Freelance Writer | Researcher | Documentarian | Photographer & Filmmaker
Founder of Self Guided Travel
I use the term writer loosely.
I’m working class. I don’t work for, and never have worked for, any newspaper, magazine, or travel company. I’m self-taught, freelance, and independent. I have no connections in the travel writing world, no network, no mentors, no “in.”
But here’s who I am, what I do, and why I do it.
I grew up rural. And I don’t mean the Cotswolds or the edge of a commuter town. I mean rural-rural, surrounded by fields, farmland, and the kind of woods that didn’t have signs or car parks. The nearest village was over a mile away (barely more than a hamlet), the nearest town even further, and the nearest city might as well have been the end of the world.
That shaped me.
As a kid, I’d walk miles just to see friends, along country lanes, woodland trails, farm tracks, and through those scattered, seemingly empty villages. Walking and exploring was in my blood.
Like a lot of dreamers, I grew up wanting to travel, to write, to document the world. But that dream sat dormant for years, buried under the reality of adult life, responsibility, and work. I raised a family. And when the nest emptied, something stirred.
That old wanderlust returned.
It started with a loss. Something personal. I decided to walk across the country to raise money for Mind, the mental health charity. I set out from the East of England and walked to the far west of Wales, traversing England’s National Landscapes, passing through rural villages, historic towns, and eventually scaling Snowdon. I finished the journey by crossing the Irish Sea to Dublin by ferry from Anglesey.
It was a holiday. It was work. It was soul-searching.
I’d found my new vocation: not just walking, but slow, independent travel through the landscapes I love most.
From that came Self Guided Travel, a platform born out of a belief in walking holidays, rural discovery, and meaningful adventure. It’s a celebration of the places and people who make this kind of travel possible: the hardworking local stays, the family-run inns, the farmers who allow access to footpaths, the volunteers who care for trails, the communities who hold space for slow tourism.
Creating this site is a slow process, and I’m in no hurry. One walk at a time.
Growing up rural, you see the balance. You understand what matters. Conservation and hospitality. Wild beauty and local livelihood. There’s a quiet network at the heart of it all, a way of travelling that isn’t just about ticking off destinations, but about valuing the journey and the people who make it possible.
That’s the story I want to tell.
That’s why I created Self Guided Travel.
