On the subject of the Eyewitness Travel Guides series, Michael Palin (world traveller, television and movie star, author, multilingual singer, lumberjack, bon vivant, raconteur, railway enthusiast and all-around likeable fellow) is quoted as saying that they are "...irresistibly seductive."  We make it a point to never disagree with Mr Palin when he is right.

• Eyewitness Travel Guides - London - ISBN 1564581837
• Eyewitness Travel Guides - Great Britain - ISBN 0789401878
• Eyewitness Travel Guides - Scotland - ISBN 0751311553
• Portrait of Britain - ISBN 0789446081 or ISBN 0751308080

We like to think of the Eyewitness Travel Guides series as the 'best web site in a book!'  The 700+ page 'Portrait of Britain' (with pleasantly larger text and photographs) is a coffee-table sized version of and is based on 'Eyewitness Travel Guides - Great Britain'.  Take the 'Eyewitness Travel Guides' book with you on holiday.  Upon returning home, reminisce and plan your next vacation with 'Portrait of Britain'.  These guides are described in detail at the Dorling Kindersley (alternate link) web site.

TIP  The 'Survival Guide' section in each of the 'Travel Guides' is especially useful for first-timers as well as a 'refresher' for return visitors.  Remember that books like this can become out of date due to changes the tourist sites make in their opening days.  Be sure to check the internet or telephone the venue for current information.

  ESSENTIAL FOR THE INDEPENDENT TOURIST

	Historic Houses & Gardens, Castles and Heritage Sites
	UK ISBN:  0-9531426-5-5; USA ISBN:  0-7627-0881-6

For many years (prior to the internet), we relied on 'Historic Houses, Castles and Gardens' for basic information on places to visit in Britain.  Hudson's guide book is 'heads and shoulders' above its predecessor.  Over 600 pages, their guide is our indispensable reference to more than 2000 properties in Britain.  Well over one-thousand lavish colour ['color'] photographs accompany the descriptions, opening hours and details of parking, on-site tea-rooms, restaurants and shops.  (We wish our holiday snaps ['vacation photographs'] looked half as good as their photos.)  The internet cannot match the usefulness of this guide.  The sixteen pages of maps showing the location of the venues is alone worth the price.  We might call this a 'coffee-table book' except for the fact that, once we picked it up, we kept reading it and never put it down.  Hudson's (alternate link) calls their guide 'comprehensive'.  We say 'comprehensive' does not do it justice!   We purchased our copy from The Savvy Traveller in Chicago.  You can too.  They do mail orders!

• Daytrips London - ISBN 0-8038-9443-0

Earl Steinbicker does a masterful job of detailing fifty-five day trips from a base camp in London.  If you are planning to visit any of the places covered, we believe you will find it to be good value for money ['worth the price']..  This is one book you will want to take with you on your holiday ['vacation'].

After discussing day trip strategies, ten walking tours in the greater London area are listed:  The City; Westminster; Chelsea, Kensington, Knightsbridge and Belgravia; The West End; Southwark and Lambeth; Docklands; Greenwich; Hampstead; Richmond; Hampton Court.  (Our favourites are shown in italics.  No doubt you will have your own favourites.)

The next section describes visits to forty-five cities and towns in southern England:  Arundel, Bath, Battle, Bluebell Railway, Brighton, Bristol, Bury St Edmunds, Cambridge, Canterbury, Cardiff, Chester, Chichester, Colchester, Coventry, Dover, Ely, Exeter, Faversham, Gloucester, Guildford, Hastings, Ipswich, King's Lynn, Lincoln, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Portsmouth, Rochester, Romney Hythe & Dymchurch Railway, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Rye, St Albans, Salisbury, Shanklin, Southampton, Stamford, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick, Wells, Winchester, Windsor, Woodbridge, Woodstock and York.

Each tour begins with an overview and 'getting there' information such as train service - stations, frequency and travel time.  Travel tips specific to a location are covered under 'practicalities.'  The 'food and drink' section recommends restaurants, pubs and tearooms.  The 'walking tour' section has a map marked with the suggested route and a thorough description.  Sights to visit are listed with a brief description along with opening hours & days, admission fees and telephone numbers.

As with all guide books, be sure to either check the internet or telephone the venue for current information before setting out.  Also, what with the recent maintenance delays on the British railway network continuing into 2002, be mindful that train frequency and travel times will likely have changed since publication.

Having personally visited thirty-one of the fifty-five destinations, we can vouch for the usefulness of this book.  Jolly well done, Mr Steinbicker.  (Only wish we had thought of the concept first.)   For more on this and other books in the series, visit the Daytrips Books website.  Paperback, 350 pages, http://www.amazon.com/.

