But in a week where hundreds of thousands of people will flock to the UK, I thought it worth sharing some insights into the practice of tipping in this country. After all, one of the best pieces of advice on the topic, applicable in any location, is to follow the local custom. For this reason I grit my teeth and pay the standard rates when I’m in the US, regardless of my thoughts on the unfairness of a system that allows employers to criminally underpay their staff. So how do us Brits deal with tipping when eating, drinking or spending weekends away in their own country?

I recently read a guide to the UK written by an American that suggested you leave a couple of pound coins by your empty glass in a pub and considered a tip of £15-20 per day normal at the end of a stay in a country hotel. This is nonsense and completely out of line with standard practice for anyone I’ve ever met.

The suggestions that follow are personal, but having travelled extensively with others around our country I am confident that I am not far out of line with the norm. To put the following suggestions in context, I’m not talking about living the high life; I normally stay in £60-100 B&Bs/hotels, eat in places that charge around £15-20 a head and only use taxis for short distances where no other viable alternative exists.

Restaurants

Add 10% (unless the service is exceptionally bad) and round up/down to the nearest pound.  If possible always try to leave the tip in cash, even if paying for the meal by card. I do this in the belief that there is a higher chance that the waiter will get to keep it and that it will not be shared with their employer and/or the taxman.

Cafés

In many small cafés and tea rooms it is common to pay at the till rather than at the table, and usually in cash. A jar is often left out for customers to leave a tip. There is no expectation or obligation here, but leaving your small change up to a pound is reasonable.

Bars

No tips required. I have never tipped a barman in the UK. I worked in three different bars in my early years and got offered a drink by a few regulars around Christmas time, but that was about it. I’m sure any barman would be delighted if you left a pound or two by their glass, but that doesn’t mean you should. Bars around the tourist hotspots are now becoming more switched on to tipping tendencies of visitors and ‘suggest’ a tip on their bills; a Pavlovian reaction, a cynic might say.

Hotels

I rarely tip in UK hotels. There is an expectation that the hotel rate is fully inclusive of all service, and the introduction of the UK minimum wage in 1997 at least ensures that staff receive a viable if modest wage.

The more posh the hotel, the more likely they are to suggest a service charge. You should not feel obliged to add anything to your bill, and rest assured that this practice is aimed at visiting north American tourists rather than Europeans.

Taxis

Fares are usually rounded up to the nearest pound with a little more added (up to 10%) if you’re happy with the service. I still remember coming home after a year in New York and tipping a Manchester taxi driver a pound on a £14 fare. His appreciation and gratitude was in stark contrast to the moody begrudging thanks I was used to for leaving 15% to the NYC taxi drivers.

I have missed out many other aspects of the service industry and would welcome additional opinions and insights. In short though, tipping in Britain is far more in line with the rest of Europe than with North America. For most of us locals, we’re hoping it stays that way.

Tipping in the UK: advice from a local is a post from: 501 Places

The Henry Moore exhibition at Hatfield House opens on April 23rd and will run throughout the summer months. It is the largest exhibition of Moore’s distinctive work ever shown in a private house. I was involved in organising a preview event for the exhibition recently and as a result was invited to attend. A great day out at Hatfield was made memorable not only by the glorious weather we enjoyed but also by the chance to catch up with many friends from the online world.

I have an uneasy relationship with art. Having never studied the subject nor achieved even the most basic level of competence in any of its disciplines I feel totally unsuitable to provide a review of any sort. It would be rather like asking my wife to provide an analysis of a football match. I can enjoy a painting, a piece of sculpture or a carving for its aesthetic qualities, particularly when it is set in a context with which I have some association: a river scene from old London for example, or a representation of a famous person.

Abstract work on the other hand can leave me baffled and unmoved, with little or no insight into what others are admiring in the same work. It is rather like a colour-blind person who hears others share details of a particular scene and has to accept the vivid descriptions he hears, while experiencing something altogether more plain himself.

Those with an eye for good art will love the Henry Moore exhibition at Hatfield. The pieces are spread through the beautiful grounds, each location selected carefully to match the work. Visitors can view the sculptures from any angle, providing many different perspectives and backdrops to each piece. They will appear distinct against a clear blue sky and different again when the background is a more menacing grey.

For those of us missing the art appreciation gene the exhibition is still worthy of a visit, although some of the more abstract exhibits had me soon focussing on others’ reactions to the work rather than my own. While Moore has a distinctive style the pieces scattered across the grounds of Hatfield House are quite varied. Visitors are encouraged to get close to the sculptures and even touch them, experiencing the many different materials used by Moore to create his work. Even as a philistine I can appreciate this. I hope the pictures below give a little taster of what you can enjoy at Hatfield, regardless of genetic make-up.

Hatfield House

And once you’re done with Moore, take the chance to visit the spectacular interior of Hatfield House, an excellent example of a home of the English nobility that has survived four eventful centuries. Enjoy wandering through the house and gardens and recognising your setting as the location for many famous films and TV shows (Lara Croft?). In fact, the house is celebrating its 400 year anniversary this year, and many special events are being laid on. Less than 30 minutes on the train from London, Hatfield House is a very easy day trip (or even half-day trip) from the city.

Henry Moore at Hatfield: a Philistine’s review is a post from: 501 Places

But it wasn’t always like that. When we lived a long way from London and I had to come in regularly for business I didn’t have a good word to say about the place. I wasn’t alone. While London usually features in any top cities of the world lists, there are a significant few who despise the city and would avoid it at all costs.

The following 10 criticisms are all actual statements I’ve found in anti-London rants in blogs, or have heard first hand from people who’ve felt unfortunate to have lived in or passed through the city.

1. London is expensive. London can be very expensive, particularly when people come here for work and need to find a decent place to rent on a tight budget. Living further out of the city and relying on public transport (see below) is usually the answer. But is this any different from living in New York, Moscow, Madrid, Sydney, etc. etc. ?

2. The food in London is the worst in the world. This one always makes me laugh. Yes, you can get some inedible dross around London’s tourist hotspots and pay a high price for the privilege. Isn’t it the same in Paris or Rome, the culinary capitals?Dig around in London and you’ll find plenty to dispel the myth of bad British food. And in the right neighbourhoods you can find superb Indian, Vietnamese or Middle Eastern cuisine at absolute bargain prices.

3. London is unfriendly. A common big city trait and in my experience no worse in London than anywhere else. Sure, plenty of people on the Tube have their heads in their papers or locked away in the sounds of their iPod, but make the effort and people will generally be willing to assist visitors who ask for help.

4. People ignore you even if you’re in trouble. Will Londoners look the other way if you’re being mugged? In many cases they probably will. It’s a sad part of big city life that enough people have been attacked, injured or worse when intervening in a robbery that others are reluctant to take the risk of getting involved. It’s not a good thing, but again I suspect is no different to any big city in Europe or North America.

5. The London Underground is terrible. When it works it’s brilliant; you can cross the city quickly and easily, and it is one of the best connected systems in the world. Weekend closures, too many strikes and erratic engineering scheduling does mean that too people get caught out and left scrambling for alternatives. London can certainly improve on this one.

6. London is polluted. After a day in London you will probably find yourself picking black bits of stuff from your nose and from your fingernails. It’s the natural result of a city that packs in millions of residents and many more who come in to work. It’s better than it was and for those who complain I would ask them to name a similar sized less polluted city.

7. London is one big traffic jam. However bad the traffic in central London is now, it has to be better than it would have been without the Congestion Charge. And having struggled for two hours just to reach our hotel in Bangkok and was then told that this was quite normal, I think London does pretty well for traffic given its size. Most streets are designed heavily in favour of busses and cyclists, and these are both quicker and cheaper ways to get around the centre than in your own car.

8. No-one speaks English in London. This is of course nonsense, although you are likely to hear dozens of languages in a short walk through the city. For me this is one of London’s greatest assets. It is far more racially integrated as a city than New York for example, with a more diverse population than almost anywhere else.

9. Connections to and from London airports are a joke. Probably most residents would agree here, at least to some extent. Taxi fares from Heathrow to central London are outrageously high, as is the £18 fifteen minute ride on the Heathrow Express. Luton and Gatwick meanwhile are linked to London by a less than reliable rail service than too often leaves people frustrated and angry. London could take a lesson from many of its European neighbours here.

10. London is dangerous. The crime rate in London is relatively low and even more so if you remove the inter-gang related violence that occurs away from any tourist area. Yes, you have to be alert and sensible but doesn’t that advice apply anywhere?

Yes, London has its darker sides, its frustrations and its rip-offs; it’s not a utopia by any stretch. But when measured against other major cities in the world it is still worthy of its place near the top of the list.

10 reasons why people hate London is a post from: 501 Places

The 12 photos in this post give a little taste of what anyone can find if they allow themselves to get lost in London’s endless sprawl.
(All are taken on Saturday 19th March 2011)

Harrods Depository, built in 1894 and once the store room of the world famous store - now a complex of luxury flats

Craven Cottage, home of Fulham FC and the only house inside a professional football ground (I think)

Book displays on the famous King's Road, Chelsea

World's End shop, Chelsea

The world famous home of the Metropolitan Police Service

St James's Park with its famous pelicans, a gift from the Russian ambassador in 1684 (not the same ones of course)

Memorial to the victims of the Bali bombing, outside Horseguard's Parade

Protest outside Downing Street - Pakistani Christians against the blasphemy law

The famous Olympic clock in Trafalgar Square - already a prime photo stop

Gordon Square in Bloomsbury - one of many green spaces in this part of the city

An attractive home in Flaxman Terrace, very close to Euston station

Even St Pancras station has caught the Olympic bug

London walks: Hammersmith to St Pancras is a post from: 501 Places

The group experience a typical Sunday evening meal

As a hectic week draws to a close I thought it worth reflecting on the recent St Albans blog trip. For those who missed my previous post on the subject, I invited five of Europe’s finest travel bloggers to stay in my home town of St Albans before and during World Travel Market. The event was made possible by the many local suppliers who were very willing to offer their services to the group. So what is the verdict from the trip?

Relaxing in the cold - Whipsnade Tree Cathedral

Certainly everyone involved seemed to enjoy their time in St Albans, and between us we have given the city’s profile a boost within the travel blogging community. The #blogstalbans hashtag has been used over 220 times on Twitter by around 40 different people. The reach of these tweets runs into the hundreds of thousands. There are several blog posts already written and many Facebook pictures shared from the weekend. Hopefully some of this publicity will rub off on the businesses that offered us their support. Some, such as The Waffle House and St Albans Car and Van Rental were very kind to offer their services (a waffle lunch and a van respectively) in good faith that the group would in turn provide them with links and mentions.

Ben and Anna (and little helpers) from Tourdust serve up some top notch mulled wine

Others actually helped in the trip itinerary itself. Anna from Tourdust met us in the Hertfordshire countryside and led the group on a two hour hike through deserted paths and over windy peaks. The autumn colours were perfect on a mainly sunny morning. And there was even a surprise in store for us as during a brief stroll after lunch through the Whipsnade Tree Cathedral we met Anna’s husband Ben who was waiting for the group with warm mulled wine. It was really good of Ben and Anna to choose to spend their Sunday with our group and get to know them while showing them their little corner of Hertfordshire.

Autumn colours on our Sunday hike at Ashridge

Meanwhile Gail from The Black Lion Inn joined the group in all of our activities and also took the opportunity to get to know the bloggers who were staying in her hotel and gain an insight into the strange world of travel blogging. She also organised an excellent local guide to show us around the historical sites of St Albans.

This was certainly not a traditional press trip. I had deliberately set out to have a ‘typical’ weekend: I cooked a meal for the gang at my home on the Saturday night, and just as I normally do at home I hadn’t thought about what we would all do for our Sunday evening meal. The resulting quick call to Domino’s to order a couple of their large offerings saved the day; the lack of professional PR input was clear.

