Virgin Trains reinstate a direct twice-daily train service from London to Shrewsbury today (December 15 2014). The new link is likely to enhance the town’s appeal as a day trip and weekend-away destination. It’s a matter of touristic distinction to be joined to the capital by a through service. London is, after all, where most overseas visitors… Continue reading
Browsing Category Travel
Significant ceramics – on the trail of Europe’s finest pottery cities
There’s a new and very distinguished international cultural itinerary through five countries, on the trail of an item that has seduced us for centuries. The ultimate thrill would be to spend a week, or more reasonably two, following the invisible thread running from Limoges in France, down to Faenza, Italy; then up to Germany for Höhr-Grenzhausen… Continue reading →
High-fly wi-fi York bids to be UK’s best online tourist destination
Could the guidebook and the tourist leaflet become obsolete, before too long, at least in town and city centres? Using ubiquitous, and free, Wi-Fi, tourists may never again need to look up the height of that steeple, the age of that ancient market cross, the architect of that building. That’s the reality in York. And… Continue reading →
Berlin without its Wall – 25 years on
On 10 November 1989, BBC reporter Olenka Frenkiel walked into the Newsnight Berlin studio, unannounced, with a chunk of the Berlin Wall, which she had appropriated just as bulldozers began to demolish the structure that had defined the deep fissure between East and West for a generation. She put it down on the table in… Continue reading →
Salisbury’s perfect year as world’s top 10 city
Lonely Planet has chosen Salisbury as one of its top 10 cities of the world to visit in 2015. The city celebrates the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta in 2015 – the cathedral will be displaying its copy, considered to be the best of the original documents. It’s less than a year since the new… Continue reading →
Dylan Thomas in Fitzrovia
“The life, work and riotous pleasures of Dylan Thomas in Fitzrovia.” That was the title of a wide-ranging festival celebrating one of our greatest poets in 2014, his centenary year. It was also a celebration of Fitzrovia, the culturally rich district which played an important part in his life in London. The 19-year-old first came up on… Continue reading →