Highgate Cemetery, London

A great place for a walk. We went on a sunny afternoon but I guess a windy Autumn or a spooky night would be just as uplifting.

£3 to enter or £7 if you want a guided tour. Some say it is pricey but there’s a big acreage to maintain!

Don’t the photos just make you want to visit?

Famous Residents:

Although its most famous occupant in the East Cemetery is probably Karl Marx there are many other prominent figures, Victorian and otherwise, buried at Highgate Cemetery. On a mainly literary and

artistic theme, residents include:

Douglas Adams, (E) author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and other novels. Next to him is Eddie Rosen, son of Michael.

Beryl Bainbridge, (W) novelist

Farzad Bazoft,(E) journalist, executed by Saddam Hussein's regime

Jeremy Beadle, (E) TV presenter, writer and producer, "curator of oddities"

Robert William Buss, (W) artist and illustrator

Patrick Caulfield, (E) painter and printmaker known for his pop art canvasses

John Dickens and Elizabeth Dickens, (W) parents of Charles and models for Micawber and Mrs Nickleby

Catherine and Dora Dickens, (W) wife and daughter of Charles

George Eliot (Mary Ann Cross), (E) novelist

William Alfred Foyle, (E) founder of Foyles the bookshop

Stella Gibbons, (W) novelist

Alexander Litvinenko, (W) Russian dissident turned critic, murdered by poisoning in London

Malcolm McClaren, (E) performer, impresario, manager of The Sex Pistols, 'godfather of punk'

Ralph Miliband, (E)  left wing political theorist, father of David Miliband and Ed Miliband

Henry Moore, (1831–95), (E) marine painter

Sir Ralph Richardson, (E) (1902–83), actor

Christina Rossetti, (W) poet

Frances Polidori Rossetti, (W) mother of Dante Gabriel, Christina and William Michael Rossetti

William Michael Rossetti, (W) co-founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

Feliks Topolski, (E) Polish-born British expressionist painter

Patrick Wymark, (W) actor

Garway Hill, Herefordshire

I won’t reveal too much about Herefordshire because it is a largely rural county that in many ways modern life has passed by and I hope it stays that way, beautiful, lush and green.

We walked for a couple of hours from our hotel, the Bell at Skenfrith, through fields and farms to get to the summit of Garway Hill. Incidentally, the Bell at Skenfrith has great rooms but I would not recommend the place to anybody. The dining room service was poor and the barman offhand. The tone was set when the five of us arrived and instead of saying ‘Welcome to the Bell, I hope that you have an enjoyable stay’ the host said ‘name please.’

You would be better off at the Garway Moon Inn which we visited on the way down. It has good food, real ale and a friendly welcome.

Garway is a village in southwest Herefordshire, lying approximately equidistant from Hereford, Ross-on-Wye and Monmouth. Above the village stands Garway Hill, a prominent local landmark rising to over 1200 feet.

From the top of the hill there is a view of seven counties in a 360-degree panorama. White mountain horses graze there most of the year and raise their foals amongst the bracken. Sheep roam freely. A pond near the summit provides a water supply for the animals which lasts all the year round, despite there being no visible source to keep it topped up. The pond is also home to a protected species of newt.

Here’s us at the summit, is Pete the first Australian up there? Perhaps not.