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 →
Crowdfunding appeal to save Hourglass, Extinction Rebellion newspaper
Waterloo Bridge, April 2019. Photo- GHD. A year ago today Central London was in a different sort of lock down. Over the Easter weekend hundreds of Extinction Rebellion activists peacefully occupied Oxford Street, the Marble Arch area and Waterloo Bridge. It was the most concerted direct action to date to draw attention to the gravity of… 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.
Continue reading →New rewilding campaign seeks to heal the countryside
This morning two buzzards and a red kite soared in interlocking circles in the warm air high above my garden. Quite what this interaction of two distinct species meant is beside the point. We were looking at a very conspicuous example, as close to home as it could possibly be, of rewilding. Technically the buzzard… Continue reading →