youth hostels, the history, people and ideas behind them
On a lovely autumn day in England's Lake District, we visited Wray Castle, overlooking Windermere. Under blue skies, views of the surrounding hills were clear, not a cloud in sight. The castle, now open as one of the National Trust’s many properties, was busy; families, couples, children, and cyclists, setting out to explore the grounds,... Continue Reading →
Youth hostels are about travel and, at their start, that was travelling on foot, from place to place, from one hostel to the next. A chain or chains of youth hostels had been the dream of many when they first entertained the idea of hostels; the dream of leaving the place where you lived and... Continue Reading →
Orchard House, near Ninebanks in Northumberland, has been a hostel for 75 years, and for 31 years of those years has been run by its owners. They are now planning to sell the hostel, creating an opportunity for someone else to own this hostel in the beautiful North Pennines. The sale of a privately owned... Continue Reading →
A visit by Tom Fairclough, one of the founding members of YHA, to Germany in 1929 is well recorded. That visit inspired him to found the first youth hostel group in Britain at the end of 1929. Less known are earlier visits by others, that help to show the widespread, grassroots nature of YHA at... Continue Reading →
S.P.B. Mais was another prolific writer and promoter of walking and travel. Like Morton, Mais was a journalist, and had also worked on the Daily Express newspaper, as a book reviewer and leader writer. Mais claimed to have walked over most of England. He wanted people to stuff their pockets with maps, “to wander about... Continue Reading →
