Robin Halstead

An alternative tour of Britain from the people who brought you The Framley Examiner.

Forget theme parks. Forget the giants of the museum and gallery world. Get yourself out to some of the quirkier attractions the UK has to offer.

Apart from the ones that closed in the 17 years since this book was published.

I'd visited 9 of the 42 places in this book. I've got another four added to my list of places to go out of my way to visit, and some that I might visit if ever in their neck of the woods.… (mer)

The Framley Examiner started life as an online parody/facsimile of an English local newspaper, painstakingly recreated by a team of comic writers. This book was the eventual spin-off. To anyone not familiar with the sort of regional newspapers which are being spoofed, both book and website (which is still in existence and is regularly updated) will be incomprehensible, but to those in on the joke, it's a total delight. Its charm for me lies in the fact that everything - adverts, editorial, letters page, lonely-hearts columns - looks exactly like the real thing, yet inhabits a surreal parallel universe, complete with placenames that teeter on the verge of being believable (just look at any map of the English countryside to see what I mean). A lovingly-created, wickedly-funny treat.… (mer)