The Spirit of YHA is many things to many different people. For some in the 1950s the true spirit was the spirit of those who walked or cycled and who did not use motor cars. For others it meant participating in youth hostels, taking part in the work that gave them life. For the authors... Continue Reading →
Questions easy, questions hard.
People sometimes ask simple questions about youth hostel history that quickly get complicated. This week someone asked when YHA's Enterprise scheme started. That's easy. YHA launched its current licensing scheme in 2003. Under the scheme YHA licenses individuals and organisations to run youth hostels. If it works well you will never need to know who... Continue Reading →
Shining Cliff youth hostel
Out for a walk in the first spring sunshine, we detoured up hill through the woods at Shining Cliff to see the old youth hostel. Climbing the path through the trees the hostel seems almost suspended above you, an idyllic spot in acres of woodland. The original wooden hostel started as a collection of former... Continue Reading →
Youth hostel story
Oliver Coburn's book is the classic history of youth hostels in Britain. Published in 1950, Coburn wrote about the first 20 years of youth hostels. All the familiar history is there. The predecessors of youth hostels in European travel, how youth hostels began in Germany, their beginning in Britain on Merseyside, the early break neck... Continue Reading →
Ramble on
I look out for books about hostels. I call it research but I'm a book maniac anyway, always reading a book or two. Stuck for something to do, waiting for a meeting, a train or an appointment, I head for the nearest bookshop. I look for books that tell me more about youth hostels. That’s... Continue Reading →
SIMPLY HOSTELS 