This summer, Stanfords teamed up with literary magazine Litro, asking for your wildest and strangest holiday, adventure or travel experience in less than 201 words. In other words, we asked for your story on a postcard…
Now summer’s over, the team at Litro have sifted through the drifts of electronic ‘postcards’ you sent in and these lucky writers came out on top: Continue reading Postcard writing competition
Stanfords is sponsoring a cyclist and music enthusiast on a solo bicycle expedition covering over 6,000 miles. On his way from the southern tip of South America to the Caribbean Sea, Peter Hubbard will be making audio recordings of the vibrant musical culture the continent is renowned for and will travel through mountains, deserts and rainforest.
The expedition, Rhythm Cycle, starts in November and will be a low budget trip. Peter, aged 27, will carry all he needs on his bicycle; he will sleep in a small tent and cook on a stove and he says there will be no support team, high-tech communications equipment or GPS. His journey begins in Buenos Aires, the home of Tango. Next stop, Ushuaia, the most southerly city on earth. Heading north, he will tackle the notoriously gruelling Careterra Austral in Chile – the remote gravel road through rugged glaciated mountains constructed at the request of Pinochet in the 1970s. Continue reading Stanfords sponsors bicycle expedition to discover the sounds of South America
An innovative ‘sculpture man’ has constructed a one-of-its-kind model of a relief map of Ghana, using topographic maps from Stanfords.
Dave Taylor was commissioned by the Lighthouse Chapel International, based in Ghana, to produce a relief map of the country, so they could use it to place markers representing their various building projects throughout Ghana.
The sculptor and modelmaker, whose studio is near Southend, Essex, bought some topographic maps of Ghana from Stanfords. Dave says, “We needed some detailed maps and everyone I asked suggested Stanfords. I found the website and staff on the phone very useful. I also got a good book on Ghana, which went some way to convince my client that I was serious about the project.”
Within just five weeks Dave and his assistant Phil Harlow had produced a 1:250,000 scale relief map of the African country, complete with magnetic surface so that markers could 
be fixed and changed as necessary. He aimed to show as many natural features as he could fit in, but features had had to be exaggerated, as Ghana is quite flat, and at that scale, their tallest point would have been just 3mm high.
He says, “It was very hard work, despite the small scale, the objects themselves were large, awkward things, and the moulds more so. We were under pressure for time, space was limited (we made it as big as my studio could allow) and everything was under such scrutiny, there were so many towns, the names of which were unfamiliar, and politically the map of Ghana has undergone quite some changes over the years (the maps we had date from the 60s, but were still the most up-to-date we could get). But it is a fascinating country; I would like to visit it some day.”
There has been some discussion on an extension to the project, and Dave says he has found that there are very few people producing the same kind of work. He adds, “The modelling of a whole country is very satisfying. My assistant and I are both Lord of the Rings fans, so we have discussed a self-initiated project based on that as a way of promoting our services and aim to start work on that this autumn.”
Dave Taylor can be contacted at:
Unit 8 Park Place, R/o 14 Park Street, Westcliff-on-Sea,
Essex SS0 7PA, tel: 07968 500 602 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 07968 500 602 end_of_the_skype_highlighting; website: www.taylorandharlow.com; email: [email protected].
Author: Rachel Ricks
The World Heritage Committee recently held its 33rd session and has inscribed two new natural sites and 11 cultural sites on Unesco’s World Heritage List. Since Unesco also withdrew one site from the List, Dresden Elbe Valley (Germany), the list now numbers a total of 890 properties. During this session Burkina Faso, Cape Verde and Kyrgyzstan had their first World Heritage sites inscribed on Unesco’s List of properties recognized as having outstanding universal value. Continue reading Unesco announces 13 new World Heritage sites
Acclaimed adventurer, survival expert, Chief Scout and TV personality Bear Grylls came to Stanfords for a special book signing event and to promote the opening of the new Craghoppers store at Stanfords, which currently stocks Bear’s exclusive range of outdoor clothing.
Bear braved the wilds of London to greet the queue of admiring fans that awaited him. He enthusiastically signed copies of his latest books, posed for photographs, and even signed his range of Craghopper T-shirts!
