Haddon Hall – England’s Greatest Mediaeval House
There are hundreds of great and grand houses in the UK but Haddon Hall, near Bakewell in Derby, is unique among them. It is 900 years old and has been in the same family all that time. But that’s not what makes it all that special. For 200 years during the reign of Queen Anne to the late 19th century it was locked up. When the key was turned to close it the house was left in a state of suspended existence. Everything was left stock still . . . the tapestry on the walls, the furniture, the pewter in […] Read More
Hi, I’m David Morris and I’m not sure whether the road trip dreamer is me or you. Probably both of us. I love planning and exploring the world by road. To me there is no better way of getting the most from an adventure than doing it by car.
If what you want is fluffy, frilly, overblown descriptions of the landscape, the people, the food etc. then maybe I’m not your sort of correspondent.
I’m more into the practical lessons I and others have learned the hard way – by seeing it and doing it – so that you can see more, do more, enjoy more and pay less than otherwise.
A London to Brighton Road Trip through one of England’s loveliest regions.
Living in London or just visiting? Here’s an easy two or three day road trip to Brighton via Royal Tunbridge Wells .
It can be done comfortably in two days with an overnight stop in Brighton but why not take the extra day and really get the most out of a region that has history, outstanding natural beauty, opulent architecture and some great shopping.
Much of the journey twixt London and Brighton is through the Kentish “Garden of England”, before crossing The Weald into East Sussex.
This is a fertile stretch of countryside with orchards, cornfields, market gardens and hops growing easily and plentifully. It’s also a well wooded region so that much of the time you will drive through leafy lanes and narrow tree-lined roads.
Read MoreThe Catlins Forest Road: What an amazing place
Just finished a road trip through the Catlins area in New Zealand’s, Southland. Been a few years since I rode that road . . . what an amazing place it is.
Wildlife – much of it threatened species – in luxuriant abundance, wild golden sanded beaches, life-filled forests set to the music of waterfalls, historic lighthouses, and more walks than you could cover in a month.
Read MoreQueenstown’s Nevis Swing: Longest, Highest, Fastest, Scariest In The World
You hang at an angle, feet still reassuringly touching the launch pad, suspended 130m above the floor of the canyon carved by the Nevis River in the mountains between Queenstown and Cromwell in New Zealand. The only thing stopping you plunging to a very messy end all those metres below is a harness connected to the release mechanism above you.
You are wired up to the Nevis Swing, one of Queenstown’s must-dos for adrenalin lovers.
At this moment you understand what they mean by “feel the fear and do it anyway”.
Read MoreA Road Trip Into The Wop-Wops
Given the impracticality of overseas travel right now, and therefore the enjoyment of some of the bucket-list road trips – Blue Ridge Parkway or Alaska Highway for instance – I decided to explore one of the backroads at my own backdoor. State Highway 22 in New Zealand runs from just south of Auckland through classic […] Read More
The Ultimate Guide To A British Road Trip
With international travel severely restricted it may seem the wrong time to launch a book on road trips in Britain.
That hasn’t stopped travel writer David Morris releasing his eBook, “Great British Road Trips”.
“I figure that the desire to travel is still strong,” he says, “and though they can’t set sail right now, people are planning their next adventure for when the world returns to normal, whenever and whatever that may be”.
Read MoreGingerbread George’s Railway Station
If Dunedin, New Zealand, has anything to give the nation it is the heritage of its beautiful buildings. They survived the barbarity of redevelopment because nobody wanted to redevelop Dunedin. As a result we have a treasure trove of Victorian architecture.
Read MoreWhat is the world’s best passport?
What is the best passport in the world? And the worst?
A comparison of the passport “value” of various countries makes interesting reading.
It’s easy to assume that a British or American passport would open more immigration doors than any other.
Not so, by quite a margin.
Read MoreA Roadtrip Around the Alpine Triangle
Just finished a road trip around North Canterbury in the South Island of New Zealand, starting in Christchurch, taking in Hanmer Springs and Kaikoura and finishing back in Christchurch. It’s a popular circuit called the Alpine Triangle.
We made it a three-day long weekend jaunt, but I would suggest you make it at least four days, even better five.
Read MoreThe Eagle Has Landed – Near Queenstown, New Zealand
The eagle has landed. Snapped this shot of a Haast Eagle sculpture on the road from Queenstown to Glenorchy at the head of NZ’s Lake Wakatipu.
Glenorchy-based sculptor Dan Kelly used century-old steel fence standards from a high country station to create this 1.2m high sculpture of the now extinct bird, in its time the top predator in the New Zealand.
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