The English seaside

Photographer Peter Williams celebrates the peculiar eccentricities and quintessential charms – from helter-skelters to lighthouses, pirates, palmists and Punch and Judy – of this cherished and rapidly changing English landscape

Bon Bini! Curacao has it all in one very small island

Irene Thomas found Curacao the most successfully diverse country she has ever visited – and one of the most beautiful as well

Irish Passport Office

From the website:

“The Passport Office, which is part of the Department of Foreign Affairs, issues passports to Irish citizens.

All Irish citizens are entitled to apply for an Irish passport. Services are provided by the Passport Offices in Dublin and Cork and by Irish Diplomatic and Consular Missions overseas.”

One of the great railway experiences

Travelling from Kyle of Lochalsh to Iverness by train is Britain’s most scenic rail journey, writes Adrian

Peering into the Holiday Future

The two expanding areas for travel are luxury and budget. This was one of the interesting features to come from the WTM Vision Conference held in London this week. This is where the travel industry contemplates the future and the author of this remark was Caroline Bremner of Euromonitor, a research group that has been forecasting worldwide travel for 30 years or more.

Another Museum Burns

Another museum, the Cae Dai 1950’s Motor Museum in Lawnt outside Denbigh in North Wales has been badly damaged by fire. The fire broke out on Tuesday night and has destroyed many of the vehicles including the lorry that was used to take the mail sacks away from the Great Train Robbery in 1963. Now that the roof has caved in, it is not sure if anything can be saved from the collection. But being a 1950’s museum, there was more than the odd vehicle. There were examples of food and everyday items from the time including ration books (I still have mine somewhere about the place) and mock-ups of what kitchens were like at the time.

The Borromean Isles: magical gardens on Italy’s Lake Maggiore

Patricia Cleveland-Peck gazes in wonder at Isola Bella, a baroque garden shaped like a ship floating on the lake, is entranced by Isola Madre, a romantic garden full of flowers and enjoys a lunch of lake fish on Fisherman’s Island