I’m writing this from the sofa, watching day two of the Winter Olympics in and around Beijing. While my eyes are on sports taking place far away, my thoughts are somewhere closer to home. Since my November-December trip to Italy and Switzerland, I’ve often thought longingly back to a few days spent in the heartContinue reading “Postcard from… Grindelwald”
Category Archives: Travel Memories
Poignant postcards
Do you still send postcards when you’re away? Does anyone really send them anymore? I know I do, but I’m just one person. And isn’t it just so much easier to reach for the smart phone… A cursory google search for stats on modern postcard habits didn’t bring up a major Post Office survey orContinue reading “Poignant postcards”
The food that we miss
Last bank holiday weekend was the most exhausted I’ve felt in a long time. Why? I launched an online bakery – Kate’s Kitchen – in my village! As a travel writer I try to focus on relevant food stories and the cultural history surrounding food when I can (you may have read my post onContinue reading “The food that we miss”
The world’s a stage
For some people, St George’s Day (this past Friday) represents folklore and myth, dragons and slayers. For others, it’s more an excuse to feel extra patriotic — or, in the case of two people in my village, a reason to enquire ask why the old church wasn’t flying an English flag (sigh). For me though,Continue reading “The world’s a stage”
Postcard from…Windsor (and Westminster)
Many of us think of Windsor Castle when we think of Windsor. It represents over a thousand years of royal history. But when I think of Windsor, I also think of log flumes. Don’t get me wrong, I do think of the Windsor Castle bit of Windsor, it’s a stunner of a building. And theContinue reading “Postcard from…Windsor (and Westminster)”
Vanuatu veneration and the country that risks the world: travel and global news round-up
A Tanna Island chief, 2015. Photographed by Graham Crumb, via Wikimedia Commons Images World Health Day last Wednesday symbolised the continuing efforts to vaccinate populations around the world — if they can just get hold of the vaccine in the first place. It was important day for discussion and action. Then Friday rolled around andContinue reading “Vanuatu veneration and the country that risks the world: travel and global news round-up”
Spring is here part II: a calendar year in the countryside
I mentioned last week in my first post about the beginning of spring that every day this year I’m reading The Shakespeare Almanac by Gregory Doran. I’m also reading a book called Wonderland, day by day. Every day in the book focuses on a different aspect of flora and fauna in the UK, as theContinue reading “Spring is here part II: a calendar year in the countryside”
Lake Akan calls
Ni juu ni! ‘Did he say twenty-two? I’ve got all nine numbers then. I think I’ve won the top prize… Does that mean I’ve won the Nintendo Switch?!’ Here we were, my brother Stephen and me, 5,532 miles from home at a Japanese village fete, about to call ‘bingo!’. We had found ourselves almost byContinue reading “Lake Akan calls”
The art of my travels
Wandering their halls and atriums and corridors. Glancing sideways at priceless art as I make my way to new exhibitions. Plonking myself down in front of an epic triptych or scrunching myself into the corner of a small darkened room to watch a new video art installation. Learning a hundred things I didn’t know whenContinue reading “The art of my travels”
Viking Shetland
Up Helly Aa – the festival celebrating Shetland’s Viking past – would, in a normal year, have taken place last Tuesday in the island’s capital Lerwick. But it is not a normal year, and so it has been delayed until 2022. I was lucky to discover some of Shetland’s Viking history back in September, soContinue reading “Viking Shetland”
Kate on her travels 