Travel - British Isles

When a travel writer is stuck on home soil in the middle of a pandemic he meets Kris Rodgers, one of Britain's eminent metal detectorists. Dipping a toe in the hobby, Nigel quickly finds himself swept up in the world beneath the surface. Above the ground are a cast of fascinating and passionate people who open Nigel's eyes to a subterranean world of treasure and stories that bring the history of the island to life.

Scouring the country from Cornwall to Scotland in search of treasure and the best detectorists, Nigel finds himself more immersed in the culture than he bargained for and makes his own personal journey from cynicism to obsession in his trail through the heartlands of metal detecting. From women's groups who react against the hobby's male bias, to the 'Nighthawks' who risk jail-time in their pursuits, he finds his preconceptions disabused and gets to the heart of what makes this quiet community so obsessed with happy beeps.

Stuart Maconie takes a tour of places which have been influential in Britain’s literary and cinematic heritage recounting his travels with his usual blend of charm and wit.

The village of Marsden lies in the Pennines on the Lancashire/ Yorkshire border. In a series of funny, perceptive articles, Simon Armitage describes the place and its people.

The landscape of the British Isles is filled with history, much of which we miss as it flashes past the car window. Do we even realise that we're following the same path as the Tolpuddle Martyrs, or that we're driving past the exact spot where King Harold was killed, shot through the eye with an arrow?

As a lover of both history and the British countryside, Charlie Connelly decided to rectify this, and set out on a series of walks that recreate famous historical journeys. En route he retells the story of the original trip while discovering who and what now inhabit these iconic routes.

Told with Charlie's customary charm and wit, And Did Those Feet will reveal the historical secrets hidden in the much-loved coastal, country and urban landscapes of Britain.

The landscape of the British Isles is filled with history. Charlie Connelly sets out on a series of walks that recreate famous historical journeys. En route he reveals the historical secrets hidden in the much-loved coastal, country and urban landscapes of Britain.

In this book the author describes his stay on the Aran Islands in 1898 - 1901. During this time he gathered anecdotes, folklore and traditions which he used in later writings.

We have all heard the shipping forecast with it's many familiar names; Dogger, Fisher, Lundy, German Bight - to name but a few. For most of us, although the broadcast is familiar it is also baffling. Here the author unearths the history of the shipping forecast and ensures that it is no longer a mystery.

This solemn, rhythmic intonation of the shipping forecast on BBC radio is as familiar as the sound of Big Ben chiming the hour. Since its first broadcast in the 1920s it has inspired poems, songs and novels in addition to its intended objective of warning generations of seafarers of impending storms and gales.

Sitting at home listening to the shipping forecast can be a cosily reassuring experience. There's no danger of a westerly gale eight, veering southwesterly increasing nine later (visibility poor) gusting through your average suburban living room, blowing the Sunday papers all over the place and startling the cat.

Yet familiar though the sea areas are by name, few people give much thought to where they are or what they contain. In Attention All Shipping Charlie Connelly wittily explores the places behind the voice, those mysterious regions whose names seem often to bear no relation to conventional geography. Armchair travel will never be the same again.

Byron Rogers is a journalist who has travelled around Britain searching for the more eccentric happenings in the country. This collection brings together his quirkiest articles; from the octogenarian tri-athlete to the 'Ghost train' of Stalybridge.

Driven by his own passion for collecting Hunter Davies sets off in search of Britain's maddest museums. As he explores these hidden gems he soon discovers that they celebrate just about everything, from lawnmowers in Southport to pencils in Keswick. These eccentric collectors are Britain's finest and could live in no other country in the world.

When Henry VIII banned pilgrimage in 1538, he ended not only a centuries-old tradition of walking as an act of faith, but a valuable chance to discover the joy of walking as an escape from the burdens of everyday life. Much was lost when these journeys faded from our collective memory, but clues to our past remain. On an antique map in Oxford's Bodleian Library, a faint red line threading through towns and villages between Southampton and Canterbury suggests a significant, though long-forgotten, road. Renamed the Old Way, medieval pilgrims are thought to have travelled this route to reach the celebrated shrine of Thomas Becket. Described as England's Camino, this long-distance footpath carves through one of the nation's most iconic landscapes - one that links prehistoric earthworks, abandoned monasteries, Saxon churches, ruined castles and historic seaports. 