Daniel du Plessis, sales advisor at Craghoppers in Stanfords, said, “It was great to see Bear come down and support the opening of the new Craghoppers store at Stanfords, especially as it’s proving to be a successful partnership”.
Intrepid adventurer Bear was one of the youngest climbers to have successfully completed an ascent of Everest, documented in his book Facing Up, and has since accomplished other ground-breaking expeditions. Facing the Frozen Ocean tells the story of Bear’s adventures across the infamous Labrador Sea in a small inflatable boat. In 2007, he became the first man to fly a powered paraglider above Mount Everest, whilst he has also featured in the Channel Four series ‘Born Survivor: Bear Grylls’, where Bear is parachuted into some of the most inhospitable places on earth. The book accompanying the series – Born Survivor – stayed for 10 weeks in the Sunday Times Bestseller List.
His latest book Great Outdoor Adventures sees Bear sharing his experience of the world’s most extreme terrain to help you get the most of the great outdoors. Bear has recently been appointed Chief Scout, the figurehead for 28 million Scouts worldwide.
Author: Gareth Brereton
The winner of the 2009 Bradt Travel Guides/Independent on Sunday Travel Writing Competition was announced at the Award Ceremony held at Stanfords, London.
Hilary Bradt, Chairman of Bradt Travel Guides, said the quality of the writing this year surpassed all previous years making the task of choosing the short-listed six finalists extremely difficult.
Well known journalist and travel writer Matthew Parris had the unenviable task of choosing the overall winner. Continue reading Winner of 2009 travel writing competition announced
A group of Stanfords staff – current and former – frequently meet up at a London station on a Saturday morning and head off for a bracing country walk. I joined them for the first time, but with more than a little trepidation, as they mentioned something about it being 13 miles long and the weather forecast was rain…
It wasn’t looking good; I had only walked for 10 minutes from the front door but I was already drenched. The sky was miserable and the forecasted rain was fulfilling its promise and pelting down. A 13-mile walk in this was going to be no fun at all. Continue reading England – Walking in The Chilterns
Britain is to gain another National Park – the South Downs – joining such other protected areas of natural beauty as the Lake District, the Brecon Beacons and Dartmoor.
The decision has finally been confirmed to make this area of south-east England a National Park, 60 years after it was first recommended.
The South Downs area – stretching from Beachy Head in East Sussex to the edge of Winchester in Hampshire – takes in a varied landscape of scarp slopes, cliffs, river valleys and woodland, as well as historic villages, churches, and hill-top forts.
The South Downs will be the 15th National Park in England, Scotland and Wales and is expected to be established by April 2010 and become fully operational a year later. Continue reading South Downs to become National Park
We get a thrill whenever we come across descriptions of the wonders of maps in the world of literature. It all started for us with the great Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who in The Hound of the Baskervilles has Sherlock Holmes describing the transporting power of a map, and even referring to Stanfords by name as his chosen source of cartographic inspiration.
Here, then, are a collection of the best quotes that we’ve compiled over the years – and you can be sure we’ll be adding more whenever we make a new discovery – or add your own in the comments field at the bottom of the page…
James M Barrie
Prominent among the curses of civilisation is the map that folds up “convenient for the pocket.” There are men who can do almost everything except shut a map. It is calculated that the energy wasted yearly in denouncing these maps to their face would build the Eiffel Tower in thirteen weeks.
Shutting a Map in An Auld Licht Manse and Other Sketches, page 113 (1893). Taken from Cartophilia (1980). Continue reading Maps in literature
Stanfords Business Mapping, a leader in the provision of large-scale mapping, height and imagery data, has launched a new online one-stop shop for all business map products.
One of only three suppliers to meet the stringent requirements for Planning Portal, Stanfords is the proud recipient of Ordnance Survey’s Outstanding Achievement Award for the past two years and was recently awarded OS Premier Partner status (the highest level possible).
Unlike other suppliers, Stanfords Portal offers all of the following benefits: Continue reading Stanfords Launches New Online Mapping and Data System