Barcelona: where history and culture meets the Nou

Robin Nowacki combines culture and cuisine with football on a visit to Barcelona – the capital of the Catalonian region of Spain

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

Consumer Direct (formally the National Consumer Council)

From the website:

“Consumer Direct is the government-funded telephone and online service offering information and advice on consumer issues. Consumer Direct is funded by the Office of Fair Trading and delivered in partnership with Local Authority Trading Standards Services.”

Botswana & The National Trust

You might wonder what an African country and the largest conservation charity in the UK have in common. At this time of the year there are tourism awards that are given out and both have received a pretty similar award.
The World Travel & Tourism Council, (WTTC) is a body that you may not have come across. It is a forum for 100 of the top business leaders in travel and tourism across the world. They have just announced what they call their Tourism for Tomorrow Awards which reward sustainable tourism. The destination that has won this year’s Destination Stewardship Award is Botswana for the way that it treats tourism in the Okavango delta

Llandysul Gardening Weekend

One of the earliest of gardening events on the calendar happens this weekend in the west Wales town of Landysul. Having attracted so many people from quite a distance, Llanysul will probably become a firm early season fixture for people anxious to get out and do something in their gardens but handicapped by the weather we have had.

A Carmarthenshire Scenic Spot

You get many travel writers promoting the sites from train journeys. I have travelled myself on the Indian Pacific which travels from Sydney to Perth. (I got as far as Peterborough in South Australia when I got bored and took a train instead to Adelaide.)The Bullet train, the Orient Express, the train to Kyle of Lochalsh and the Blaenau Festiniog railway are also supposed to be things you should do.

Well let me offer another, cut down version for you to consider.

Charlie & the chocolate banana cake

Why would you run a B&B? Long hours; continuous cleaning; getting up early to prepare breakfasts; pandering to the whims of guests. It’s not something that appeals to me. In the UK we are using to seeing signs in seaside resorts and at farms. But it is becoming increasingly popular in America. Except that there it’s slightly different.