Thomas Hardy's Cottage? Water will come from an outside tap, though even that is a modern concession as Hardy's family drew their water from a well. Any laundry will have to be done by hand and cooking will be done on an open fire (though you will get lessons, authentic recipes and a food box). You will learn how to keep milk cold without a fridge, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem in an English winter. There will be a bathroom with a flushing toilet, and lighting will be provided by battery-powered candles. Real candles carry too much of a fire risk for the thatched cottage.
It is also hoped that visitors will be inspired to write there, and it should certainly be an inspiring place in which to live and work. But given the facilities, it will be a real hardy existence.
For more information visit:
National Trust Information on Hardy's Cottage
Posted by Mike Gerrard
English books and English authors feature in a new website launched by Enjoy England, the official English Tourist Board. A free map is available through the website, called Storybook England, and you can order it by clicking here. Books covered include the all-time favorite Harry Potter, and others such as Adrian Mole, Cider with Rosie, His Dark Materials, Shadowmancer, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Kes, Doctor Dolittle, Paddington Bear, Mary Poppins and classic titles like Lorna Doone, Peter Pan and Gulliver's Travels.
You can search the site for your favorite authors too, including JK Rowling, JRR Tolkein, Lewis Carroll, Michael Morpurgo - in fact almost everyone, from Enid Blyton to Ian Fleming. There's an online bookshop too, just in case you haven't got every single Harry Potter book yet, and I like the way the site is kept simple and can be used by adults or children.
The fancy graphics look good too, though they sometimes take a while to load and poor design means you have to go back to the Intro sequence, and then skip it, to return to the Home page. Click on your favorite book or author and some information pops up on the map, and the main books and authors have lots more information available by then clicking on the map itself. There are loads of links for gathering further information too.
The site also caters for teachers, who can download a teaching pack (click here) to help them create reading, geography and art lessons. Another link takes you direct to the Enjoy England website, where you can research more information about destinations and holidays in England. I might even see you at platform 9 ¾ at King's Cross Station, which I see every time I visit London!
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Cheap Dublin hotels? It used to be that all Dublin hotels were cheap, till the Irish economy began to boom and Dublin became a busy business centre, and was on every holidaymaker's 'city breaks' list. But it is still possible to find affordable accommodation in Dublin.
In fact what you see as a budget challenge might turn into the best aspect of your trip. Expensive hotels are lovely, but they're the same in every city in the world. By looking for more affordable options, you'll probably have a greater experience from your Dublin visit. Not only are there cheap hotels in Dublin, there are cheap bed and breakfast guesthouses too. You can even stay in one of the city's greatest tourist attractions: Trinity College.
So to help out, I've written an article listing just a few of the inexpensive alternatives in Dublin. You can read the article 'Cheap Dublin Hotels' by clicking here.
And don't forget to read the Discussion too, for cheap Dublin b&b suggestions, by clicking here.
Read about being a vagabond on holiday in Ireland by clicking here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Shakespeare's Stratford-upon-Avon is on every UK visitor's must-see list of England attractions, but the area around makes it worth much more than a quick day-trip. South Warwickshire also encompasses historic Warwick and Kenilworth, with their wonderful castles, and Royal Leamington Spa, one of England's lovely spa towns.
Shakespeare Country is worth visiting any time of year, but with traditional English winter celebrations and entertainment, consider a visit anytime from November through to the New Year. Royal Leamington Spa is the first to switch on its Christmas lights, on November 19th, when there will also be a funfair and street entertainment. Stratford follows on November 23, with Kenilworth switching its lights on the next day, and finally Warwick making everywhere all-lit-up with its Victorian Christmas lights on November 30.
There's more than just Christmas lights to add to the fun of a visit, though. There's late-night Christmas shopping too, and special craft fairs giving the chance to buy some unique local gifts for the family and friends back home. There are continental markets too, ice-rinks and of course visits from Santa himself.
