IAPPA Expo Europe will be in Vienna next year. Back in the UK will be in 2030, probably every four years.
BALPPA, British Association of Leisure Parks, Piers and Attractions has a calendar on their website
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Thursday, September 24, 2026
Clip 'n Climb
Clip 'N Climb is already all over London Now in O2 London. Also in Croydon, Wandsworth, Colindale. Uxbridge soon.
I saw this at IAAPA at Excel in London.
Eurojump inflatables
They had just fifteen at the bargain price of 690 euros At IAAPA.
The discount is because they are confident the buyers will come back for different models.
The inflatables must be brought inside in rainy weather. Southern Europe, even in UK sometimes leave them out.
They have strong stitches. To take them down, pull out the plug and they go down by themselves.
They go down to 3 metres by 3 metres, minimum. No max size, no limit. But heavy, needing two to lift them
Not much chance of a light fingered person walking off with one under their arm. Delivered on a slatted Euro pallet. All over Europe. Further would be unecomomic for just one, but if you want more, says Andrea, we can talk about it.
More details from Eurojump inflatables, in Italy.
.www.eurojumpgroup.com
Timberlab makes wooden seats, lights
Timberlab in the Netherlands makes seats, lights and fences. They use sustainable wood.
The benches are entirely wood, no metal nails, nor armrests.
I met them at IAAPA show AT Excel exhibition centre at Custom House train station in London.
Customers and designers who visit the workshop often praise the smell and might be given a wood fragrance. They should sell it
Interactive Floors from Terrapix Floord
From a Czeck company called zTerrapix floors.
I saw them at IAAPA Trade show at Excel in London, England, UK.
Harry Potter gifts, souvenirs from Carat Shop
Carat shop originally made gold jewellery but now they make stainless steel licensed products and bespoke products. I met them at IAAPA at Excel.
METICULOUS Cadbury's chocolate tree
Amusements at IAAPA
Rope Kids brand from a company founded in Turkey making safety nets, started building more nets, nets then in 2020 selling children's playground nets.
their biggest project in Europe is in Warsaw for compny Jungle Academy Also France, all over Europe and in the USA.. USA indoor and outdoor oak owners, minimum height 4.5 metres.
They are on instagram, under Rope Kits Official.
In Orlando, USA, partner with Shock theme parks.
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Monday, September 21, 2026
A look at business travel trade shows
The travel industry has many shows. For example
Travel Shows Worldwide
IAAPA Expo Europe: September 21–25, 2026 — ExCeL London, UK
IAAPA Expo (Flagship Global Show): November 16–20, 2026 — Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Florida
IAAPA Expo Middle East: April 12–15, 2027 — Abu Dhabi, UAE
IAAPA Expo Asia: June 28 – July 1, 2027 — Osaka, Japan
For wine events and news, you can get daily updates and news of forthcoming events from the drinks business, and Decanter magazine. Also the sommelier association.
If you get on the mailing list of Excel and Olympia in London you will be notified of all relevant shows.
Useful Websites
Sunday, September 20, 2026
Hearing Stories On The Rothschilds, Buying Wines, and Seeing Live and Dead Dormice At Waddesdon Manor -
Following on from my previous post on Waddesdon, there is more to see and think about. You can buy Rothschild wines at Waddesdon Manor. At a wine dinner I met a Rothchild wine brand ambassador. Not a real Rothschild. But I once met one, or two. A Rothschild and his second wife.
Years ago I was on a travel writers' press trip to the New Forest area. I declined to go horse riding, and asked to do something such as visiting a garden. I was sent to Exbury Gardens and invited to lunch with the then owner of the house, Mr Edmund Rothschild. I had expected to be one of at least a dozen guests. I was astonished, to find myself the sole guest of honour, the highlight of my year.
When I was offered a pre-dinner drink, I hoped for a Rothschild wine. I did not like to say so. I was disappointed not to try it. So when I visited Waddesdon Manor in September 2026, two decades later, I was, at last, able to try Rothschild wines, and in a Rothschild Property
One of the things I remember Mr Edward Rothschild saying was the common phrase, which I have since heard many times from other people: 'Why let the truth get in the way of a good story!' This is attributed, in the positive assertion, Never let the truth get in the way of a good story, to American author Mark Twain. But most quotations 'attributed to' people were never recorded as being said by them during their lifetime, only years later, because the saying fitted their style of humour. I discovered that disconcerting fact when researching my book, Who Said What When?
But I always think, you might embellish a story to make it more dramatic, but why bother making up stories when the truth is so dramatic? Everything connected with the Rothschilds is dramatic.
My favourite historic picture is of Lionel Walter Rothschild, the second Baron, in the 1894, driving his tame zebras like horses pulling a carriage down London street to Buckingham Palace. He did it to prove you could tame zebras, like horses.
But what can you do in the area today? His animal collection at Tring is still there. A taxidermy collection.
Tip For A Trip To Waddesdon Manor
1 Outside the house, do look into the Conservation Display.
What looks like a video of a bird on a rooftop pulling at leaves is actually live streaming. The conservationist organization has set up nesting boxes all over nearby Aylesbury and this is one of them equipped with a camera.
