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TEXT ONLY EBThe Sunday Times BestsellerA glorious insight into Britain over the last 150 years – its history, landscape and people – from the window of Britain’s many and magnificent railway journeys.Inspired by George Bradshaw, a 19th-century cartographer who mapped Britain’s railways as they sprung up around him, Charlie Bunce and Michael Portillo take a journey along nine classic British railway routes and surround themselves with the history, the charm and the people at the heart of the railways.More than just a practical mode of transport, Britain’s railways are richly representative and evocative of British society and how it has developed over the last 150 years. Symbols of progress and change, they tell of remarkable breakthroughs in technology, industry and travel. Iconic in their design they have both made a distinctive impact on Britain’s landscape and opened it up to millions of people who, through train journeys alone, became acquainted with wonderful new places and sights. And as fond staples of childhood experiences they evoke deep, memorable feelings of nostalgia, of holidays and home.Great British Train Journeys is a passionate, charming and insightful look at Britain from a window seat: a compelling read for all who look forward to travelling by train.

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The Sunday Times BestsellerA glorious insight into Britain over the last 150 years – its history, landscape and people – from the window of Britain’s many and magnificent railway journeys.Inspired by George Bradshaw, a 19th-century cartographer who mapped Britain’s railways as they sprung up around him, Charlie Bunce and Michael Portillo take a journey along nine classic British railway routes and surround themselves with the history, the charm and the people at the heart of the railways.More than just a practical mode of transport, Britain’s railways are richly representative and evocative of British society and how it has developed over the last 150 years. Symbols of progress and change, they tell of remarkable breakthroughs in technology, industry and travel. Iconic in their design they have both made a distinctive impact on Britain’s landscape and opened it up to millions of people who, through train journeys alone, became acquainted with wonderful new places and sights. And as fond staples of childhood experiences they evoke deep, memorable feelings of nostalgia, of holidays and home.Great British Train Journeys is a passionate, charming and insightful look at Britain from a window seat: a compelling read for all who look forward to travelling by train.

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AT A SPECIAL LOW PRICE FOR A LIMITED TIMETwo girls, three wheels, one mission.If you've ever been to Bangkok you'll have most likely been catapulted through the streets in a tuk tuk, one of the city's ubiquitous three-wheeled taxis. With white knuckles and ringing ears you'll have stepped out at the end and vowed to take a regular taxi next time. But one summer Jo Huxster and Ants Bolingbroke-Kent decided to drive a tuk tuk that little bit further – to Brighton, a mere 12,561 miles away. Their mission: to raise £50 000 for the mental health charity Mind.Tuk Tuk to the Road is the inspirational story of the ultimate road trip – the countries they traverse, the people that help them, the nail-biting border crossings, the extremely friendly policemen… Every detail of their record-breaking tukathon is chronicled in colourful and often hilarious detail.Twelve countries, two continents, one earthquake and the odd snapped accelerator cable later, this is the entertaining, honest, and above all, remarkable story of two girls who proved that with a little bit of determination, anything is possible.

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A deliciously different travelogueIn 2005, Cathy and Jason threw in successful careers as TV presenters and producers to become olive farmers in Italy. With their one year old daughter and Italian dictionary in tow, they found themselves in the middle of a European nowhere untouched by modernity. They were on a steep learning curve in more-or-less everything – finding out how to prune an olive tree so that a sparrow can pass through its branches, learning what beauty products are de rigeur in the changing rooms of a local Italian football team, being trained, by a local Italian choir, how to sing in English but with an Italian accent – and learning the rigorous rules of when one is allowed to consume a cappuccino. Armed with their indefatigable love of food, they headed off many a potentially tricky situation by cooking their way out of it, a sure route to the heart of any Italian.They discover that olive farming is dominated by the big boys and desperate to turn their new home into a way of making a living they cast around for ideas of how they can do so. A flash of inspiration led them to launch an 'Adopt-an-Olive-Tree' scheme. For a fee buyers could adopt a tree, receive produce from it and even go and visit it to give it a hug. The scheme became hugely popular with trees selling out way ahead of expectations. A contract with Selfridges followed and suddenly Cathy and Jason's dream is realised. Or nearly anyway. It's a hard slog and they meet every challenge with fortitude and humour but what they hadn't expected was that the biggest challenge would be the quiet of the countryside. Soon they find themselves hankering for the sounds and stench of the city and facing a difficult decision on what they should do next.

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Warned by a fortune-teller not to risk flying, the author – a seasoned correspondent – took to travelling by rail, road and sea. Consulting fortune-tellers and shamans wherever he went, he learnt to understand and respect older ways of life and beliefs now threatened by the crasser forms of Western modernity.William Shawcross in the Literary Review praised Terzani for ‘his beautifully written adventure story… a voyage of self-discovery… He sees fortune-tellers, soothsayers, astrologers, chiromancers, seers, shamans, magicians, palmists, frauds, men and women of god (many gods) all over Asia and in Europe too… Almost every page and every story celebrates the mystical and the unknowable. It is a fabulous story of renewal and change… Terzani is already something of a legend. He has written magnificently all his life. Never better than now.’Yes, the fortune-teller did save him from an air-crash in Cambodia. Looking back afterwards, Terzani reckoned that ‘I was marked for death and instead I was reborn.’