Shakespeare's Stratford has to pull out all the stops, and it does so with a special production of Merry Wives The Musical, which stars Dame Judi Dench and runs from 2 December 2006 to 10 February 2007. It's part of the Royal Shakespeare Company's year-long Complete Works Festival, during which all of the Bard's works are being performed. Also playing in December will be Pericles and, of course, The Winter's Tale.
Stratford's other Shakespearean attractions are also adding to the winter cheer. The Shakespeare Houses will have festive refreshments and seasonal music, and the Shakespearience has a pantomime performance of Jack and the Beanstalk. Warwick Castle is making it a medieval Christmas, with a chance to see what Christmas was like in years gone by, and its Christmas Tree in the Great Hall will be decorated with 2000 lights. There's also an open-air ice rink, and a 60-yard long 3-lane ice slide, the first of its kind in the United Kingdom. Kenilworth Castle has a reindeer trail, and a carol concert on 16 December. So you only have one thing to decide: to be or not to be in Shakespeare Country this winter.
For more information visit the Shakespeare Country website
And don't forget the Stratford Butterfly Farm! Read my recent blog here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
- Don't over-plan your trip: stay flexible
- Always take out travel insurance
- A good travel agent can save you money, especially for long-haul trips
- When booking a trip, if in doubt, get it in writing
- Take the same care of your personal safety as you do at home
- If you see something you really want to buy, snap it up there and then – you rarely go back to a shop
- Be a generous tipper
- Use sunscreen
- If you see a clean lavatory, use it – you never know when the next one's coming along
- Take time to talk to local people – it will enrich your visit
Posted by Mike Gerrard
If you are what you eat then I'm lucky. I've been privileged to eat in some of the UK and Ireland's best restaurants, most of which are in the Good Food Guide whose 2007 edition has just come out, and is reviewed in my Articles posting. For me food and travel are inseparable, for work and for pleasure, and usually both.
The new Good Food Guide set me to thinking. What are my own top ten meal memories, my own personal choices from the places I've dined at? It's a very subjective thing, obviously, and I've certainly not eaten everywhere. I've probably forgotten a few that I'll remember tomorrow too. I could also easily choose more than ten and still have every one of them mouthwateringly memorable. But then if I chose 15 I'd want to choose 20, so let's limit it to ten.
- Gordon Ramsay, London
- Buckingham's, Chesterfield
- Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant, Padstow
- Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, Oxford
- Witchery by the Castle, Edinburgh
- Ubiquitous Chip, Glasgow
- Cayenne, Belfast
- Merchant House, Ludlow (RIP)
- La Lanterna, Scarborough
- The Bow Window, Ramsey
A few comments on the names familiar and maybe not-so-familiar. I've eaten at Gordon Ramsay's Chelsea restaurant twice, and they have been the two best meals I have ever had in the UK or Ireland. No question. The only better meals anywhere in the world have been at Alain Ducasses's in Paris. Raymond Blanc's Manoir comes close, especially if you're also staying at the lovely Manoir hotel after the meal.
You won't find Buckingham's in any guide as the owner of Buckingham's Hotel and One-Table Restaurant doesn't believe in them, and doesn't court the inspectors. If you dine at his One-Table Restaurant you might be the only diners, as my wife and I were one night. When you've got the chef personally preparing every dish for you, without a menu but based purely on what you've told him at breakfast that you like eating, you're guaranteed an unforgettable meal.
And the Bow Window in Ramsey? That's the town where I live in Cambridgeshire and the Bow Window is where we had our wedding breakfast not long ago. The food was superb, and it's certainly the most memorable meal of my life!
Interested in touring London's best food market? Click here
Posted by Mike Gerrard
The Drawing Room Restaurant with Rooms near Builth Wells in the wonderful Wye Valley in mid-Wales has scooped two major awards on the same day! It's been named as the Wales Restaurant of the Year by the AA, and has won a coveted César Award from the publishers of the new Good Hotel Guide.
What makes the achievement all the more remarkable is that the Drawing Room has been open for less than two years. That's a real tribute to the chef-proprietors, Colin and Melanie Dawson. In 2003 they went to France with the aim of opening an auberge, but they couldn't find a suitable property and after six months away, they were missing Wales. They came back and spotted a Georgian property near Builth Wells, and transformed it into the Drawing Room, a restaurant with rooms.
