The front cover image of the bumper, double issue of this latest issue of The People’s Friend is of Ironbridge in the snow. It’s inspired by an image the magazine found a few years ago. When they commissioned me to write the piece, I asked them what colour the bridge was in the picture. Answer: grey. I then had to tell them that the Iron Bridge had recently undergone some restoration work and English Heritage had painted the bridge in its original colour: reddy brown. So, they had to change the colour of the bridge in their image!
Landscape/British Travel
Readers Like Walking
I’ve been producing walking route descriptions for Country Walking magazine since 2004 (so my feet ache a bit now 🤣), and I always hope that my route descriptions are easy to follow.
It’s not that writing route descriptions are difficult – they’re not. It’s editing them to fit the 500-word count set by the magazine (and then hope they still make sense) that’s the challenge!
Rydal Water
The December issue of Outdoor Photography magazine has one of my images in their Viewpoint section. It was taken during Christmas week last year, while I was staying in Grasmere. …
Radnor Ramble
The November 2019 issue of Country Walking contains a route I did around Radnor Forest and the quaint hamlet of Bleddfa, in Powys. If you’re looking for a route where …
Welsh Border Seven Castle Challenge
Check out the October issue of BBC Countryfile magazine for my Welsh Border Seven Castle Challenge.
This month’s theme is castles, and sitting on the border with the country with more castles per square mile than any other country in the world, I had to have a go at getting as many castles as I could into one article. In fact, I could have got many more, but these are the ones that I suggested you could visit in one day (although the magazine has suggested you may wish to make a weekend of it).
Wallis’s First Dam
October marks the 40th anniversary of the death of one of this country’s most famous engineers: Barnes Wallis.
To commemorate this, I’ve written a piece for the October issue of Best of British magazine looking at one of Wallis’s lesser known escapades in the Welsh Elan Valley.
Historic Hereford
My feature on Hereford appeared in The People’s Friend’s issue dated 28th September 2019. When Alex, the Features Editor, commissioned me to write it I jumped at the chance, even though the city is only 40 miles from where I live, and it’s a place where I’ve worked from time to time (both Herefordshire Council, and the Diocese of Hereford have offices there).
Elan Valley – The People’s Friend – Bonus Bits!
This week’s issue of The People’s Friend has my Elan Valley travel piece as the front cover image. If you’ve never been to the area before, I hope it whets your appetite – or should I say ‘wets’ your appetite 🙂
As is always the case, when you go off and explore an area you can never include everything in the finished article, so here are some photos that didn’t make it into the published feature.
The Long Mynd – Outdoor Photography
The viewpoint image in this month’s Outdoor Photography magazine (July 2019 issue) was taken from Burway Hill, overlooking Caer Caradoc, The Lawley and The Wrekin.
In the accompanying text, I recommend parking in Carding Mill Valley and then picking up the Burway lane, which climbs up onto the Long Mynd.
Wandering Around Whitton
The June 2019 issuse of Country Walking magazine contains my 7 ¾ mile wander around the Welsh Border village of Whitton.
Whitton is one of those places that feels as if it’s in the middle of nowhere, yet is only 3 miles from the English/Welsh border.