Amberley Blog

The Four Heatons’ History Tour began to take shape during the Covid lockdown of 2020. Like everyone else, my husband, Phil Page, and I were confined to our local area with not much to do for exercise but tramp the streets. And that’s what we did, every day. We had lived in the Four Heatons for many years and so...

From the execution of Charles I in January 1649, to the restoration of his son as Charles II in May 1660, the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland experienced a series of constitutional experiments.  Ultimately, the English republic did not last but the chronicle of those eleven years, with their high ideals and religious fervour, is important and unexpected.  Important...

Scotland in Photographs and Scotland Revealed, my first books, were amazingly well received and although the second one came out just as Covid hit and lockdown happened, it was great to see it selling out on Amazon several times over. I would like to think while locked down, people were planning and reminding themselves of the places they were looking...

The time commonly referred to as the Anarchy is one of the most violent and unstable periods of English history. Lasting almost the entirety of the reign of King Stephen, it truly was a Cousin’s War. The two main protagonists, King Stephen and Empress Matilda, were first cousins, both being grandchildren of William the Conqueror and his queen, Matilda of...

Of all the books I’ve written for Amberley Publishing Secret Great Yarmouth & Gorleston had the longest period of development. Not long after the idea was originally suggested a family tragedy would throw me off course and, with the huge support of the Amberley team, especially Jenny Stephens, for which I’m so grateful, the book sat still for a while...

Teesside’s Industrial Landscape is a photographic journey around one of England’s most visually dramatic industrial areas. Iron, steel, chemicals and heavy engineering made Teesside world famous, yet despite this, it remains a relatively unknown area compared to Tyneside, the Black Country and South Yorkshire. From Bishop Auckland, Darlington, Hartlepool, Sunderland, Thirsk and Whitby the road signs point to Teesside, an...

50 Gems of Tyne and Wear. The very idea made people raise their eyebrows when I mentioned it. I even met a photographer who commented ‘Good luck with that’. This type of reaction amused me, as before Tyne and Wear was created the area covered by the county was split between County Durham and Northumberland. No-one seems to have a...

A Dream on Wheels For as long as I can remember, cars have been my passion, and 14-year-old John would never have dreamed to have owned as many M3s as I have, let alone have written a book on the subject, and few cars have captivated me quite like the BMW M3. From the iconic E30 to the modern F80...

“Why do we need another book about Oxford?” That’s the question most people asked when I told them I was writing a short history of the city. In fact, if you look along the shelves of the local history section of Blackwell’s you’ll find lots of material about the architecture of the city, city walks, and the university, but little...

Vikings Where You Least Expect The ‘Vikings’ are a pop-culture phenomenon forever associated with frigid, windswept fjords and bleak, boggy shorelines. They are of the North, perhaps even the extreme North, beyond the periphery of Roman authors and their world knowledge and so tarnished with the brush of being ‘beyond’ civilisation as it was understood between the first and fourth...