The AA only awards three Restaurant of the Year Awards, one each for England, Scotland and Wales. To get to the top spot in Wales in less than two years is quite an achievement, so Colin and Melanie Dawson will have to abandon their kitchen for a day while they go to collect their award at a lunchtime ceremony at one of my own favorite hotels in one of my favorite UK cities, the St David's Hotel in Cardiff.
As if that wasn't enough, they then have six hours to get to London to collect a César Award from the editors of the new Good Hotel Guide. The Drawing Room is a Restaurant with Rooms, and those rooms obviously impressed the Good Hotel Guide inspectors. So much so that they have given the Drawing Room one of only ten Césars that they hand out each year. Those awards are being presented at Daunt's Bookshop in London's Holland Park, a shop every traveler to London should head for. No, it isn't the one featured in the Notting Hill movie, but there's more than one travel bookshop in London!
So, next time I'm in mid-Wales I think I'll be doing my own inspection of the Drawing Room, but I guess after these two awards I'm going to have to book well ahead.
Click here for the Drawing Room website.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
From time to time I'll feature travel stories for no other reason than that they deserve a pat on the back, and the Stratford Butterfly Farm is definitely one of those. It's in the heart of Shakespeare's Stratford-upon-Avon, right across the River Avon from the Royal Shakespeare Company in the town centre.
It's a wonderful experience in its own right, seeing hundreds of the world's most beautiful and colourful butterflies flying round you in the tropical butterfly garden. But more than that, you'll be pleased to know that your admission money is helping poor families in rural areas to earn an honest living. Each year the Butterfly Farm sends over £400,000 in wages to its overseas suppliers, in countries including Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Ecuador, Colombia, Sri Lanka, China and Indonesia.
The Stratford Butterfly Farm encourages farmers in some of the world's poorest countries to breed butterflies. A small family in rural Ecuador can make a living by supplying the Butterfly Farm with just 10-20 pupae per week. In some places farming butterflies has become an alternative to a life of drugs or crime. It's also an incentive to keep the rainforests healthy for the wild butterflies, and it's good for the butterflies too. The survival rate in the farms is 50 times better than it is in nature, and a proportion of the stock is released to keep wild numbers healthy.
As well as the tropical butterflies, the Stratford Butterfly Farm has a Caterpillar Room where you can study the life cycle of the butterfly and see some amazing caterpillars. Then there's Arachnoland, with scorpions and spiders including black widows and tarantulas. Insect City includes a colony of leaf-cutter ants, which you can watch marching above your head (safely behind glass, of course!) as they go about their constant leaf-collecting lives. So when you go to see the Bard of Avon, make sure you call in and see the Butterflies of Avon too.
Click here for the Stratford Butterfly Farm website.
And click here to see what there is to do in Shakespeare Country and South Warwickshire at Christmas time
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Born in Twynholm in Dumfries, where the David Coulthard Museum is run by his father, Coulthard has been a phenomenally successful Formula One driver. He has had 13 Grand Prix victories in a career that goes back to 1994, and is currently 6th in the all-time points-scoring table. Coulthard is one place behind the English racing legend Nigel Mansell, but closing the gap fast and could also overtake the great Nelson Piquet.
The David Coulthard Museum is an example of one of those specialist museums that makes travelling in the UK and Ireland so fascinating. I love them! There are museums devoted to pencils, to lawn-mowers, to Beatrix Potter and to Laurel and Hardy. Twynholm, which is about 8 miles southwest of Castle Douglas, is a little village and its main claim to fame is probably the fact that David Coulthard was born there. He's a real local hero.
Because the museum is owned by David Coulthard's father, it has of course a mass of personal material that will fascinate any fan. Coulthard started go-karting at a very early age, and those go-karts are part of the collection. By the age of 18 he was the winner of the very first McLaren/Autosport Young Driver of the Year Award, and then it was a steady climb to the top. Coulthard's long career is one reason he's accumulated so many Formula One points.