2 Make sure you see the wine shop AND adjoining Gift Shop.
The gift shop is through an arch on the right of the cashier area inside the wine shop. I nearly missed it. The shelves are a treasure trove of books and novelties, jewellery, all sorts of amusing things. For example, a password book which is disguised as an instruction manual.
P S
Afterthoughts on Dormice
Today, the morning after my visit to Waddesdon, where I was delighted to learn about Dormice, as mentioned in my previous post, I did a search on the internet, which sent me to Wikipedia. I learned that the Romans bred dormice. I had wondered how you found and caught dormice.
Dormice are nocturnal. They live in trees, like squirrels, which have similarly long tails.
Are dormice small or large? Mice are the size of a small hand, aren't they?
My husband and I disagree on everything, including the size of dormice. I think they are small. He thinks they are huge. Up to seven inches long. With or without the tail? You look it up, in inches or centimeters, and decide if you think dormice are tiny, or huge.
Dormice As Food
The Romans ate dormice both savoury, and sweet. Dormice were served sweet, coated in honey and poppyseeds. Dormice are not on the menu at Waddesdon Manor, but apparently you can eat dormice in Croatia and Slovenia. Grilled, barbecued or in bread. That almost put me off my vegetarian breakfast.
Dormouse sleep six or seven months, whilst the weather is cold, usually November until March. Doesn't anybody protect the dear little dormice? Yes and no. There is a do not eat season protecting them when they are breeding.
The dormice eating season is highlighted by an August festival on an island. This is just the gift for the man who has everything, the tourist who has tried everything. I have tried lots of rare food, most of which were like tasteless chicken. Maybe you have already eaten kangaroo in Australia. And crocodile in America. And wichity grub soup in Australia (ground up, bland and thick like potato soup - fortunately not as I had feared, not leaping about alive like little worms with fantasies of being a big Lock Ness monster).
Dormouse are now on my list. I won't call it a wish list, just a not yet tried list.
I owe all these entertaining thoughts and discoveries to my trip to Waddesdon Manor. Of course the Rothschilds have always been known for their contribution to animal conservation, preservation, and research.
The Tring museum has taxidermy. Taxidermy is static models of stuffed dead animals. You often see alonside either another skeleton, or a photo of one, beside the realistic model of a bird or animal in a real or reproduction of the plants in the rural setting where it lived.
The Rothschild lady, Miriam, specialised in fleas, following her father's interest. I imagine that much of her social time was spent with people who shared her inteerests or knew about them. Nut I can also envisage the conversation with a polite stranger, who enquires as to her job, or hobby, getting the answer, 'I collect fleas.'
Useful Websites
Waddesdon & Rothschilds
Deconstructing the Rothschild Conspiracy
Natural History Museum at Tring, Hertfordshire
Dormice
Dormouse Festival
Dinner & Dormice Displayed at Waddesdon Manor
Waddesdon, the grand mansion. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
Waddesdon Manor is owned by the National Trust and is one of their most visited properties, an hour from London in Buckinghamshire.
We went to Waddesdon Manor for black tie dinner with matching vintage Rothschild wines, a rare opportunity, at vast expense, as my husband is a wine specialist who organizes wine events. We went there early to tour the wine cellars, and tour the grounds, which were both included in the price.
In the Conservation Hub I was delighted to learn about dormice. I had already known that the Romans used to eat dormice, considered a delicacy. The word dormice comes from the French word, dormir, meaning to sleep. The squirrel like animals are nocturnal and sleep 6 months of the year, so you don't see them much.
You don't see them today, neither the Romans nor the dormice on menus. I was amazed to learn that dormice are still around, alive, in England, found at Waddesdon.
We discovered this at the nature display inside the cabin named Conservation Hub..
My husband Trevor visiting Waddesdon Manor, outside the Conservation Hub. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
The display showing a dormouse on the wall inside the Conservation Hub at Waddesdon Manor and grounds.
- A bit of a bushy tail of a dormouse found at Waddesdon. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
We spoke to the expert who is in the Conservation Hub at some weekends and school holidays. He has a vast knowledge and can show you the skulls of all kinds of animals such as badgers and birds. You can also see what looks like aquariums full of plants which are the heated homes for brightly coloured insects.
One of many pleasant surprises we found on our afternoon there.
Waddesdon has an exhibition called Standing With Giants, D-day . On from 21 Oct - 29 Nov 2026.
For pumpkin season they will have real pumpkins grown in their gardens and a treasure hunt for children for a small cost.
You can learn about the history of the building on the two large panel boards with pictures on the ground level of the renovations scaffolding.
Enjoy delicious home made lemon cake, as we did, at tea time, in the out door cafe in front of the shop.
The wine shop sells dog toys.
Empty presentation hamper boxes for Xmas gifts you buy from about five pounds.
Shelves of wine with information and offers of discounts, deliveries.
