When you take a city break, do you confine your exploration to the city itself, or do you grab the opportunity for a quick day trip to somewhere else? Personally, I always try to find the opportunity for a day out, particularly if it is a country I haven’t visited
London Peculiars is a new book by Peter Ashley. Subtitled “a guide to the city’s offbeat places”, it is a miscellany of dozens of unknown, overlooked or just plain bizarre places and objects in London. It is the sort of book I would like to have written myself… The author
Topographies is a collection of essays by the American travel writer Stephen Benz. He takes us on journeys across North America, on a quest to unearth the culture and the history. This is not a “wish you were here” style of travel journalism: on occasion we are introduced to some
It would be hard to ignore the revolution that has taken place in British winemaking in recent years. Although the Romans planted vineyards in England, winemaking later became a minority interest, mostly confined to monasteries or aristocratic estates. But now there are more than 600 vineyards in England and Wales,
Many people dream of climbing Mount Everest; few are able to achieve it. In Everest England Peter Owen Jones proposes an alternative. Twelve days of walks up English hills, which collectively total a climb of 29,000 feet, the equivalent of Mount Everest. The walks begin in Cornwall, and end at
Last year I posted a review of Experience Italy, a Lonely Planet guide that explored the country and its culture in depth. Now the second book in the series – Experience Spain – has been published. Again, this is much more than a conventional guidebook; it is a feast for
I always find I get more out of my travels if I read about a place before I visit and, when it comes to Spain, there is no shortage of books to choose from. Here is my personal selection of books to read before you visit Spain. And, if you’re