How to spend St Davids Day in St Davids, Pembrokeshire, Britain’s smallest city
March 5, 2023Something is stirring in Britain’s smallest city. Green stemmed and canary-yellow-hued, the daffodils are emerging in the grounds of St Davids Cathedral, the holy site founded by St David [see images above], known locally as Dewi Sant, as a sixth-century monastery. The daffodils herald the arrival of spring, releasing the… Read more
Why the Chester Mystery Plays should be on your cultural radar this summer
February 3, 2023The Chester Mystery Plays return to Chester Cathedral this summer, the season coinciding with the Chester Heritage Festival. The production comprises a huge cast of professional and non-professional performers (pictured above), many volunteering for roles on stage, in the choir, or behind the scenes. I wrote a preview of the… Read more
Why boutique Shrewsbury should be on your UK-staycation radar this year
February 2, 2023A winter weekend in Shrewsbury? No, really. My first assignment of the new year took me to the Shropshire market town for a UK staycation. The town is closely associated with the story of the naturalist Charles Darwen, Shrewsbury’s most famous son [pictured above]. It hosts an annual festival of natural… Read more
How to visit Pontcanna, Cardiff’s coolest district for a Welsh weekend like a local
December 14, 2022My last story of the year is part of a round-up feature for Telegraph Travel. I explored the Cardiff suburb of Pontcanna, the en-vogue neighbourhood for shopping, dining and drinking. Here’s a taster of the text: The Welsh capital packs heritage attractions and sporting heroes into the compact city centre.… Read more
How ghost stories reveal the dark reality of life for Yorkshire’s ancient monks
December 11, 2022A Halloween trip to the North Yorkshire Moors this autumn. I took a trip back through time to Rievaulx Abbey [pictured above] to try a new ghost-story-inspired tour of English Heritage properties. Revenants and Remains is a 90-minute walking tour of five monastic sites across the North of England, ranging… Read more
Visit the little-known, rural Welsh retreat favoured by the new King Charles
December 8, 2022A rare visit over the autumn to a little-known rural retreat in west Wales. But the Llwynywermod estate, comprising two holiday cottages and a Grade II-listed threshing barn, as well as the main farmhouse, is more than just your average farm-stay holiday accommodation. It’s the restorative retreat built for our new, King… Read more
A preview of my Dark Chester tours for Halloween with the travel blog Go Eat Do
October 9, 2022An interview with the travel blogger Stuart Forster for his blog, Go Eat Do. The feature is about ideas for a weekend visit to Chester but, with Halloween approaching, previews my new Dark Chester tours [pictured above]. The tours run Saturdays at 6pm and delve into the dark-tourism heritage of… Read more
How to celebrate 125 years of Bram Stoker’s Gothic novel, Dracula, at Whitby Abbey
October 9, 2022A trip to Whitby to get into the Halloween spirit. My visit was part of a wider itinerary to explore the Yorkshire Coast Route, a new route intended to showcase the off-season charms of the Yorkshire seaside. The route spans 240 miles, taking in the North Yorks Moors National Park and… Read more
Dark Chester: a walk through the shadows of our dark-tourism history
June 21, 2022We took a walk on the dark side a few days ago. It was the inaugural outing for my new Dark Chester tour [pictured above], a walking tour through the shadows of Chester’s 2000-year-old history. Think Horrible Histories meets Inside Number Nine with a dash of the Uncanny podcast. In… Read more