How To Raise A Glass To North Wales’ Real Ale Trail
May 7, 2019I joined a real-ale-themed tour of North Wales recently for Guardian Travel. It was a trip around the hidden-gem rural pubs and microbreweries [pictured above] often overlooked by the stampede down the A55 towards Anglesey. Based around Caernarfon, it highlighted the rise of community pubs at a time when our… Read more
How To Make The Most Of A Weekend In Troyes
May 1, 2019A return trip to France before Easter, then, with an assignment in the Champagne-Ardenees region. I was in Troyes [pictured above] for France Magazine, exploring the medieval city on foot to uncover the hidden courtyards, historic buildings and lesser-known church cloisters. That and sampling some of the local bubbles, of… Read more
The ultimate Beatles day out in Liverpool for #AbbeyRoad50
April 4, 2019It was 50 years ago today. Well, this year anyway. I spent yesterday in Liverpool finding out about events to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of the album Abbey Road, the recording sessions for which were the last in which all four members of the Beatles participated. The front cover image of Abbey… Read more
An exclusive preview of Chester’s new heritage attraction
March 30, 2019Today was the opening day at Chester: A Life Story [pictured above], the new heritage attraction in Chester. I was there early this morning for an exclusive preview of the exhibition, researching an article for The Guardian in the family travel section. Here’s the recent news item I wrote for… Read more
Going behind the scenes of the last working mill in Cumbria
March 27, 2019A trip to the Lake District this week for a look behind the scenes at Stott Park Bobbin Mill [pictured above] as the English Heritage property gears up to opening for the new season. It’s a story of industrial heritage, a rural Lakeland backwater that was home to the bobbin… Read more
Meeting the Terracotta Warriors on an escorted tour of Liverpool
March 3, 2019Just out: my story from Liverpool, where I joined a group tour last summer for Boundless magazine. It offered a chance to get up close to some 2000-year-old warriors [pictured above] and a cruise through Merseyside’s industrial heritage. Here’s a flavour of the feature: Bill is facing down a ninja.… Read more
Telegraph Chester story — My view
February 10, 2019Did you read the Daytripper feature in the Telegraph this weekend [pictured above]? Don’t bother if not. I read it and couldn’t help wondering if the writer had actually spoken to anyone who lives in, or even knows Chester at all? It’s sad to see the same tired, old clichés… Read more
All you need to know about a summer festival at sea that beats Glastonbury
January 27, 2019My first article of 2019 was published in Telegraph Travel this weekend, focussing on a new indie-music festival at sea [above]. Here’s the full text. We’ve seen classic rock at sea and turned the amps to 11 for some heavy metal sur mer — think Spinal Tapmeets Carry on Cruising.… Read more
How to see Durham in a new light
December 14, 2018Recognise 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… Read more