Some of Ian's useful links....


Go to Tourism related links

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Tourism Related links

HETGA

The Heart of England Tourist Guides' Association, the professional association for professionally-qualified Blue Badge tourist guides in the Heart of England. Includes a list of members.

The Guild of Registered Tourist Guides

The national professional association for Registered Blue Badge tourist guides in the UK.

Hidden History Tours

No, I'm not the only tourist guide in the Heart of England. Here's the site of one of my colleagues, Dr. Simon Butler, whose "Hidden History" tours bring the past to life throughout the Midlands and beyond.

Birmingham ASSIST

Gateway to all sorts of useful information about Birmingham, Britain's second city.

Virtual Brum

A simply brilliant, slightly offbeat but very informative (and accurate) portrayal of Birmingham (the world's greatest city!), encompassing everything from local history to famous Brummies, photo tours to street maps. Take a look!

Birmingham Plus

An individual, unbiased and refreshingly "different" restaurant review for Birmingham. (A city which is, despite much scepticism elsewhere, one of the best places in Britain to eat out!) Highly recommended.

Stratford-upon-Avon

Information about Shakespeare's home town and popular tourist centre. The site also includes useful links to other organisations in the area, such as Murder Incorporated.

Images of England

A fascinating photographic archive which is making a photographic record of every Listed Building in England.

@UK - The UK Tourism Guide

A comprehensive listing of links to many things relating to tourism in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

London Pages

A series of useful links to and information on tourism services in London and beyond.

List of On-Line Museums

Maintained by Oxford Brookes University this is an excellent reference to many museums in Britain and overseas.

The Tramway Museum Society

Operators of the Tramway Museum at Crich in Derbyshire, England. Home to a selection of more than 40 trams many of which operate over the Museum's demonstration line.

Beamish Open Air Museum

An Open Air Museum in County Durham, North East England with reconstructions of village communities of earlier this century complete with Co-Op, coal mine, pub, working tramway and much more. In an era of heritage overload, Beamish is simply the best Museum of its type anywhere.......

Black Country Museum

Located near the town of Dudley in the English Midlands, this is another superb recreation of Industrial Britain. You can go down a coal mine, enjoy a Victorian school lesson and even take a canal boat into the fabulous "Singing Cavern"

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Other links

Walking London.......With SPICE!

What happened when I took a group of 36 SPICErs to London for a "pedestrian" weekend!

SPICEland!

And what happened when I take a weekend off work? I join my friends from SPICE on my first ever visit to Iceland. And what a fabulous time it was, too; find out more here.

SPICE Birmingham

And what is SPICE?! A brilliant social (and sociable) organisation for people interested in doing "something different" during their free time. Activities (listed on their website) include everything from abseiling to going on guided walks with, well, you know who!

A Waltz around Austria

An account of my Autumn 2000 visit to Vienna, Linz and Graz.

If you're going to San Francisco.......

An account of my Spring 2000 visit to San Francisco and Northern California

Poland or Bust!

An account of my 1999 trip to Poland

Czech-Mate!

An account of my 1998 trip to the Czech Republic

The BBC

For all its imperfections, still the finest broadcasting organisation in the world with a vast selection available online.

The ABC - Australia

The Beeb's Australian Counterpart with lots of equally interesting information online.

IB Secretarial Services and Photo Library

A photo library run by Irene Boston with access to a variety of photographs landscapes, towns and villages in the in the Heart of England, as well as further afield. This website also provides details of secretarial services and some useful and interesting links of its own!

Australia (the Toxic Custard Way!)

Daniel Bowen's lighthearted selection of pages are great for a giggle; but they also provide a surprising amount of information about Australia. And Daniel is every bit as proud of his home city of Melbourne as I am of Birmingham, which can't be bad!

The Divine Miss B

The website of  “A Goddess in Training”, this is another Australian friend’s very offbeat look at what one might term “Life, the Universe and Everything”!   With a range of subjects and links from the Free Tibet Campaign to some very esoteric music, this is the thought-provoking and deep website of someone who has been a very dear friend.

The G6URP Home Page

The website of Ivor Jones, a friend of mine from the nearby town of Solihull, well known authority on amateur radio, motorcycling and bus driving.......and heartfelt Euro Sceptic!

The Greater London Authority

Gateway to information, statistics and publications about the world's second greatest city (after Birmingham, obviously). The GLA and its Mayor, Ken Livingstone, are responsible for overall strategic planning for Greater London in areas such as transport, policing, fire and economic planning.

The Corporation of London

Britain's most ancient local authority, controlling the historic "Square Mile" of the City of London (as opposed to the GLA's "Greater London".

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© Ian Jelf. This site was last updated 4 September 2002