Search results for ""author laurence mitchell""

This new, expanded and thoroughly updated third edition of Suffolk (Slow Travel), part of Bradt's award-winning series of Slow travel guides to UK regions, remains the only full-blown standalone guide to this gentle but beguiling county. Expert local author Laurence Mitchell helps visitors discover what makes Suffolk tick, combining personal insights, enjoyable anecdotes and up-to-date information on the best places to visit, stay and eat. Covering both popular sights and places beyond the usual tourist trail, he caters for walkers, cyclists, families, foodies, culture vultures and wildlife lovers alike. Helped by its proximity to London and Cambridge, Suffolk is a popular holiday destination. Events such as the Latitude festival and the Aldeburgh Music Festival at Britten's Snape Maltings keep the county's profile buoyant. Despite being comparatively low-lying, Suffolk boasts varied landscapes, from undulating farmland and sandy heaths to extensive forests, important nature reserves (including Minsmere, for three years the base of BBC Springwatch) and soft, dreamy coastal landscapes comprising river estuaries, remote marshes, reed-beds, shingle beaches (notably Shingle Street, with its myth of World War II invasions) and dunes. Suffolk's coastal towns and villages - Southwold with its old-fashioned pier and colourful beach huts, but also Aldeburgh, Orford, Walberswick and Dunwich - are steeped in art heritage, with links to artists including Maggi Hambling, John Piper, Philip Wilson Steer and Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Venturing inland, you can make for Constable Country and the Stour valley, Bury St Edmunds, Framlingham, Bungay, Beccles or Halesworth. Alternatively, you can visit some of Suffolk's wealth of medieval churches, learn of Rendlesham's UFOs or revere Suffolk's Anglo-Saxon heritage, notably the medieval ceremonial burial site at Sutton Hoo (whose discovery stars in the 2021 film The Dig) and the reconstructed Anglo-Saxon village at West Stow. This guide makes a virtue of being selective, pointing readers to the cream of the area. It is organised into locales to encourage 'stay put' tourism and thorough exploration. It suggests options for car-free travel: walking, cycling, river boats, buses and trains. Written in an entertaining yet authoritative style, Bradt's Suffolk (Slow Travel) is the ideal companion with which to discover this county.

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This new, thoroughly updated edition of Bradt's Serbia covers all the practical information you could need plus comprehensive details of Serbian history, geography, economy, politics and people, as well as food and wine, city life, hiking and outdoors and adventure trips. Significant improvements to accommodation throughout the country over the past few years are also covered, with a wide range of options included, from five-star and boutique hotels to backpacker hostels. Bradt's Serbia also has a strong emphasis on culture and the arts - music, literature, cinema and art - and on natural history, with a thorough overview of Serbia's best wildlife sites. Serbia remains one of the least known corners of Europe although Belgrade, the capital, is becoming increasingly popular with overseas visitors, as is the second city, Novi Sad. Both are lively, cosmopolitan and welcoming cities with vibrant nightlife. In contrast, rural Serbia, with its hidden monasteries and gorgeous countryside, is an undiscovered gem. This new edition covers everything from the development of the Savamala riverfront in Belgrade to village stays, archaeological sites from the Roman era or earlier (no fewer than 18 Roman emperors were born in the territory that is now Serbia, including Constantine the Great), public transport information, the EXIT festival and Guca Trumpet Festival and, of course, the country's sporting prowess: tennis star Novak Djokovic has won 20 Grand Slam single titles, while in team sports, Serbia has excelled at water polo, basketball, volleyball and football in recent years. No matter your interest, whether it be travelling on one of the steepest climbing railway lines in the world, the Sargan Eight line, visiting one of the largest Orthodox Christian churches in the world, Belgrade's Temple of St Sava, or wandering around the National Museum or Museum of Contemporary Art, both now finally re-opened, Bradt's Serbia offers everything you need for a successful trip.

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The three long-distance walks described in this book - the Suffolk Coast Path, the Stour and Orwell Walk and the Sandlings Walk - link together to provide a comprehensive and varied circuit of the entire Suffolk Heritage Coast. The Suffolk Coast Path stretches along the coast between Lowestoft and Landguard Fort, close to Felixstowe in the south, a total distance of 60 miles (97km) depending on whether beach walking or inland options are followed. The Stour and Orwell Walk continues where the Suffolk Coast Path ends, starting at Landguard Point threading for 40 mile (64km) around the estuaries of the Stour and Orwell rivers to finish at Cattawade, close to the Essex border. The Sandlings Walk (59 miles/94.5km) explores the heathland region that lies immediately inland from the Suffolk coast. With the exception of the first stage, between Ipswich and Woodbridge, the route of the Sandlings Walk lies entirely within the confines of the Suffolk Coast & Heaths AONB. With a unique landscape of cliffs, marshes, dunes and shingle beaches, and rare plants and birdlife galore, there is much to attract anyone seeking interesting day walks or longer multi-day itineraries.