We understand that a new title will soon be added to the Daytrips series:  'Extraordinary Places...Close to London'.  We can hardly wait!

The Automobile Association (AA) (alternate link) of Great Britain publish the following two titles.

• AA The Britain Guide 2001 - ISBN 0749525312

Listing over 2,000 stately homes, castles, gardens, galleries, museums and other attractions, the tourist venues are organised by region with a short narrative (and the occasional colour photo), opening hours & days and admission fees.  Be sure to either check the internet or telephone the venue for current information before setting out.  The venues are arranged by 'counties' (or 'shires'), which can - at first - be a bit confusing.  As you become familiar with Britain's geography, that arrangement will make perfect sense.  Paperback, 432 pages, http://www.amazon.co.uk/.

Please Note:  We apologise for not providing an active hyperlink to certain websites.  The 'terms of use' for our free website require that we not receive financial gain from our links.   Some companies pay a small commission for advertising and referrals.  To avoid even the appearance of impropriety, a url is shown but not an active link.

• AA Glovebox Atlas Town Plans - ISBN 0749524014, 074951678X

This little atlas contains city centre ['downtown'] maps for 83 towns and 10 airports in Great Britain.  Handy for the tourist on foot or behind the wheel, it is in rather small print.  (Be sure to bring spare spectacles on your holiday.)  Paperback, 96 pages, http://www.amazon.co.uk/.

• The Sunday Telegraph Patrick Taylor's Guide to Gardens of Britain & Ireland - ISBN 075130655X 

Patrick Taylor's fine book, 'Gardens of Britain & Ireland', is published by Dorling Kindersley (alternate link). The descriptions for each of the 470 gardens are just the right depth & detail and include opening hours & days and telephone numbers.  There are basic maps for each region which give a general idea of each location and the nearest 'A' roads and motorways.  Colour photographs are scattered throughout.  Be sure to check for current information before heading out.  Paperback, 352 pages, http://www.amazon.co.uk/ shows the title as:  'Sunday Telegraph' Gardener's Guide to Britain and Ireland: 1999 

• Reader's Digest Touring Guide to Britain - ISBN 0276420314

Hopefully, Reader's Digest will someday reprint this marvelous, combination atlas, illustrated guidebook and gazetteer. Illustrated with colour photographs, thousand's of towns and venues are listed with a short narrative on pages opposite to a detailed, colour map showing their location.  (Even British taxi drivers use it as a reference!)  As our copy dates from 1993, the roadway ID numbers have changed in many cases.  The roads are still in the same place, it's just that their names have changed.  In spite of that, it remains one of our basic tools in vacation planning ...finding what else we would like to see that's nearby.  In the past, we have had success locating copies by checking used book dealers on the net such as BookFinder.  Hard cover, 320 pages.

  ESSENTIAL READING BEFORE 'DRIVING ON THE LEFT' 

• Driving in Britain - A North American's Guide to the Ins and Outs and Roundabouts of Driving Over There - ISBN 0969534000

Since this little book was published in 1991, we have read it four times cover-to-cover... before each trip to Britain.  Rob Lockhart presents the basics of 'driving on the left' in a very entertaining and readable style.  It has been extremely valuable in giving us an insight into the mind-set of the British driver.  And, that is no small accomplishment.  Lockhart's Driving in Britain website is a great introduction to, but definitely not a substitute for owning and reading the book.  Paperback, 80 pages, easily available direct from the Driving in Britain website.

• The Highway Code - ISBN 0115519777

Here in the 'colonies', we have 'The Rules of the Road.'  In Britain, they have 'The Highway Code.'  Our philosophy is, if we are renting a car in Britain, once in our lives we should read the code of regulations.  Paperback, 85 pages, http://www.amazon.co.uk/.

• Know Your Traffic Signs - ISBN 0115516123

While international in nature, the meaning of many traffic signs in Britain are not very obvious to us North Americans.  We re-read our copy of 'Know Your Traffic Signs' before each trip.  Paperback, 100 pages, http://www.amazon.co.uk/.

  ESPECIALLY FOR THE MINIATURE RAILWAY ENTHUSIAST

• ABC Miniature Railways - ISBN 0711025932

Simon Townsend co-authored this 'Ian Allen ABC' book.  The new, second  edition was published in 2000.  Throughout you will find essential information (line length & gauge, locomotives on shed, brief descriptions illustrated with b&w photographs) on 7¼ to 21 inch gauge miniature railways that are open to the public in Britain.  Online, see Ian Thomas' Miniature Railways of Britain which lists 182 miniature railway sites.  Paperback, 96 pages, http://www.amazon.co.uk/.

Copyright © 1999 - 2005  J. C. Nash. All worldwide rights reserved.
Last modified: Thursday, 27 October 2005 .