Travel - European

Chris Stewart, one-time Genesis drummer turned sheepshearer, and his family live at El Valero, their farm in rural Andalucia. Fifteen years ago, he could never have imagined the locals would invite him to join an Almond Blossom Appreciation Society, or that his daughter Chloe would be teaching him about teenage Spanish social life.

Sequel to: 'Under the Tuscan Sun' (5147). With the restoration of her house complete, the author is truly at home in Tuscany, and is now able to explore other parts of Italy, which she describes vividly here.

Author's travels by bicycle through Eastern Turkey gives a fascinating insight into the land and its people.

Brought up in the gastronomic wilderness of post-war England, Peter Mayle was 19 when he became fascinated by the French love of food and wine. Since living in France he has taken the opportunity to participate in some of the gastronomic festivals that take place, including a marathon through the great vineyards of Bordeaux.

Throughout history the centre of gravity in Budapest and among Hungarians has shifted between this division of East and West - culturally, politically, emotionally. Invaders have come and gone, empires have conquered, occupied for centuries or decades, and left a few footprints behind: the remains of a Roman bath house complete with wonderfully preserved mosaics stand next to a Soviet-style 'five-year-plan' apartment block. The city bears the scars of the rise and fall of multiple empires, two world wars, fascism, Nazi German occupation, Soviet Communism. It has been home to some of the world's greatest writers, artists and musicians. Hungary is a place of extremes, a small country that has often in history punched well above its weight. At many moments, events that began in Budapest have proved to be of world significance. This is the story of that tumultuous, often divided, but always fascinating city.

This a funny and entertaining story of Michael Wright's transition from London to France. It tells of his progress from theatre critic to rugged paysan as he shepherds his sheep, chats with his bilingual chickens and tackles the renovation of his delapidated French home.

John Berendt creates a portrait of Venice and its extraordinary inhabitants. Beneath the exquisite facade of the world's most beautiful historic city, scandal, corruption and venality are rampant; John Berendt is a master at seeking them out.

Winner of 1997 Thomas Cook/Daily Telegraph Travel Book Award. The author's 17 month adventure exploring the mountains of Spain, the Alps, Carpathian mountains and the Balkans.

Travelling in an ancient Rolls Royce, Tim Moore follows the trail and recalls the life of the first recognised British tourist of Europe, a 17th-century pastor's son called Thomas Coryate, pioneer of the Grand Tour. Contains some offensive language.

Reflective and imaginative stories on the theme of the British in France.

Actor Michael Simkins decides to broaden his horizons by going on a kind of latter-day Grand Tour to France. This is the entertaining, and often very funny, account of his travels.

Edward Enfield is an entertaining guide recounting his cycle trip across France from the Channel to the Mediterranean.

Having retired as a rock drummer at the age of seventeen the author turned his attention to sheep farming. Some years ago he and his wife decided to buy a peasant farm in Spain. In this funny book we experience the ups and downs of life on 'El Valero'.

When the author buys a run down Ligurian olive farm the locals are baffled. As the 'Foreign Females' struggle with their farm, the olive farmers of Diano San Pietro are on hand with old-fashioned advice and help.

In August 1947, Diana Athill travelled to Florence by the Golden Arrow train for a holiday with her friend Pen. In this playful diary of that trip, she recorded her observations and adventures - admiring architectural sights, sampling delicious pastries, eking out their budget and getting into scrapes.

Take a journey the whole length of the river Dordogne, exploring the history, legends, peoples, nature, archaeology and architecture of the several regions that the river passes through. Covering what is in, on, by and over the iconic waterway from its source to the sea, enjoy this meander along the Dordogne valley.

In The Gathering Place, author, nature campaigner and veteran solo walker Mary Colwell undertakes a 500-mile pilgrimage along the Camino Francés in northern Spain at a unique moment in history - a time of pandemic, profound political change, and a climate and biodiversity emergency.

In a typical year, more than 300,000 people walk this route or part of it, but in between lockdowns in 2020, Mary was virtually alone. The modern world weaves in and out of the Camino's worn trackway, providing a focus for contemplation and a place where memories and experiences can gather. There are times of intense spirituality, meetings with a demon slayer, strange goings-on and magical tales, and the constant backdrop of nature with all its complexity and wonder.

In 1997 the author fell in love with, and bought, a romantic ruin in Adalucia. What she hadn’t reckoned with was a new man in her life, or the struggle involved in rebuilding the house and creating a garden – all with her young son in tow.