Among the wines are rose wines, low and no alcohol wines, decanters and decanter cleaning brushes and a wine journal to record your wine experiences.
Decanter and decanter brush in the wine shop at Waddeson. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
Make sure you see the adjoining Gift Shop through an arch on the right of the cashier area inside the wine shop.
For more on dormice, see the next post.
More details from
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/tring
https://www.wildlifeonline.me.uk/animals/species/edible-dormouse#
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Wednesday, September 16, 2026
Sherlock Holmes and Waterfalls In Switzerland
When I read about a waterfall in Switzerland I wondered if that was the one associated with the Sherlock Holmes story. If you live in or visit London you are reminded of Sherlock Holmes when you pass through Baker Street station which has murals and stories about Sherlock Holmes on the walls of the platform.
Major Attraction Waterfall
Sherlock Holmes Waterfall - Reichenbach Falls
Sherlock Holmes Museum, Meiringen
The museum is in the church, originally built as the English church, reconstructed a few times. It now houses a reproduction of fictional Sherlock Holmes study. The museum was opened in 1990 by author Conan Doyle's daughter.
The Swiss Sherlock Holmes museum in Meiringen opens in the afternoon, 1-5 pm in summer, until the last day of October.
Sherlock Holmes Museum in London, England
I know the Sherlock Holmes Museum in London near Baker Street underground station. A statue of Sherlock Holmes is on the pavement (sidewalk) outside one of the two station exits.
Useful Websites about Sherlock Holmes and Swiss Waterfalls.
My trip to St Moritz goes by car through the Channel Tunnel across wine regions of France. Why? Because my husband is a wine writer and educator.
We plan to go through the Champagne region, sparkling white is my thing. Onwards to Dijon. Also, through picturesque Alsace. Returning by a different route, we do the Burgundy red wine region of France.
Wish list World Heritage Sites
Lavaux is a region of terraced vineyards in the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland, stretching for around 30 km (19 mi) along the northern shore of Lake Geneva. Since July 2007, it has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site with the formal name Lavaux, Vineyard Terraces.[1]
Not on this itinerary, being south west, but saved for later are the world heritage site vineyards at Layaux.
copyright free maps are on OpenStreetMap
Useful Websites on German Speaking Switzerland and Sherlock Holmes Switzerland and London
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Sherlock_Holmes,_London
https://www.risskov.com/themes/historical-hotels
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiringen
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Meiringen
-ends-
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Learn About Theme parks - are they safe? What's old and new? Example, Switzerland, and USA
The Joys of Researching Holidays And Business Trips Using AI
I am finding Ask Gemini a miracle, a blessing, a time saver, for researching everything from calming niggling worries about safety to finding venues for attractions. I can also check on transport. Up pop things you never thought of asking about possible trips.
I usually have at least one holiday booked for the following year. The more I know in advance, the more I feel confident and in control.
I am planning a trip with a hiking group to German-speaking Switzerland. It is called DeutscherSchweiz.
My queries are, what are the attractions we can visit on the way there, or home, or on free days? But I also wonder, how safe are all those slides and big dippers (American English uses a different word, roller coaster).
Planning Precautions - Worries About A Holiday Including Attractions and Theme Parks
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
Countries I have visited - best places, worst moments, wish lists
I have visited fifty countries.
My family have had homes in the UK, the USA, Spain, and Singapore.
We have had au pair girls living with us, who came from France, Germany, Italy and Yugoslavia.
I speak French fluently. I have restaurant Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German and Dutch. I am struggling to read menus and signs in Greek, Hebrew and Russian (Cyrillic also in Bulgaria) and Chinese symbolic signs (also used in Japan).
ALBANIA
The Best Thing In Albania?
The colourful capital is Tirana. The colourful buildings in the capital city centre and throughout the country were designed to raise morale at a time of economic crisis.
The Scary Thing In Albania
- Cliffside roads in the remote north. More near Greece, up to wonderful mountaintop cafe viewpoints, and resort south to busy beach resort.
ANDORRA
Best Thing about Andorra - learning linguistics, languages.
The country's capital is the city of Andorra la Vella. Like the Latin word villa, the word vella originally meant city.
Wishlist.
Three countries tour in one day from Barcelona, covering France, Spain and Andorra.
The Caldea Spa my daughter in law visited while our son was skiing. The Caldea Spa is the biggest in Southern Europe and has multi-level lagoons.
AUSTRALIA
The best things in Australia
Super cities, Sydney and Perth.
Pavlova meringue dessert with fresh fruit in the middle. Lamingtons, sponge cubes covered in chocolate and coconut.
The Twelve Apostles, on the great Ocean Road photo opportunity of rocks in the sea.
AUSTRIA
Best things To See And Do in Austria
Grinzing wine tasting area in Vienna. Learning about Sachertorte cake. I loved Salzberger Nockerl, a large soft floating meringue.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salzburger_Nockerl. Mozart Chocolates sold on the plane and everywhere.
Worst Moments In Austria: The hotel where are room was on the top floor and you needed a coin to operate the lift going upwards.