A quick dinner at the Japan Centre in Piccadilly before another tweetup

On the other hand, the chance to show a group of bloggers (friends) around my current home town and a part of the world that I’m quite fond of was one that I was glad to take up. We got to experience the products and services of many of the small unsung businesses in St Albans, most of whom would never get noticed on a professionally organised press trip. These businesses were happy to take a leap of faith and see what benefits the resulting exposure might bring them.

smallcarBIGCITY deliver the bloggers to WTM

Is there an opportunity for others to run such trips? (This is the point where I ruin my chance of going on future lavish press trips, but here goes anyway). Speaking personally I would prefer to have a more down-to-earth ‘local’ experience when visiting a city, and would probably find more to write about than if I was staying in 5 star accommodation and eating in Michelin star restaurants. Of course the high life is very pleasant. But I have found it easier to write with sincerity about an experience if it’s one that I would actually choose to do myself. There is perhaps an opportunity for organisers (whoever they are) to offer a more humble style of blog trip that accurately reflects the experiences that the bloggers who are attending would normally write about.

Related posts:

St Albans blog trip: the post-match analysis is a post from: 501 Places

So when I was invited to join a Context Tour of the city I wondered what new perspectives I would gain on what for me is now familiar ground. Context Walking Tours are marketed as a very different experience to the standard walking tour offers in the capital, and everything in their marketing is aimed at differentiating them from the more mainstream offering. The tour is led by a docent rather than a guide; the tours are referred to as seminars; and the academic qualifications of the docent are prominently displayed on the Context site. Prices too mark these walks out as different from the rest, with individuals paying £60 for most walks and groups £240 to have the tour as a private one.

I met our docent Kevin at Tower Hill and we were soon joined by an American couple, who it turns out were Context regulars (in fact the vast majority of Context clients are from the US). Kevin would be taking us on the Portrait of a City walk, and we were soon exploring the hidden corners of the old part of London.

We heard stories that swung from the modern day to Roman London, the Norman conquest, the Reformation, and of course London’s two watershed moments: the Great Fire and the Blitz. Kevin explained to us how the Corporation of London had enjoyed considerable autonomy from the Crown and how its total obsession with running the Square Mile as a business led to the haphazard streets and alleys that we still see today. From time to time Kevin would refer to his note book and share with us a relevant quote from a famous historian or writer.

St Stephen Wallbrook

We didn’t venture into any places that I hadn’t previously seen, but what I did enjoy was hearing new stories that helped explain the origins and significance of buildings and monuments to which I’d previously given little more than a glance. I was particularly pleased when Kevin led the three of us into the church of St Stephen Wallbrook, which is surely Wren’s most perfect masterpiece and one of London’s most beautiful buildings.

The tour takes three hours and covers a lot of ground in that time. Having a professional expert as a guide not only means that they will be armed with a rich selection of stories, but that they will also know most of the answers to the London-related questions that may have lingered in your mind previously. The pace of the walk was fairly gentle; it was harder keeping up with the many facts that were coming our way as our guide flitted effortlessly back and forth between millennia.

I really enjoyed the walk and learned a lot about the history of London; a subject that I find increasingly fascinating the more I hear about it. At the same time I would stress that this style of tour is certainly not for everybody. The in-depth descriptions of London’s past and how its buildings came to be require a keen interest in the city’s history or in architecture. Those looking for a more fleeting tour of London’s highlights would struggle with the level of detail that this tour provides. But then I suspect Context’s pricing strategy does screen out the non-committed in any case.

I was a guest of Context Travel on the Portrait of a City tour.

Historic London Walking Tour: putting it into context is a post from: 501 Places

I’ve had a lot of fun organising this event and I’ve stressed to those attending that this is not going to be like a ‘proper’ blog trip. There is no PR or tourism body involvement and we are doing the type of stuff I would normally choose to do on a weekend, and eating in the places where I would typically eat. So definitely no Michelin stars, macro-biotic diets or helicopter rides on this trip!

Just before the event kicks off I thought I’d share some of the story of how the idea came about and introduce some of the characters involved.

How did the idea come about?

After spending time with a bunch of great folks on my first blog trip in Valencia earlier in the year I gathered that many of them would like to attend World Travel Market, but the cost of staying in London for the duration was prohibitive.

It briefly crossed my mind to offer a couple of folks a couch to sleep on and then I figured there might be a bigger opportunity here. Why not invite some of the local business in St Albans to offer their services in welcoming a group of bloggers to the city? They would gain from extensive exposure on the various blogs and social media channels, and they also pick up links in return for their support (in posts such as this one).

Local suppliers

I was keen to work with local suppliers who would most likely have been overlooked by a ‘properly organised’ press trip. So I approached a few of these companies myself and have been genuinely surprised by the willingness that local people have shown to be part of this weekend.

I have had a rental car provided for the weekend by St Albans Car and Van Rental; lunch on arrival is being hosted by The Waffle House – a local favourite spot (and a world away in every sense from the American chain of the same name).

We have an exciting day out planned on Sunday, being organised by Anna and Ben from Tourdust. It involves a traditional Sunday pub lunch at the Rose and Crown in Ivinghoe  and a walk – beyond that, watch this space!

And then once World Travel Market starts, we have a fantastic transfer organised with smallcarBIGCITY from St Pancras to the exhibition centre, and London Travelcards courtesy of Discount London.

Last but certainly not least, accommodation is being provided at the Black Lion Inn where the owner Gail is not only welcoming the group into her hotel but has also played a valuable role in promoting the whole project to the wider local tourism community. On top of that she is hosting what promises to be a very lively social evening on Sunday.

The bloggers

In the end I could easily have attracted double the number of bloggers to visit, but logistics meant that I had to limit the number to five. Now of course World Travel Market is the big draw here, but I’m hoping that the five who will be staying in St Albans will leave the UK next week with good memories and impressions of a part of the country that they wouldn’t otherwise have known. The five bloggers who will be experiencing a weekend in St Albans before making their way into London for WTM are:

Keith Jenkins (@velvetescape) - www.velvetescape.com

Simon Falvo (@1step2theleft) - http://www.wild-about-travel.com

Melvin Boucher (@traveldudes) - http://www.traveldudes.org

Isabelle Kenis (@isabellestravel) - http://www.isabellestravelguide.com

Abigail King (@insidetravellab) - http://www.insidethetravellab.com

I’m looking forward to seeing what these folks make of St Albans, my adopted home for the last four years. More on the itinerary as the weekend develops… and it will be more interesting to hear what these guys make of the planned events! You can follow the weekend’s activity on Twitter via #blogstalbans.

St Albans blog trip – ingredients locally sourced is a post from: 501 Places

Neasden Hindu Temple in London

Many places lay claim to the much hyped label ‘Eighth Wonder of the World’. A recent entrant to this list of aspiring wonders is the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandi, better known as the Neasden Temple. This unglamorous corner of London is better known to millions as home to two giant symbols of worship of a different kind: Wembley Stadium and IKEA. Yet tucked away a stone’s throw from my big blue and yellow Swedish nightmare on the North Circular is without doubt one of London’s most beautiful and impressive buildings.

Neasden Hindu Temple in London

Having driven past the signs for Neasden Temple many times, we finally took the chance to make a visit. The first sight of the Temple is hugely impressive and the building is a stunning contrast to the forlorn parking lots and garages that surround it. A guard greeted us at the gates and politely asked me to return my camera to the car and not bring it onto the premises. We then passed through a full airport security check before entering the temple.

The temple is an impressive complex made up of many rooms, including a large shop selling many Hindu-related items. Entry to the temple is free although a donation is appreciated, and there are ample opportunities to leave one. The walls are adorned with photographs of the many illustrious people who have made a visit to the Temple. These include Prime Ministers Blair and Cameron, their wives and Prince Charles.

The highlight of the visit is without doubt the main Mandir, or prayer room. Here the level of intricacy in the carvings has to be seen to be believed. Handcrafted in over 2.5 years from Italian marble and Bulgarian limestone, there are over 26,000 different carvings in this small but atmospheric central room.

Neasden Hindu Temple in London

Upon entering we both felt as if we had instantly been transported to India, as we absorbed the smells of incense and the quiet murmurs of devout prayer from the many pilgrims present. The constant smiles and warm greetings from the worshippers as they saw two strangers in the Temple suggested that the effort we had made to visit had been far more than a mere 30 minute drive from our home.

There is an excellent museum (£2) below the main prayer room that tells the story of Hinduism and is aimed at non-Hindus. It describes the early principles of the religion and how it developed and eventually grew into a faith that now spans the entire globe, thanks largely to the emigration of Indian people over the centuries.

Neasden Hindu Temple in London

The Neasden Temple really is one of London’s unsung treasures. If it was in the centre of the city I am convinced that it would be one of the major visitor attractions, such is the beauty and impressive nature of the building. Yet stuck out in unloved Neasden, it attracts a fraction of the interest and appreciation that it deserves. Maybe not a bad thing, but if you are in London and want to see a world class building that will genuinely surprise, I would heartily recommend a trip out to the Hindu Temple in Neasden.

Why the Neasden Temple is a must-see London sight is a post from: 501 Places

But whenever we take a tour of the city with a professional guide (often while wearing my Discount London blogging hat) there’s always a new story that I hear for the first time; something that makes me view London that little bit differently next time I visit. To illustrate the point, here are two of the stories I picked up from Oli, our charismatic driver and guide from smallcarBIGCITY:

Giro: the only Nazi buried in London

Giro the Nazi dog, buried in London

Climbing the Duke of York Steps from the Mall to reach Pall Mall, it’s easy to miss a small memorial plot on the left at the top of the staircase. In a patch of dirt sits a small modest gravestone housed in a wooden kennel-like housing. Even without knowledge of German it looks like the final resting place for a beloved pet. The tomb is inscribed with the words: “Giro” Ein treuer Begleiter London im Februar 1934 Hoesch, which translates as “Giro, a true companion, London, Febraury 1934. Hoesch is his owner’s name.

As our Mini-driving guide informed us, Hoesch was the German ambassador to the UK from 1932 and through the early years of Hitler’s rule. When his German shepherd passed away in 1934 (the result of an unfortunate encounter with an electric wire) he was afforded a full Nazi funeral, perhaps the only one to take place in London.

Wellington’s Nose

Wellington's Nose, Admiralty Arch, London

Wellington had a big nose by all accounts. In fact, just digging around online a little reveals many landmarks that have been named after his large hooter. He was also a much respected and greatly honoured military leader, and troops would doubtless be keen to have some of his good luck rub off on them before they went to battle. It makes perfect sense therefore, using a little warped logic, that there should be a bronze nose built into the stone of Admiralty Arch, as the Mall ends and meets Trafalgar Square.

The nose is situated at a height of 7 feet, just around waist height if you happen to be passing through on a horse. There is no plaque, no sign and anyone would almost certainly miss it if they weren’t looking out for it. But for those who are keen to find it, it’s clearly visible and its shining surface suggests that someone might just give it a quiet polish from time to time!

More facts

As an avid collector of trivia and forgotten stories I have really appreciated the time I’ve spent with the different London guides I’ve met in the last few months. Not only have their stories fascinated me, but they have left me ever more curious to learn about the history of the city. And beyond that, these encounters have reminded me of just how valuable a good guide can be anywhere in the world. They can transform a set of streets and buildings into a living patchwork of history, legend and mystery.

Nazis in London and Wellington’s nose: the value of a good guide is a post from: 501 Places

London Eye a little after sunset

Last night I co-hosted the weekly Travellers’ Night In (TNI) event on Twitter. It’s basically a couple of hours of chatter with several hundred people around 10 timed questions on a particular theme. This week it was all about the UK. While the audience is international it is fair to say that the majority of those taking part are from the US. So it was a very good exercise in gauging the perception of the UK by potential visitors to the country.

