Bradt Travel Guides

Life’s pace has accelerated. Journeys once measured in months now take hours; even food only counts if it’s fast.  Bradt’s new series of Slow…  guides takes the first available exit from today’s superhighway lifestyle and explores a road less travelled through some of Britain’s most beautiful landscapes.

Inspired by the spirit of the Slow Food movement and with a reflective nod towards Jerome K Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat, this collaboration between Bradt and Sawday’s follows no formulaic headline-ticking template. The guides are joyously personal and subjective, each author freely espousing his or her own insights on their respective homes.  Slow Devon & Exmoor, Slow Norfolk & Suffok and Slow North Yorkshire all encompass original material, much of which has not appeared in print before.  Each title combines practical travel information with interviews with local people, coverage of atmospheric historic sites, descriptions of the most scenic walks, hikes and cycle rides, and tips on the best places to observe nature. Sawday’s carefully researched pub and accommodation listings provide a wealth of characterful places to quench your thirst and lay your head.

Slow observations include:

• Slow Devon and Exmoor – ‘Even if you’ve managed to evade Lorna Doone associations until now, if you go to Oare you’re doomed to get involved. R D Blackmore’s grandfather was rector here from 1809 to 1842 so the author of Lorna Doone knew the place well – and used it. Setting that aside, it’s a church with lots of interest. Note the box pews: the one for the squire has seats around three sides so he and his family could be fenced off from his labourers, and were in a position to ignore the vicar if so inclined.’ – Hilary Bradt

• Slow Norfolk & Suffolk – ‘Old Diss centres around a body of water, The Mere, a six-acre, spring-fed lake that gives the town its name (‘dice’ in Anglo-Saxon means ‘standing water’, or words to that effect). Diss folk claim that this glacial remnant is at least 60 feet deep, with about 20 feet of water and 40 feet of mud, so it is not a place to drop your keys.’ – Laurence Mitchell

• Slow North Yorkshire – ‘I had one of those it’s-hard-to-imagine moments whilst basking in the sun, sipping a cup of tea on a bench outside a tea room in Gunnerside.  The only sounds were the tinkling of water from the nearby beck, and the odd distant clang of a blacksmith’s hammer.  Enveloped in this rural comfort blanket, it was indeed astonishing to consider the frantic industrial past of 150 years ago, when Gunnerside was knicknamed Klondike.’ – Mike Bagshaw

For review copies contact nick.redmayne@bradtguides.com or 01753 893 444

Slow Devon & Exmoor by Hilary Bradt                   ISBN 978 1 84162322 1
Slow Norfolk & Suffolk by Laurence Mitchell          ISBN 978 1 84162321 4
Slow North Yorkshire by Mike Bagshaw                 ISBN 978 1 84162323 8
Cost All titles £14.99
Publication June 2010