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Where To See Wildlife In Britain And Ireland
‘Where To See Wildlife …’ brings together the very best places you can see wildlife in Britain and Ireland – 826 of them, from famous national nature reserves to local sites, hillsides, woodlands, marshes and mountains.

The wildlife of the British Isles is just about the most diverse and fascinating in the world for such a small archipelago. Chalkhill blue butterflies, early purple orchids, golden eagles, spawning salmon, otters, thousands of insects and fungi … We value and admire these beautiful creatures and plants – but where can we actually find them? Where, near your house or your holiday cottage or campsite, can you go to smell a fragrant orchid, see a rare large blue butterfly mating, or hear the roar of a rutting stag or the babble of ten thousand dunlin on a tideline? ‘Where To See Wildlife …’ tells you exactly where.

Each of these sites is individually and evocatively described, and enhanced with how-to-get-there directions, conservation designations, and information on facilities, refreshments and much else. Superb colour photos and maps, too.

This book is a practical tool as much as a treasure-chest of descriptions. Keep it in the car or by the bed; take it with you on holiday or work trips; put it in with the bird-watching binoculars and walking boots.

 Wildlife
Traveler Great Britain
A new edition (the 3rd), part of the very highly respected National Geographic Traveler series, which I’ve updated and enhanced with lots of ‘Experience’ and ‘Tips’ panels – how and where to experience everything from watching a cricket match to joining in a Scottish ceilidh, hunting for Ice Age flora to taking a guided walk in Snowdonia.
 Great Britain
Traveler Ireland
A new edition (the 3rd), part of the very highly respected National Geographic Traveler series, which I’ve updated and enhanced with lots of ‘Experience’ and ‘Tips’ panels – how and where to experience everything from
discovering Dublin’s great pubs to viewing the gable-end murals of Belfast, and from cookery classes at famed Ballymaloe in Counbty Cork to taking a seaweed bath in County Mayo!
 Ireland
The Golden Step
Christopher’s much-acclaimed account of his 300-mile walk across Crete has gone into another, larger-format edition.
 Golden Step
Walks in the Country near London
New and improved – 25 walks from railway stations (4 of them new, all of them re-walked – thank you for your help, Ruth!) in the beautiful countryside just outside London. Kentish apple blossom, Surrey lanes, Buckinghamshire beech woods, Essex wildfowl creeks – they’re all here.
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Somerville’s Travels’ (AA Publishing – see below), Christopher’s account of 20 journeys at slow pace through Britain from Land’s End to Shetland, has been reissued as an ebook with a new and maybe better title – ‘Slow Travels Around Britain’. Here’s your chance to kick back with Christopher on your Kindle!
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Britain and Ireland’s Best Wild Places
‘A gloriously idiosyncratic guide … Reading him, you want to get out, get walking, get looking’ (Robert Macfarlane, Sunday Times)
‘Brilliant and heartfelt … magnificent … an extraordinary work’ (Sunday Telegraph)
‘An excellent survey .. informative and poetic’ (Financial Times)
‘Utterly charming … a wonderful book and elegant reference guide’ (Irish Times)

That’s what the critics said about Christopher’s best-selling guide to 500 wild excursions, ‘Britain and Ireland’s Best Wild Places’. Now it’s out in paperback!

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Never Eat Shredded Wheat, Christopher’s acclaimed gallop through the Geography of the British Isles (complete with Pub Quiz, naturally), is out in paperback! Here’s what the critics said:

‘This is geography not as a dry academic subject full of jargon and terminology, but as the natural history of a living, evolving landscape.’ (Economist )

‘This neat and engaging book will remind you of the geography of our green and pleasant isle, and, aside from anything else, will ensure you are never without the correct fact again’ (The Oldie )

‘Let’s lift our heads from the flat, mechanical, simplistic world inside the video screens and feast our five senses on the earthly delights of real geography where it rules supreme: out there.’ (Sunday Express )

‘An amusing and informative read.’ (Sunday Telegraph )

‘Packed with a wealth of information – making it a must for fans of pub quizzes. And it’s good to know someone else was taught that Great Britain looks like an old lady riding a pig’ (Press Association )

‘This book is brilliant…you will find explanations and descriptions of every nook and cranny of our nation.’ (The Sentinel )

‘A sort of Lynne Truss for our geography, by the author of COAST.’ (The Bookseller )