One of the most striking observations (though hardly shocking) was the overwhelming focus on London. Many people shared their previous experiences of the UK, and of course most were centred on the capital. Others wrote about the places they would love to see again and the answers were London-centric (with Edinburgh coming a clear second).

Is this significant? It certainly is for regional tourist boards. They are fighting a constant uphill battle to attract visitors to explore the UK beyond London. Ask an average American or Japanese person to list five things they would like to see in Britain and the chances are that all five will be in London. And if these visitors have a very limited time in the country (just look at average holiday allowances for US or Japanese workers) they are as likely to hop on the Eurostar to visit Paris as they are to head up to Leeds or Manchester.

Arriving at a country pub in time for dinner

Can regional tourist boards do much about this? I suspect they will always be swimming against the current when it comes to visitors from beyond Europe. The majority of long-haul visitors will inevitably want to base themselves in London, with only those on extended breaks taking the chance to venture beyond the main Stratford-Bath-Stonehenge-Oxford-Cambridge circuit (add in the Edinburgh-Inverness-Loch Ness route for those making Scottish trips). Of course some visitors do break away from these hotspots and find the unsung magic of the UK, but those numbers are always low in comparison to the overall UK visitor numbers.

Does the real opportunity come from low-cost airlines that are able to bring European visitors directly to the regional airports? If we can fly to Bratislava on the cheap for an easy weekend break from many UK airports, what’s stopping people flying the other way to Leeds, Cardiff or Newcastle to do the same? Having lived in many UK cities over the last 20 years I’ve seen just how much there is on offer to the visitor in any part of the country.

I often wonder why those Easyjet and Ryanair flights seem to be packed with Brits, while few Germans, Croats, Spaniards or Estonians make the return journey. Is the UK so expensive? It certainly gets cheaper as you venture outside of the tourist spots of London. Is it our weather? As any Brit will testify there are occasions when we’d all like to escape; but we also enjoy far more good weather than our reputation suggests. As an amateur observer it appears to me that there is still a lot of work to be done by UK tourism officials in promoting the diversity of our country to the European traveller.

Why UK tourism is still all about London is a post from: 501 Places

Lord's: the spritual home of cricket on a gloomy day

Cricket has a hard time selling itself to non-believers. In its original form (test match cricket) a game can last for five days, with each day lasting for around seven hours including breaks. And at the end of those five days? More than 1 in 3 finish as a draw.

The game stops when it’s raining, and also when the light is poor. So you might pay £40 for a ticket to one day of a five day game and spend an hour or two staring at an empty field while the players sit indoors waiting for the clouds to lift enough to satisfy the umpires that play can resume. See what I mean?

Yet if you’ve never been to a game and you happen to be passing through a major cricket country (India, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, England or the Caribbean) I would recommend a day at the cricket to see one of the world’s oldest sports and learn what is it about the game that so many of the local people find so fascinating.

Cricket: a statistician's dream

Cricket attracts a passionate following in its heartlands. In India and Australia crowds approaching 100,000 can squeeze into the huge stadiums to watch their national side. In England, trying to secure a ticket for an Ashes game against Australia (more on that later) is very difficult, and usually involves entering an over-subscribed lottery and hoping for the best.

People are willing to pay large sums of money to come to a game which is weather dependent (in England!) with the risk that they may see little play if the sun decides to take a day off. What is is about this strange game that captures the imagination?

England's batsmen emerge after a lunch break

Cricket on one level is a statistician’s dream. Batting and bowling averages, countless records, fifties, hundreds: there’s some milestone passed pretty much every hour of play. “These two batsmen have just passed the highest fourth wicket partnership for England against Bangladesh at Edgbaston” might be heard over the loudspeakers on a typical day.

Then there’s the intrigue of a five day game. A classic test match will change from one side being in the ascendancy to the other and back again several times before the end. Small incidents in an otherwise quiet period of play can influence the outcome of a match. A captain’s decision over where to place a fielder or who should bowl at a crucial time can swing the balance of a game decisively. I wonder if there are more subtleties and complex strategies in a Grandmaster chess match.

Haute cuisine is part of a day at the cricket

Spending a day at the cricket has developed into a peculiar ritual in recent years. Ask many supporters and they will list three main components of a good day’s cricket: beer, fast food and fancy dress. The beer starts to flow from early morning, and as the day wears on you’ll notice the singing levels increase, the inevitable Mexican wave circling the ground and some drunken idiot deciding that a 20ft high snake of empty beer glasses (plastic) is a good idea. The banter between opposing fans does however remain friendly and unthreatening.

There are always plenty of over-priced concession stands selling fish and chips, burgers, kebabs, and when the opposition are India or Pakistan, large vats of curry. And the fancy dress? It’s not uncommon to find troops of scantily-clad nuns, policewomen, Supermen or English knights among the crowd. I don’t know why; it’s just become part of the game in recent years.

T20: the sexed up version of cricket

Cricket has attempted to capture a wider audience by introducing a shorter three hour version of the game, aimed at TV audiences and part of a ridiculous attempt at wooing the American market (often denied). This T20 format of the game is particularly popular in India, where billions have been pumped into cricket’s equivalent of football’s Premier League.

Yet arguably the biggest occasion in the sport is known as the Ashes, when England take on Australia. Traditionally fierce rivals, the England team and the English media talk of little else for the four years between the times that the two sides play their contests. In recent years Australia has been dominant although their world domination appears to be over, and England will head to Australia later this year armed with their usual misplaced confidence. The atmosphere, the banter and beer-swilling always steps up a notch during an Ashes summer.

For me the five day game still emboddies what is best about cricket. There is something about watching even a day of a five day game, where no-one is in a hurry yet the game can take a dramatic turn at any point, that makes this a sport like no other. The happy acceptance of an unclear outcome, of weather delays or curtailment, and even moments where the crowd prays for rain to stop the game and prevent an impending defeat; cricket is certainly an acquired taste.

So if you are unfamiliar with the game and find yourself travelling through a cricket playing nation, why not take the chance to see a game for yourself? I would suggest that you tag along with a local who can explain what’s going on and guide you through the many rules of this historic sport. Oh, and don’t forget your umbrella.

It often ends up like this. Washed out and deserted

Cricket: thrilling or boring? is a post from: 501 Places

For many people, when you mention the city of Leeds, they associate it with being a great place for nightlife and shopping, but as a local I know that there’s much more to the city than bars and boutique shops. Whenever you see Leeds mentioned on the television they always refer back to its industrial past, and some in the media even like to still portray that it is grim up north.

Here are a few reasons why I love Leeds:

Parks and open spaces

Canal Gardens at Roundhay Park, Leeds

It does not matter if you are staying in the city centre or in the suburbs, Leeds has tons of open spaces and parks that are well looked after. Temple Newsam and Roundhay Park are popular with locals for relaxing in the sunshine (yes, it is sunny occasionally!) or for letting the kids run around to burn off some energy. Within the city centre you can eat your lunch and people-watch at various open spaces like Millennium Square, Queens Park or City Square.

The waterfront

Leeds and Liverpool Canal

Many people visit the city without even realising that we have a waterfront. In the summer this is my favourite part of the city to socialise, relax and walk. Brewery Wharf has loads of restaurants and bars nearby, whereas Clarence Dock is home to the Royal Armouries. Head to Granary Wharf and you’ll find the Sky Bar in the City Inn hotel with great views of the city from the 13th floor.

Popular annual Leeds events

Party in the Park and Opera in the Park are the biggest free music events held in the UK, with over 100,000 people heading to Temple Newsam to listen to the pop and opera artists. The German Christmas market at Millennium Square is also popular with locals, with its market stalls, huge beer tent and Oompah band.

Recommended bars in Leeds

View from City Inn Hotel Sky Bar

I know I mentioned earlier that there’s more to Leeds than the nightlife, and there is. But I couldn’t write a guide about things I love about Leeds without mentioning my favourite bars. The North bar imports beers from around the world, and Midnight Bell has a great selection of real ale from the local brewery.

Darren Cronian has written about the issues that consumers have with travel for the last five years on his now famous Travel Rants blog. In 2009, frustrated at the lack of attention cities like Leeds receive in the media, he launched a website to highlight the many great things that Leeds has to offer. You can read more about places to visit and stay in Leeds on My Life in Leeds, a locally written guide to the city. You can also follow Darren on Twitter.

Why I love Leeds is a post from: 501 Places

St Albans Abbey

We have moved house more times than most. In fact, in a little over 20 years together we’ve lived in or close to six big UK cities (Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, Cardiff, Bristol and most recently London) as well as a spell in New York. We were, until 2006, proud to say we had not lived within 100 miles of London and its pollution, noise, rudeness and crime. Yet here we are, in our fourth year living in one of London’s most prosperous satellite cities, and in no urgent hurry to pack up sticks and head northwards.

St Albans became the latest stop on our tour of UK places to live when I finished my latest studies in Manchester and took a job based just outside of the city. We both moved south with some reluctance, and braced ourselves for a difficult adjustment.

We chose St Albans as I had worked here on a project some years before and remembered it as a leafy, attractive small city (a bit like Chester but smaller, or Durham but without the castle and the dramatic riverside setting).

Verulamium Park, St Albans

I left my job over a year ago, yet we are still here and that is a compliment to our adopted home city. I’m sure we will move north again at some point: even a few days in north Yorkshire earlier this summer reminded us of the beauty and solitude of the northern countryside and the relative emptiness of the roads once you leave the towns and cities (down here there seems to be traffic everywhere).

St Albans has much to like about it. There is its rich Roman heritage: you can find an ampthitheatre, a Roman mosaic and a section of original 2000 year old wall in the city. Then there is the no.1 draw in the city, St Albans Abbey. It is a hotchpotch of architectural styles of various centuries that somehow comes together to make a very impressive building.

St Albans Abbey

And perhaps the biggest surprise for us are the many areas of parkland that St Albans boasts. I had a preconception that the south east of England is so densely populated that I would struggle to find any green space. So it’s a relief to know that the city is home to swathes of open spaces where people can enjoy their walks or bring their summer picnics. The largest park is Verulamium Park, home to much of the Roman heritage of the city and a place we wander around on our regular evening strolls in the summer.

Modern sculptures in the Abbey - recognise the figures?

View of the park from the roof of St Albans Abbey

It’s also very convenient for access to London (20 minutes on the train) and more importantly to its airports. When we do eventually make a move back to the north, we will miss having a 30 minute drive to Heathrow or a 70 minute direct train to Gatwick (10 minutes to Luton). Being near a major airport and not just a hub makes an outbound journey much easier, but its real benefit is when you’re coming home and know that as soon as you get off the plane you are nearly home.

View of the city from the roof of St Albans Abbey

And as for London? Well we have even become fond of the capital. Having once had to battle through the traffic to drive into the centre, or endure a long and uncomfortable journey by train to get there, we can now take a trip into the city on a whim, even going in for an evening meal if we feel like it. It has become a treat to explore its neighbourhoods and hidden attractions thanks to our proximity to the city.

Fishpool Street, St Albans

So I have gradually become comfortable in singing the praises of St Albans. It is a pleasant place to live, and the best compliment I can give is that if you have no choice but to live in the south then St Albans is one of the best places to make your home.

The ruins at Gorhambury, St Albans

St Albans Abbey in winter

St Albans Abbey at sunset

Sunset over St Albans

St Albans: not bad for a southern city is a post from: 501 Places

The perfect sunset paddle; Blouberg Beach, Cape Town

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 those who have never experienced the delights of Cleethorpes, or have never even heard of it, do a search and see what you’ve been missing). Needless to say I got a strange and unimpressed stare from Sam, betraying a very clear preference for the French capital.

