As final preparations proceed for the 2019 music, books and ideas festival season, I’m republishing an account I wrote earlier on one of the most international, cheerful and animated jamborees that break out in random, rural corners of Britain, regardless of the weather, throughout the summer. 50 years on, Woodstock cannot be matched. But WOMAD, with or without the mud,… Continue reading
Browsing Category Travel
The great (rail) way west – to Pembrokeshire
The holiday express: through trains are running from Paddington to Tenby and West Wales this summer (2019), continuing a link which began in the days of Queen Victoria. “If there be any one train more than another, the sight of which stirs the patriotic pride of an enthusiastic Great Westernite, it is the Tenby express leaving Paddington… Continue reading →
How one of Britain’s busiest bird reserves keeps the peace
Rainham Marshes is one of my favourite wild places in the UK. I like it because of it is both wonderful and incongruous, hemmed in by the M25, clearly visible rising over the Queen Elizabeth II bridge over the Thames, by the A13 and the high-speed Eurostar line from London to the Channel Tunnel. And… Continue reading →
Ferry force – two villages linked by swift boat across the Towy
The ferry Glansteffan has resumed regular services across the Towy Estuary, from Ferryside to Llansteffan. The river ferry Glansteffan resumed regular services to Llansteffan, across the Towy Estuary in West Wales, this month (May, 2019) after a ‘very long and painful wait for essential parts and a full engine rebuild’, according to its Facebook site…. Continue reading →
The Durrells back on ITV to promote Corfu in 1930s time capsule
The fourth season of The Durrells is underway on ITV1, (Sundays) and is available on catch-up. The programme, set in the late 1930s, follows Louisa Durrell’s attempt to make a new life for herself and her family in Corfu, after her husband died. The series stars Keeley Hawes, Josh O’Connor, Daisy Waterstone, Milo Parker, Callum Woodhouse, Leslie Caron, Yorgos Karamihos, Alexis… Continue reading →
Haydn’s Seven Last Words an eternal Good Friday piece in Cadiz
There are a few pieces of music so fused in the place for which they were commissioned than Joseph Haydn’s Seven Last Words. It was written for use in the Good Friday services at the Oratorio Santa Cueva, the Holy Cave, in Cádiz, SW Spain, in 1785. Visit this intimate little Baroque gem, where paintings… Continue reading →