Visiting Lavenham: A day out in Suffolk

I’d never heard of Lavenham before I was taken by a friend recently on a day trip from Cambridge. Last time I visited Cambridge I experienced some of the alternative activities the city had to offer, and this time I was keen to explore some of the surrounding area. You can tell that my friend knows me fairly well as it was pretty much my prefect day out. A pretty village, picnic, National Trust property (and tea room!) and some time walking around in the fresh air. Before we went I was banned from looking it up online, as I was told that it would spoil the effect when we arrived. If you’ve not been, consider this the spoiler alert for the rest of the post. But if you want to see some of what the village has to offer, read on. View Post

A few thoughts on Dark Tourism

Dark tourism wasn’t something I had ever really given much thought to until I was trying to decide whether or not to visit Auschwitz whilst I was in Poland. It’s a phrase that I have some difficulties with, particularly given the negative coverage that dark tourism often receives in the media, which makes me reluctant to classify myself as a ‘dark tourist’. However when I think back over some of the places that I’ve visited, I have definitely been to some prominent dark tourist sights. View Post

Aix-en-Provence

You’ll probably see that there is a common thread in my posts about the South of France… each of the places I have blogged about so far (Toulon and Nice) I’d like to return to, and Aix-en-Provence is no exception. We headed to Aix as soon as we arrived at Marseille airport so were slightly tired, definitely acclimatising to the heat and I was trying to get my brain in gear to speak French, but despite these less than ideal conditions I really enjoyed our brief time in Aix for several reasons. View Post