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A guidebook to 40 day walks in Norfolk. Exploring the coast, Fens, Brecks and Broads, the walks are suitable for beginner and experienced walkers alike. The circular walks range from 6 to 19km (4–12 miles) and can be enjoyed in 2–4 hours. Some routes use parts of long-distance paths, including the Peddars Way, Norfolk Coast Path, Boudica's Way and Weavers Way. 1:40,000 OS maps included for each walk Sized to easily fit in a jacket pocket Refreshment and public transport options are given for each walk Easy access from Norfolk, King’s Lynn and Great Yarmouth

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From Great Yarmouth to Aberystwyth, Westering is a coast-to-coast journey crossing the Fens, Leicester, the Black Country and central Wales. It connects landscape, place and memory to evoke a narrative unravelling the deep topography, and following a westerly route that runs against the grain of the land, its geology, culture and historical bedrock. With the industrial Midlands sandwiched between bucolic landscapes in East Anglia and Wales, here we explore places too often overlooked. Along the way we encounter deserted medieval villages, battlefield sites, the ghosts of Roman soldiers, valleys drowned for reservoirs, ancient forests, John Clare's beloved fields, and the urban edgelands. Notions of home and belonging, landscapes of loss and absence, birds and the resilience of nature, the psychology of walking, and the psychogeography of liminal places all frame the story.

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Bradt's Kyrgyzstan remains the only English-language guide dedicated solely to this astounding country, described as 'the Switzerland of central Asia' and regarded by many as the most beautiful country in the world. This new, thoroughly updated fourth edition further extends its comprehensive coverage of all the country has to offer, including trekking, mountaineering, horse riding, historical sites, festivals and Kyrgyz culture. All the most recent information on all the major towns and visitor hubs is included, along with suggested itineraries and details of natural history and conservation issues. Feature boxes throughout the text give further cultural detail on Kyrgyz society, while all budgets are catered for with traveller information covering all options from low-cost to luxury, as well as extensive detail on travel by public transport throughout the country. Deep within central Asia, Kyrgyzstan's beautiful mountainscapes, dreamlike rock formations and semi-nomadic culture are gloriously unspoiled. A trip here can be as adventurous as you please: admire 5,000-year-old petroglyphs at Saimaluu-Tash, gallop on horseback through the alpine meadows that surround 3,016m-high Lake Song-Köl, go trekking in the mountain valleys that lie south of Karakol, visit Bishkek's Soviet-era statues or simply laze on the shores of the vast Lake Issyk-Kul. Kyrgyzstan has it all: glorious mountain scenery, a rich nomadic tradition, Silk Road monuments and thrilling wildlife. It also remains an intriguing, little known but easily accessible country for travellers. With in-depth coverage of historical background, health, safety and transport, plus author recommendations on the best yurt camps and chaikhanas, Bradt's Kyrgyzstan is the ideal companion for a successful trip.

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This new, thoroughly updated, third edition of Bradt's Norfolk, part of Bradt's award-winning 'Slow travel' series of guides to UK regions, turns the spotlight on this county of contrasts, from the fine city of Norwich to the watery wilderness of the Broads and the sweeping beaches of the superlative north coast. As well as featuring all the main sights, experienced travel writer and local resident Laurence Mitchell ensures that Bradt's Norfolk covers places and aspects not detailed by other guidebooks and offers a special emphasis on car-free travel, walking (including along several long-distance footpaths), accommodation, local food and pubs. Written in an entertaining style combining personal narrative with authoritative information, this guide brings the county to life through anecdotes and the views of local people. Making a virtue of being selective, the guide points visitors to the cream of the area, but includes the whole of Norfolk from Great Yarmouth and the Broads in the east to the Fens of the far west, from the iconic North Norfolk coast to the Breckland region to the south. Places to eat and drink are selected by the author based upon long-standing knowledge of the area, in particular delving into aspects of regional distinctiveness and character. Characterful market towns, medieval churches and Seahenge (a 4,000-year-old timber circle) feature alongside culturally vibrant Norwich, England's first UNESCO City of Literature, which hosts the acclaimed Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts and the highly rated Norwich and Norfolk Festival. Flora and fauna are also celebrated, the guidebook detailing the many wildlife sites within the county that are home to rare species, including the iconic swallowtail butterfly, while there is new detail on rewilding projects such as Wild Ken Hill, featured on BBC Springwatch and Autumnwatch programmes, seal colonies and the 'Snettisham spectacular' of shorebirds and geese. Hiking and biking, literary and artistic connections, canoeing and water-based activities, local food and drink (including prize-winning vineyards and independent breweries), and all the practical, up-to-date information you could need are included, helping make Bradt's Norfolk the must-have guide for all visitors to this beguiling county.

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