Laurence Mitchell

Norwich

Freelance Writer and Photographer at Bradt Travel Guides

Writer and photographer: landscape, nature, travel, walking. Author @BradtGuides and @ciceronepress. WESTERING published April '21 by @SarabandBooks

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Articles

The remote villages that are a leafy, coastal alternative to the Cotswolds

2 months ago | inews.co.uk | Laurence Mitchell

The Burnhams consist of six villages that lie within the valley of the River Burn in north-west Norfolk. Located in gently rolling farmland, and a little way inland from the coast, Burnham Market, which dates to the 17th century, is the largest of the six. Centred on a leafy green surrounded by elegant Georgian buildings and cottages painted in pastels, this attractive village has a clutch of independent shops and popular pubs.
The Road to Dirē Dawa

Dec 1, 2024 | eastofelveden.wordpress.com | Laurence Mitchell

The road to Dirē Dawa is a long one: an eight-hour drive from Addis Ababa, or so we are told. We left Addis Ababa at dawn, our bus rattling through empty streets shadowed by new-build office blocks.
Of Whales and Ancestors: Ostend, Norfolk

Sep 2, 2024 | eastofelveden.wordpress.com | Laurence Mitchell

The very mention of the village of Happisburgh in Norfolk brings to mind all manner of prehistoric associations and connections with long-extinct ancestors. The early years of this current century have revealed exciting local evidence of the presence of earliest hominins in northwest Europe: Homo antecessor (‘Pioneer Man’) – near million-year-old clues in the form of flint tools and muddy footprints.
Journey to Avebury

Mar 25, 2024 | eastofelveden.wordpress.com | Laurence Mitchell

A Journey to Avebury is the name of a short silent film made by Derek Jarman made in 1971. Shot in wobbly Super 8, and saturated with burnt orange hues, it has an otherworldly eldritch atmosphere that is hard to describe. Suffice to say it is hardly be the sort of thing that the then English Tourist Board might have chosen to promote the stone-encircled Wiltshire village.
hidden europe 50

Feb 21, 2024 | hiddeneurope.eu | Laurence Mitchell |Duncan Smith

Editorial hidden europe 50Welcome to hidden europe 50. We live and work in a city where foreign nationals make an immense contribution to the local economy, to society and to the arts. Berlin is in that respect very typical of many places in Europe. In hidden europe, we ... Only Fit For Wild DucksCatch the spirit of Scotland’s Outer Hebrides with Gaelic psalm singing at a country church in Lewis or Marian devotions on the Isle of Eriskay.
The Ghost of a River - The Walbrook

Nov 23, 2023 | eastofelveden.wordpress.com | Laurence Mitchell

Of all London’s lost rivers it is the Walbrook that is the most irrefutably lost: lost to time, lost to place… well, almost. An important source of water in Roman times, when its banks were lined with the workshops of Roman industry – tanneries, potteries and glass workshops – the river has not been visible on the surface since the 15th century when the last open sections were vaulted over.
Ghost Factory

Sep 21, 2023 | eastofelveden.wordpress.com | Laurence Mitchell

Much of the fabric of Birmingham’s history is, like the city’s modest river, the oft-culverted Rea, half-hidden or tucked away from sight. Occulted beneath flyovers and underpasses, the city’s past flows sluggishly beneath redundant factories and car parks. Unconvincingly disguised, and with the vaguest hint of rusting metal, it escapes as vapour from drains and manholes.
Flint country: stories set in stone

Jul 10, 2023 | hiddeneurope.eu | Laurence Mitchell

/ Feature / By Laurence Mitchell Some landscapes wear their hearts on their sleeves. Topography tells the entire story: hills and mountains, deep valleys, rocky outcrops — geomorphology writ large, geology in plain sight.
Flint country: stories set in stone

Jul 10, 2023 | hiddeneurope.eu | Laurence Mitchell

Some landscapes wear their hearts on their sleeves. Topography tells the entire story: hills and mountains, deep valleys, rocky outcrops — geomorphology writ large, geology in plain sight. Think of archetypal English landscapes captured in paintings, film and photography: the Lake District with its mountains, lakes and glacial valleys; the Peak District with its lightdark character of limestone and millstone grit; the West Country with its rolling hills, lush meadows and sandstone-red soil.
hidden europe 70

Jul 9, 2023 | hiddeneurope.eu | Laurence Mitchell