The museum has one of Coulthard's Formula One cars on display, from back in 1995 when he finished 3rd in the Drivers' Championship. Just about every prize that David Coulthard has won is also here, in the museum that opened in 1999. Prior to that the cars were kept in a local sugar store, with hardly anyone knowing they were there. It can be hard to keep these small museums going, as they don't attract a mass of tourists, but they're kept going by the dedication of a few people, often volunteers. Yet to the people who do want to visit, it can be the highlight of the day. Let's hear it for specialist museums, I say, and let me know via the Discussions if there are any others you want to shout about.
Further details of the David Coulthard Museum can be found at the official website.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Edinburgh's Hogmanay is one of the biggest street parties in the world. Scotland knows how to celebrate the New Year in style, with fun and more than a few wee drams sunk. But if you're to have a hope of attending some of the ticketed Hogmanay events, you need to start planning now. Tickets go on sale on October 7th at 10am BST, and you don't have to be in Edinburgh to get them. One click on the special Edinburgh's Hogmanay website will do it.
The Edinburgh's Hogmanay website also carries all the information about what's on over the New Year period. There's some up there already, but the full details will also go live on October 7th, when you can read about what bands will be playing where. The fun kicks off with a free torchlight procession on December 29, which starts on Edinburgh's famous Royal Mile. You can even reserve your own torch in advance on the website!
December 30 sees a free arts carnival on George Street, one of the city's best locations for bars, cafés and restaurants - some of them in beautiful buildings. Next night is when you will need a ticket if you want to attend something like the Ceilidh in the Gardens at the east end of Princes Street. There's also the Concert in the Gardens, in the West Princes Street Gardens. People like Blondie, Moby and the Scissor Sisters have played here in the past. Who'll be there to see out 2006 and play in 2007? Well, we'll all find out on October 7th. Put it in your diary now.
Pet Shop Boys to play the Concert in the Gardens. Read my other blog by clicking here
Posted by Mike Gerrard
A friend told me recently about a new website, www.babyfriendlyboltholes.com, which helped people find baby-friendly holiday cottages in the UK. It seemed a good idea, even though I admit to not being particularly baby-friendly myself... especially when they're sitting behind me on a 13-hour flight.
I took a look at the site, though, and thought it worth mentioning in one of my Articles, so you can read about it by clicking here. I thought it would be especially useful for visitors from overseas, as although cottage holiday websites are more widespread now, a lot of places don't have websites and reply on brochures. And even if you're not a case of 'have baby, will travel', the cottages I looked at on the site, in Devon, Cornwall and Northumberland, looked very tempting anyway.
I'll always be interested in hearing about any travel websites, or books, or companies, or attractions that you know about and think deserve a wider audience. Just email me to let me know.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
The Automobile Association (AA), Britain's equivalent of the USA's AAA, has been handing out its Hotel of the Year Award since 1992. AA awards are always highly prized, whether for hotels or restaurants, coming as they do from a trusted organisation which is also the biggest travel guidebook publisher in the world. I have to declare my interest, as I write some of those guidebooks! But it's still true that their awards are highly regarded, both by the public and within the trade.
The Baglioni Hotel London has a royal view, overlooking Kensington Palace and just a short walk from the Royal Albert Hall. If you're thinking of visiting London there really couldn't be a better address, close to Hyde Park and the chic shopping of Knightsbridge stores like Harrods and Harvey Nichols. All the hotel's 68 rooms have free movies and music, an Italian coffee-making machine and free internet access. This last is a particular bugbear of mine right now, as it's vital if you're a regular traveler, and yet many hotels charge exorbitant amounts.
The Baglioni in London also looks terrific, with black glass chandeliers and a water feature in the foyer. There's a spa and an Italian Bar and Restaurant, and some of the deluxe rooms have their own courtyard. Oh yes, there's also butler service on every floor. Well, this is absolutely fabulous Kensington, darlings.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
I'm not going to tell you how many shopping days there are to Christmas, as that kind of thing only terrifies me. But I will say that if you're within reach of Brighton in Sussex you could combine a Christmas shopping trip with a visit to the seaside. Brighton is easily reached on the train from London's Victoria Station, and the journey takes just over an hour.
