Category: Journalism

A tour of South Wales to mark the centenary of the screen idol Richard Burton

The Welsh actor Richard Burton would have marked his 100th birthday this year.

On the eve of the release of the film Mr Burton about his early life in Wales, I joined a new tour in south Wales to learn more about the screen legend.

It visits the village where he born and sites associated with his story around the town of Port Talbot.

This travel assignment was for Telegraph Travel.

Read a sample here:

The starting point, the Miners’ Arms [the mural on the facade pictured above], is where Richard’s parents first met and the actress Sian Owen, his niece, has a poem to ‘Uncle Rich’ framed on the wall amongst old family photographs.

It describes his “face, pocked, rived and valleyed”.

Read the full feature via Telegraph Travel, The South Wales mining village that made Richard Burton a global icon.

Liked this? Try also: How to celebrate Cheshire Day with a celebration of Cheshire cheese in Nantwich.

How to celebrate Cheshire Day with a celebration of Cheshire cheese in Nantwich

Cheshire Day marks the coming of spring.

The annual celebration of food, culture and heritage from my home region of Britain is still relatively low key.

But, as a Cheshire resident, I find plenty to celebrate on my home patch.

So, this year, I prepared for the Cheshire Day cheese fest with a trip to Nantwich [St Mary’s Church pictured above] and cast my eye around the region.

The travel assignment was for Telegraph Travel.

Read a sample here:

I’ve come to Nantwich to stock up for Cheshire Day, celebrated annually on March 30.

It’s a historical reference to the date the county was given its own Charter of Liberties by King Edward I in 1300 — in effect its own Magna Carta.

It’s also a somewhat manufactured construct because Cheshire suffers from an identity crisis.

Read the full feature via Telegraph Travel, In praise of Cheshire, Britain’s most misunderstood county.

Liked this? Try also: How to visit Barry Island, the home of Gavin and Stacey.

How to visit Barry Island, Wales, home to the famous Gavin and Stacey TV trail

Were you one of the 12 million last night?

That’s the number of people who watched the final ever episode of Gavin and Stacey, the TV comedy series set in South Wales.

I made my own pilgrimage to Barry Island back in November to visit the sites now associated with the popular TV sitcom.

Here’s a flavour of my feature:

Eh, what’s occurrin’?

Barry is a classic working-class resort, where miners from the South Wales Valleys would have spent their annual holiday.

During the Georgian era, it was a favoured destination among peers of the realm and it blossomed in the Edwardian era.

 In later years, it was home to a huge Butlins holiday camp, which has since disappeared.

But these days, the Welsh seaside town has been reborn as a place of pilgrimage for fans of the TV comedy series Gavin and Stacey, who revel in its kiss-me-quick kitsch.

Barry is not all funfairs and hangovers, however. A cluster of independent businesses is now attracting Cardiff hipsters to the seaside. Tidy!

Read the full feature via the iPaper, The seaside town that is Wales’ answer to Margate with TV tours.

Liked this? Try also: Is Bangor, North Wales, really the worst seaside resort in Britain?

 

I visited the loneliest railway station in Britain. Here’s what I found.

All alone at Denton Station; image: Paul Cooper Photography WWW.PCOOPERPHOTO.COM.

To Denton, Greater Manchester, to ride the ghost train.

The station, located on the Stalybridge-Stockport line in Greater Manchester was last week named as the loneliest railway station in Britain — there’s just one return service per week.

I joined a handful of rail enthusiasts and insouciant day-trippers at the weekend to ride the cult service.

Here’s a taster of my feature.

The weekly train is known as a parliamentary service, a statutory requirement to avoid official procedures to terminate the service.

The line, dating from the mid 1800s, survived the Beeching Report of 1963, a series of cuts to restructure the then nationalised railway system.

But it was shunted into a railway siding after the re-routing of TransPennine Express in 1989.

All aboard the ghost train; image: Paul Cooper Photography WWW.PCOOPERPHOTO.COM.

“It provokes a lot of interest for railway nostalgia,” explains train guard Stephen Hughes.

“Passenger numbers are often boosted by regular rail-heritage events along the line.”

The next service departs in one week’s time.

Read the full article via Telegraph Travel, My trip to Denton, Britain’s loneliest railway station.

Liked this? Try also: Is Bangor, North Wales, really the worst seaside resort in Britain?