After ten days in Scotland, it was time to make our way back down south. Events having brought a certain historic market town in county Durham to our attention, we decided we had to pay a visit to Barnard Castle. … Continue reading A sight for sore eyes
By the time we reached Peebles we were used to the normal hotel Covid routine: no daily room service, masks to be worn in communal areas, a one-way system around the building and table service breakfast. Peebles Hydro being … Continue reading Travels in the Time of Covid – Part 3
“Can I have your name and number, please?” The customer looked confused. “Sorry, what number?” “Your phone number. You know, for track and trace” the waitress replied, patiently. “Oh yes, of course. Do you know that I have been away … Continue reading Travels in the Time of Covid – Part 2
Covid has changed the face of travel. This weekend I have experienced the new reality of hotel stays for the first time. We are in Stratford upon Avon, somewhere we stay once or twice a year, and in a hotel, … Continue reading Travel in the Time of Covid – Part 1
I was traumatised by Warwick castle as a child. Our visit must have taken place not long after David Greville gave up the financial struggle to maintain it and sold to the Tussauds Group in 1978. I remember there were … Continue reading Warwick revisited
Who could resist a visit to the ancestral home of John Buchan’s hero of The Thirty-Nine Steps, Richard Hannay? Not us, anyway. Sorbie Tower, near Wigtown is another sixteenth-century tower house, like the Castle of Park where we were staying. … Continue reading Another Castle in Scotland
What could be a more romantic way to celebrate a wedding anniversary than a weekend in a castle? Not much. But Scotland, in February? With my record for accidentally ending up in an unheated hotel in sub-zero temperatures, a 16th-century … Continue reading A Castle in Scotland
Travels with me aren't 