Over four seasons, travel writer Gail Simmons walks the Old Way to rediscover what a long journey on foot offers us today. In the age of the car, what does it mean to embrace 'slow travel'? Why does being a woman walking alone still feel like a radical act? In an age when walking connects the nation, can we now reclaim pilgrimage as a secular act? Winding 250 miles between the chalk hills and shifting seascapes of the south coast, Gail ventures deep into our past, exploring this lost path and telling a story of kings and knights, peasants and pilgrims, of ancient folklore and modern politics. Blending history, anthropology, etymology and geology, Gail's walk along the Old Way reveals the rich natural and cultural heritage found on our own doorstep.

Exploring the gardens, monuments, museums, and churches with walks both urban and rural, from the Bronte parsonage in Haworth to Zadie Smith's North London and Shakespeare's Stratford, The Book Lover's Bucket List takes you through some 100 wonderfully described literary sites and landscapes, complete with colour destination photographs and illustrations from the British Library collections. Start with Chaucer, Dickens and Larkin in Westminster Abbey. Spend an afternoon at Colliers Wood Nature Reserve in Nottinghamshire and take in the lake D. H. Lawrence described as 'all grey and visionary, stretching into the moist, translucent vista of trees and meadow'. Venture south to Cornwall and work your way up to the Scottish Highlands, taking detours to Northern Ireland in the west and Norfolk in the east - or simply drop in on the place nearest to you. Wherever you are in the United Kingdom, you're never far from something associated with a good book.

In Britons Through Negro Spectacles Merriman-Labor takes us on a joyous, intoxicating tour of London at the turn of the 20th century. Slyly subverting the colonial gaze usually placed on Africa, he introduces us to the citizens, culture and customs of Britain with a mischievous glint in his eye. This incredible work of social commentary feels a century ahead of its time, and provides unique insights into the intersection between empire, race and community at this important moment in history.

As the nation's oldest serving detectives, we know more about London than almost anyone. After all, we've been walking its streets and impulsively arresting its citizens for decades. Who better to take you through its less savoury side? We'll be chatting about odd buildings, odder characters, lost venues, forgotten disasters, confusing routes, dubious gossip, illicit pleasures and hidden pubs. We'll be making all sorts of odd connections and showing you why it's almost impossible to separate fact from fiction in London.

In 1982 the author set out alone in a thirty-foot ketch to sail round the British Isles. He had never before handled a boat at sea, but after three weeks of tuition, he took off into the blue, flying no ensign; an independent navigator with a sceptical outsiders eye for his homeland.

Following the publication of 'I Bought a Mountain', this book describes the author's tour through Wales in the 1950's. It says something about Wales and the Welsh at a time when political moves towards the Welsh Assembly are coming to fruition.

Tom Fort followed the course of the River Trent from its source to the sea, partly on foot and bicycle, but mostly in a fifteen foot punt. His journey showed him the hidden face of his own country and taught him much about the life of the river and the land it flows through.

Delightful essays on the unspoiled corners of England experienced by the author.

In 1934, JB Priestley published an account of his journey through England from Southampton to the Black Country, to the North East and Newcastle, to Norwich. In capturing and describing an English landscape and people hitherto unseen, he influenced the thinking and attitudes of an entire generation and helped formulate the formation of the welfare state.

A leisurely journey in a narrow boat up the Oxford Canal with vivid descriptions of a now bygone age giving a real insight into the rural scene and the way of life of the boat people in the early 1900s.

Every journey has its stories. Beginning with Enid Blyton and childhood in the Isle of Purbeck, Peter Fiennes embarks on a unique exploration of Britain. He follows in the footsteps of some our greatest writers, tracing the paths recorded in their books, journals and diaries. How much has time changed us? And has it been for better, or worse? Are we trapped in the past? Footnotes is a lyrical foray into our past and present, and a mesmerising quest to picture these isles anew.

Over the course of a year, historian and nature writer David Gange kayaked the weather-ravaged coasts of Atlantic Britain and Ireland from north to south. The story of his journey reveals how the similar ingredients of wind, rock and ocean have been transformed into wildly different Atlantic cultures. Drawing on the archives of islands and coastal towns, he shows that the histories of these stunning regions are of real importance in reconceptualising both the past and the future of the whole archipelago.

Cycling around Ireland Edward Enfield is enchanted by what he finds there; prehistoric fortresses, rugged landscapes and landladies who insist on taking care of him. Join him on his gentle ride up the west coast, seeing Ireland through his eyes.

After three years the Kerr family sell their orange farm in Mallorca and return to Scotland. Viewing Scotland with fresh eyes, this is the reverse of most life-style change journals.

Fairytales are one of our earliest cultural forms, and forests one of our most ancient landscapes. Yet both forests and fairy stories are at risk and their loss deprives us of our cultural lifeblood. Maitland visits forests through the seasons, from the exquisite green of a beechwood in spring, to the muffled stillness of a snowy pine wood in winter.

