Wife in the north

Advantages: Some humour
Disadvantages: Not much happens

...As a wife in Northumberland myself, I was keen to read Judith O?Reilly?s book, wife in Northumberland. I had seen the book for sale in Waterstones but thought I would borrow it from my local library. There was a long waiting list (obviously others wanted to read a book with a local connection) After a wait of 3 weeks I was very keen to start reading! The cover of the book with its cartoon family suggests that this is a humorous book. To confirm this there is a quote from Jenny Colgan saying that she howled with laughter at every page. This sounded like my kind of light read. However this book was not what I had been expecting. There is a lot of humour but it is also a very poignant and moving book. The book is written in diary form and plots Judith?s reluctant move from London to north Northumberland. The opening entry describes...

anwar 02.03.2009 · Read review
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Review of Wife in the North - Judith O'Reilly

The North Pier, Blackpool

Advantages: Lots of fresh air, fully accessible by disabled visitors
Disadvantages: A small admission charge

...If you think about the main English seaside resorts then the chances are that they will have a pier. There is something very quintessentially English about seaside piers and in Britain they are largely restricted to England, with a handful in Wales and none at all north of the border in Scotland. Blackpool in the north west of England is unusual because it boasts three different piers. The North Pier, Central Pier and South Pier. As its name suggests The North Pier has the most northerly location of the three. It is also the oldest pier in the town and at 503 metres long it is also its longest pier. Eugenius Birch was drafted in to design The North Pier. He had been responsible for the design of Britain's first seaside pier at Margate. This was his second pier project and following its success he would go on to design a further...

micksheff 11.11.2008 (12.11.2008) · Read review
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Review of The North Pier, Blackpool

Hit The North

Advantages: A veritable page-turner of a travelogue
Disadvantages: Nothing major

...One does wonder if Stuart Maconie dreams up the titles for his books before he even knows what they'll be about. In his follow up to the my-life-with-music-cum-autobiography "Cider With Roadies" our erstwhile doyen of BBC Radio and music journalism ponders the most important questions of our time; does the North, and Northerners, still exist? And if they do, what the hell actually are they? (Well, they're important questions if, like the author and I, you're a semi-Scouser living in a long cold Southern exile). Having gloriously dismissed the South even as a concept in the first chapter (while ironically professing a considerable degree of ignorance of it; mind you, basic ignorance never stopped the South dismissing the North, did it?), the book settles down to be a wry travelogue of a voyage round the North of England, its sights...

greenierexyboy 28.10.2007 · Read review
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Review of Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North - Stuart Maconie

Love Letter to the North of England

Advantages: Great prose, funny and warm hearted - like your archetypal northerner
Disadvantages: A little smug in places

...Stuart Maconie is well known these days as a DJ on Radio 2 and a "talking head" on many TV shows which involve lists, such as the 100 best love songs or whatever idea Channel 4 has to fill the schedule cheaply on a Saturday night. He used to write for the NME and Q magazine and seems to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of music and popular culture. He hails from Wigan, a town he describes as hopelessly "hick" and one which seems to instil a great sense of laughter in southerners. I reviewed the book on Amazon last year and mentioned my late husband's mirth and delight at travelling through Wigan North Western railway station, something I failed to understand. To me Wigan meant the Verve, George Orwell, Uncle Joe's Mint Balls and Wallace and Gromit. Doesn't seem so bad to me. My husband was a Londoner and took a different view. In this...

rosebud2001 22.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North - Stuart Maconie

North By Northwest

Advantages: Great story, direction, screenplay, very entertaining
Disadvantages: Not as original or thought-provoking as some of Hitchcock's others

...North By Northwest is, at number 23 on the IMDB's greatest films list, one of Alfred Hitchcock's most enduringly popular movies. Made in 1959, it stars Cary Grant as a suave advertising exec fleeing from the police after being caught in the middle of a CIA undercover operation, even though Grant was about 55 years old when it was made! He plays Roger Thornhill, an average kind of guy, albeit with a very well paid job and his own personal secretary. He's going to the theatre with his mother in the evening, but first meeting up with some guys in a hotel for drinks. Suddenly, with no explanation, he is kidnapped and taken to the home of Lester Townsend. Much to everyone's bafflement, they begin calling him by the name George Caplin and asking him how much he knows about their plans. What plans? Who are these people? Who is...

l-m-n-o-p 12.09.2007 · Read review
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Review of North By Northwest (DVD)