The city map which had south at the top which made me as map reader say turn left when signposts told the driver to turn right.
Wishlist For Austria
Esperanto Museum of the National, library, Vienna, Austria.
BAHAMAS
The name comes from the Spanish for shallow water.
Wish List for the Bahamas. Hear calypso and watch dancing to soca music at the New Year parade.
BELGIUM
We went to the Melipark, based on bees, which is now Plopsaland.
https://www.plopsa.com/en/plopsaland-belgium
Best Things In Belgium
Chips (potato chips). Waffles. Chocolate. Beautiful Bruges. Looking at lace, buying lace ear-rings.
Worst problem in Belgium. We were looking for signs to Ghent and only saw signs to Gand. Place names in two languages, French and Dutch languages. You need to know both when driving and looking for signposts.
Serious and saddest sites, are all the WW2 area of Flanders, such as the Menin Gate. We always seem to stop at In Flanders Field in Ypers. You can find monuments to various nationalities in the places where they fought.
https://destinationwwii.com/wwii-sites-in-belgium/
https://whichmuseum.com/place/belgium-2/t-war
BRAZIL
Wish list. Rio Carnival.
BULGARIA
Best. Opportunity to learn Cyrillic script, used in Bulgaria and Russia.
CAMBODIA
Best moment - Siem Reap for a tour of: Ankor Wat. Wat means temple, but it is a walled city, takes most of the day to walk along the causeway and around the walls and into the centre and up a central temple.
Angkor Thom, approaching South Gate,
Scary moments. Losing our rickshaw at the entrance. One rickshaw when we said goodbye. At the end of the day, a national holiday, there were hundreds, and our vehicle had been told by police to move to the next car park.
Second scary moment. I lost my rickshaw. Supposed to meet me by the gold Buddha at the entrance. The route through a temple was in one entrance and out the other side. All four entrances had a large gold seated Buddhas.
CANADA
Best Views - Niagara Falls.
Quebec City - you can see history, the cliff climbed to conquer the city, by British General James Wolfe. Historic hotel Chateau Frontenac.
Canada Wish List - see the mural revealed by falling tide on the wall of the St John Harbour at the Bay of Fundy.
CHINA
Best - Shanghai waterfront. Great Wall.
Wishlist - Terracotta warriors.
Scary moment - losing my tour group in China where I could not speak a word of Chinese. Getting on a coach tour bus and half a mile down the road discovering they were a German-speaking group.
CORSICA
Worst disaster - Guitarists played late into the night keeping me awake. The coach to the airport broke down and we were told to cross the road. I was knocked down by a car, had multiple injuries and was not expected to survive. (1984.)
Wishlist - Maison Bonaparte.
CROATIA
Best - Dubrovnik which I visited with my parents from a cruise ship back when it was Yugoslavia.
CZECH REPUBLIC
Best Moments - in Prague, Charles Bridge statues; Franz Kafka Museum.
CYPRUS Greek and Turkish.
Best moments - The wine museum.
Walking across to Northern Cyprus, Greek to Turkish and back to Greek.
Worst - Embarrassment, first asking for Turkish coffee, then Greek coffee, being told it was Cyprus coffee.
DENMARK
Best - Hans Andersen's Home
Wish list. Legoland in Billund, Danmark.
ENGLAND
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Flag of the United Kingdon
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Flag of England.
Best sights, so many: Brighton Pavilion, York Shambles, Cornwall , Lake District - Wordsworth's House, Waddesdon, Bronte House Museum, Yorkshire, Oxford, Cambridge, Hadrian's Wall, Cadbury's Factory. London's Keats House, Dickens House, National Gallery, Tate Modern Gallery, National Portrait gallery, London Zoo, Windsor Safari Park.
Worst moments, wondering whether you have missed the last train and wondering there the night buses go.
FINLAND
Best moment. Meeting Santa Claus.
Worst moment, finding we were naked in saunas, with a large group of people, journalists I was travelling with.
Worst moment. On the same travel press trip, I was offered beef steak or reindeer meat. The latter is rare and very expensive in the UK, so I ordered the former. Later I learned that reindeer meat is cheap in Finland, whilst beef steak is exorbitant.
Wish List
Music museum - Sibelius Museum, Turku, Finland.
FRANCE
Best Paris
You can visit the chateaux of the Loire Valley. Do a Champagne cellars tour in Rheims.
Worst disaster. My family drove from overnight at our ex au pair girl's home in Rheims, across France to the border. I then realized I had left my passport behind in a passport neck bag on the back or a chair.
GERMANY
Best sites: Romantic road cities such as Rothenburg ob der Tauber.
Heidelburg barrel.
Wish list. Upside down house, Bayern, Germany. Legoland.
GREECE
Best moments. Restaurant meals in Athen's hillside restaurant district, La Plake.
Learning the story of Alexander the Great in the tomb at the second city, Thessalonkia.
Scary moment - Earthquake whilst I was in a hotel on Zakinthos island. The drinks in our glasses shook.
