Book of the Month: Local

Our first Book of the Month for 2024 is Local: A Search for Nearby Nature and Wildness by the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award winning author Alastair Humphreys.

Escape into the overlooked adventures and insights from one man’s year of deeply exploring a 20km map of suburban England.

What surprises might you uncover in your own neighbourhood if you set aside assumptions and paid closer attention? After two decades of grand expeditions spanning the globe, Adventurer Alastair Humphreys embarked on a project to get to know his uninspiring corner of England through undertaking weekly microadventures within one local map. 

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Walking in the Footsteps Of… : Stanfords Travel Writers Festival

How often have you read a travel book and thought about how you would love to recreate that journey? Well these three authors did just that and even turned those journeys into books of their own. Join us as Paul Blezard talks to Jacki Hill-Murphy who has followed the footsteps of a number of early female explorers and adventurers, Alastair Humphreys who busked his way around Spain with a violin he could barely play inspired by Laurie Lee’s As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning and Ben Aitken who retraced Bill Bryson’s journey from Notes from a Small Island.

The authors also read extracts from their books.

The Extraordinary Tale of Kate Marsden and my Journey Across Siberia in her Footsteps by Jacki Hill-Murphy

The Extraordinary Tale of Kate Marsden and my Journey Across Siberia in her Footsteps

Adventuresses Rediscovering Daring Voyages into the Unknown by Jacki Hill-Murphy

Adventuresses, Rediscovering Daring Voyages into the Unknown

My Midsummer Morning by Alastair Humphreys

My Midsummer Morning

Dear Bill Bryson by Ben Aitken

Dear Bill Bryson: Footnotes from a Small Island

Sean Conway, Phoebe Smith, Elsa Hammond and Alastair Humphreys

Wild times beckon as adventurers Sean Conway and Elsa Hammond, extreme sleep-er Phoebe Smith and micro-adventurer Alastair Humphreys swap stories and top tips for the how to have a great time outdoors right here in the UK. Continue reading Sean Conway, Phoebe Smith, Elsa Hammond and Alastair Humphreys