Category Archives: Travel Guides
Thames Path in the Country: From the Source to Hampton Court
The official guide to the riverside path from its Gloucestershire source all the way to the outskirts of London. With the London Thames now covered by Aurum`s separate new guide, a companion volume can concentrate on the appeal of the full 150 miles of the country Thames, which winds all the way from its Gloucestershire
West Highland Way
The 93-mile West Highland Way is indisputably Britain`s most spectacular long-distance path. The first section, following the eastern shore of Loch Lomond, offers an idyllic waterside walk, with the full grandeur of the Highlands gradually revealing itself. Then, after crossing the barren wilderness of the Rannoch Moor, the walker climbs the Devil`s Staircase above Glencoe
The Race Against The Stasi
Cycling Book of the Year – Cross British Sports Book Awards When the `Iron Curtain` descended across Europe, Dieter Wiedemann was a hero of East German sport. A podium finisher in The Peace Race, the Eastern Bloc equivalent of the Tour de France, he was a pin-up for the supremacy of socialism over the `fascist`
Runner: A Short Story About a Long Run
This is the complete story of long-distance runner Lizzy Hawker`s journey from a school girl running the streets of London to a world record-breaking athlete racing on mountains. Scared witless and surrounded by a sea of people, Lizzy Hawker stands in the church square at the centre of Chamonix on a late August evening, waiting
Coast to Coast Walk
The classic high-level walk from Irish Sea to North Sea. Originally devised by the legendary Alfred Wainwright, the Coast-to-Coast Walk has steadily become one of Britain`s most popular long-distance walks, and it is not hard to see why. Planned to seek out the most spectacular high ground across the country, it takes you from the
The London Loop: Recreational Path Guide
For 140 miles, the London LOOP (London Outer Orbital Path) follows a green corridor right around the capital, offering a circular walk among secret countryside that can make you forget you`re within a few miles of Heathrow Airport, the A13, or the suburban sprawl of Croydon, Watford or Dagenham. Here is rolling downland near Coulsdon,
Northumberland Coast Path: Recreational Path Guide
The Northumberland coastline stretches from the outskirts of Newcastle up to the Scottish border at Berwick-upon-Tweed – a popular holiday destination for its wild and sweeping landscape of endless beaches of pale sand, succession of spectacular castles like Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh, congenial resorts like Alnmouth, and unique offshore attractions like Holy Island and the Farne
South West Coast Path – Minehead to Padstow
The South West Coast Path is the spectacular 630-mile (1008-km) National Trail around the tip of Britain. This volume features the section of the Path from Minehead to Padstow, a distance of 163 miles (262 km). It skirts the Exmoor National Park, taking in the precipitous harbour towns of Lynton, Lynmouth and Ilfracombe, before heading
Banksy:The Man Behind The Wall
For someone who shuns the limelight so completely that he conceals his name, never shows his face and gives interviews only by email, Banksy is remarkably famous. From his beginnings as a Bristol graffiti artist, his artwork is now sold at auction for six-figure sums and hangs on celebrities` walls. The appearance of a new
Feet in the Clouds
Nearly 10 years after its first publication, Aurum are re-issuing this classic running book which has defined a genre. It includes an introduction from bestselling author Robert Macfarlane and an epilogue from Richard Askwith. The concept of fell-running is simple: it`s a sport that involves running over mountains – sometimes one, sometimes many. It`s also
South West Coast Path National Trail: Padstow to Falmouth
The second part of the South West Coast Path, a 169-km/271 mile section along the Cornish coast from Padstow to Falmouth, in a series of walking guides to the National Trails in England and Wales with colour extracts from the Ordnance Survey`s Explorer series at 1:25,000 showing points along the route cross-referenced to the text.
Offa`s Dyke Path National Trail
Offa`s Dyke Path National Trail, the whole 285km/177 miles route from Chepstow to Prestatyn, in a series of walking guides to the National Trails in England and Wales with colour extracts from the Ordnance Survey`s Explorer series at 1:25,000 showing points along the route cross-referenced to the text. The maps also indicate nearby places of
The Ghosts of Happy Valley: Searching for the Lost World of Africa`s Infamous Aristocrats
In a remarkable and indefatigable archaeological quest Juliet Barnes, who has lived in Kenya all her life and whose grandparents knew some of the Happy Valley characters, has set out to explore Happy Valley to find the former homes and haunts of this extraordinary and transient set of people.Happy Valley was the name given to
The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal about Identity, Race, Wealth and Power
A TIME Magazine Must-Read Book of 2020`Deirdre Mask`s book was just up my Strasse, alley, avenue and boulevard.` -Simon Garfield, author of Just My Type`Fascinating … intelligent but thoroughly accessible … full of surprises` – Sunday TimesWhen most people think about street addresses they think of parcel deliveries, or visitors finding their way. But who
The Housekeeper`s Tale: The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House
Working as a housekeeper was one of the most prestigious jobs a nineteenth and early twentieth century woman could want – and also one of the toughest. A far cry from the Downton Abbey fiction, the real life Mrs Hughes was up against capricious mistresses, low pay, no job security and gruelling physical labour. Until
The Russian Revolution: A New History
At the turn of the century, the Russian economy was growing by about 10% annually and its population had reached 150 million. By 1920 the country was in desperate financial straits and more than 20 million Russians had died. And by 1950, a third of the globe had embraced communism. The triumph of Communism sets
The Word for Woman is Wilderness
Funny, frank and tender, The Word for Woman is Wilderness is an adventure novel with a difference.Erin is 19. She`s never really left England, but she has watched Bear Grylls and wonders why it`s always men who get to go on all the cool wilderness adventures. So Erin sets off on a voyage into the
Murder On Christmas Eve: Classic Mysteries for the Festive Season
Christmas Eve. While the world sleeps, snow falls gently from the sky, presents await under the tree … and murder is afoot. In this collection of ten classic murder mysteries from the best crime writers in history, death and mayhem take many festive forms, from the inventive to the unexpected.From a Santa Claus with a
Dramatic Exchanges: The Lives and Letters of the National Theatre
The perfect gift for any theatre loverThere has been always as much drama offstage as on at the National Theatre, and much of it is to be found in the letters, telegrams, scribbled notes and colourful postcards of its main players. – What drove Laurence Olivier to confess: “The foolishness of my position starts to
Nemo`s Almanac: A Quiz for Book Lovers
You might recognise:`It was a bright day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.`But what about:`Time, like an ever-rolling stream`Or even:`I am soft sift / In an hour-glass-at the wall / Fast, but mined with a motion, a drift, / And it crowds and it combs to the fall.`Can you match each to their