The eight hundred acres of Hampstead Heath lie just four miles from central London; and yet unlike the manicured inner-city parks, it feels like the countryside: it has hills and lakes, wild spots and tame spots. Hunter Davies has lived within a stone's throw of Hampstead Heath for more than sixty years and has walked on it nearly every day of his London life. For him, it is not just a place of recreation and relaxation but also a treasure-house of memories and emotions.

In The Heath, he visits all parts of this, the largest area of common land in Britain's capital city: from Kenwood House to the Vale of Health, from Parliament Hill to Boudicca's Mound, and from the Ladies Bathing Pond to the fabulous pergola. As he walks, Davies talks to the diverse array of individuals who frequent the Heath: regulars; visitors; dog walkers; stall holders at the weekly farmer's market; famous faces having their morning stroll; twenty-first-century hippies spreading peace, love and happiness.

Stuart Maconie goes in search of the places, people and events of the 20th century that shaped the look and character of modern Britain. From the death of Victoria to the demise of New Labour, he takes a single event from each decade that offers up a defining moment in our history and then goes in search of its legacy today. X rated, contains offensive language.

England is the most varied of countries; within its borders, life changes mile on mile. Roy Hattersley takes us on a journey around the English countryside. He celebrates crumbling churches and serene Victorian architecture, magnificent hills and wind-whipped coast, and above all, the quirky good humour and resilience of England's denizens.

Max Adams explores Britain's lost early medieval past by walking its paths and exploring its lasting imprint on valley, hill and field. Each of his ten walk narratives form a portrait of a Britain, of fort and fyrd, crypt and crannog, church and causeway, holy well and memorial stone.

Mary and Patrick's dream was to live in London, have 2.4 children, the nice house, the successful jobs. But life had other plans, and in one traumatic year that all came crashing down.

Bruised and battered, Mary finds herself pulled towards Cornwall and dreams of St George's Island, where she spent halcyon childhood summers. So, when an opportunity arises to become tenants if they renovate the old Island House, they grab it with both hands.

Life on the island is hard, especially in winter, the sea and weather, unforgiving. But the rugged natural beauty, the friendly ghosts of previous inhabitants, and the beautiful isolation of island life bring hope and purpose, as they discover a resilience they never knew they had.

The British Isles are an archipelago made up of two large islands and 6,289 smaller ones. In this evocative and vividly observed book, Patrick Barkham explores some of the most beautiful landscapes in the British Isles as he travels to ever-smaller islands in search of their special magic.

Christopher Somerville's account of the British countryside not only inspires us to don our boots and explore the 140,000 miles of footpaths across the British Isles, but also illustrates how, on long-distance walks, we can come to an understanding of ourselves and our fellow walkers.

An account of a walk along the length of the mainland, from Land's End to John O'Groats, told with much warmth and humour.

Raynor Winn knows that her husband Moth's health is declining, getting worse by the day. She knows of only one cure. It worked once before. But will he - can he? - set out with her on another healing walk? The Cape Wrath Trail is over two hundred miles of gruelling terrain through Scotland's remotest mountains and lochs. But the lure of the wilderness and the beguiling beauty of the awaiting glens draw them northwards. Being one with nature saved them in their darkest hour and their hope is that it can work its magic again. As they set out on their incredible thousand-mile journey back to the familiar shores of the South-west Coast Path, Raynor and Moth map the landscape of an island nation facing an uncertain path ahead. In Landlines, she records in luminous prose the strangers and friends, wilderness and wildlife they encounter on the way - it's a journey that begins in fear but can only end in hope. 

Hundreds of thousands of miles of paths reach into, and connect, communities across England and Wales. By 2026, 10,000 miles of undiscovered footpaths around Britain stand to be lost. Jack Cornish has dedicated the last five years of his life to walking these forgotten routes, and this book, The Lost Paths, is the result. It is Jack Cornish's hope that The Lost Paths will show just how special these forgotten rights of way are, and how embedded each path is in the history of Britain. Footpaths, tracks, country lanes and urban streets illuminate how our ancestors interacted with and shaped their landscapes in the pursuit of commerce, salvation, escape, war, and leisure.

Paths are an often-overlooked part of our everyday life and our country's history, crucial to understanding the cultural and environmental history of us in the landscape. After dedicating his time and energy to fighting for their survival, The Lost Paths is Jack's personal journey and exploration of the deep history of English and Welsh footways. This narrative history takes us through ancient forests, exposed mountainsides, urban back streets and coastal vistas to reveal how this millennia-old network was created and has been transformed. This is a celebration of an ancient network and a rallying cry to reclaim what has been lost and preserve it for future generations.