We watch Country File and Springwatch and many an informative documentary on landscape and rural life. So it shouldn’t be hard for us to open up to, and understand, a not so well-known area of France. One that is green and pure and wide and spacious, where the mood music is the ancient sound of… Continue reading
Browsing Category Travel
Post lockdown cycling in New Forest medieval mosaic landscape
New Forest ponies – right to roam The bold vision of many of us who write on the subject is that travel will have to be greener after lockdown. But that is becoming more cloudy. It’s now clear it may be some time, possibly many months, before leisure passengers feel comfortable travelling by train… Continue reading →
The Singular Case of the Portsmouth Doctor – or Sherlock takes the train
May 1, 2020. Another in my series of easy post-lockdown trips to take in the UK. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle set his Sherlock Holmes stories all over England, but you can follow the trail of both without leaving London. If you want to make one trip out of the capital, it has to be to… Continue reading →
The discrete charm of England’s Sefton Coast
Post-lockdown, might the British return to the seaside like they used to, especially on big beaches with lots of social distancing? The National Trust reserve at Formby, Lancashire, part of one of the largest areas of unspoilt dunes in Europe. And it is safe haven for some of the few remaining red squirrels in England…. Continue reading →
Why can I buy a plane ticket for a winter 2020 trip but not a train ticket?
It isn’t just European destinations that you can book for next autumn and winter by plane but not by train, if you were planning a break sufficiently distant from the current lockdown to have hopes you would be able to actually take it. I looked at of the possibility of a… Continue reading →
City of the high thrills – take the train to Lincoln
Lincoln is one of England’s finest old cities, dominated by its glorious cathedral, sitting high on a hill. But it has many smaller-scale marvels too, as I discovered. My don’t-miss list includes one very steep street, an original tank, an all-cheese restaurant, and the room where Tom Hanks stayed when he starred in the Da Vinci code.
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