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A Crocodile Tale | Dea Birkett

Amongst these dinosaurian beasts, horses were keeping cool in the hazy, humid heat, by standing knee deep in the shallow water. They warned off the crocodiles with no more than an irritated flick of their tail

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Family Holiday: Ireland | Dea Birkett

There are ruins punctuating the fields along the roadside - of abbeys, castles and old houses - so much more exciting for children to clamber over than a regular climbing frame in a boring old park

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Family Holiday: Thailand | Dea Birkett | Thailand, Bangkok, Bangkok

"Not cul-ture," moaned my 11-year-old. In her pre-teen drawl, culture sounded like a swear word. "You're always wanting to do that sort of thing. It's so bor-ing. Why can't we hang out on the beach?"

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Finland | Dea Birkett | Finland, Helsinki and the South, Kuopio

We pretended we were Swiss Family Robinson, surviving in the wilderness all on our own, picking mushrooms as big as dinner plates from the path down to our pontoon

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Husky Sledging from Finland to Russia | Dea Birkett

It was a little like riding a roller coaster blindfold. The track dashed through the thick forest, and even the weak headlamp only cast up strange shadows. You had to put all your faith in the dogs

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Krakow | Dea Birkett | Poland, Krakow, Krakow

Krakow may be Poland's second city in terms of size, but in things spiritual, artistic, and cultural it's indisputably number one. No other city has so many historic monuments, or such a vast collection of works of art

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Matera | Dea Birkett | Italy, Basilicata, Matera

Since the sixth century the citizens of this lonely southern Italian city have been troglodytes. They have wandered out into the fierce sun to shepherd and sow wheat, and retreated into their cave dwellings at night

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Returning to Croatia | Dea Birkett | Croatia, Dalmatia and the Adriatic Islands, Dubrovnik

On the Placa - the main, broad, café-lined street - I can spot it's chequered past in the cobbles, where the old stones, polished by centuries of feet, shine brighter than those that have been newly laid to fill the gaps

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The Baths of Budapest | Dea Birkett | Hungary, Budapest, Budapest

Aaaaah. Mmmmm. I was in ecstasy. My body felt exquisite, my limbs as loose a rag doll's. My skin was as soft as a Persian carpet. I was indulging in the torrid heat of a thermal bath...

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The Chesapeake Circle | Dea Birkett | United States, Maryland, Chesapeake Circle

Our route wound through small places of character and ragged charm; there are no surfing beaches, but small towns framed by working water bobbing with small boats

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The Stockholm Archipelago | Dea Birkett | Sweden, Stockholm, Runo

In the winter, the brackish Baltic Sea freezes, and the only way out of Runo is a treacherous walk over the ice. But in the summer, a tiny boat-taxi took us from Stavanas on the mainland

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