Eyewitness guides are characterised by their colour, which differentiates them from most other travel guides. Maps, photos and diagrams light up the pages and bring to life what can be experienced when travelling. Information in other guides may be more precise, detailed and comprehensive, but readers who enjoy Eye Witness Guides do so because visually they are stimulated and excited by what they see on the pages.
Great Britain - An Eye Witness Travel Guide begins with an introduction containing maps, information about society, politics, culture and the arts, and history. To whet the appetite further, the history of gardens, stately homes, heraldry and the aristocracy, rural architecture, the countryside, walkers' Britain, the traditional British Pub and British Food, are all colourfully explained and illustrated so that the reader is provided with an idea of what is essentially British.
The remainder of the book is divided into a sections related firstly to London and then to Southeast England, The West Country, The Midlands, the North Country, Wales and Scotland. Each section is comprehensively covered, and significant cities for example Bath, Oxford, Glasgow and many, many others, are given special attention. Every so often the reader will come across a snippet of information such as Beatrix Potter and the Lake District, punting on the Cam in Cambridge, the stained Glass of York Minster, building with Cotswold Stone, the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Edinburgh Festival and the Bronte Sisters which serves to put these things into their geographical context.
Great Britain - An Eye Witness Travel Guide begins with an introduction containing maps, information about society, politics, culture and the arts, and history. To whet the appetite further, the history of gardens, stately homes, heraldry and the aristocracy, rural architecture, the countryside, walkers' Britain, the traditional British Pub and British Food, are all colourfully explained and illustrated so that the reader is provided with an idea of what is essentially British.
The remainder of the book is divided into a sections related firstly to London and then to Southeast England, The West Country, The Midlands, the North Country, Wales and Scotland. Each section is comprehensively covered, and significant cities for example Bath, Oxford, Glasgow and many, many others, are given special attention. Every so often the reader will come across a snippet of information such as Beatrix Potter and the Lake District, punting on the Cam in Cambridge, the stained Glass of York Minster, building with Cotswold Stone, the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Edinburgh Festival and the Bronte Sisters which serves to put these things into their geographical context.
Information about major streets, usually shown as a conventional map, frequently appears in Eye Witness Guides as an overhead drawing often in 3D. Noteworthy buildings such as Blenheim Palace are presented in the same way. It is much easier to visualise than a conventional map or plan. And while this may reduce the accuracy of the information provided, it is more useful for the tourist who is probably after impressions rather than detail. And if detail is required other avenues to obtain it can readily be sourced.
Useful chapters at the end of the book cover accommodation, where to eat and practical information such as business hours, the National Trust, hospitals, communications, and currency. And even most of these pages, which in most travel guides are usually only consulted for information, are in colour with drawings and photos and consequently a real pleasure to read. There is a section giving travel information, air, rail, car, coach and on the canals. The index is comprehensive and useful.
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