So do we take it that there is something about the location that makes it romantic? (it’s not looking good Cleethorpes; sorry) But wait: the label romantic can be applied to such a diverse range of places. Think of a deserted long white sandy beach on a Seychellois outpost, then think of the canals of Venice; both considered romantic, yet couldn’t be less alike. A hotel in one town can offer a romantic break while another property on the same road would never get away with trying. And now many cities promote themselves as perfect places for romantic breaks while at the same time offer cheap booze to attract stag and hen parties. Is there a way to reason beyond these contradictions? Is there is still hope for Cleethorpes?

Perhaps romantic isn’t about a particular type of place – after all, it could be a beach, it could be a city or it could be a hide-away hotel. Romantic certainly should involve doing things together; but those activities could be as diverse as fine dining, learning to paint or rock-climbing. It’s the togetherness that makes the romance, rather than the glamour (a night dressed up to the nines in a glamorous casino or a walk hand-in-hand along a deserted path in rough and ready outdoor gear? You get the picture).

Is it even about being together alone? Certainly the good folk who market Venice, Paris or Prague can’t sell the exclusive aspect of being alone in their romantic dreams. In their eyes tens of thousands can come to their cities and jostle each other for space while being romantic together.

So if it’s just being together that defines romantic then what does indeed separate a walk along the beach in Cleethorpes from a stroll along the Seine (smells of fish and sewerage, some would say)? Is ‘romantic’ just a label attached to a marketing campaign to attract high spending couples, who will shell out more money as a result of the romantic label than they otherwise would? Is real romance something that does exist between two people, and therefore totally independent of location and surroundings?

Others are coming round to this way of thinking. Look at this video from the guys who set out to promote Blackpool (yes, Blackpool!) as a romantic hot-spot.

Perhaps I’ll have another look at Cleethorpes after all. I hear the smell of fish isn’t so bad these days.

Romantic destinations: are they all in the mind? is a post from: 501 Places

St Stephen Walbrook

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 of course is St Paul’s Cathedral, but even within a half mile of this world famous building you can discover many of Wren’s masterpieces. You won’t find 51 churches anymore, as some were demolished when the population of the city declined in the 19th century, while many were damaged or destroyed during the Blitz.

St Stephen Walbrook

The church of St Stephen Walbrook claims to be ‘the most perfectly proportioned interior in the world’ and it’s easy to see why. It’s hard not to be impressed and feel a sense of peace as soon as you step into St Stephen’s.

The crypt of the church was also home to the first branch of the Samaritans, and a picture of the organisation’s founder Chad Varah can be seen next to the telephone on which he took those early calls.

The Samaritans' first phone, and their founder Chad Varah. St Stephen Walbrook

St Lawrence Jewry is so named as it originally stood on the eastern side of the city, which was home to the Jewish community in medieval London.

The church was badly damaged on the night of 29th December 1940, when the Germans attempted to create a firestorm in the city. It has been restored to faithfully match the original Wren design.

St Lawrence Jewry

St Martin within Ludgate

A church has stood on the site of St Martin within Ludgate since 1174, although it has been rebuilt several times. Destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, the church was rebuilt in the early 18th century and thankfully received very little damage in the Blitz.

Now remarkably accessible, we were free to wander around and climb the stairs to the organ loft. There were even instructions left out to potential organists, although I’m sure it’s not intended for strangers to come in and play.

St Brides Church, Fleet Street

St Brides Church, Fleet Street

St Bride’s Church is perhaps the oldest church in London, with links back to the 7th century. A walk through the crypt reveals the old Saxon walls. This crypt was in fact only revealed after the church took a direct hit on that fateful night of 29th December 1940 and was severely damaged.

It has long had a link with the journalists of Fleet Street, and is indeed often referred to as the Journalists’ Church. So much so that the repair and restoration after the Blitz was paid for by the neighbouring newspaper proprietors. Now you’ll even find the editor’s designated seats in the choir stalls: seeing these seats filled would be a most unlikely sight!

St Brides Church, Fleet Street

All the above churches are free to enter and open during weekdays. with varied opening times at weekends. All rely on donations, so please do drop a pound or two into the box on your way out. St Brides also offers a guided tour once a day.

Wren’s beautiful churches of London is a post from: 501 Places

So why not London Birmingham airport? Ok, it’s a little over 100 miles from London and it does serve a city of a million people and a metropolitan area of closer to 4 million, so it can claim its right to stand by its own name. But I suspect many people living in and around London have no idea just how easy it is to fly from Birmingham International Airport (BHX). Perhaps if they did, Birmingham could attract a lot more traffic from its southern big brother.

I must admit when I was invited to Ireland on a press trip last week and told I would be flying from Birmingham, my initial reaction was not one of unabated joy. I figured it would take me a long time to get there from St Albans, and would have been better off going from a London airport. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was in fact a journey of less than 90 minutes: equivalent to my journey to Gatwick, Heathrow or Stansted using public transport. The journey from London Euston is 1 hour and 10 mins, also making it a viable option for those who live in north west London.

On top of this, the high speed Virgin Train from Watford to Birmingham International was a lot more comfortable than the First Capital Connect trains that I would otherwise have endured, and even offered a pleasing selection of overpriced snacks on board. The Air-Rail link monorail is a quick and easy way to transfer from the dated rail station to the thankfully more modern airport.

One problem that airlines face in getting southerners to travel to Birmingham for their flights is the cost of the rail fare. My ticket was £43.70 return. My flight by bmibaby to Knock could potentially have cost less than this. If passengers are travelling on a low-cost airline where fares can come in well under £100, then a taking a hit on the rail fare is not an attractive proposition. You can travel on this route for £15 return, but it does require good forward planning and a lot of seriously good fortune with flight times coinciding with the cheap trains. Airlines would do well to negotiate discounted rail fares to BHX if they want to present an all-round low-cost option to travellers.

So is there a case of London Birmingham airport? Relative to other recent rebranding attempts it’s certainly not the worst suggestion. Of course it won’t happen; the good folk of Birmingham would never allow their regional airport to be tarnished in this way and rightly so. But given the good connections with the capital (and the future potential for an even faster link) perhaps a London Birmingham name might attract a few million southerners up to the Midlands to fly off of their holidays.

I flew out of Birmingham to Knock as a guest of bmibaby on an organised press trip, with my rail fares covered by Birmingham International Airport.

Another airport rebranding? The case for London Birmingham airport is a post from: 501 Places

September 11th memorial garden, Grosvenor Square

Grosvenor Square, in the heart of London’s exclusive Mayfair, has been home to the American Embassy since 1938. It has maintained a very significant and increasingly fortified presence in the square through some turbulent times, both for London and for the United States.

Stars and Stripes, over London's Grosvenor Square since 1938

Given that this square is the spiritual home of Americans in the UK, it is fitting that part of the large garden that occupies Grosvenor Square has been dedicated to the victims of the September 11th attacks. Opened in 2003, the garden was desgined to remember all the victims of the attacks, but in particular lists the names of all the UK citizens who lost their lives on that terrible day.

Names of the UK citizens killed in the September 11th attacks

Of particular interest was the stone plaque found on the floor in the centre of the garden. It is designed by Richard Kindersley and includes a passage from from Henry Van Dyke’s poem ‘For Katrina’s Sun-dial’. This poem was read at the 2001 memorial service in Westminster Abbey. Beneath this stone is a small piece of the rubble taken from the Ground Zero site in New York.

Plaque in the September 11th memorial garden, Grosvenor Square

At midday on a summer day, the only occupants of this little park within a park were a couple of people sleeping on the benches. But the designers have created a very peaceful spot in the heart of the city for those who wish to remember friends or family affected by the events of September 11th in 2001.

September 11th memorial garden, Grosvenor Square

London remembers: September 11th memorial garden, Grosvenor Square is a post from: 501 Places

Camden Lock

If you find yourself in London on a hot sunny Sunday there are few better places to while away the time than along the canal in Camden. Selling itself as the boho centre of London this area long ago opened its doors to the mainstream. Among its more traditional gothic clothing stores you’ll find plenty of places for the well heeled and the casual tourist to spend their money.

I wanted to visit Camden yesterday having read about Chin Chin Laboratorists – perhaps the strangest name you’ll ever find for an ice-cream parlour. Promoted as London’s first nitro ice-cream bar, you’ll instantly know this is not Haagen Dazs, as owners Ahrash and Nyisha greet you in clincal white lab coats. Concoctions are created with three base flavours, chocolate, vanilla and lemon cheesecake (in the name of research we had to try them all), with various toppings available to finish off your treat. The ice cream mix is dipped in liquid nitrogen (-190C) and freezes into ice-cream in four seconds in front of your eyes. Ahrash explained (wearing his safety goggles and gloves) that the nitrogen allows the ice-cream to have the perfect consistency without the need for additives or emulsifiers, meaning less fat without compromising on flavour.

Ice cream maker or mad scientist? Ahrash creates a new concoction at Chin Chin Labs

The unit is tiny and can hold no more than half a dozen people at a time, and with only the two owners making the ice-creams and taking payments it’s never going to be a very high volume business. Three swings are available outside where customers can enjoy their ice-creams while watching the crowds wander by.

Chin Chin opens officially on July 15th. It’s an eye-catching concept, the owners are very friendly and willing to chat with their customers and I really wish them well in their new business. Nyisha told me she’d always wanted to own an ice-cream shop since she was a child; how many of us get to live out our dreams in this way?

Oh, I almost forgot to mention: every one of the three flavours was delicious, but I most enjoyed the chocolate, made from Valrhona cocoa.

International hot food at Camden Lock

After our ice-creams we wandered around the back of the unit to the canal side, where we found the most impressive selection of foods: Polish (including home-made doughnuts that took me back to my childhood memories); Peruvian, Turkish and Brazilian among others. Each stall was selling hot food and was adorned with flags, while some even had pictures of their native land. Sadly by this time I was too full of ice-cream to have an appetite for any of these wonderful smelling dishes. Camden Lock will require another visit soon…

Camden Lock and London’s first nitro ice-cream parlour is a post from: 501 Places

Upper Wharfedale, Yorkshire Dales

Mention the north of England to many people (especially those who live in or around London) and the most likely first impression you’ll get is one of grim cities, long silent coal mines and the dark satanic mills immortalised in William Blake’s Jerusalem. ‘The North’ is a scary place, inhabited by primitive and savage people who spend their life scrounging off the state and imposing occasional Labour governments on the overwhelmingly Conservative and more civilised south. There are very few reasons for a southern person to risk their sanity and health in venturing north.

Ok, I’m exaggerating a little, but there is certainly a common ignorance of the natural beauty with which the northern half of our country is blessed. Half of the population of England is located within the bottom right hand corner, and much of the rest is concentrated in the major industrial cities. This leaves large swathes of the country where sheep and cattle outnumber people and where green fields stretch as far as the eye can see.

For some of the most beautiful landscapes it’s hard to beat England’s largest county, North Yorkshire. The area is home to two national parks: The North York Moors, bleak, isolated and boasting a dramatic coastline with charming fishing towns and villages; and the Yorkshire Dales, where rolling hills and gentle rivers form a picture-book landscape that has inspired many authors, poets and artists over the centuries. The Dales are dotted with small villages where life has long been centred around farming the surrounding land, and while tourism is now a major factor in the local economies, for many Dales folk life has changed little over the decades.

Kettlewell, Yorkshire Dales

A typical example of a typical Dales village is Kettlewell. We stopped here on a recent family trip to Yorkshire, and had a wonderful time hiking and admiring the local scenery. Sitting on the upper reaches of the river Wharfe, Kettlewell offers fantastic walking opportunities in every direction, with the high sides of the valley allowing a brisk climb on either side to enjoy spectacular views of the surrounding landscape. The village itself is home to a hotel and a couple of pubs, and you can’t beat a traditional cream tea on a warm sunny afternoon, surrounded by the Yorkshire landscapes.