It's easy to forget when you see the Bohemian glitz of Brighton today that it was once a fishing village. The heart of that fishing village was the area known as The Lanes, a historic maze of twisty alleys and cobbled streets that's beautiful - if busy - at any time of the year. There are plenty of antique shops on Meeting House Lane, and there are lots of jewellery and designer clothes shops too, and pavement cafés, bars and restaurants to make sure you don't quite shop till you drop.
Not too far from the Lanes is North Laine, with over 300 shops - more designer and handmade clothes, jewellery, Mexican furniture, African drums. A real ethnic mix, even livelier at the weekend when there are street markets too. For a Christmas gift that's a bit different, check out the Artists' Quarter on the seafront, and buy an original artwork for someone special - like yourself!
If you've never been to Brighton you can get an idea of what it's like from the names of some of the shops. How about Choccywoccydoodah (where we almost bought our wedding cake!), Bar du Chocolat, Vegetarian Shoes and, my favorite for both its name and the fact that it sells food produced within 50 miles of Brighton, Sussex and the City.
For more details visit Visit Brighton
Posted by Mike Gerrard
You thought Cardiff was in Wales and Edinburgh in Scotland, right? Well, as of fall 2007 they will become honorary French cities. The Rugby World Cup, the world's third biggest sporting event, is being held in France in September/October 2007... except for those matches that are being played in Edinburgh and Cardiff.
Edinburgh's Murrayfield sees a match between Scotland and New Zealand, amongst others, while Cardiff's magnificent Millennium Stadium hosts Wales v. Australia, as well as two other qualifying games and one of the quarter-finals.
How do I know all this, apart from being a keen rugby fan? Well, my wife and I are working on the Official Travel Guide to the Rugby World Cup, that's going to be published early next year in the UK by Purple Guides, and in France by Hachette. It's the kind of assignment that doesn't come along very often, and in Cardiff we got to stay at the Vale Hotel, which is the base for the Wales rugby team, and in Edinburgh at the Sheraton Grand, whose spa is used by the Scotland squad.
I'll be featuring some of the attractions we saw in Cardiff and Edinburgh in these pages down the line, but I won't be trying to persuade you that it was hard work. No-one ever believes me. 'Yeah, five days in a four-star hotel... must have been really tough.' No, that's the easy bit. The tough bit is when... but you wouldn't believe me.
Read more about the Official Travel Guide and order a copy by clicking here.
Interested in Activity Breaks in Wales? Check my blog about a helpful new website.
Read about the Edinburgh GhostFest by clicking here.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
When I first started out trying to become a travel writer, there was one book that taught me a lot of what I needed to know: Cathy Smith's How to Write and Sell Travel Articles. It was a hands-on guide by someone who did it for a living, which isn't always the case with these 'how to write' books. The book had been published in 1992 by Allison and Busby, but eventually went out of print despite being twice on the list of best-selling travel books, and shown on the TV travel programme, Wish You Were Here.
Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, Cathy Smith has now updated and published the book herself. It remains a mine of information, covering the types of travel article there are, how to write beginnings, middles and ends - and how to put them together. Its importance for me, though, is that it stresses the all-important topic of market research. It's not that being able to write well isn't important, but you have to be able to read well too -- lots of newspapers, magazines, books and websites. You also have to know how to market yourself. I know several travel writers who make a living from it without being especially good at writing. They are, however, good at marketing themselves.
The book costs £10.50 plus postage, and you can pay using PayPal so can order it from anywhere in the world by going to Cathy Smith's website.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Britain's answer to Elvis, the pop singer Cliff Richard, unveiled one of London's famous blue plaques outside the Boulevard Bar and Dining Room in Old Compton Street in Soho yesterday. It marks the fact that it was downstairs here, in what is now on the way to the toilets, that Britain's rock 'n' roll scene was born.