HAWAII
HONG KONG
Best. Sun Yat-Sen museum. Funicular. Disney. Visiting the famous Peninsula Hotel.
Worst - smog.
HUNGARY
INDIA Scary moment. Losing my taxi at a shopping centre with four entrances. All the taxi drivers had dark skins, dark hair and black moustaches. All the taxis had number plates ending in the same three letters which was code for a taxi from that city.
INDONESIA
IRELAND
ISRAEL
Best sights: Historic and biblical Jerusalem, Art deco (Bauhaus) beach city of Tel Aviv (founded in 1909), kibbutzim, Ein Gedi waterfall into the water by the cave.
Worst moments:
Searched before catching a local bus from the bus station in Jerusalem, riding with teenagers carrying what looked like machine guns. At first scary, later reassuring.
Hitching a lift in a van whose driver fired gun shots into the hills which echoed around alerting everybody for miles that we were there.
At a university in the 1960s finding they did not take money on Friday night so you had to pre book and pay and get a ticket for the meal. Luckily, a student whose friend did not turn up was able to give me and my friend a spare meal ticket.
In 2026 learning that you might be woken twice or more in the night to sirens warning you to go down to a shelter.
ITALY
Best Sites
Roman Rome,
Opera in La Scala Milan,
Umbria Cliffside Etruscan gateway at the entrance to Perugia. Venice.
Wish List. Trulli.
JAPAN
Miyajima Torii giant gate on the beach, in the water at high tide in Hiroshima.
Worst moment, being asked to how how to eat a fried egg, with chopsticks.
JORDAN Best sigh - Petra. Scariest moment: getting on and off a camel which knelt down and tried to tip me off.
KOREA (SOUTH KOREA)
LUXEMBOURG
MALAYSIA
Best sites. Hill stations.
Museum and observation deck in Petronas twin towers centre of Kuala Lumpur.
MALTA
MEXICO
MOROCCO Marrakesh - best moment, pigeon pie, and bread kept under conical rafia hats.
NEPAL Best moments - the domed temples with eyes watching you.
NEW ZEALAND
Best moments. Skiing in New Zealand, at Queenstown, South Island. The maze museum. Lam on every menu. BYO. Vineyard Visits. Op shops (which the Americans call thrift shops and the British call charity shops.)
POLAND
Best moments: eating Borscht in underground restaurants in rebuilt Warsaw.
Most chilling moments - Auschwitz Birkenau, but a little ray of hope in the Schindler's Factory Museum
Wish list - Ludwig Zamenhof museum about the creator of the made up language, Esperanto, in Bialystok.
Wroclaw dwarfs, tiny pavement statues.
Arthur Rubinstein at his piano, statue in Lodz.
PORTUGAL
Best site. WOW wine theme park on a city hillside overlooking the river. Restaurant with peacocks parading outside.
Mountainside s-bends along the Douro valley from Oporto to Regua which has a museum with smells of wine and flowers, and onwards to Spain.
Madeira, saw triangular A frame houses called Casas Tipicas at Santana. Walked along the levadas, cliffside walks originally carrying water to farms, now pleasantly overhung by trees and leading to a waterfall. Madeira wine shop Blany's offering guided tour of their historic building and tastings in the capital, Funchal.
ROMANIA
Best. Second Langauge spoken is Italian. Dracula's castle and tourist area.
Worst - Dracula's Castle. Beware of bears.
RUSSIA
Wish List
Underground stations.
SAN MARINO
SAINT MAARTEN
Best - two languages, French and Dutch, two experiences.
Worst - Confusing. You might need two visas or passports.
SCOTLAND
Best Sites
Edinburgth and Edinburgh Festival. Hilltop Castle. Portrait Gallery. Poets' area of old town and museums.Tartans and bagpipes.
Worst Experience. The first time I had breakfast porridge with salt, as is usual in Scotland, instead of sugar, as in England, and sent it back, resulting in confrontation and embarrassment.
Wish List. Burns House. Shetland Islands.
SINGAPORE
Singapore Best moments - Giant Jewel waterfall, tallest in the world, in Changi Airport. The airport's free Butterfly Garden (two floors, one way, allow time).
Any journey on the underground, with glass doors separating you from the rails until the train arrives, protecting people on platforms. Everything running frequently, about five minutes average, so sometimes even less. Free toilets on every station. Demonstrations banned. Litter swept by the elderly attendants given employment in food courts. Durian in season in ice creams and cakes. Hotel and apartment complexes with giant or ornamental swimming pools. Marina Bay Sands with an Observation Deck, and infinity swimming pool at the top, and boats on a created canal in the basement. Get invited to dinner at the Tanglin Club.
Night Safari. Gardens by the Bay. Botanic Gardens, free, containing the Orchid Garden (paid?)
Raffles hotel.
The museums including the history museum, with docents (guides) Philatelic (stamps) museum.
Singapore Worst moments, a live crocodile under a boardwalk.
SLOVENIA
Slovenia wish list - Cliffside castle in a cave. Train ride through caves. Poppyseed pastries.