One of the most striking features for visitors to the Dales is the sight of so many dry stone walls. These carefully constructed and preserved stone boundaries divide each field and create a very distinctive landscape. Creating these walls has become something of a dying art and the few dry stone wallers are finding an increasing demand for their skills.

Dry stone walls, Kettlewell

The vilage of Kettlewell is around an hour by car or bus from Leeds and makes a great day trip from the city. So if you’re in the UK and want to see more than just the ‘A list’ sites, a day in the Dales will certainly give you a glimpse of another side of England.

English life in the slow lane: Kettlewell in the Yorkshire Dales is a post from: 501 Places

I’d been down to Brighton on a family day out to enjoy a glorious sunny day by the seaside. By late afternoon it was time to return, and along with many hundreds of others we boarded the 17.19 Southern Trains service that would take us back as far as London Victoria. The train was overcrowded, consisting as it did of a wholly inadequate six coaches, a situation that left people standing in the aisles and sitting on the floor for the duration of the 50 minute journey. Worse still, one toilet was locked leaving only one remaining one for the use of all the passengers. Even before the train left the station this toilet was in a disgusting state.

Three people however did have a comfortable journey. They were members of staff, dressed in their uniforms and happily enjoying their sandwiches and drinks in the first class seats while passengers,including older passengers and those with children, were forced to sit on the floor or stand around them. When I approached these staff members and raised the issue of the poor toilet conditions with them they shrugged their shoulders, laughed to each other and said nothing to me. I do regret not asking them whether they felt it was right that they should sit down while fare-paying customers were standing for the entire journey.

Should the train have been in such an appalling state? No, of course not. But as a frequent user of British trains I’ve become accustomed to broken toilets, unnecessary overcrowding and discomfort throughout a journey. What really shocked me was the disgraceful attitude of these three staff members.

On the one hand they were completely uninterested in acting on an issue that was creating highly unpleasant conditions for the passengers of this train, dismissing my query about opening the other toilet with a dismissive snear. More fundamentally, they were oblivious to the terrible image that they were portraying of their employers by sitting through the trip at the expense of their customers.

I can only guess that they hold their own employers in the same contempt with which they viewed the passengers who rode on that train yesterday. For if they had an ounce of self-respect in their uniforms, or even in themselves, they would have given up their seats to the many ladies and children who were standing within a metre of their table.

I wonder if Southern Trains have a policy on staff sitting while customers stand around them (from my experience, railway companies do appear to have a policy on almost everything else). They need to be aware of the damage that the dreadful behaviour of their employees does to the reputation of their company, and in the eyes of newly arrived visitors, to the UK as a whole.

The worst of British: Southern Trains offers service with a snear is a post from: 501 Places

Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green

London has developed a world famous reputation for the quality of its museums; and just as importantly for the fact that they are free. In fact throughout the UK you’ll find that most of the state-managed museums and galleries offer free admission to their visitors. This is a huge benefit to visitors who come to London to enjoy the diversity found in these fabulous places. But can this generous policy persist now that every penny of public expenditure is to be scrutinised?

On the face of it, museums are a huge drain on public resources. They cost huge amounts of money to maintain; there’s building costs, staff costs, insurance and security to consider. Then there is the need to continually update and keep fresh the content, with temporary exhibitions and new collections, and the marketing that goes with it. On top of that there is an extra price to pay for the surge in visitor numbers that a free-for-all policy produces. When London’s museums abolished admission charges in 2001 they saw an 83% increase in visitors, according to this Independent article. This has a knock-on cost in terms of more staff required to manage the museum and often more space to accommodate the extra numbers.

So why should the state (and by extension the British taxpayer) fund the cost of our national collections? For a start, there is a solid business case for this policy. There are many extra visitors coming to London (or Manchester, Leeds and other cities) as a result. These visitors will need to eat, sleep and spend valuable leisure time in these cities while visiting the attractions. The resulting collateral money spent goes a long way to supporting many small businesses who benefit from the tourist pounds, and they in turn pay taxes back into the public pot.

But there’s a greater benefit that cannot be recorded on a balance sheet. By allowing parents to take their children to see these incredible places they are able to learn in a way that a classroom or a computer can never quite manage. To experience the many wonders on offer in London’s diverse array of museums and galleries provides chidren with a unique but vitally important element of our education.

Who would deny them the chance to see the animals in the Natural History Museum, to feel a simulated earthquake in the Science Museum or to see some of the famous works of art in the city’s galleries? What is the greater cost for our society: to allow access for all to these treasures, or to restrict it to those who have the disposable income to be able to afford to go?

Whatever else is cut in this period of slashing and burning of public money, I hope that the current government thinks very carefully before embarking on a path they threatened to go down while in opposition. There are many savings that should come first before the selective denial of access to the great museums of our country.

See a related article 10 Free London Museums that I’ve written on the Discount London blog.

Why Britain’s museums must remain free is a post from: 501 Places

The crowds on Mont St Michel can be a nightmare

I have to declare from the start that I am a fast walker; very fast in fact. With my long legs it’s no big deal for me to walk at over 4 mph, and if we’re rushing for a train my wife Sam will be jogging along beside me while I maintain a brisk walk.

Being quick on my feet is all well and good when strolling in the green and open spaces around our suburban home. But when trying to negotiate central London, or any major city, it can prove very frustrating. A very popular group grew on Facebook a couple of years ago berating slow walking people and wishing them something unpleasant for their lack of ambulatory urgency. While I don’t condone violence toward people on account of their walking speed, I did find it interesting to note that I was not alone in wishing that people in the city would get a move on.

For example, I can walk the length of Oxford Street in 15 minutes on a clear run at night. In the daytime however it takes at least an extra 10 minutes to negotiate the slow moving human mass that crawls along its pavements. Not only slow but unpredictable, with random stops, about turns and sideways lurches. What’s the big deal, many people will say? On the face of it, 10 minutes is nothing. But I actually find it physically awkward to walk at such a slow speed. I have to either halve my natural stride length or my cadence. I even end up tripping over the feet of those in front in my attempts to merge with the almost stationary crowd.

So what’s the solution? I find I often step into the road to make quicker progress. This is ok in some cases, although on Oxford Street, where big red buses often cruise down in near silence the consequences of a wrong step can be serious. Another option is to crowdsurf – this is the exciting thrill of darting into spaces as they appear between walking groups, sometimes even anticipating them before they form, and then jumping ahead or to the side into the next gap, leaving frowning faces from the snail-paced pedestrians left behind. Can lead to confrontation, but at least you feel as though you’re getting somewhere.

The final option is to grit your teeth and slow to the pace of the crowd, enjoying the view of the surrounding shops and people with whom you are walking (while making sure to avoid the feet of the person who has inexplicably stopped in front). This is of course the best option, and perhaps curbing my natural impatience might one day allow me to accept my fate and fall in with the crowd.

Am I alone, or do others share this bug-bear about getting around a city centre? I know others are passionate about the need to slow down and enjoy the surroundings, although I’m sure these good folks don’t advocate clogging up the busy pedestrian streets in the name of appreciating our environment. I will be interested to hear how other people manage to keep their patience when all around them are grinding the pavement.

The curse of slow-walking people is a post from: 501 Places

The beautiful North Norfolk coastline

Dry Stone Walls in Wharfedale in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales

Wendover Hills, Buckinghamshire - under an hour from London

Sheep overlooking the ocean, Barra in Scotland

Sopwell Nunnery, St Albans - less than 30 minutes from London

View from Monsal Head, Peak District, Derbyshire

Deer frequently cross the footpaths at Woburn

Ponies in a Hertfordshire field

Great Britain: our green and pleasant land in pictures is a post from: 501 Places

Watching football should be easy

When I realised that I would be in Philadelphia at a convention for the start of the 2002 World Cup I could never have guessed just how hard it would be to watch a game. I mean, they have over 100 channels don’t they? And I was staying at the Crowne Plaza, so I would think they would have enough TV options to have at least one channel screening a game?

Wrong! I missed the opening game, having unsuccessfully flicked through every possible programme and found every sport except for football. ‘What is wrong with this country?” I thought to myself. Still, not to be defeated my work colleague and I asked around at the convention as to where I might be able to watch the England match the following morning. It was a 5.30am kick off local time, which made the challenge a little more difficult. But I guess we had asked the right people, because at around 2am that night I received a voicemail telling me of an address where I could see the match live, a little over three hours later.

Our taxi took us to the other end of Philly and dropped us along a non-descript street. Around us were old houses, a few were boarded up and it looked like the last place you would want to be, before dawn in a shady district of a American city known for its crime rate. The taxi was gone, and we were left to walk up to this large door, already feeling we’d been duped. But the door opened as I gave it a push and in front of us was a long corridor. As we headed along this unlit passage, a murmur of noise grew and eventually we came to its source, behind another large wooden door.

Very easy in Laos!

On pushing this door it was as if we had been transported to another world. England flags and Union Jacks covered the large room, a giant TV hung on the wall showing the players warming up on the pitch and the room was filled with around 50 people, mostly young men wearing England shirts. Where had they all come from? The beers flowed, the bacon butties were dished out, and England went on to draw 1-1 against Sweden. It was, all in all, one of the most surreal football experiences I’ve enjoyed.

A few days later I was in New York and this time did manage to pick up a channel to watch the mighty Poland lose to the hosts South Korea. Maybe I should have stayed in Philly? On the way to the airport, the cab driver had the news on the radio, and as the USA had just won a big game I was sure this would be a big story. I should have expected it, but the football success that their countrymen were enjoying got a one line mention after the college basketball results. “It’s a women’s game” the cab driver explained. What could I say?

Watching the World Cup on American TV: mission impossible? is a post from: 501 Places

The build-up to a big match

It might surprise some people outside of the UK, but not everyone in Britain will be cheering for England in the upcoming World Cup. A majority of Scots for example will be honorary Algerians, Americans and Slovenians over the coming weeks, hoping to see their southern neighbours humbled by supposedly lesser football opponents and sent home early with their tails between their legs.

And the complications don’t end there. England has a very diverse population, and across the country you will find nationals of each of the other 31 competing countries (even a North Korean somewhere, I’m sure!) who will be cheering for their home team. First and second generation immigrants too may have split loyalties which come to the surface every few years, inspired by 11 men from their nation aiming for footballing glory.

So it is with me. I can now class myself as indifferent to England’s progress, and that’s a major step up from my childhood when I was the only kid in school who was not cheering on England during the big matches. Although I was born here, my parents came here from Poland in the late 1940s, and introduced us to the Polish language and culture from early childhood. At the time Poland had a good football team and were in the habit of beating England in crucial matches. As regular rivals, Poland’s fortunes would often depend on England’s failures and vice versa.

While England’s fortunes have bumped along at the same level for many years, Poland’s team nosedived after the early 80s and have been pretty much useless ever since. But my conflicts with friends over football in my formative years left their mark, and I’ve never been able to embrace England as my favoured team.

I’m a huge football fan and will take any chance to watch an England game. I even watched a couple of internationals at Wembley as a teenager and quietly cheered on the opposition (although I’m something of a lucky mascot for England as I saw them win both times without conceding a goal). And now while I enjoy the atmosphere in the country when England are on a run and make it to the latter stages of a competition, my enjoyment of the World Cup is not dependent on the home team’s success.

I know I’m not alone. There are many thousands of others, first and second generation immigrants, who will choose to watch the matches in their own homes, rather than in a bar with a vocal partisan crowd. We can enjoy the great goals, whoever scores them. And when the England team fly home without a trophy (as even the majority of loyal England fans believe they will) we might not raise a glass to their victors, as they surely will in Scotland; but neither will we wallow in despair and indulge in blame and conspiracy theories.

For many in England, interest in the World Cup ends when their team is eliminated; I’m sure that’s true in most countries. As a football-loving neutral, the progress of the England team and the inevitable penalty shoot-out drama is merely a fascinating sideshow in the best sporting event in the world.