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Beguiling, aromatic memoirs of a cookery writer, settling in a small Normandy town, very similar in flavour to Under the Tuscan Sun.The second house that Susan Hermann Loomis looked at in the small town of Louviers was perfect. Dilapidated, rambling, crumbling walls which were covered with faded paper, it had been a convent. So Susan, her husband, luckily a sculptor and builder, and small son, moved in – to spend a year and more, rebuilding, finding new hidden treasures of their house, and discovering their neighbours, and the life of a small French town.Some of the great pleasures of the book come from sharing in Susan Loomis’ daily journeys: to the market, to the butcher and the baker, talking to the shop keepers and the teachers at the school, and meeting the clergy who tramp through their garden. As her son joins the local school, as Susan’s cookery work gets underway, so the reader is part of all the human – and gastronomic – experiences that shape this very French town.

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Ever tried to learn French and found it too hard? Bestselling language coach Paul Noble has a quick and easy way to get you back on track with his unique tried-and-tested method.• Keeps things simple with three basic rules; don’t skip anything, don’t try to memorise anything and cover up to test yourself.• A fun, jargon-free way to learn• Easy-to-understand French pronunciation• PROVEN to work; Paul can teach anyone a language, even people who think they’re incapablePaul’s course teaches you how to speak French more effectively, giving you the building blocks to form a huge range of conversations. This is a practical way to learn the aspects of language that you’ll actually need and use; from booking a hotel room to navigating a menu, Paul will effortlessly build your confidence and give you the tools to handle any holiday situation. His ‘word robbery’ will also help unlock the range of vocabulary you already know.Ideal for first-time learners or people who struggled in school, this book will help you absorb information quickly and efficiently, just like you did learning English as a child. Forget the way you used to be taught; this course guarantees you minimum effort and maximum success without the need for complex grammar rules or jargon.“There is nothing so complicated in foreign languages that it cannot be made simple.” Paul NobleA quick, easy and fun way to unlock your basic language skills. Perfect for beginners, this book will give you all the information you need to build basic conversations and get by on your travels.Which Paul Noble product is right for me?I need a basic audio course for use on holiday or a business trip – choose The Essential Paul Noble Course.I am a beginner or near-beginner and need an in-depth audio course – choose The Paul Noble Complete Course.I have listened to a Complete Course and I would like to take my learning to the next level – choose The Paul Noble Next Steps Course.I have some understanding and have previously studied the language, I need a book to consolidate what I know and increase my conversational ability – choose The Paul Noble Unlocking Series.

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The idiosyncratic and witty travelogue of a young Welsh-speaking woman who travels the globe in search of Welsh communities.Studying in Lampeter, Dyfed, and learning Welsh, Pamela Petro found it infuriating that whenever – in the post office, at the butcher’s, in the pub – she stumbled with her Welsh, the locals would – kindly, they thought – always revert to English: ‘English is so much easier for you, izznit?’ So she decided to go where English was not an option (i.e. not to Canada, Australia, South Africa or the USA) for the student of Welsh – Paris…Oslo…Tokyo…all kinds of unlikely places with long-standing Welsh communities.Once you start to look, you find the Welsh everywhere: among Petro’s intended ports of call were the Hong Kong Men’s Choir, all Chinamen who sing in Welsh; the Japanese bardic eisteddfod in Tokyo; the Welsh golfers of Oslo; the diners of the Paris Welsh Society (one of three in the city); and many more including, naturally the long-suffering Patagonians. Her simultaneous virtual travels (through the Internet) explore the effects and implications of the language itself, ranging from global searches for the strongest Welsh expletive (Iesu Christ) to how exactly Welsh (officially outlawed between 1536 and 1967) survived centuries of English oppression.

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A history of walking over the British countryside.Published to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the Ramblers’ Association, ‘Ramble On’ tells the story of how country walks were transformed from a small and often illegal pastime to the most popular recreational activity in the country.From the brave band of hikers who scaled the off-limits peak Kinder Scout in 1932, via the intricate Lake District guides of Alfred Wainwright, to the resistant landowners (including the notorious Nicholas Van Hoogstraten, Madonna and Jeremy Clarkson) who have done their level best (and worst) to keep walkers off their land – this is the definitive history of rambling.Perfectly capturing the sense of exhilaration on reaching the summit of a blustery hill-top path, ‘Ramble On’ is for anyone who has ever pulled on a pair of walking boots or is partial to the taste of Kendal mintcake.

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Accompanied by an eight-part series, this is the story of Adam Nicolson’s adventure in a small boat around the western coast of the British Isles.Early in the year, Adam Nicolson decided to leave his comfy life at home on a Sussex farm and go on an adventure. Equipped with the Auk, a forty-two-foot wooden ketch, and a friend who at least knew how to sail, he set off up the Atlantic coasts of the British Isles: Cornwall to Scilly, over to Pembrokeshire and the west of Ireland, to the Hebrides and its offliers, St Kilda and North Rona, before heading on to Orkney, and finally to the Faroes, a two hundred mile leap out into the autumn winds of the North Atlantic.But the book is not just a travel journal. Adam Nicolson writes of his own yearnings for the sea and for wide open spaces. His year is strung between the competing claims of leaving and belonging, of thinking that no life could be more exhilarating than battling a big gale driving in out of the Atlantic and of wanting to be back, in harbour, safe, still and protected. Running throughout the book is a dialogue within the author himself between the attractions of home and not home, the certainties of what you know and the seductions of what you don't.Reflective and poetic, this book is full of rich experience. It is a story passionately engaged with the beauty and marvels of the wild Atlantic coast, but is also a self-portrait of a man in the middle of his life who is determined to find out what it’s all for.

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