SOUTH AFRICA
Johannesburg. Pretoria. Cape Town's Table Mountain, with inquisitive dassis (a bit like squirrels) ogling crumbs when we had cake. Memorable Moments in South Africa. Table Mountain. Nelson Mandela sites. Jewish museum mentions Mandela hidden on a farm bought for that purpose by his Jewish supporters.
Wishlist for South Africa - wine trail.
SPAIN
My parents had a one bedroom home in Marbella for years.
Best Moments:In Spain, weirdly shaped hotel Marquez de Riscal, Rioja region.
In the Canary Islands in 2026, Tenerife, Hotel La Joia Mirador, Absurdia illusions attraction. Vino Museum and Honey Bee museum.
Worst Moment in Spain - my bag stolen in Marbella. Previously my mother's bag was stolen.
Spanish wishlist - Barcelona's Gaudi Cathedral and other Gaudi monuments in Barcelona and other cities. Some of them require you to park your car and can't be seen from the road.
Spanish Scary Moments. Cliffside S bends in Picos de Europa.
SWITZERLAND
Best Sights
Alprose Chocolate Factory.
Covered bridges.
THAILAND
Best sites - Royal Palace. Floating Market.
TUNISIA
TURKEY
Best sites:
Istanbul Blue Mosque; and Green Mosque
UAE (United Arab Emirates)
Best site: Dubai, largest city
Huge hotels, opulent and gold. Shopping.
UK
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Best: London Tower Bridge, British Museum, Science Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum. Handel and Hendrix museums, Madam Tussauds, Trafalgar Square, Bethnal Green Museum, Horniman Museum and mini zoo, London Zoo, Dickens House. Out in the suburbs, Ruislip Lido train. Harrow School. Sherlock Holmes Museum. Get invited do dinner at the Cavalry & Guards Club or the Civil Service club, or one of several clubs, some with military or overseas associations.
Day trips to Roald Dahl Museum. Waddesdon Manor,
Lake District. Cornwall, St Ives.
Wishlist Charles Rennie Mackintosh House, Northampton, England. Optical Illusion museum in London. Any Winehouse statue in Camden. Museum of Illusions. Paradox Museum. Twist Museum. Legoland, Windsor. Last Night of the Proms, promenade concert in the Royal Albert Hall.
USA
Best Sites
New York. Empire State Building. Boat tour. Smithsomian Museums, DC. Lake Tahoe, California and Nevada. Blue Ridge Mountain drive along the East coast. Washington DC. Florida art deco. Disney. House museum of Webster who gave us the dictionary and American spelling. House museum of Nobel prize winning author Pearl Buck. Peabody Ducks. Bryce Canyon. Dallas. San Francisco. Golden Gate Bridge. LA Disney. Hollywood stars walk.
Wish List - Graceland, home of Elvis. Napa Valley Wine train. Hemingway House at Key West, Florida. Houdini Museum at Niagara. Queen Mary on Long Beach, LA.
Worst list - crocodiles in Florida.
VIETNAM
Halong Bay. best sight
Scary moment - first tuk tuk ride at speed from airport to checking at hotel.Tuk-tuk (motorcycle carriage) transfer to hotel in Siem Reap.
YUGOSLAVIA Dubrovnik, now CROATIA
WALES Brunel's bridge Fishguard Last Invasion Tapestry, Caerleon Roman Museum. Worst disaster. I was driving to my annual writers summer holiday in Caerleon, Wales. On the M4. Another car drove into the back of my car. I had to transfer by train to my destination.
USA Disneyland LA, Disney World Florida, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon. New York's Jewish Museum, Sex museum and many more.
WISHLIST
CHINA
Terracotta Warriors are on my wishlist.
UKRAINE
BEST TRANSPORT
Tuk-tuk (motorcycle carriage) transfer to hotel in Sien Reap.
TRAVEL TIPS
1 Keep a track of your own best and worst holiday experiences.
2 Make an Excel document of trips, hotels, museums, favourite food.
I am compiling this all week. Come back every day for updates on mine.
Monday, September 14, 2026
How To promote walking, cycling, tourism and events in Harrow
I just filled in a survey on transport in my area and it got me thinking. Everything was rated from good to bad. What would I like to see, and what do we already have?
Hurray for Harrow Walking Routes
Informative and entertaining signs about walking routes are at Hatch End station. Another sign about a walking loop is on the corner of the main street, called The Broadway.
Would I trot off along the footpath? Maybe at weekends with the family. I would not walk alone through woods. Maybe public streets and remote paths at junctions should have help points, like railway stations. Yes, this would cost money. Everything costs money.
Guided Walks
Historic guided walks might attract people, eg passing Grimsdyke Hotel, along Grim's Dyke. Add photo selfie points and sculptures, arches, murals.
How about a guided walk every weekend? Who would run it? Council staff, student volunteers?
They could show sites, and plaques including famous people along every high street. Hatch End had Mrs Beeton. Pinner had Nelson's grand-daughter. Pinner also has her grave in the nearby cemetery.
I asked Gemini. do we have guided walks of Harrow or Pinner. Yes.
