Stanfords Blog

Book of the Month: The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

Our Book of the Month for February is The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World by Bettany Hughes.

Children’s Book of the Month: Lonely Planet Create Your Own Travel Journal

Our January Children’s Book of the Month is the Lonely Planet Kids Create Your Own Travel Journal.

Make your vacation memories last a lifetime with this awesome fill-in children’s travel journal that’s packed with brilliant activities and prompts to inspire kids to write and draw their adventures. Budding diarists can record precious moments from their trip in this pocket-sized book and create the ultimate holiday souvenir to cherish forever.

Book of the Month: Local

Our first Book of the Month for 2024 is Local: A Search for Nearby Nature and Wildness by the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award winning author Alastair Humphreys.

Escape into the overlooked adventures and insights from one man’s year of deeply exploring a 20km map of suburban England.

What surprises might you uncover in your own neighbourhood if you set aside assumptions and paid closer attention? After two decades of grand expeditions spanning the globe, Adventurer Alastair Humphreys embarked on a project to get to know his uninspiring corner of England through undertaking weekly microadventures within one local map.

Map of the Month: The Great Indian Railway Atlas

Our Map of the Month for January 2024 is the brand new edition of The Great Indian Railway Atlas with design and cartography by Samit Roychoudhury, published by Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society.

As more and more travellers are reverting back to rail travel in an attempt to leave less of a carbon footprint, this form of transport is becoming a favoured form. Add to that the fact that India’s railway network is very impressive and there is something so romantic about travelling across a country by train, and it’s no surprise that train traveller numbers are booming.

Stanfords Travel Trivia:

Inside Ukraine – discover the hidden treasures of this beautiful country

Seven years ago, a group of intrepid Ukrainians set out to explore their home country with the aim to document its nature, people and customs. And so, the volunteer-led multimedia project Ukraïner was born. The product of several years and 100,000 km of travel is showcased in their newly published book Inside Ukraine: A Portrait of a country and its people.

‘Ukraïner began as an attempt to express what characterized Ukraine to the people I met as I travelled around the world’ explains Bogdan Logvynenko, one of the founding members of Ukraïner. He continues: ‘I found myself describing my country and hometown … After I returned home from my journeys around the world, I wanted to find a description of this modern-day country; a short but eloquent answer to the question, ‘Where are you from?’’

‘In June 2016, a group of other like-minded people and I set off on an adventure, or as we decided to call it, an expedition. We announced our idea to explore Ukraine and unveil it to the world on social media. Within a few days we received hundreds of messages and several thousand subscribers. With this, our multimedia project Ukraïner was launched.’

Children’s Book of the Month: The Song Walker

Our February Children’s Book of the Month is The Song Walker by the 2022 Edward Stanford Children’s Travel Book of the Year winner Zillah Bethell.

The Song Walker is an extraordinary new story of friendship, discovery and courage from Zillah Bethell, author of The Shark Caller which won the Wales Book of the Year and the Edward Stanford Children’s Travel Book of the Year 2022.

Book of the Month: Elixir by Kapka Kassabova

Our Book of the Month for February 2023 is Elixir by the former Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards winning writer Kapka Kassabova.

An exceptional work of narrative non-fiction by a prizewinning writer, Elixir is an exploration of place, people, plants, and a urgent call to rethink how we live. A search for a cure to what ails us in the Anthropocene, from the award-winning author of Border.

Children’s Book of the Month: Lost

Our January Children’s Book of the Month is Lost by the award-winning illustrator Mariajo Illustrajo.

Lost is a visually stunning story showing that there is love, friendship and help to be found even in the loneliest of places.

A powerful story of friendship, with a gentle environmental undertone of taking care of animals in need.

Book of the Month: The Half Known Life by Pico Iyer

Our Book of the Month for January 2023 is The Half Known Life: Finding Paradise in a Divided World by the former Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award winner Pico Iyer.

One of the most perceptive travel writers embarks on an exploration of the world’s holiest places and where we might find paradise on Earth.

“It’s so easy, I thought, to place Paradise in the past or the future – anywhere but here.”

After half a century of travel, from Ethiopia to Tibet, from Belfast to Jerusalem, Pico Iyer asks himself what kind of paradise can ever be found in a world of unceasing conflict. In a spectacular journey, both inward and outward, Iyer roams from crowded mosques in Iran to a film studio in North Korea, from a holy mountain in Japan to the sometimes spooky emptiness of the Australian outback.

Map of the Month: Scottish Whisky Distilleries Map

Calling all whisky enthusiasts. Plan a distillery tour around Scotland.

Our Map of the Month for January is the Scottish Whisky Distilleries Map by Nicholson Digital.

Many distilleries now offer world class visitor experiences and have been able to bring much needed jobs around Scotland. Over 11,000 people are directly employed in the Scotch whisky industry in Scotland and over 60% of these jobs are in rural communities across the Highlands and Islands.