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Running really good guided tours at an attraction doesn’t happen by accident. It takes considerable time and attention to get it right. Like many things, when it is right, it looks so easy and effortless that most people will not see what is going on. Hook lighthouse runs really good tours that demonstrate the value […]


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Heritage and countryside sites need the support of local people. Indeed I might even go as far as to say that without that support the site or attraction has missed its purpose.


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Using interpretation to communicate with local people has been an important part of many of our recent projects. It calls for some rather different approaches than interpretation for tourists.


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The fleeting, changeable and unpredictable nature of wildlife is part of why we love it. It also makes it aggravatingly difficult to interpret. RSPB Ynys-hir rises to the challenge brilliantly.


Last Post at Menin Gate, Ypres

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Well, I certainly under-estimated the significance of this event. Spot the heritage professional on a steep learning curve!


Some questions about interpreting conflict

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Some questions about interpreting conflict


Are rats ‘bad’ wildlife?

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I have of late become sensitised to bias and subjectivity in interpretation. That’s not surprising as I have been working at the interpretation of conflict and contested histories. The importance of recognising perspective and prejudice is clear there.


Text writing in teams at the Royal Air Force Museum

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Writing the words for a major museum gallery is like climbing a mountain.  It is a dauntingly large task that can make even the strongest grow weary. It requires training, careful preparation, a good plan – and, I now know, it is altogether more joyous in good company. I know less than very little about […]


Writing about ‘home’ with the RSPB

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Last week I spent two very enjoyable and inspiring days with the RSPB.  I learned a lot, talked to lots of people and listened to more. By the end of it I understood more of the big picture about ‘giving nature a home’, that rallying cry that dyed-in the wool environmentalists so decry and criticise. […]


The Museum of Broken Relationships, breaking conventions

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In 2011 The Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb was awarded the Kenneth Hudson Prize for Most Innovative Museum in Europe. I visited it in December 2013. But is The Museum of Broken Relationships really a museum, I asked myself? I mean, seriously? Probably not seriously but, yes, a museum, albeit one teetering on the brink of definitions […]