 Never Eat Shredded Wheat
Walking has never been a more popular pastime and nowhere is more beautiful for walkers to explore than Ireland. In this beautifully written and superbly researched guide, Christopher Somerville draws on his very popular column for the “Irish Independent”, to present 50 of the very best walks in Ireland – from the Nephin Beg Mountains in Sligo in the North to Dingle Way in Kerry in the South. Practical instructions for the walks are married with evocative and informative passages on the history, flora and fauna, culture and topography of the land. Whether it’s exploring the Burren in its floral glory or seeing the Walls of Derry, or even sitting at home in your armchair planning your next walk, this book will prove popular with walkers, holiday makers and anyone who loves the Irish landscape.		 Walking in Ireland.jpg
I’ve written Never Eat Shredded Wheat for everyone who – like me – found schoolroom Geography a boring parade of facts and figures, or who has forgotten most of what they did learn, or who has come to rely so heavily on Sat Nav that they’ve stopped noticing the landmarks that make our wonderful country such a pleasure to explore. We are so insulated from the real world when we’re in the car, plane or train, so plugged into iPods, stereos, CDs, phones and laptops, that we are in danger of becoming the best-travelled and worst-orientated Britons ever known. Let’s reconnect with the Geography of our islands – their look and feel, what made them and shaped them, where everything is, and why it’s there. Let’s celebrate the journey, and let’s arrive enriched and bewitched, with all our five senses tingling!
Never Eat Shredded Wheat takes you exploring the coasts and islands, the rivers and rocks, the cities and counties of Britain, from the Thames Estuary to the Irish Sea and from Rockall to Land’s End. It’s packed with facts and stories, anecdotes and jokes and ‘did-you-know’s. There’s a huge, 200-question Pub Quiz to test your knowledge and get one up on your friends. And the whole book is delightfully illustrated with maps and cartoons by my long-term collaborator Claire Littlejohn.		 nesw.jpg

This book tells the story of 20 journeys- mostly on foot, but also by bicycle, branch line train, bus, narrowboat and ferry – across very special areas of Britain. Here are remarkable landscapes, travelled by the unfrequented ways that reveal their unique characters – the ancient Cornish coast wrapped in mist, the South Country downs threaded by the oldest road in Britain, post-industrial Birmingham and Stoke explored by canal, the Cheviot Hills on the tracks of cattle-thieves, musicians and murderers, the Shetland Isles and the northernmost point of our idiosyncratic archipelago. Illustrated throughout with colour photos, most taken by Christopher on his journeys.		 travels.jpg

Christopher Somerville has been walking, exploring and writing all over the world for 30 years, and as the Walking Correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” has written the “Walk of the Month” for over 15 years. This is his selection of his 100 favourite walks. They are to be read individually, as they are a true traveller’s observations of people, places, moods and reflections as they strike him. As a collection, they take the reader on a vivid, moving and unforgettable adventure through Britain, from the A of Angus Glens to not quite the Z but at least Y of York City Walls.		 DT100.jpg
I have had the pleasure of writing the text, the captions and a long poem for this pictorial journey round the coast of Britain by way of sublime aerial photos by Adrian Warren and his wife Dae Sasitorn. These have to be seen to be believed – some of the rock, estuary and shoreline shots are more like collages or sculptures than photos. A real work of art, and it was a tremendous challenge for me to find the words that would enhance rather than weigh down such /images. ‘The Living Coast’ is published by Adrian and Dae’s publishing house, Last Refuge.		 the-living-coast.jpg
Christopher’s acclaimed account of his end-to-end walk through Crete is now out in paperback!		 gs.jpg

My second collection of poems – 100 of them, all inspired by my travels over the past 10 years. Thank you, Haus Publishing, for taking this on! It isn’t just a solid block of indigestible poems – here are notes and comments to give the context in which each poem was written, so that readers who’d normally run a mile at the thought of reading poetry can enjoy these, while the mystery and magic inherent in poems stays intact.
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This is a keenly-anticipated treasury of a book, illustrated with over 150 colour photographs and hand-drawn maps, the fruit of Christopher’s 30 years of exploring out-of-the-way places all over Britain and Ireland. Here are 500 Wild Places – overgrown city cemeteries, stormy cliffs and mountains, old quarries filled with orchids, ancient woods loud with nightingales, remote isles off the coasts of Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Lyrical descriptions combine with practical where-to and how-to instructions to make this a unique, indispensable guide to the Wild in these islands in all its forms, out in the wild blue yonder or right there on your doorstep.

NB – one of the 500 doesn’t really exist! Can you spot which it is? Visit www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/callofthewild/ to see how you can win a prize … !

