We fell in love with teddy bears in the Toy World Museum in Basel but came face to face with the real thing on our next stop in Switzerland: Bern. Brown bears have been...
24 Stops Rehberger-Weg: 5km walking route between Switzerland and Germany

This was supposed to be a city-based holiday. We planned to explore Basel, Bern and Lucerne to check out the culture, art and history of these three Swiss cities. But somehow the lure of...
Mum’s gone to Switzerland: Basel

As a holiday destination, Switzerland brings to mind hiking in the mountains or walking by lakes. It doesn’t necessarily suggest city breaks. But it proved to be a wonderful country for city lovers. Dougie and...
Tim Peake’s spacecraft at Peterborough Cathedral

It’s a surreal moment. I’m looking at Soyuz TMA-19M, the spacecraft used by Tim Peake to descend to earth from the International Space Station in June 2016. To see it in Cambridgeshire, in the...
Diary of a long weekend at the Edinburgh Fringe – Day Four

A Tale of Two Cities. When Dickens wrote this book he was referring to London and Paris during the French Revolution. But Edinburgh could claim this term as it’s very much a city split...
Diary of a long weekend at the Edinburgh Fringe – Day Three

Sunday morning – we were needing a lie-in. There’s only so much excitement a middle-aged couple can have before the idea of a nice cup of tea takes precedence over everything else. Thankfully most...
Diary of a long weekend at the Edinburgh Fringe – Day Two

“Don’t make eye contact”, Dougie warned, as we ran the gauntlet along the Royal Mile the following morning. It costs a lot for performers to put on a show at the Edinburgh Fringe...
Diary of a long weekend at the Edinburgh Fringe – Day One

I can’t remember the last time I travelled First Class on the train. Our usual journeys involve a 50 minute journey into London so it’s never seemed worth the upgrade. A trip from Peterborough...