Why I won’t be cheering for England is a post from: 501 Places

View Monopoly walk in a larger map

There they are: the 22 streets on the London Monopoly Board, along with the 4 stations that make up this most famous of board games. A glance at the map reveals two outlying points; Old Kent Road, the token entry from south London, and Marylebone Station, in the north west and a good distance away from the other streets on the board.

Fenchurch St Station

We started at Old Kent Road, and the approach to it from Elephant and Castle betrayed its designation as a brown square; down at heel and surrounded by boarded up post-war housing projects, it’s a far cry from the places we’d later be seeing.

From here it was over Tower Bridge, and a couple of short hops to Fenchurch Street and eastwards to Whitechapel. From Liverpool Street there is a long sweep of around 5 miles around the periphery of central London, heading to King’s Cross and then along Euston Road, eventually reaching Marylebone Station.

The most famous platform at Kings Cross

Having completed the outliers, we headed for Marble Arch and then down Park Lane before entering Mayfair between the exclusive motor car showrooms.

From this point the streets come thick and fast, and we clocked the remaining 18 or so streets in little over an hour. Our final stop was Fleet Street, and we arrived here just under six hours after our arrival in south London.

As for the other squares? For the prison we chose the Tower of London, while for Go To Jail we witnessed an arrest taking place on the Strand.

Chance? That was easy, with so many bookmaker shops to choose from. While Community Chest was a bit trickier. See which of these two best represent it…

COMMUNITY Chest ?

Community CHEST (?)

We found an electric company on Fleet Street and the offices of the water works on Pentonville Road. And as for Free Parking? That might be the hardest thing to spot in London, but we did find Aldi’s in Old Kent Road offering free parking for their shoppers.

The humble Vine Street

The biggest surprise? Vine Street. It’s a tiny dead end behind Piccadilly, and is hard to imagine why the maker of the Monopoly board chose this inconsequential street to sit on a world famous board.

While not the most picturesque walk on offer in London, it certainly covers a diverse mix of neighbourhoods and shows many faces of our capital city. At 15 miles it’s not a good choice for a casual stroll, although can easily be broken into two or three separate walks for those with the time to do it. The great news is that there are plenty of places to stop for food and drink along the way. In fact, while we took the option of walking the route and photographing each stop, the more common way of ‘doing the Monopoly board’ is by using the squares as a route for a massive pub crawl.

You can see photos of every square on the Monopoly board here.

Walking the London Monopoly Board is a post from: 501 Places

New York: Manhattan skyline

One of our favourite walks in New York was to wander down from our apartment on the Upper East Side and along Madison Avenue towards Midtown. If you’re after some serious people watching, Madison Avenue in the 60s (between 60th and 69th Streets) takes some beating. On these blocks you’ll find many of the top designer boutiques, and the shop windows scream out ostentatious wealth. Women, blinged to the eyeballs, parade along the avenue (or hop along it via taxi), gathering an ever increasing array of bags as they go.

New Bond Street

One of the striking memories of walking along here is the number of middle aged ladies who bore more than a passing resemblance to the late Michael Jackson. Extensive (and expensive) sessions of plastic surgery had left some with what can only be called a patchwork face, and we would conclude that they were now paying the litigation fees that allowed so many lawyers to live in the very same neighbourhood.

Walking through London’s Mayfair this week brought back memories of our year of living in the swanky part of a big city. Among the embassies and high fee management consultancies that have their offices in the streets of this exclusive neighbourhood you’ll find businesses that scream out wealth. Aston Martin and Ferrari dealerships, the most garish interior designs and fashion stores that cater for the decidedly strange tastes of the millionaire locals.

Good taste - for some, obviously?

While we didn’t see the patchwork faces in Mayfair we certainly saw the outlandish outfits that seem to fit the requirements of the super-rich. On Bond Street, home to the likes of Jimmy Choo and Louis Vuitton, well dressed ladies strutted from store to store, while in the nearby restaurants their wealthy husbands sat smoking their large cigars and discussing the credit crunch (I’m guessing here).

As we walked through Mayfair, its leafy parks and quiet, orderly streets, we both agreed on one thing. It’s a nice neighbourhood to look at and wander around, but neither of us would feel comfortable ever calling it home (the £4m price tags for ordinary looking apartments rendered this a hypothetical discussion). I got a sense here, just as I had in our neighbourhood in Manhattan, that there was little feeling of being part of a local community. Residents here had put up walls around themselves; both physical in the form of their secure homes and apartments, and emotional in terms of their detachment from their surroundings. (While living in NYC and doing my daily walk to work along 2nd Avenue I was constantly amazed at the number of people who would talk to themselves without any inhibition)

Mayfair life

Earlier this month we were on the remote Scottish island of Barra and felt the exact opposite. People there may not have easy access to many of the trappings of material wealth. But their strong sense of community brought comfort and happiness and allowed them to compensate in ingenious ways for the lack of easy access to the mainland, and the conveniences that a population mass can offer. It’s quite a contrast to witness.

Next time you’re in London and fancy a wander through  an interesting neighbourhood, head west and go to Mayfair. It’s well worth a look, even if you might feel like a stranger while you’re there.

Among the super-rich: a stroll through Mayfair is a post from: 501 Places

British clouds

“Phew, what a scorcher!” This clichéd headline is almost guaranteed to appear in a tabloid sometime during a British summer; usually on the first day that the thermometer hits 25c. Coupled with a picture of bikini-clad middle aged women eating ice cream by the beach, the story will describe how our country is experiencing the hottest May day since some random relative point.

If the temperature hits 30C the headline switch to doom and drama: “Britain Melts” along with pictures of molten tarmac  on the roads or disruption on our infamous rail system. And the reverse is true, perhaps even to a greater extent, in the winter when our country never fails to display its complete inability to cope with a little bit of wintry weather.

So why are we so obsessed by what our climate might throw at us? It is after all hot for a few days every summer. Yet it is the classic opening line of any conversation in the UK. “Nice day, isn’t it?” “Bit windy today!” and so on. In other countries football might be the subject that is guaranteed to start off successful small talk with a taxi driver or waiter. Here, it’s the weather. Is there any other country where the wind or the rain (or even the sunshine) are so fervently discussed?

When we lived in New York, we really did miss the British seasons. Autumn lasted for a week. On a Monday in early November we had heat in the low 80s. By the Saturday it was barely in the 40s and snow was approaching. That was it. Likewise in the spring, there were a couple of weeks in early April where we shed the coats and wandered through the Park enjoying the cherry blossom, before the heat become oppressive and summer had unmistakably arrived.

But the reason behind our interest is probably the glorious unpredictability of our weather. Sunshine can turn to rain and back again in a day (make that in under an hour in Scotland), while planning a outdoor day in advance will inevitably lead to prolonged excited concerns about what the weather will be doing on the day itself. Statistically at any time of the year, it might be a 40% of sunshine on any day; a 25% chance of rain; 10% of days will be windy, while the temperature can fall anywhere within a range of 15C depending on the time of year. Planning a wedding, a BBQ or a camping trip? You could experience any or all of these conditions. No wonder we take so much interest in the weather forecasts!

Where else do you have such variety of weather? If I lived anywhere else I would miss the British weather and all its delightful surprises. Hear a Brit tell an anecdote about almost anything, and in the opening scene-setting sentence, they will probably mention what the weather was. That’s just the way we are, and it’s ok with me.

So if you’re coming to the UK as a visitor and are keen to strike up a conversation with a local, never fear if you feel stuck for words. Just choose one of the following “Nice day!” “Very cold!” “So dark” “Too hot” “So windy” and you’ll make friends in no time. Now I’m off to enjoy the glorious scorcher of a day; after all, it might rain tomorrow!

Why the British get so excited about weather is a post from: 501 Places

For many people, crossing a field full of cows is a big deal. In our time spent hiking we’ve seen many people young and old become quite agitated about the prospect of running the gauntlet with these giants, and looking for alternative routes to avoid an unpleasant encounter.

There really is nothing to fear however. Cows are relatively predictable animals (as much as any animal can be) and provided walkers exercise a little common sense they are safer crossing a field than they are walking along the adjacent country lane and dealing with the oncoming traffic. As we start the summer hiking season, here are a few tips to stay safe while out walking.

Things not to do with cows:

1. Never get between a cow and its calf. Cows are protective creatures and will defend their young if they feel there is a threat. Standing or walking between a cow and its calves is easily avoided by avoiding walking through the middle of a herd of cows if young calves are present. Cows often make this easier for you by moving away from approaching walkers, as long as they see you in good time.

2. Don’t let your dog off its leash around cattle, and steer clear if someone else has done this. Cows are not very clever. If they were, they would not fear little dogs that are barely bigger than their hooves. Yet the sound and sight of an unruly dog can cause a lot of stress for these giants, and can set the herd off into a stampede. You do not want to be in the field when this is occurring. If you have a dog and the cows become aggressive towards it, let the dog go. Walkers with dogs have been trampled to death while trying to protect their dogs.

What to do if a herd of cows is running toward you

The chances are, if cows are running in your direction they are probably trying to get to somewhere beyond you, and are not attacking (unless you have a dog; see above). If you do feel threatened and can’t get out of the way, consider that cows have dubious eyesight (apparently). A good tactic is to spread out your arms and legs to make the largest possible shape (if there are more than one of you you can get together to create a bigger outline). This might well stop the charge. If not then the next idea is to make a loud noise at the cows are bearing down on you, and step aside (if possible) to allow them to pass to your side. The chances are they will run past you, and they will be close enough to smell the fear in your breath, but you will survive.

I must qualify this advice as coming from an urban dweller. Any country folk are welcome to rip this apart and offer some far more sensible ideas to stay safe from the threat of cows. Happy walking!

How to safely cross a field of cows is a post from: 501 Places

I’ve spoken to several people in the last couple of weeks who have decided against booking their summer holiday so far. How can they book two weeks away they say, when they might not be able to get away on their break? Those who run their own businesses are far more concerned about being stuck overseas and not being able to get back to work. The talk soon switches to Cornwall, Scotland and France as possible alternatives, taken in the family car and not susceptible to the whims of a temperamental Icelandic mountain.

British people will continue to take their holidays. Attitude surveys constantly show that people consider their holiday to be a necessity rather than a disposable luxury. The money spent on hotel nights, activities and the vast quantities of food and drink that are consumed on a typical holiday will still be spent. The question is whether it will be spent basking in the Mediterranean sun and beyond, or whether people indulge in their annual break within driving distance of the UK.

This must be a tough time for tour operators and travel agents. The industry has never operated on particularly healthy profit margins and has relied more than most on good cashflow management for its success. With the growing reluctance to plan ahead that is likely to come from this continuing disruption, how many will be able to switch their businesses to provide volcano-proof holidays?

It will be interesting to see how the travel industry copes with this challenge. The next month is likely to bring a budget that will reveal the full extent of the tax rises and spending cuts that the politicians were too afraid to share with us while they were scrapping for our votes. Throw in another ash cloud and an ongoing airline strike, and the travel plans of much of our population could well undergo the most dramatic shift for many years.

Will this finally give a boost to UK regional tourism? There is so much to see in our own country, and perhaps the certainty on offer with a UK break will prove more appealing than ever before. This is certainly the time for the many different UK tourist boards to earn their crust and get the message of what they can offer in front of the millions who are yet to decide on their holiday plans.

All we need now is a decent summer…

A rising demand for volcano-proof holidays? is a post from: 501 Places

Canterbury's narrow lanes

Canterbury was the first city taken by William the Conqueror in 1066, and it fell without a struggle. Almost a thousand years later it is the first port of call for many French daytrippers and weekend tourists, much like Boulogne is for the English (although with the pound as weak as it is these days, it’s this side of the Channel that might hold the best bargains). Less than 20 miles from Dover this historic city, packed tightly with quaint alleys and ramshackle buildings makes for a good day out, even on the rainy day that greeted us on our arrival in Kent yesterday.