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The Golden Step: A Walk Through the Heart of Crete (Haus Publishing 2007) The story of Christopher’s 300-mile walk from end to end of the magical Mediterranean island of Crete – across some of the toughest mountain terrain in Europe, among some of the world’s most fiercely hospitable people.		 GoldenStep.jpg

Coast – The Journey Continues Following the smash hit success of COAST, this new book accompanies the second and third BBC TV series, exploring new regions and uncovering yet more fascinating stories around our British and Irish coasts (BBC Books 2006)		 coast2.jpg
Coast – A Celebration of Britain’s Coastal Heritage Accompanies the major television series (BBC Books 2005)		 coast1.jpg

The Story of Where You Live – Uncover the history of your home, neighbourhood and countryside (The Reader’s Digest Association Ltd)		 tsowyl.jpg
OUR WAR – How the British Commonwealth Fought the Second World War
(Cassell Military Paperbacks 2005)		 pbwar.jpg
AA Key Guide Ireland (AA Key Guide 2005)		 keyIreland.jpg
Ireland (National Geographic Traveler 2005)		 tIreland.jpg
Britain’s Most Amazing Places (The Reader’s Digest Association Ltd)		 amazing.jpg
Walks in the Country Near London (Globetrotter Walking Guides)		 globwalksnl.jpg
/images OF RURAL BRITAIN (New Holland 2001)		 rural.jpg
THE SPIRIT OF RURAL IRELAND
(New Holland 2001)		 rurali.jpg
AAA BRITAIN TRAVEL BOOK (2001 – Edition)		 aaabrit.jpg
AA SPIRAL IRELAND (AA Books 2000)		 ireland.jpg
EXTRAORDINARY FLIGHT – collection of poems (Rockingham Press 2000)		 flight.jpg
AA BOOK OF BRITAIN’S WALKS (1999 – contributions)		 brit.jpg
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER BRITAIN (National Geographic/AA Books 1999)		 britain.jpg
OUR WAR – How the British Commonwealth Fought the Second World War (Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1998)		 war.jpg
AA EXPLORER CRETE (AA Books 1995)		 crete.jpg
COUNTRY WALKS NEAR LONDON (Simon & Schuster 1994)		 london.jpg
DAILY TELEGRAPH WEEKEND WALKS (Pan Books 1993)		 teleww.jpg
THE ROAD TO ROARINGWATER – A Walk down the West of Ireland
(Harper Collins 1993; p/b 1994)		 rr.jpg
THE GREAT BRITISH COUNTRYSIDE (David & Charles 1992)		 gbside.jpg
WELSH BORDERS (George Philip 1991)		 welsh.jpg
THE BEDSIDE RAMBLER (Harper Collins 1991)		 bed.jpg
THE OTHER BRITISH ISLES (Grafton 1990)		 other.jpg
ENGLISH HARBOURS & COASTAL VILLAGES (Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1989/93)		 harbour.jpg
BRITAIN BESIDE THE SEA (Grafton 1989)		 beside.jpg
FIFTY BEST RIVER WALKS (Webb & Bower 1988)		 50.jpg
COASTAL WALKS IN ENGLAND AND WALES (Grafton 1988)		 coast.jpg
SOUTH SEA STORIES (WH Allen 1985)		 southsea.jpg
TWELVE LITERARY WALKS (WH Allen 1985)		 12.jpg
WALKING WEST COUNTRY RAILWAYS (David & Charles 1982)		 wrail.jpg
WALKING OLD RAILWAYS (David & Charles 1979)		 rail.jpg

5 Responses to “Books”

  1. Beth Taylor says:
    02/10/2010 at 08:47

    Just finished reading The Golden Step and wanted to say Thank You! I spent just 4 days on Crete this past summer but fell in love and want so much to go back. Then I came across your book in a catalog, ordered it and have just spent two delightful days back on Crete. I’m only an occasional traveler and am more of an ambler, stroller, but I do like good writing and good stories. My son backpacks, climbs and hikes, so I got a second copy of the book to send to him and will look for more of your writing! I almost never write fan letters but was looking to see what else you’d published and found this site. So – Bravo! Best wishes on your walking and writing from an American fan!

    • Christopher Somerville says:
      05/04/2011 at 13:26

      Oh, dear, Beth – I’ve only just found this!! Thank you so much for your lovely comments. I think Crete is exactly the sort of place you fall in love with, and want to know more and more about. Superb fierce and friendly people, tremendously rugged landscape, and more hospitality than one can possibly repay.

      I hop you go back many more times and consummate your affair!

      With good wishes,

      Christopher

  2. On Holiday in a Bookshop – Part 3: We Go West! | Alison Runham says:
    15/09/2011 at 15:01

    [...] visited was in North Parade in Matlock Bath. I picked up Christopher Somerville’s intriguing Never Eat Shredded Wheat  in paperback for a bargain price (highly recommended if you want a light-hearted informative romp [...]

  3. Christopher Somerville says:
    18/01/2012 at 09:06

    Thanks, Alison – very pleased you enjoyed it and found it light-hearted! I really had a good time writing it, a bit of a cheeky old romp as you say, and a chance to crack some jokes and share some ridiculous facts.

  4. A Bargain for Walkers « Bill Purdue's Book Blog says:
    25/08/2012 at 18:51

    [...] ‘wild places’ in both urban and rural settings, but one of them doesn’t exist. According to Somerville’s website, if you spot the odd one out, you could win a prize. There’s no indication of a deadline for this [...]

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