Where Tourists Seldom Tread by Chris Moss

Dubrovnik or Doncaster? Corfu or Crewe? A safari in Kenya or an abandoned zoo on the Isle of Man? Most people in Britain actually live and work in its towns, yet only a handful ever register as tourist destinations, dismissed as too plain, too rundown or simply too unremarkable for a leisure visit. This book makes the case that they deserve a second look.

Travelling through places like Warrington, Birkenhead, Slough, East Kilbride, Armagh and Newport, Chris Moss goes looking for the towns Britain tends to bypass. Peeling back layers of history and local character, he uncovers the stories behind Stockport's viaduct, one of the largest brick structures on earth, Paisley's formative punk venues, and Ipswich's surprisingly ancient origins, older by some measure than Machu Picchu, all the while asking why these hidden pleasures have gone so consistently unnoticed.

Rather than following the well worn pull towards Britain's major cities and rural beauty spots, Where Tourists Seldom Tread offers a genuinely different field guide to the country, generous and sharply observed in equal measure, and a welcome reminder that overlooked places often have the richest stories to tell.

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