Canterbury; the main market place

I had been surprised to discover that the high speed line used by the Eurostar services is also available for domestic rail companies to use. This has transformed the journey to Canterbury (previously a jaunt across London to London Bridge and then a 90 minute slow train) into a 55 minute zip along the new route under the Thames at Ebbsfleet and through the rolling Kent countryside. Thanks to the new rail route this corner of Kent has suddenly become a easily executed day trip. More of executions later…

West Gate, Canterbury

Canterbury certainly ranks alongside those other famous English historical cities: Bath, Durham, York, Chester and Stratford on Avon, and it ticks the boxes that all of these quaint places have to tick. It is full of charming buildings; it has a river nearby where tourists are sold dubious boat rides; there’s a ghost walk at night; alongside the boutiques and locally owned craft shops are all the same dreary names you’ll find on every British high street (although they’ve had to work within the constraints of the historic premises they lease); and of course there are plenty of places for visitors to spend their money.

Canterbury Cathedral; the free view version

Pride of place in Canterbury is the cathedral. It is the home of the Archbishops of Canterbury, and the site where Thomas Becket, the Archbishop at the time of Henry II was murdered (‘who will rid me of this troublesome priest?’) He was the first of five Archbishops of Canterbury to be executed; surely one of the most hazardous job titles in years gone by?

Constructed mainly during Norman times, it is an impressive building, although you won’t see much of it without shelling out a hefty £8 per head to even get through the gatehouse. Having returned two weeks ago from Normandy where we saw many similarly impressive cathedrals for free, we chose this time to walk on by.

Canterbury was certainly full of tourists and the main language among the troops of raincoats and umbrellas was French. In between the showers a wide assortment of street performers plied their skills, keen to make the most of the limited time that the visitors were able to wander the drenched streets.

For cricket fans the home of Kent County Cricket Club is known across the world for its famous tree that once stood proud inside the boundary of the pitch. The old tree died a few years ago, but a new one is growing well and the ground retains its charm. For those who are keen to visit it’s an easy 15 minute walk from the city centre and you can have a free peek inside on a non-match day.

Wonky house, Canterbury

We enjoyed our few hours in Canterbury, despite the rain, and will no doubt return for further exploration. There is a walking trail from the city to the coast at Whitstable (the wonderfully named Crab and Winkle Way) which sounds like a great way to spend a summer’s day, especially with the prospect of great seafood at the end of the walk!

High speed tales from Canterbury is a post from: 501 Places

Royal Arcade, New Bond Street

If anyone had suggested to me a few years ago that I would become one of London’s biggest admirers, I would have dismissed them as mad. I had a strong dislike for the city and on our essential visits to the city I would arm myself with a thick skin, replace my natural smile with a scowl and count down the minutes till we could breathe the fresher air of northern England again. I am now an unashamed Londonophile (?) and really look forward to my regular day trips into the captial.

Today I have had a poorly arranged schedule which led to several lengthy gaps in my appointment schedule. So I took the chance to explore a part of the city that is very central, yet goes unnoticed by most visitors and locals. Only a stone’s throw from Piccadilly Circus is St James’s Square and Jermyn Street, home to some of London’s grandest homes and most picturesque traditional shops.

Here’s a small selection of images from this neighbourhood, and even a clip of a beautiful musical recital I was lucky enough to catch when visiting the historic church  of St James in Jermyn Street.

St James's Square

One of the locals, St James's Square

The home of Nancy Astor in St James's Square (now the Travel Club)

East India House, on the west side of St James's Square

Traditional barber's shop, Jermyn Street

Fancy cheese shop, Jermyn Street

Men's clothing shop, Jermyn Street

Revealing the beauty of London, part 327: St James’s Sq and Jermyn St is a post from: 501 Places

London old and new: the London Wall

Did you know there is a Roman wall in the heart of London? It’s just one of many treasures you can stumble upon if you take just a few steps away from the major tourist attractions of the city. Next time you are in London, why not keep your Travelcard in your pocket and take a walk between stations and see what you can find?

We wandered through the city a few days ago and focussed on the area around St Paul’s Cathedral. I was keen to find evidence of the Blitz in the surrounding alleys and buildings, having recently watched an excellent Channel 4 documentary on this topic. On December 29th 1940 the German Luftwaffe bombed this part of London with a terrifying intensity, in an attempt to create a giant firestorm and destroy St Paul’s along with every building in the surrounding area. They very nearly succeeded, and were ultimately thwarted by bad weather and one bombing raid too few (the British learned the lessons from this attempt and perfected the strategy with horrific consequences in Dresden and Berlin).

Tower in London's Wood Street

Now, meandering through the narrow alleys of this part of the city it immediately strikes the observer that the majority of buildings are relatively new. The glass and smooth stone contrast with the old columns and ornate facades of the surviving older buildings, while evidence of restoration and reconstruction is everywhere.

One of the most poignant stories of the Blitz relates to the ferocious fire that swept through Shoe Lane (just off Fleet Street). Here, a fireman was killed when a wall collapsed. His colleague later took up painting as his form of therapy and to provide a visual memory of the horror of that night. Here you can see a copy of his work of art, now housed in the Imperial War Museum Concise Art Collection, alongside the modern day Shoe Lane.

Collapsing Wall, Leonard Rosomer (copyright Imperial War Museum)

The same scene in Shoe Lane today

There are artefacts from long before the war to be found in the same area. On Love Lane for example, you can find a small garden dedicated to Shakespeare, or rather to Heminge and Condell, the two men who chose to first publish his work several years after his death (we learned from the inscription here that Shakespeare had never intended to publish his work at all). The little gardens are only a stone’s throw from the heaving crowds of St Paul’s, their tranquility offering a respite from the chaos of the nearby streets.

Shakespeare memorial, Love Lane

And the wall itself is worth a look. Built in the 2nd century AD, what must be one of London’s oldest surviving structures is surprisingly intact. The wall originally ran for three miles from Blackfriars all the way to the Tower of London, and the section close to St Paul’s offers the best views.

Old Police call box

I’ve only covered a small part of what we saw in one day, and we’ll no doubt return to explore further. So next time you are in London, keep an eye out for the surprises that surround you. There’s something literally around every corner.

On every street: the incredible history of London is a post from: 501 Places

Having lived close to London for a few years now, I have come to really enjoy taking a walk through the city’s lesser known parks and districts and discovering the many surprises that the city hides away from the spotlight. Here are just a few of the things we have found in the last month. All are within an hour’s walk of the centre of the city.

Michelin Building, South Kensington: art-deco before its time

Peace Pagoda, Battersea Park

New Zealand Memorial, Hyde Park Corner

Hyde Park, London (yes, this really is in the centre of London!)

Kyoto Garden, Holland Park

Colourful houses of Portobello Road

Sewing machines galore, in a clothes shop on Portobello Rd

Under the Thames: Greenwich Foot Tunnel

Traffic light tree, Canary Wharf

Home of Scott, the Antarctic Explorer, Chelsea - any offers?

MI6 Building - the home of the British Secret Service

Sailmakers House, Limehouses. One of the many historic buildings in London's docklands

12 Hidden Faces of London is a post from: 501 Places

Japan Centre, London

When asked to recommend good places to eat in London, most of us would tell visitors to steer clear of anywhere in the West End. Much like those along the Champs Elysees or those within a block of Times Square, most places here cater purely for the tourist market and don’t expect repeat business from their customers. The consequences of this are over-inflated prices, poor quality food and lousy service.

There is one exception in London, and it’s a place I now regularly make a point to visit if I’m in central London and in need of lunch. The Japan Centre on Regent Street is primarily set up as a source of Japanese food for homesick ex-pats. Most of the store is lined with shelves that are stacked with strange looking products that are alien to the British but clearly very popular among London’s thriving Japanese population. Packaging is colourful without always giving a clue as to the what you might find inside.

Lots of sushi on offer; Japan Centre, London

The highlight of the Japan Centre hits you as soon as you walk in. A great choice of freshly cooked hot food is available to take away, and the fridges at the side are full of sushi and other ready to eat treats. You can choose from a selection of food that offers more variety than any restaurant menu and at a fraction of the price. I picked up a packet of 6 spicy brown rice and salmon rolls and then selected a skewer of teriyaki tofu from the hot section, and it came to the grand sum of £4.20. I was even offered a free miso soup at the checkout.

Most people take out, although you can sit at one of two bench seats inside. You’ll be lucky to get a seat however, particularly around lunchtime or if it’s raining. Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square are only 5 mins around the corner if you want to people-watch while you eat your snacks, or you can cross the road into St James Square if you’re more inclined to watch suited business folk than tourists.

Japan Centre, London

In a place surrounded by over-priced, mainly disappointing restaurants, it’s a real treat to pop into the Japan Centre and get filled up with good food for under a fiver. The first time we discovered this place was on a trip to London when I had promised to take my wife to a wonderful Japanese restaurant in Mayfair that I had been to on business. Sadly the restaurant was closed when we arrived, and as a result we stumbled upon this place. Ok, it’s not posh by any means, and it’s self-service. But for the quality, quantity and price of the food, this place is hard to beat.

(Disclosure: there is nothing to disclose. I went in, paid for my food, ate it and left. I just like this place)

Great food for under £5 in London’s tourist hotspot? Yes you can is a post from: 501 Places

Bradford is also the place where I studied for my undergraduate degree, and the place where I met my wife. The city holds many very happy memories for me: cheap curries at 3am after a night out, visiting its many less than glamorous pubs and clubs with friends and having narrow escapes; the many foolish antics of a teenager away from home, and of course our first dates. I got to know the city well, and grew fond of it.

So when I read the story, it got me thinking. What is it that creates the strongest, most enduring memories of a place? Is it the beautiful monuments, the World Heritage listed architecture or the electric atmosphere? Or is it actually our own individual experiences of being there; the memories it triggers in our minds, the way we relate to the people we meet while we are there and even the fellow tourists we happen to befriend while staying in that place? Is that why I like Bradford when nobody else seems to care for it? And if that’s the case, how does this affect the tourist agencies’ efforts to attract visitors to their particular patch?

I think back to our trips to famous places. Of course the Taj Mahal was impressive, but my strongest memory of India is getting stranded in the snow in Manali and being evacuated on horseback. Not something that a tourist board could have dreamt up. Or of visiting Syria, where we were excited about seeing the Crusader fortresses and Roman ruins and yet the most abiding memory is the adventure we had when we got hopelessly lost while driving through the desert. The main attractions enticed us to visit, but it’s the unexpected events that linger most in the memory.

So I wonder about the approach that many marketing folks take in promoting the experiences on offer at a destination. Yesterday at the Best of Britain and Ireland show I saw many stands were promoting the intangible qualities of their destinations. Places with no obvious A list attractions were selling the experiences on offer: friendly locals, a good pint, a bracing walk.

But can these experiences really be bottled up and sold as a product to an incoming visitor? Surely they are entirely unique and dependent on the mood, personality and behaviour of the tourist and the people they happen to encounter during their visit.

And if that is the case and it really is the unexpected that creates the strongest memories, then maybe those moments are as likely to happen in Bradford as they are in other more glamorous cities. “Come to Bradford: something memorable will happen to you” – I don’t see it catching on, do you?

What makes a travel experience truly memorable? is a post from: 501 Places

Memorial by St James Park, London

Walking through London yesterday, I was struck by the very high concentration of war memorials scattered across the city. We are all familiar with the imposing monolithic stones across the city that serve as a focal point on Remembrance Day. Less well known are the hundreds of statues, plaques and sculptures that mark the achievements of a particular soldier or serve as a monument to one of the many nations that fought alongside the British in a campaign. They can be found in every public park, on street corners and even on traffic islands.