Yes, there are several guided and self-guided walking options available across Harrow, Pinner, and Hatch End:
Guided & Local Heritage Walks
Pinner Historical Walks: Organised locally (including free regular walking groups associated with
The Ramblers Headstone Manor & Museum Heritage Walks:
Headstone Manor & Museum
Self-Guided Routes & Trails
Harrow-on-the-Hill Historic Trail: Self-guided walking routes take visitors up the hill around Harrow School, St Mary’s Church, and the old village center.
Harrow Health Walks:
Harrow Council London Loop & Capital Ring: Major long-distance walking routes run directly through the borough. Section 14 and 15 of the London Loop pass through Hatch End and Pinner, connecting local woodlands, parks, and historic sites.
Go Jauntly App Walks: Walking apps like
Go Jauntly
Weird and Wonderful Places in Pinner and Harrow
Harrow, Pinner, and Hatch End feature several unusual, quirky, and curious sights. Pinner has the coffin in the sky at the church in Pinner.
In the park is the Heath Robinson museum.
More details:
Eccentric Sights & Architecture
The Triangular Coffin (William Loudon’s Tomb): In the churchyard of St John the Baptist in Pinner sits a stone pyramid structure where the coffin of William Loudon (and his wife) was placed above ground. Local legend holds that he receives a money transfer so long as his body remains above earth, leading to the bizarre "coffin in the sky" design.
The Heath Robinson Museum: Located in Pinner Memorial Park, this museum is dedicated to William Heath Robinson—the famous illustrator known for drawing absurdly over-complicated, whimsical contraptions ("Heath Robinson machines").
The Nazi Diplomat's Mansion (Sans Souci): High up on Pinner Hill, a villa named Sans Souci was constructed in the 1930s for Joachim von Ribbentrop (the German Ambassador to the UK who later became Hitler's Foreign Minister). Built using German materials and architects, local urban legends long rumoured it was designed as a observation point or future command hub.
The Zoroastrian Centre Cinema: In Rayners Lane (Harrow), the Grade II*-listed Zoroastrian Centre is housed in a former 1936 Art Deco cinema (the Safari/Fremont) designed by Frank Ernest Bromige, featuring dramatic, sweeping modernist curves.
Local Quirks & Traditions
Ye Olde Wheelbarrow Race: Every St George's Day, Pinner hosts a unique charity race where teams of two take turns pushing each other in wheelbarrows from pub to pub while drinking beer along the route.
The Royal Charter Pinner Fair: Held every May since 1336 (granted by King Edward III), street vendors and funfairs completely take over Pinner's historic High Street for a single day, fulfilling a nearly 700-year-old medieval charter.
The 50-Metre Ceramic Wall Mural: On the exterior wall of the Hatch End Swimming Pool / Harrow Arts Centre, an expansive ceramic mural created by artist Alan Cox depicts aquatic life and local scenes.
The Ancient Moat at Headstone Manor: Headstone Manor & Museum features the only complete 14th-century water-filled moated manor house remaining in Greater London.
Signs and Symbols Of Harrow
Have a simple cartoon or symbol for every high street. Or a diamond enclosing silhouettes of four famous people or places.
We already have assorted symbols.
The official coats of arms, historic heraldry, and recognized civic symbols represent Harrow and Pinner through key icons:
Official Civic Symbols of Harrow
The
The Silver Arrow & White Lion: Derived directly from the arms of Harrow School (the arrow referencing historical archery contests held by the school).
The Torch: Represents education, learning, and local schools.
The Quill Pen: Represents literature and famous writers who lived in the borough (such as Isabella Beeton in Hatch End).
The Hill & Clump of Trees: Located at the base of the crest, representing Harrow on the Hill as well as the wooded areas of Wealdstone and Harrow Weald.
The Green Arched Band: Symbolizes the Metropolitan Green Belt surrounding the borough.
The Red Triangle (Pile): Symbolizes the historical Saxon meetings held in the Hundred of Gore.
The Goddess Hygeia & Benedictine Monk (Supporters): Hygeia signifies the area's health record, while the monk represents the historical religious connections of Bentley Priory.
Unofficial & Local Landmarks for Pinner
While Pinner is part of the London Borough of Harrow and shares its official coat of arms, it relies on several distinctive local icons to represent its village identity:
The Triangular Coffin (William Loudon’s Tomb): A recognizable motif for Pinner's historic parish churchyard (St John the Baptist).
Heath Robinson Machine Illustrations: Quirky, over-complicated mechanical drawings inspired by William Heath Robinson, heavily used on signage and branding around Pinner Memorial Park.
The Wheelbarrow: Associated with the annual St George's Day pub race, often appearing on local event flyers and community heraldry.
The Medieval Fair Crest: Banners and street signs along Pinner High Street feature medieval market symbols referencing the 1336 Royal Charter Fair.
Longstay Vehicles, Pavement Parking & Signs
We need more parking for cars.
But we could make space by promptly removing long-stay, untaxed and unattended vehicles which might have been stolen and abandoned. We need signs telling you who to contact in the event of this problem.