Holidaying in North Wales

Advantages: Beautiful location, fantastic cottages with all amenities
Disadvantages: Just that you need some form of transport

...My mum and her partner have spent a couple of holidays now at a location near Bala in North Wales - the location in question, Pen Cefn, boasts four properties for rent, each of differing proportions. This year, mum decided to treat me (because I reached the big 40) and my sister and her family to a week long holiday in one of the properties. Having had a superb time, I thought it was time to pass the news on to others. Address and location "Pen Cefn" Sarnau Bala Gwynedd LL23 7LG Tel: 01678 530481 or 530413 E-mail: bevianna@btinternet.com Website: www.pencefn.com Proprietors' names: Ian and Bev Moss, Anna Hayward The nearest town, about five miles away, is Bala (which is just inside the Snowdonia National Park), which is on the A494 road. Pen Cefn, which is a smallhold, plus the cottages, is just above a small hamlet...

sunmeilan 02.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of Pen Cefn Cottage Holidays, North Wales

NORTH AND SOUTH SERIES/BOOK 1

Advantages: LOVE
Disadvantages: WAR

...I watched this when it was first on TV but since then have bought the books all three series. I have watched this book in full now and I can honestly say I have enjoyed every minute of it as I did the first time I saw it. The story is based around the North and the South and two friends who meet at West Point (army). Orry Main - Patrick Swayze and George Hazzard (James Read.) Over the years they become very close friends, but unfortunately George does not agree with slavery which, and Orry's family have slaves. George's sister Vergina is totally against it, and unfortunately it tears a wedge between them, although he doesn't agree with what Orry's family does, he has a lot of feelings for Orry and finds it very difficult to keep away after they have fallen out. To make thing even more difficult for Orry his sister Bret has...

KIWIMULLAN03 21.01.2009 · Read review
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Review of North And South - Series 1 (DVD)

The Great North Road to Nowhere

Advantages: Unintentionally hilarious
Disadvantages: Too long, too rubbish

...My mother and I disagree on many matters but there are one or two subjects on which we can find common ground. For example, we both think that BBC news correspondent, and sometime presenter of "Newsnight", Gavin Esler is a rather handsome man. I also know that we will almost always have the same opinion on books we have read. Why then would I deliberately encourage my mother to read a novel that I had found to be truly awful, a wicked misuse of trees and a scandalous waste of the time it took to read it? Quite simply I needed reassurance that "The Great North Road" was as shamefully abysmal as I thought. The book is set in 1950s Newcastle and this is the only reason I can think of for my local branch of Waterstones' having displayed it so prominently. I like the idea of supporting local authors, and the fact that the book was part...

fizzytom 23.09.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Great North Road - Annabel Dore

Pickering Castle, North Yorkshire

Advantages: Lots of history, quite well preserved
Disadvantages: Admission charges

...Pickering Castle can be found just outside the town centre of Pickering, a quaint little market town on the edge of the North York Moors National Park. It is clearly sign posted from the middle of the town, but be warned when I visited here a few weeks ago some prankster had turned around the sign and I went trudging off along the road towards Malton (on foot) for about a mile in completely the wrong direction. I did eventually find the castle, although even though the land around here is quite flat it is not, unlike most castles visible from afar. Pickering Castle is located just to the north of the town centre, just beyond the point where a modern post-war housing estate ends. The castle is a typical motte and bailey style fortification, characterised by a large mound of earth (the motte) on which the castle stands. This is...

micksheff 06.11.2008 · Read review
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Review of Pickering Castle, North Yorkshire

North Uist - A UK Paradise

Advantages: An Area Of Outstanding Beauty Worlds Away From Town And City Life
Disadvantages: Some May Find It Remote. Windy. Expensive Fuel.

...This is the most wonderful place on Earth. It is a place of serenity, a place where you can relax and a place where the sky is forever. Reached either by plane from Glasgow, or by ferry from Uig on Skye, or from Oban this is a wildlife/wild flower heaven. The coastline is fringed by fertile meadowland called machair where you can see colourful flowers in abundance from May to August. The beaches are empty and are of pure white sand and on a sunny day the water is turquoise. In July you can see short eared owls sitting on fence posts looking for food to feed their young, and all along the coastline there are sea otters. You may need a bit of patience here as otters can be elusive, but if you see them you will never forget it. To the north lies the beautiful island of Berneray now linked by a causeway which makes...

Violet1278 18.03.2009 · Read review
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Review of North Uist, Scotland