So why this emphasis on commemorating our war dead, and how does it reflect on our society? What are the motives for spending money and using a valuable city space to erect a statue that relates, on the face of it, to another era?

Korean War Memorial, Washington DC

At a superficial level, a monument becomes a piece of public art and a tourist attraction. Wandering along the Mall in Washington DC it is impossible not be fascinated by the many sculptures, statues and buildings that mark America’s conflicts throughout the 20th century. Stopping to comtemplate the tragedies that affected those on all sides of those wars is where these visually striking objects become so much more than mere art.

Young troops pause at the Menin Gate, Ypres

Memorials of all types also serve as a public focus for ceremonies that remember the sacrifices that troops have made in fighting their nation’s battles. None is more poignant than the Menin Gate in Ypres, where every night come rain or shine the Last Post is played and wreaths are laid at the monument for the hundreds of thousands of men who died in the first world war. We visited on a bitterly cold autumn night and there were hundreds in attendance. It was hugely moving to see the old veterans of other wars make their way to this Belgian town to show respect to those who had not survived their war.

New Zealand Memorial, Hyde Park, London

And the small monuments, often reflecting a particular nationality’s contribution or an individual soldier, must carry great meaning to those who identify with them, whether by shared citizenship or by family links. In many of Britain’s wars the British troops fought alongside many from other parts of the commonwealth and those conscripted from its colonies. It is fitting that these are prominently remembered in many of the memorials in the UK.

I have no doubt that for many councils the question of public relations with their constituents plays a major part in commissioning a memorial. Wacky modern scultpures will elicit complaints of ‘wasting our money’ but there is rarely an outcry over a war memorial. Indeed the failure to commemorate a particular link to a group of fallen citizens can provoke a lot of anger. This was witnessed recently in Bethnal Green, where an ongoing campaign to have a memorial for those who died in the wartime tragedy on the stairs of the tube station continues.

The new Memorial Gates, London

While our cities rush headlong into mass regeneration and modernisation, it is more important than ever to remember our past. It’s reassuring that the monuments to those who fought and lost their lives for our nations are still considered sacrosanct.

The vast majority of those of us alive today have not fought in a war. We have been blessed with decades of relative peace in western Europe, and north America. Most of our young people will hope to leave their legacy through the many bold and striking symbols of the 21st century that surround us; it is more important than ever that we remember those of past generations who lived in altogether harder times and who left their legacy with the ultimate sacrifice.

War memorials: why they matter now more than ever is a post from: 501 Places

New location for UK?

Living overseas can be a great experience. We tried it for a year and enjoyed so many things about living in New York. But there is something about the country where we grow up that forms an emotional attachment for us. Symbols of the UK make us smile and reminisce about home, while hearing a British accent in a remote part of the world can be a comfort.

I like it here, and having lived in many parts of the UK have come to take comfort in the British way of life. Our modest culinary skills, our understated manner, dry sense of humour and crap national sporting teams sit well with me. So maybe if I did want to move to another part of the world, I would just take the whole island with me. But where would I put it? Where would you stick the UK if you could literally lift it and put it elsewhere on the globe?

Here are just a few contenders for a new British location:

1. Off the coast of southern California. We could enjoy an almost perfect climate: warm and plentiful sunshine, no major weather related disasters to worry about, and an easy hop to visit the US national parks, Hawaii, Alaska and central America. (We would need earthquake proofing though). We would also gain a lot of US and Japanese tourists, enticed by the shorter flights and the better weather.

2. Next to Greenland. One simple reason for me: the chance to see the aurora borealis on a regular basis. Ok, it would get cold. Very cold. But we’re used to that already this year, aren’t we? We can always dress for the cold, and unlike the folk in other Arctic regions, the Brits know how to make a lovely cup of tea to make everything lovely. We might even learn how to continue with our normal lives despite a flurry of snow. And think of the top class ski resorts on our doorstep!

3. In the dead centre of Europe. A nightmare scenario for much of the people of Britain who would be forced to learn other languages, adopt the Euro and have to live with direct neighbours for the first time (there’s 20 miles of sea separating us from the French and they still make many Brits nervous). I suspect this move would be blocked by the rest of Europe, frightened about the prospect of British stag parties pouring into even more European cities and the threat of fish and chips invading their national cuisine.

4. South Pacific. Great weather, proximity to many of our kindred spirits in Australia and New Zealand, warm crystal blue oceans. These would be a bonus, but the main reason for such a distant move? England could rest easy knowing they would have a great chance of qualifying for the World Cup every year in the Oceania group, with key qualifiers against the likes of New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Tuvalu.

Where would you stick the UK if you had the choice?

Where would you stick the UK if you had the choice? is a post from: 501 Places

Grassington, Yorkshire: from Flickr by Andrew JW

For most of us our mental image of a break from the routine involves a sandy beach, hot sunshine, exotic locations and somewhere far away. But these virtues can be found much closer to home than you think. Well, apart from the sandy beach in my case; and the exotic location; actually there’s not much sun either. Ok, but there’s still a lot to be said for an improvised long distance walk that shows you the beauty of your immediate surroundings, and so much more besides.

A few years ago, when we were living in Durham in the north-east of England, I had a job that was based in Leeds. The journey is around 80 miles by motorway; a stretch of road I got to know very well. I had a week off planned for mid-summer and we had nothing arranged. So we decided quite naturally that we would spend the week walking home. And I have to say that of all the far flung trips we’ve taken over the years, this one brought more satisfaction than most.

Our journey led us through the heart of the Yorkshire Dales and Pennines, and passed through some of England’s finest scenery. For those who know this part of the world, our route was as follows:

Day 1 Leeds to Ilkley

Day 2 Ilkley to Grassington

Day 3 Grassington to Hubberholme

Day 4 Hubberholme to Hawes

Day 5  Hawes to Keld

Day 6  Keld to Bowes

Day 7 Bowes to Crook

Day 8 Crook to Durham

We covered a total of around 125 miles (200km), give or take a couple. Carrying our own stuff along the way was absolute torture on day 1, more bearable on days 2 and 3, and after that the pack seemed to gradually become a comfortable shell on my back. I suspect my back had got contorted by then to the shape of the backpack.

It was the ultimate green eco-holiday. No transport, no logistical support, just us and our packs, rambling through England’s finest landscapes.

What was so great about this long distance walking jaunt? Well, we got to see so much of the beautiful countryside that we had previously driven through. And it is a stunning part of the world. I also feel we see so much more on foot. You notice sounds, smells, flora and viewpoints that you just can’t expect to experience in a car. We learned how little we needed to survive for a week. In fact we packed far too much, and on a similar hike this year we carried significantly less with us as a result. As someone who constantly tries to get rid of ‘stuff’, that was a liberating feeling. Another subtle difference I notice when walking for several days is that I stop measuring places in miles or kms and start measuring in hours. There’s a certainty about how long it will take to walk 10 km that isn’t there when we have to negotiate traffic. We did of course meet some colourful characters on our route (it is Yorkshire after all); each added another anecdote to our journey.

The most salutary lesson from our trip? That everyone has a limit for the number of consecutive full English breakfasts they can manage. Sam gave up after three. I managed six, but on day seven my stomach turned just looking at the menu.

Almost everywhere can provide an opportunity to take a similar walk: just decide how many days you want to go for, how far you want to walk in a day, work out your start point and hop on a bus or a train to reach it. Happy hiking!

Recession-busting holiday idea: a long walk home is a post from: 501 Places

Day 8  You can take a trip to nearby Cape Wrath, but a better experience is to visit Handa Island, just off the west coast from the little hamlet of Tarbet. The island is a lively bird sanctuary and a great place to spot puffins. There are some huge birds here, none more unsettling than the great skua, a creature not averse to attacking human intruders if it feels they are posing a threat to its young. To get off the island you need to wave a flag from the beach to attract the attention of the ferryman on the mainland who will come and collect you. There is an excellent seafood restaurant by the harbour in Tarbet, and you should be in time for a welcome lunch. After lunch take a very long journey south to arrive in time to catch the sunset on the west coast at Arisaig. This stunning coastline was featured extensively in the cult 80′s movie Local Hero, and your long way on the road will be rewarded with views of the Isles of Skye and Eigg to the west.

Day 9 There’s so much stunning scenery to enjoy here, and I am loathed to leave it behind as this area is worth a week alone. But time is short, so today involves a long drive southwards all the way into England. A detour can take you onto the Ardnamurchan peninsula and a visit to the haunting Castle Tioram before crossing on the Corran Ferry and joining the A82 for the scenic drive through the Highlands and along the shores of Loch Lomond. There are many good places for lunch where you can enjoy views of the loch, and soon you will be circling Glasgow (well worth a visit and a shame to miss I know) and heading down the first motorway you will have seen for a few days. By the evening you can enjoy the beauty of the English Lake District, and a stop around Grasmere will leave you in a great location to explore the area in the morning.

Day 10 You have the choice of many walks to experience at least a little of the Lake District. The most convenient from here is the hike up to and around Easedale Tarn. It is a well trodden path but if you start early you’ll have the path pretty much to yourself, and the scenery when you reach the tarn is well worth the walk. From the water’s edge there are many wonderful extensions to the walk, and when you eventually take the path back to the village you will be ready for a hearty meal and a cream tea, before heading off southwards to Liverpool. The first city stop for almost a week, take the chance to wander around the Albert Docks where you have a wide choice of places to eat, as well as absorbing some of Beatles nostalgia that is inescapable in this part of the city.

Harlech Castle

Day 11 Set off in the morning into Wales and a mid-morning stop at Conwy, home to one of the finest castles in North Wales. Explore the castle and the old town walls before driving further west to Harlech, and perhaps the most stunning setting of all the castles in this area. It is well worth a wander along the ramparts and a climb up the steep narrow towers for a view out to the sea. From here drive back to Chester for an overnight stay in this historic Roman city.

Day 12  Today we head south again, down to Telford and a visit to the picturesque gorge at Ironbridge. The bridge itself is the world’s oldest iron bridge, and if you walk a little beyond the usual tourist shops that are on offer it is actually a very pretty spot to wander and choose the best place for a great photo. Head on past Gloucester and back into Wales to visit Tintern Abbey. This lovely ruin is found on a bend on the river Wye, and although the abbey itself is in Wales the best views of it are to be found across on the English side of the river at Devil’s Pulpit. Visit the lively city of Bristol for the evening and another great selection of places to eat. You will hear yet another distinct regional accent as you speak to Bristolians, and by now you will have heard most British accents being spoken!

Day 13  Today we head into Dorset, and a visit to Shaftesbury, with perhaps the most quaint street in the whole of Britain. Made famous to all Brits by the Hovis TV advert this steep cobbled street winds up to what I remember to be a good tea room at the top where you can admire the views of the Dorset countryside. From here the road south and east takes you down into the New Forest, the only National Park in this corner of England. Take time for a walk in the forest where you can stumble across the New Forest ponies. For your final evening stay in one of the many traditional pubs in the forest.

Day 14 It is the last day of a hectic fortnight, and the road leads back to London. A good final stop on the way is the historic city of Winchester. The cathedral dominates the city, but it is well worth wandering through the narrow lanes and finding many small shops (including of course some excellent bakeries). After a stop here, it’s time for the drive back up to London and a flight home, tired but with many memories to keep you satisfied for a long time to come.

The UK has so much to offer beyond its most famous attractions, and the aim of these posts is to highlight just a few of my favourite spots. Of course there are many that I’ve missed, but the message to visitors is this: give time in your itinerary to explore the length and breadth of Britain. There are surprises and delights in every corner of the country, and by heading off the beaten track you will discover your own highlights of this wonderful country.

My alternative 14 day itinerary for a tour of Britain: week 2 is a post from: 501 Places