Another sign I would like would tell people that parking on pavements in Harrow and Hatch End is not allowed, because it is in some parts of the country. People who are trying to be helpful by clearing the road and parking on the pavement get slapped with fines and aggression from residents. This unexpected penalty is confusing, unkind, stressful and frightens off visitors.
Cleaner Streets
Clean up the pavements and the facias. Copy Japan. Get every schoolchild and student cleaning their own school daily, and litter picking their own street, weeding, planting flowers.
Public Toilets At Stations in Harrow and Singapore
Have toilets at every station in London. Apparently we are working towards that. Singapore has toilets outside almost every station. Google maps shows toilets at stations. But when you arrive, the toilets are out of order, or closed at 9 pm. No good when you are returning at 11 pm.
If you need funding for more toilets, opened longer hours, get businesses to sponsor, and carry ads for businesses around the walls, with a jolly mural on the outside.
Use the waste water.
When stuck, look for toilets in shopping malls, or pubs, or restaurants, or fast food outlets, or libraries, or hospitals, or hotels, or supermarkets, or museums, or department stores, or tennis clubs, or golf clubs, or garden centres, or wineries, or big, civic buildings such as town halls.
Harrow Town Centre
St Ann's Shopping Centre St. George's Shopping Centre Harrow-on-the-Hill Station Who has a RADAR key? No use to most of the elderly, including me and my husband.
Pinner & Parks
Pinner Memorial Park Pinner Station
Harrow Souvenirs
Have a Harrow shop with souvenirs of Harrow, where walking tours start. Run a contest for Harrow's five favourite foods
Run a campaign of people of the week. For example, Harrow beekeepers, Harrow honey (which I bought at the Headstone Manor Farm).
Show a tourist bus map, linking Harrow School, Headstone Manor, Heath Robinson Museum. Have statues or murals of famous people, all the people who went to Harrow School, Mrs Beeton. St George's has friezes but so high most people don't notice them.
Run a contest for poems and parodies of quotations about Harrow and display them.
Pinner has a Pinner Fair. Why not a Harrow Fair.
Tree Walks
Make a tree walk. Label all the trees, like Kew Gardens, name of plant, fruit, leaves, height. This is done in Singapore. A whole riverside walk by Gardens by the bay is free entertainment. Not just the names of trees. Myths, medicinal uses, all kinds of instructive and entertaining facts.
If needed, get sponsors from local businesses or schools. Students can do the research. A small part of this is done near Headstone Manor. At one time trees in Hatch End high street has little notices at the base of a planted trees, placed their by the sponsor.
Roundabouts have sponsors.
Meeting Points
Every park and major event should have a meeting point with a statue, clock and chairs. Maybe a pond with fish and ornamental plants.
Parking Places
More parking spaces so you can stop briefly to buy a pint of milk, a gift of flowers, a sandwich, whatever. Not enough parking near Tesco in Hatch End. More signs at bus stop of when the next bus is expected in Hatch End would make it more attractive to walk to the bus stop, rather than taking a car.
Restaurants should display signs telling you car parks and bus routes. People want to drive because loud music from restaurants and people on the pavements (in Hatch End late at night) can be frightening for safety, danger of drunks, pickpockets, people colliding with you.
We need late night buses to Harrow. Many people want to use cars and park because friends have had phones stolen from motorbike phone snatchers at bus stops.
Traffic Management Schemes
Yellow junctions are helpful.
Banned turns are a nuisance and make you drive around polluting the air and causing stress.
School Streets
What are school streets? Parents are banned from parking and pick up near schools? Or parents are allowed and others are banned?
Are school streets good? I am not sure. What will parents and schools do? Parents want to collect children to prevent the risk of bullying, fights, stabbing after school. Will the cars block different streets?
Will schools stagger class finish times? Run a school bus?
What will householders do? Will they benefit? What about deliveries, mail, parcels?
One Hour Free Parking - Insufficient time
One hour is not enough. You cannot shop, queue, and have a coffee in the supermarket or nearby. You cannot eat a meal in a restaurant or cafe in an hour. You need ten minutes to walk in and find a table, ten minutes to place an order, ten minutes to wait for service, ten minutes to eat a sandwich, ten minutes for coffee, ten minutes to pay, ten minutes to walk back. Stressful. Or get fined and never do it again. Will I really meet a friend for lunch for just an hour, when one of us could be ten minutes late delayed by traffic or work?
On Pavement Parking - Warning Signs Needed
Cleanliness
More attention to both cleanliness and litter. Do streetview of Japan.
Pavements should be cleaned. Shopfronts which are unsightly should be repainted. We should run brighten up Harrow weeks four times a year with sponsors from paint companies, DIY companies, renovation companies. Employ the unemployed to clean the streets.
Useful Websites About Harrow, Pinner, and Hatch End
Walks and guided walks
School Streets
www.harrow.gov.uk
www.mumsfor lungs.org
en.wikipedia.org
More detail on the coat of arms for Harrow from
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