I have lived in Paris since 1991, when I arrived from London on a year’s sabbatical from my job as a college lecturer in English  – and never left.

My interest in the surprisingly little-known Paris region dates from that first year, when I began to spend my Sundays using my travel card to explore the nearest countryside accessible by train from Paris, while teaching English during the week.

It was only after several years of enjoyable discoveries of the gentle provincial world surrounding Paris –  châteaux, medieval villages, family-run restaurants, rivers and forests, all accessible by train but mostly overlooked – that I realised I had the material for a unique guide, the sort of guide I would have wanted to read when I first arrived.

My book describing 20 little-known daytrips an hour or less from Paris by train, An Hour From Paris, first appeared in 2002 and has never been out of print. The fourth edition is in preparation and will appear in 2025.  Half An Hour From Paris, 10 daytrips around half an hour from Paris by train, was published in 2018. The second edition containing 12 trips was published in 2023.

I have written on offbeat travel in France and elsewhere, French hiking trails, Paris restaurants, sailing, dancing, bird-watching and yoga for the Financial Times, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, Independent, Mail on Sunday and other publications and write regularly about my latest discoveries outside Paris for Bonjour Paris You can view my articles here. 

Before deciding to teach in further education I worked as a copy editor in London summarising radio and tv broadcasts and later wrote a few academic articles about my teaching experience. I occasionally edit academic articles for international publication for the Paris School of Economics and other French universities.