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 … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]

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. People visiting the city are often … [Read more...]

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. Best passport … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]