Cliff Richard along with other 1950s pop stars such as Adam Faith, Tommy Steele and Cliff's future backing band, The Shadows, all played in the 2 i's when it was the place to be in the London music scene. People from the Liverpool rock world, like the early manager of The Beatles, Allan Williams, would travel 200 miles to London's 2 i's to hang out, find out what was happening and make contacts.
'In the early days of rock 'n' roll in this country,' said Robert Davis of Westminster Council at the opening ceremony, 'before The Beatles had even formed, pretty much every act that made it big cut their teeth at the 2 i's.'
Cliff himself said: 'When I look at the old photographs, I wonder how I ever got started - I was a greasy slob who couldn't sing.' Now he's Sir Cliff Richard, and his rock roots are duly marked in London. Next time you're in Soho, head for Old Compton Street and see where British rock 'n' roll was born.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
British Food Fortnight starts on September 22 and is being celebrated from Jersey to the Trossachs, from Devon to the Highlands. I love it. There are food festivals everywhere, and if there's one thing I like more than traveling it's eating and drinking. OK, that's two things. Being from the north of England I'm biased in favor of its food, so I'll give a blatant plug for the Nantwich Food and Drink Festival that's held in Nantwich (surprisingly enough) in Cheshire.
The Festival includes a Fine Wine and Spirit Pavilion, a Gourmet Food Marquee where 85 specialist food producers will be inviting you to sample their produce, a Kid's Kitchen, celebrity chefs giving cookery demonstrations all over the town and the 5th annual CAMRA Beer Festival - which is enough of a reason to go by itself.
The dates are from Friday September 29th to Sunday October 1st, and you can find out all the info by logging on to http://www.nantwichfoodfestival.co.uk
Posted by Mike Gerrard
A new website is now up and running which allows the more adventurous travelers to search for activity breaks in Wales. Go to http://www.activitywales.com and you can look for information on sports like golf, activities such as quad biking, rock climbing and paintballing, or even spa breaks... though I'm not sure where the activity comes in there. You can also check to see if anyone does a complete package holiday for your chosen activity. Search for rock climbing and you'll find there are 39 operators covering the country, including Snowdonia and the Brecon Beacons.
Posted by Mike Gerrard
Tell people you're a travel writer and there are certain things they say: how do you get a job like that? Can you pack me in your luggage? Fellow travel writers told me they often got asked if they'd ever met Bill Bryson, but no-one had ever asked me that. So I had to smile at the weekend when someone at a party asked me: have you met Bill Bryson? Mind you, it's hard to avoid Bill Bryson in the UK lately, with his new book out. He's been in the papers, on TV, reading extracts on the radio. And the book, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid about his childhood in Des Moines, Iowa, is wonderful.
The funny thing is, I'm one of the few people I know who can say: Yes, I have met Bill Bryson. I interviewed him for a literary magazine I once published. Bill Bryson's second book, Neither Here Nor There, had just come out, and I was flattered he'd agreed to give me some time. I went up to meet him at his then home in the Yorkshire Dales, in the lovely village of Kirkby Malham. He said I'd recognise his house as it was the only one with a basketball hoop in the yard.
And yes, he was nice, and yes, he was funny, very funny. I was charmed by his hospitality, and his genuine concern that I had enough material for my interview. I spent all morning with him, and ours was a pokey little magazine that sold a massive few hundred copies. 'Have you had enough coffee?' he asked. 'Have you got enough material? Do ring me if you need to. And I'll be in the village pub tonight if you want to talk some more.' A nice guy.
I still remember several of his anecdotes. One of them gave me the title for my interview. He said a new travel agent had opened in his nearest small town, and he phoned them to say he needed to get to a place called Hammerfest in Norway, which will mean something if you've read his second book, Neither here Nor There. A few days later they rang him back, with this message: 'You can't get there from here, Mr Bryson.' In his dry manner he told me: 'Not long after they went out of business... and I'm not altogether surprised.'
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Read a blog about that other great travel writer Bruce Chatwin.
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