Travel

I write travel features for national newspapers and magazines, including Nat Geo Traveller, The Independent titles (online only nowadays), the Daily Telegraph. the Guardian, Green Traveller, Geographical, BBC Countryfile, BBC Wildlife, BBC Good Food & BBC History.

What are the Cotswolds really like, are they more Laurie Lee than dinner party sets? I explored them for Nat Geo Traveller: Cotswolds: The honeyed stone heart of England

Meanwhile, here are my tips for enjoying a family holiday in Bali: Family travel: Easy Bali

Life’s a beach – and not just in Bali but also in northern Norway: Life’s a beach on the Lofoten Islands

I also enjoyed exploring Istria for Nat Geo, a part of Croatia far removed from its image of coastal sunshine: Croatia: Strolling beyond the sea

And, when you’re walking in the countryside, how do urban types deal with that strange custom of saying hello to fellow human beings? Greetings in the great outdoors

LATEST POSTS

The bare-cheeked hills of Shropshire
The weather was warming up. For one individual, it seemed as though things were getting a little too warm. As we descended the eastern side of the ridge, a middle-aged man, wearing only his birthday suit and holding – ahem- […]
Hoy – Orkney’s High Island
My guide to Orkney is available to buy from www.bradtguides.com/orkney and all good bookshops Hoy is the first Orkney island many visitors see as they sail from the UK mainland and it’s the wildest and most rugged of them all, […]
Winter’s Journey: the Isle of Wight
Mid January and daylight is returning. On the Isle of Wight this light seems to begin earlier and end later than anywhere else in the UK. Even in deepest winter it never seems to go really away. And the nautical […]
Fàilte (that’s ‘hello there’ in Gaelic)
The gestation period of a rhino is around 16 months, which happens to be the same time it took for my first guidebook, Outer Hebrides, The Western Isles from Lewis to Barra, to be ‘born’. I was given the green light […]
The bare-cheeked hills of Shropshire
It had turned into a thoroughly enjoyable day in the Shropshire Hills. When our party – four parents, four children – had set off from the Bog car park up the western flank of the Stiperstones a low mist threatened […]
Family travel: Outer Hebrides
Step aboard the Highland Chieftain from Edinburgh, then ride the ferry far out to the Outer Hebrides, a string of islands home to dunes, birds and solitude. We’re on the northernmost tip of the island of Lewis, which in turn […]
Fish fancy, Outer Hebrides, Scotland
This far-flung chain of islands will richly reward your effort to reach them, not least with some wonderful food. There are few better places on the planet to eat fish and chips than on South Uist, sat by still, peaty […]
Excess baggage – a tale of salmon, otters and old boots
Mark Rowe has to choose between a salmon and some beloved old walking boots if he’s to catch a plane home in time to see his children. The sun was shining and, like a theatre curtain drawing aside to reveal […]
A beach airport, secret whisky stashes and the world’s prettiest proposed nuclear waste dump: Walking Scotland’s island of Barra
It may be best known for its unconventional landing strip, but strolling around the Scottish isle reveals a catalogue of curiosities. There are some places you expect to see an aircraft – say, for argument’s sake, on an airport runway, […]
Bare cheek?
It had turned into a thoroughly enjoyable day in the Shropshire Hills. When our party – four parents, four children – had set off from the Bog car park up the western flank of the Stiperstones a low mist threatened […]