All of our books are written by experts

All Northern Eye Books’ authors are experienced, full-time professional outdoors writers and members of the invitation-only Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild.

The OWPG is made up of many of the UK’s top writers, photographers and other creative professionals specialising in sustainable activities in the outdoors.

The directors and creators of the Top 10 Walks series are members of the OWPG too.

Sioned Bannister

Sioned has always loved the mountains and the sea and previously worked on the buying team at camping equipment manufacturer Gelert. She regularly contributes travel and outdoor features to Camping Magazine,  MMMCountry & Border Life and Welsh Coast magazine, and has previously written for Walking WalesReal Travel and Ethical Living Magazine.

Sioned manages blogs for several corporate clients, and is an OWPG member and editor of the OWPG website.

Fiona Barltrop

Fiona is a freelance outdoor writer and photographer, with a particular love for coastal walking. She has been a regular contributor to UK walking magazines, including The Great Outdoors and Country Walking, for many years. She is also a member of the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild and available for commissions.

Tony Bowerman

Tony started out in museums and worked as a publicity executive in the pharmaceuticals industry before becoming a freelance advertising copywriter. He later became a heritage and countryside interpretation consultant for national clients such as the National Trust, English Heritage, Forestry Commission, Cadw, RSPB, various Wildlife Trusts, county councils and many others. Over the years his site and city guides have been read by an estimated million and more people. He has written articles for The Countryman, Cheshire Life, Cheshire Times, North West Times and other magazines. He is also the award-winning author of several books including Walks in Mysterious Cheshire and the Official Guide:Walking Cheshire’s Sandstone Trail, and co-author of the Official Guide: Wales Coast Path: Llyn Peninsula.

Tony is a director and company secretary of Northern Eye Books Ltd, and a member of the OWPG.

Neil Coates

Neil is a geography graduate specialising in guidebooks, magazine and newspaper articles, interpretive booklets and leaflets in the countryside, heritage and travel sectors for a wide range of clients. He is widely experienced in desk, field and photo research and has travelled extensively in the Azores, Europe, USA, SE Asia and Australia.

He is a regular contributor to BBC Countryfile magazine, and an occasional writer for The Times Travel supplement (UK and overseas destinations), the Ramblers’ Walk magazine, and Country Walking.

Recent publications include Short Walks Cheshire & Gritstone EdgeHerefordshire & the Wye Valley. Crimson/OS Pathfinder Guide series contributor, including Shropshire & Staffordshire and South PenninesAA Family Walks & Cycle Rides – Peak DistrictAA Leisure Guides – Peak District, and Wales. He is also a major contributor to AA Room at The Inn,  Which? Pub GuideLes Routiers Pubs & Inns Guide, Sawday’s Pubs & Inns, the AA Pub Guide, and The Times Pubs of the Year feature & book.

Neil is a member of the OWPG.

Vivienne Crow

Vivienne is an award-winning freelance writer and photographer, specialising in all things to do with the outdoors. A journalist since 1990, she gave up her desk job as a newspaper sub-editor in 2001 to go travelling in Asia. On her return to the UK, she decided to focus on the activities she loves the most – hill-walking, writing, travelling and photography. Now, as well as writing guidebooks, she is a regular contributor to several magazines and newspapers, and she does copywriting/interpretation work for tourism and conservation bodies.

She is a regular contributor to Lakeland WalkerTGOCumbria and Motorcaravan Motorhome Monthly magazines. She writes weekly outdoors columns in The Cumberland News, the Times & Star and The Whitehaven News; and monthly walks for the News & Star newspaper. She has also contributed travel and outdoor features to The Sydney Morning HeraldScanorama (SAS’s inflight magazine), The Scotsman and several other titles.

Recent publications include Settle to Carlisle WayPub Walks (Top 10 Walks); Walks to Waterfalls (Top 10 Walks); Walks to Tarns (Top 10 Walks); Frommer’s Scotland, 12th edition, co-author with Lesley-Anne Rose and Michael Macaroon; Walking in Cumbria’s Eden Valley  – shortlisted for the Lakeland Book of the Year Awards 2012; Short Walks in the Lake DistrictEasy Rambles in the Langdale ValleysCadogan Britain: The Lake District – winner in the Best Guidebook category, OWPG Awards for Excellence, 2010; Easy Rambles Around Coniston and HawksheadEasy Rambles Around Patterdale and UllswaterEasy Rambles Around Keswick and BorrowdaleEasy Rambles Around Grasmere and Borrowdale; and a major contributor to Crimson Publishing’s The Best of Britain: The Lake District and Walk! The Lake District North.

