Lonely Planet Belgium & Lux is published
LP’s new Belgium & Luxembourg guide, for which I updated Brussels & Bruges, has just been published: “Fabulously historic and bursting with cutting edge art, yet never really showy, these little countries are full of big surprises, whether you’re ducking for oranges at a surreal Belgian carnival or finding glorious castles among Luxembourg’s forested hills.” ...
Visit Leeds!
I have, to interview some of the locals and find out their top tips for visitors. Baker Thierry Dumouchel, who swapped Normandy for Leeds fifteen years ago, recommends La Grillade for its boudin noir (blood sausage) and chateaubriand (tenderloin steak), while Northern Ballet star Pippa Moore loves the multicoloured Tiled Hall at Leeds Art Gallery. ...
Staying with the Maasai
Today the Independent published my article about staying with the Maasai.
Photographing the BFI library
I’ve just been along to the photograph the beautiful new BFI library. Chain-mail screens muffle the sound, little lamps crane their necks and books are brought up from the vaults in a dumb waiter. Read all about it and see pics here. And have a look at the new BFI site, with its very clickable ...
Food photography & blogging
Read my article for Lonely Planet’s website – it covers where to get inspiration, lighting and camera angles, cooking and styling, foodie portraits and permissions, and how to publish your work. Plus my top five food blogs!
Taking a break in Brussels
Whether you consider it puerile – or just quite funny – the people of Brussels seem a tad obsessed with peeing. First up is the famous Manneken Pis (1619). Stories abound of a lost boy found naked in the streets, or a brave lad extinguishing a burning fuse with his urine and saving the city ...
New guide books
Some new books arrived chez me today, due out in April. I’m coauthor of this new guide to accommodation bargains in Britain – my top picks are Old Chapel Backpackers in tiny Zennor near St Ives, the Elizabethan Porch House in idyllic Bishop’s Castle in Shropshire, and the cool urban YHA in Manchester. ...
Rough Guide to Camping
This lovely book thumped through my letter box yesterday: the second edition of the Rough Guide to Camping which is published in March. I worked on it as a writer, photographer and editor, wandering round the Lake District, the Midlands and eastern England with my tent. Here are some suggestions for wild camping: Cairngorms National ...