Nick Redmayne: Travel Writer, Tourism Consultant, Copywriter

I knew of Nick before I met him, and well before we moved to Rothbury. I had heard him many times on one of my favourite radio programmes: 'From Our Own Correspondent'. Highlighting journalists and writers from around the world, this programme offers insight and analysis in an entertaining and informative format.

In these programmes, Nick speaks to us from, say, Rodrigues or from the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh, and many other far away places. He has a self-effacing, quiet way, and I like how he quickly gets to the heart of the issue he is covering.
He sets the scene in terms of what it looks and feels like in the area. Then explains, in an authoritative yet friendly voice, about the people in the place, and what the issues are for them. Often carefully showing us different points of view.

Nick's specialises in writing about emerging, often post-conflict tourism destinations.
He won first prize in the Malta International Tourism Press Awards writing about Europe's smallest capital.

Nick was born in 1966, in Carlisle. He spent his early years in Penrith. He doesn't feel his was a particularly 'creative' family, apart from his father's mother, his 'Preston Nana' who, Nick tells me, 'was a colourful woman in her life and in her paintings'. Nick recalls that his father could draw, and tells me his sisters have, in latter years, 'discovered an aptitude for painting'.

Nick enjoyed History and Literature at school, which makes sense in terms of his career. He doesn't know why, however, he ended up studying environmental science.

His time as a young man working, hiking, and living, in Sudan, during his formative years, he feels was important to who he is now, as a writer.

Dubai, October 2025.

Travelling to, and writing about, probably over 90 countries is seriously impressive. Nick is able to speak "working French, basic Italian, and travelers' colloquial Arabic'. "The value of language endures beyond school exams, something not emphasised enough in Britain. Communication between people and cultures is really valuable".

What would you never leave home without? "A notebook, camera, and Dollars'.

I ask Nick to tell me about any dangerous situations he has found himself in:

"I've avoided what I'd consider 'dangerous' situations. I do trust my instincts. I've learnt to do this. Benghazi during the Libyan revolution didn't feel unsafe. Even after the US ambassador was killed the city returned to being safer than parts of Europe. However, I was aware these were limited windows of opportunity and that the future was uncertain".

Favourite destinations for Nick include Sinai (Egypt) - "a surprising place even for Egyptians. Sinai is NOT Sharm el Sheik, it's Bedouin culture, pilgrimage trails and mountains".

Least favourite: "Qatar, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Cultural deserts in the Gulf. Glittering skyscrapers, temples to consumerism and vulgarity".

I ask which travel writer he enjoys reading, and he chooses Graham Greene, whose work he describes: 'Humour, intrigue, politics combined in compelling prose'.

Gembu in Nigeria. Not many foreigners visit Gembu.

Nick is great at his job, because he has a genuine interest and empathy which allows him to gain trust and insight into whoever he is interviewing. He tells me that the most important qualities a travel writer needs, however, is 'The ability to survive on limited sleep, and industrial doses of immodium"!

"Abidjan: After the rain. Farther along this road, I gnawed pieces of cooked cow meat sold from a bowl carried aloft on the head of a young woman. Nearby, agglomerations of Giant African Land Snails awaited the inevitable. Elsewhere, chickens dangling by their feet, were occasionally roused into a futile ruffling of feathers. Life can be brutal"

Nick moved to Rothbury in 2014, the same year that we did. It was great (for me) to meet this fabulous travel writer.

He has done a lot within Rothbury to help Ukrainians.

He wrote, in 2023: "'Ukraine is suffering an existential threat. Those Ukrainians who have grown up since 1991 and the collapse of the Soviet Union look towards Europe and liberal European ideals of freedom and liberty. The alternative, if Russia's invasion succeeds, is a return to a quasi-Soviet sphere characterised by an authoritarian gangster state where there's no truth, no free press and political opposition figures are either in prison or dead. The choice is that simple".

Nick succeeded in raising funds to purchase a fire engine, which he, and a co-driver, delivered to Lviv in May 2023. Nick loaded it with medical aid supplies and donations and gave it all to the Ukrainian emergency services.

"Marjorie" - named after Nick's Mum.
Read more about this story.

You can follow Nick on Instagram

Photo credit: Lorne Campbell/Guzelian
Nick has become an amateur radio enthusiast. Read about him and his hobby. (Paywall)