Guardian journalist, Giles Tremlett travels through contemporary Spain examining the darker sides of it's history. As well as a moving exploration of Spanish politics, Tremlett's journey was also an attempt to make sense of his personal experience of the Spanish.

First published in 1910. A collection of essays written during the travels of J M Synge through these counties.

Robert Louis Stevenson's first published book. It is a pioneering work of touristic adventure, which records his canoeing holiday in the summer of 1876, with a friend (Sir Walter Grindlay Simpson), through the waterways of Belgium and France.

After her divorce Helen Stevenson moved into a small house in a village in south-west France. Here she describes her life and her love affair with both the village and one particular Frenchman, Luc.

Having worked in publishing in London and Hong Kong, Polly Evans decided that life seemed too easy. She bought a bike and set off on a journey around Spain. Six weeks later she had cycled over 1000 miles, learnt about the history of Spain and sampled regional cooking, and still managed to shrink out of her trousers.

Sequel to 'Ripe for the picking' (6417). Having heard many stories from Ciccio about his Calabrian homeland, Annie, Ciccio and various members of the de Gilios clan are off to Calabria to see the ancestral home, and meet the extended family.

The Charente: roofs of red terracotta tiles, bleached-white walls, windows shuttered against the blaring sun. The baker does his rounds in his battered little white van with a hundred warm baguettes in the back, while a cat picks its way past a Romanesque church, the sound of bells skipping across miles of rolling, glorious countryside. For many years a farmer in England, John Lewis-Stempel yearned once again to live in a landscape where turtle doves purr and nightingales sing, as they did almost everywhere in his childhood. He wanted to be self-sufficient, to make his own wine and learn the secrets of truffle farming.

And so, buying an old honey-coloured limestone house with bright blue shutters, the Lewis-Stempels began their new life as peasant farmers. Over that first year, Lewis-Stempel fell in love with the French countryside, from the wild boar that trot past the kitchen window to the glow-worms and citronella candles that flicker in the evening garden. Although it began as a practical enterprise, it quickly became an affair of the heart: of learning to bite the end off the morning baguette; taking two hours for lunch; in short, living the good life - or as the French say, La Vie.

It's two decades since Chris Stewart moved to his farm in the mountains of southern Spain and now a local literary celebrity, he is using his fame to help his old sheep-shearing partner find work on a raucous road trip, recalling his own first foray into the adult world of work.

From the moment she hears Lev's violin for the first time, Helena Attlee is captivated. She is told that it is an Italian instrument, named after its former Russian owner. Eager to discover all she can about its ancestry and the stories contained within its delicate wooden body, she sets out for Cremona, birthplace of the Italian violin. This is the beginning of a beguiling journey whose end she could never have anticipated.

The hilarious adventures of Terry Darlington, his wife Monica and their whippet, Jim (who hates boats), as they sail their narrowboat, Phyllis May, on an incredible journey across the English channel and though France to the Mediterranean.

Bill Bryson backpacks around Europe from its northernmost tip to its southernmost point, describing both people and places with his trademark brand of humour. In his visit to Amsterdam there are sexual references and language some people may find offensive.

The author moved to France with his family to study French. Their experiences bring a wealth of humorous incidents and historical information.

For over forty years Joan Marble and her husband have lived in a sixteenth-century appartment in Rome. Here she describes the joys, and difficulties, of maintaining her rooftop garden, and the views from the garden.

A portrait of the Languedoc - a land of vineyards, ruined Cathar castles and wild garrigue scrubland – a land forgotten by time, and a world about to change as a new modern society emerges.

In the space of a few months Carol Drinkwater fell in love twice. Firstly with Michel a French television producer and secondly with 'Appassionata', a shabby olive farm in provence, which the two decided to buy and restore, against all sensible advice!

Sequel to ‘The Olive Season’ (6670). After a long absence from their olive farm in Provence, Carol Drinkwater and her husband Michel are anticipating a long summer together. A distressing blow leaves Carol alone and with an uncertain future.

Sequel to 'The Olive Farm' (5962). The author continues her tale of life on the Provencal olive farm she bought with Michel. Carol is now pregnant, and when their loyal gardener leaves to organise a family marriage, she undertakes the bulk of the work. As the olive season approaches, dramatic events cast a dark shadow over their lives.

Eric Newby started in Naples and went clockwise round the Mediterranean,as his wife Wanda's advised, and so begain the wonderfully madcap adventure, ‘On the Shores of the Mediterranean’.