Category: Copy Writing

This Is Wrexham copywriting: A time-travel visit to the Ceiriog valley

A weekend in North Wales then, copywriting a couple of tourism itineraries for This Is Wrexham.

The second trip was based in the Ceiriog Valley, exploring the attractions of a sometimes less visited part of North Wales.

Here’s a flavour of the story:

It’s a view to stop you in your tracks — looking across the village and up the valley to the Berwyn range.

“I’ve painted this view numerous times, trying to capture the soft colours and long shadows,” smiles the artist Rosie Davies, surrounded by her sketchpads and work-in-progress watercolours at her Ceiriog Valley art studio.

Rosie changed careers to move to the village of Llanarmon from Cheshire and now devotes her time to capturing the natural beauty of this lost-in-time area of Wrexham County.

“The valley is like another world,” adds Rosie, who opens her studio at the Tithe Barn to visitors on the second Saturday of the month.

“I’ve finally found the tranquility and inspiration to fulfill my ambition to paint.”

Read the full text here via This Is Wrexham.

This Is Wrexham copywriting: A family weekend around Llangollen

A weekend in North Wales then, copywriting a couple of tourism itineraries for This Is Wrexham.

First up was a family trip based around Llangollen to explore some of the attractions of a sometimes less visited part of North Wales.

Here’s a flavour of the story:

The next day we drive into Langollen to explore the Dee Valley market town guarded by the rambling ruins of Castle Dinas Bran.

We catch a ride on the Llangollen Railway, the only standard-gauge heritage railway in North Wales, where the steam engine huffs and puffs its way along a genteel 10-mile track through the AONB.

We finally steam into Carrog station [see above], whistle tooting, for tea and Welshcakes at the station café. An old railway carriage has been turned into a pop-up shop with Hornby train set pieces, railway jigsaws and well-thumbed copies of Heritage Rail magazine.

A nice touch on the return leg is when the conductor gives out souvenir vintage rail tickets, dating from the 1950s heyday of the railway.

It takes me the rest of the journey back to Llangollen to explain the price — eight shillings and three pence — to the girls who regard the 1980s as ‘the olden days’.

Read the full text here via This Is Wrexham.

How to see Durham in a new light

Recognise the image above?

It’s the cathedral city of Durham, host of the bi-annual Lumiere Festival.

The UK’s largest outdoor light festival returns in November 2019, celebrating its tenth anniversary of transforming the historic city into a nocturnal art trail.

I was there this week, writing a series of articles for a paid-content supplement in The Times.

My stories take a cultural angle to mark the tenth anniversary of the festival — read more on December 29.

It was also my last job before signing off for the Christmas break. And a reminder why Sir Walter Scott was moved by a visit to the city to pen these festive words:

Grey towers of Durham! Yet well I love thy mixed and massive piles.

How to make the most of a day out at Chester Zoo

An autumn afternoon spent wandering around Chester Zoo didn’t feel like work.

But it was: a guest blog post for the Marketing Cheshire blog with a half-term theme and timed for the return of the popular TV series, The Secret Life of the Zoo.

Here’s a sample:

I’ve come to Chester Zoo on an autumnal afternoon to meet some of the new arrivals from the zoo’s recent baby boom — some 733 mammals have been born in 2018, beating the previous highest total of 566 in the same time period.

But what lies behind the baby boom? Science, explains zoo ranger Amy Pilsbury. “We’re constantly monitoring the animals’ poo to check their hormone levels.”

Read the full story, Cute babies and half-term fun: how to make the most of a day at Chester Zoo.