501 Places

Planning a day trip from London? 90 minutes from the capital by train can take you to some interesting cities: Bristol, Southampton, Winchester, Canterbury, Stratford are just a few options. Until recently however, you would not have considered a French destination. All this changed with the introduction of the high speed line that takes the [...]

I asked my wife the other day: what makes a particular place a romantic one?  She immediately replied that it was about the person you’re with, rather than where you are. So I asked her if it would make any difference if I took her for a romantic weekend to Paris or to Cleethorpes (for [...]

Ireland is famous for many things. Castles, in my previously narrow knowledge of the island, was not one of those claims to fame. So I was intrigued, if not full of expectation, at the prospect of visiting Ashford Castle in County Mayo; a place I had known little about, despite the fact that all my [...]

After the Great Fire of London in 1666, Christopher Wren was instructed to design and rebuild 51 churches in the city. He was later knighted and would become the architect who, more than any other, left his mark on the city in a way that has survived more than three centuries. Wren’s most celebrated work [...]

I thought I’d share with you three posts that I enjoyed reading this week and you may have missed. This could turn out to be a regular feature; we’ll see how it goes. A Gallivant in Galway, written by Paul Joyce for the Arbuturian. Paul was part of the group with whom I travelled to [...]

It seems in recent months that anyone and anything in the south-east of England is finding a way to incorporate the word London into its name in a bid to boost business. First we had the ridiculous spectacle of London Oxford airport, so named despite it being nearly 60 miles from the capital (even a [...]

It’s 41 years since Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon. At the time dreams of lunar colonisation and regular shuttles to and from our neignbouring world seemed highly plausible. Yet no-one has set foot on the moon since 1972, a fact made all the more remarkable by the massive technological advance we’ve made since then. [...]

There are many examples of the pithy travel quote that are often shared around online. These lines are usually written by famous authors from a time when travel was very different: when travel really was about the journey and when travelling off the beaten track was easy. But how would these quotes look if written [...]

The Irish have a reputation as good story-tellers, and given the rich and troubled history of the island it’s hardly a surprise that many legends have been exported from its shores. As a long-standing sea port and well-worn route to the New World, the western city of Galway has more than its fair share of [...]

I’m taking a shine to Galway. Having arrived here last night and enjoyed the legendary Irish hospitality on the inside of many of the city’s bars, this morning I took the chance to wander around and see what I could find. Being out at 9am the city was very quiet; hardly surprising given its lively [...]