Wow! eBook
To Hull and Back: On Holiday in Unsung Britain
Author(s): Tom Chesshyre (Author)
- Publisher: Summersdale
- Publication Date: 5 July 2010
- Language: English
- Print length: 320 pages
- ISBN-10: 1849530602
- ISBN-13: 9781849530606
Book Description
… one of the best ways to get to know a country is to take yourself to the less touristy, less obvious destinations. And let’s face it: things don’t get much less touristy than Slough…
As staff travel writer on The Times since 1997, Tom Chesshyre had visited over 80 countries on assignment, and wondered: what is left to be discovered?
He realised that the answer might be very close to home. In a mad adventure that took him from Hull to Hell (actually a rather nice holiday location in the Isles of Scilly), Tom visited secret spots of Unsung Britain in search of the least likely holiday destinations. He got to know the real Coronation Street in Salford, explored Blade Runner Britain in Port Talbot, discovered that everything’s quite green in Milton Keynes, met real-life superheroes and many a suspicious landlady, and watched a football match with celebrity chef Delia Smith in Norwich.
With a light and edgy writing style Tom peels back the skin of the unfashionable underbelly of Britain, and embraces it all with the spirit of discovery.
Editorial Reviews
Review
`Croydon is an ideal destination for holidaying… a new book recommends – just… make sure you wear a stab vest.’
— The Croydon Guardian, 30th June 2010
`light-hearted… He was even impelled to visit Port Talbot because his friend told him it was the least likely place he would holiday.’ — MK (Milton Keynes) News, 30th June 2010
`Chesshyre spent several nights in each place and discovered a history he never knew.’ — The Yorkshire Post, 6th July 2010
Featured in The Scottish Sunday Post, 11th July 2010. –The Scottish Sunday Post, 11th July 2010
`Tom’s literary offering… sums up the current stay-cation ethos permeating UK travel writing at the moment and it’s rather good.’ — St Christopher’s Beds & Bars Live-Your-Life e-zine, August 2010
`after years of travelling in the lap of luxury… Tom has turned his attention to our own cities and shores.’
— The South Wales Evening Post, 14th July 2010
`… the oft-forgotten “secret spots of Unsung Britain”… for his off-the-beaten-track search for the UK’s least touristy destinations.’
— North East Life, August 2010
`You warm to Chesshyre, whose cultural references intelligently inform his postcards from locations less travelled’
–The Times, Books Section, 4th September 2010
‘Writer Tom Chesshyre celebrates the UK… discovering pleasure in the unregarded wonders of the `unfashionable underbelly’ of Britain’ –Mail on Sunday, Travel Book of the Week, 21st November 2010
Fun, controversial travel book … Definitely entertaining.
–Salford Star, 22nd December 2010.
`Not going abroad this year? … Try Tom Chessyre’s To Hull and Back, surprising delights in the most unlikely places.’ –MK Pulse, June 2010
‘Tom embraces the unfashionable bits of Britain, and finds plenty to write home about.’ –luckyluck.com
About the Author
Tom Chesshyre is the author of ten travel books. He has travelled 40,000 miles around the world for his train books; most recently for Slow Trains Around Spain: A 3,000-Mile Adventure on 52 Rides. His book writing has also taken him across North Africa after the Arab Spring, round the “dark side” of the Maldives on cargo ships and on a journey through “unsung Britain” (in To Hull and Back). He worked on travel desk of The Times for 21 years and is now freelance. His train column “Tickets, Please” appears in The Critic magazine. He lives in London.
