A tour of South Wales to mark the centenary of the screen idol Richard Burton
April 7, 2025The Welsh actor Richard Burton would have marked his 100th birthday this year. On the eve of the release of the film Mr Burton about his early life in Wales, I joined a new tour in south Wales to learn more about the screen legend. It visits the village where… Read more
How to celebrate Cheshire Day with a celebration of Cheshire cheese in Nantwich
April 7, 2025Cheshire Day marks the coming of spring. The annual celebration of food, culture and heritage from my home region of Britain is still relatively low key. But, as a Cheshire resident, I find plenty to celebrate on my home patch. So, this year, I prepared for the Cheshire Day cheese… Read more
How to visit Barry Island, Wales, home to the famous Gavin and Stacey TV trail
December 26, 2024Were you one of the 12 million last night? That’s the number of people who watched the final ever episode of Gavin and Stacey, the TV comedy series set in South Wales. I made my own pilgrimage to Barry Island back in November to visit the sites now associated with… Read more
I visited the loneliest railway station in Britain. Here’s what I found.
October 22, 2024All alone at Denton Station; image: Paul Cooper Photography WWW.PCOOPERPHOTO.COM. To Denton, Greater Manchester, to ride the ghost train. The station, located on the Stalybridge-Stockport line in Greater Manchester was last week named as the loneliest railway station in Britain — there’s just one return service per week. I joined… Read more
Is Bangor, North Wales, really the worts seaside resort in Great Britain?
August 5, 2024Photos via Paul Cooper Photography To Bangor, Wales, last week for a feature for Telegraph Travel. The North Walian resort was voted the worst in Britain by readers of Which magazine but is it really so bad — or is the tag a complete misnomer? Here’s a sample from my… Read more
How to spend a Great British seaside weekend in Southport, Merseyside
July 7, 2024To Southport, the Paris of Merseyside for my contribution from the Northwest to a summer series from Telegraph Travel about British seaside towns. Here’s my take on Southport, including a visit to Southport Market [pictured above]. Southport feels like a resort waiting for something — and preferably not another Poundland.… Read more
How to follow the official Harry Styles tour of Holmes Chapel, Cheshire
June 9, 2024To Holmes Chapel, east Cheshire for an unlikely musical pilgrimage in an equally unlikely location. I joined a sneak preview of the new Harry Styles Harry’s Home Village Tour [pictured above], which launched this weekend. Read a sample from my article here: When we finally arrived at the Twemlow Viaduct,… Read more
How to spend a weekend in the Cheshire town of Macclesfield, home of Joy Division
May 24, 2024To east Cheshire for a travel guide to Macclesfield, the market town with a musical heritage. My favourite part of my journey was a tour of sites associated with the singer and lyricist, Ian Curtis, of the band Joy Division. Read this extract as a taster of the feature: Macclesfield… Read more
How to spend a weekend in North Shropshire’s Oswestry and Ironbridge
May 11, 2024I spent a couple of days recently in the North Shropshire region, visiting the town of Oswestry with its deli-cafe Niche [pictured above] and the nearby World Heritage Site at Ironbridge. The story appeared in this weekend’s iNewspaper travel section. Read an extract here: This border market town is a… Read more