What’s the connection between the 1980’s TV series, Lovejoy, and the 2022 Downton Abbey movie? The answer is Belchamp Hall, a stylish country estate deep in the Suffolk countryside. The hall itself was used...
Mum’s Gone To Whitby

It’s only one county away but the drive from South Lincolnshire to the Yorkshire coast isn’t a particularly direct one. We took the scenic route, via the Lincolnshire Wolds and the North York Moors....
Wolsey Walk in Cawood, Yorkshire

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall Humpty Dumpty had a great fall All the king’s horses And all the king’s men Couldn’t put Humpty together again. We all know the nursery rhyme of egg-shaped...
Riverside Walk from Leamington Spa to Warwick

What makes a good walk? Here’s a list – in no particular order – of a few things that, if they can be added to the usual views, scenery etc, can persuade me to...
Heading for the hills in Edinburgh

Have you ever tried ‘munro-bagging’? The idea is to climb one or all of the 282 Scottish mountains over 3000ft high (914m). I can’t say that’s ever been on our agenda. We love walking...
Come on, Eileen! Finding the weird and wonderful in museums

Who doesn’t love a museum which is a little bit weird and wonderful? Not for me a boring traipse around some dry old exhibits, usually accompanied by long-winded information on signage boards. I much...
Trekking with Nidderdale Llamas

“Stop that, Barney!” says the patient llama-handler, as the frisky creature continues to make mischief by knocking the top off a metal post with his head. We’re standing in a barn in the North...
Inntravel walking holiday: Alnwick and the Northumberland Coast

The green cover of the book was instantly recognisable. A Kingdom by the Sea, written in 1967 by a London Journalist, Betty James, might have gone unnoticed by other visitors to Barter Books in...