Heaven Is A Place On Earth

‘I’m sorry to break it you, people of the Cotswolds, but there is no more beautiful part of Britain than the area between the Quantocks and the Bristol Channel’

I’m currently driving around Great Britain for my next travel book. I figured that, after visiting over 90 countries, it was time to give good old Blighty ago. I have no real plan, I just get up in the morning, look at a map and set off to wherever takes my fancy. My last book, The Hezbollah Hiking Club was all about walking across Lebanon. This one is a bit more comfortable – I occasionally roll down the window to peer at something but I’m pretty much treating the whole country like some massive drive-thru.

I kicked off with Gloucester and the Forest of Dean… which was brave of me, I thought? I visited the Littledean Jail Museum which was certainly an eyeopener. The owner had collected all sorts of stuff – from Ronnie Kray’s pinstripe suit to Fred West’s shovel. I’d actually passed by 25 Cromwell Street, the scene of Fred and Rose West’s crimes earlier in the day so, in all, it was a pretty dark start to my journey.