Viv is also a keen member of the OWPG.

Steve Goodier

Steve Goodier is a freelance outdoor writer who specialises in The Lake District, Wales, Yorkshire and Scotland. He has been involved with the outdoor world for over twenty five years and is a keen fell walker and adventurist who has walked and climbed all over the world. He regularly writes for numerous outdoor magazines ranging from walking publications to camping and caravanning magazines.

Steve is a regular contributor to: Country Walking, Walking Wales, Dalesman, Cumbria, Lakeland Walker, Lakes and Cumbria Today, Camping magazines.

Recent books include: The Lure of The Lakes, Walks Around The Sandstone Ridge, Walks in The Shropshire Hills, Top Ten Walks: High Fells, and Top Ten Walks: Low Fells.

Steve is a member of the OWPG.

Dennis Kelsall

Dennis is a professional writer and photographer specialising in hill and countryside walking and tourist trails, themed to interests in natural and local history and architecture; author of guide, travel and general interest books, audio commentaries and regional newspaper and occasional magazine contributor; photographic coverage includes western European countries, India, Sri Lanka and Central America.

Recent publications include The Pembrokeshire Coastal PathWalking in PembrokeshireThe Ribble WayYorkshire Dales – North and WestDiscovery Walks in Warwickshire; with Jan Kelsall: Walks with Children in the Lake District: Ambleside and Grasmere, Kendal, Windermere; South Lakes; Pathfinder Guide Revisions – Peak District, Cambridgshire, Cardiff, Swansea and Gower, Short Walks in the Yorkshire DalesTake the Kids EnglandWalks through Britain’s History50 Walks in Northumberland50 Walks in the Lake DistrictPub Walks and Cycle Rides in the Cotswolds, Photographic Memories: North Somerset, South and West Somerset, Lancashire, Lancashire: a Second Selection.

Dennis is also the secretary of OWPG.

Frank Kew

Frank Kew is an established Blue Badge tour guide and overseas tour leader and writes professionally about history, walking and the outdoors.

He is the author of the new Top 10 Walks: Yorkshire Dales: Walks with History book, and is currently working on another title for Northern Eye Books.

Mark Richards

Mark Richards was brought up to be a Cotswold farmer, a career of fresh air and exercise, cattle and corn, which he pursued until he was almost forty. He then made the transition to full-time outdoor writer.

In his early twenties, Mark caught the bug of producing hand-drawn walking guides in the style of mentor Alfred Wainwright. He later moved to the best of all walking counties, Cumbria, to fulfill a life-long ambition to explore the Lakeland fells from tip to toe. In 2012, he completed the eighth and final title in his exemplary Lakeland Fellranger series.

He is the recent author of two related titles in the Top 10 Walks: Yorkshire Dales series — Fells and Dales.

Recent Publications include the comprehensive, award-winning Lakeland Fellranger series

CICERONE PRESS Lakeland Fellranger, The Northern Dales (published in October 2012)

Mark is a member of the OWPG.

 

Harri Roberts

Dr Harri Garrod Roberts has an academic background in literary studies and Welsh culture, including both an MA and a PhD in Welsh writing in English. He has contributed to The Babel Guide to Welsh Fiction and worked as a reviewer for the Welsh Internationalist magazine, Planet, and the Welsh literary journal, New Welsh Review. He has contributed articles to Walking Wales magazine and writes regularly for several online walking sites. He is a fluent Welsh speaker and works as a Welsh translator; he also has a part-time post in a tourist information centre in Caerleon.

Harri is also an OWPG member and one-time editor of their magazine, Outdoor Focus.

 Carl Rogers

Carl Rogers began rock climbing at the age of 12. Since then he has walked, scrambled and climbed extensively throughout North Wales, Cumbria and the Scottish Highlands, with occasional trips to the Alps. He worked in marketing as a graphic designer and photographer for 20 years before moving into publishing in 2003. He is the author of more than twenty walking books and a director of Northern Eye Books, the creators and designers of the Top 10 Walks books.

Recent publications include Mountain & Hill Walking in Snowdonia Vols 1 & 2; Snowdonia’s Best Mountain Walks; the Isle of Anglesey Coastal Path — Official Guide; and Wales Coast Path: Top 10 Walks: Llyn Peninsula.

Carl is a committee member of the OWPG.