Touring Britain - The Victorian Way.

[Melonfish]

On bbc HD last night was this wonderfull programme (unfortunatly not on I player) on touring brittain with an original 1890 Baedeker guide to great britain.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00hw3yr
what a fantastic show! most of it was off the rail lines mind it being a victorian print but that just made for ease of access to some fantastic and sadly forgotton parts of the country.

I've already got a copy of the Baedeker guide set and sorted for fathers day and possibly a wainright in there too. can't wait, this book is going to be full of fantastic things to see that the victorian holiday maker would have seen!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467198433&pf_rd_i=468294
Has anyone got a copy of this book? have you found it fun and enlightening? i can't wait to get it.


from the site:

Cultural historian David Heathcote uses his favourite old 1887 Baedeker Guide to explore modern-day Britain, discovering unexpected delights and hidden treasures which were popular with Victorian tourists but are rarely visited today.

Following in the footsteps of early American tourists who arrived off the boats in Liverpool, he takes the advice of the Guide and discovers 'the most fashionable of Welsh watering places'. The Guide then recommends a trip to the salt mines, popular with American visitors 100 years ago and, surprisingly, just as interesting today.

He then travels on to Manchester, recommended by Baedeker as a hotbed of music, politics and radical thinking and discovers that the spirit of what attracted the curious visitors 100 years ago lives on.

The journey ends in York where modern day tourists follow in the footsteps of their Victorian counterparts and enjoy the magnificent medieval city and cathedral.

As he travels, Heathcote explores the story behind the guide books that were so influential in creating the independent traveller as we know it today.