Backyard travel writing

In a world hooked on high adrenalin thrills it might seem that travel writing will only get into print if the destinations are exotic and the experiences thrilling, dangerous or weirdly eccentric. This style of writing often dominates the headlines in glossy magazines and supplements but in truth this type of travel represents a small percentage of the market. We may save up for that ‘trip of a lifetime’ but we spend far more of our lives taking shorter breaks much closer to home and the interest in reading about these experiences is flourishing.

Small is the new big, and with the climate emergency movement growing every day, we can expect that more people will be taking holidays closer to home. There is an opportunity for the travel writer here but also a challenge. We have to work much harder to find the extraordinary element in what might, on the surface, seem to be too ordinary, rather too familiar. Make that connection though, and there is huge satisfaction