ABOUT TRAVEL JUNKIE GIRL

A UK travel blogger with a passion for arts, culture and heritage and a love of the Great Outdoors. A proponent for slow travel, Travel Junkie Girl seeks ‘off the beaten track’ places whilst indulging in a touch of affordable luxury.

Discover all about Tilly Jaye Horseman from Travel Junkie Girl - a UK travel blogger with a passion for the arts, culture and heritage and a love of the Great Outdoors. She is a proponent for slow travel, seeking 'off the beaten track' places whilst indulging in a touch of affordable luxury.
Cruising along the River Elbe in Hamburg

Hey there reader…

First of all – I want to say thank you for landing on my blog, and if you’re here, you obviously want to know a little bit more about me and what you’ll find on Travel Junkie Girl.

My Kind of Travel and Writing

My name is Tilly Jaye, aka Travel Junkie Girl and I’m a UK travel blogger with a passion for anything arty and cultural – my list of interests is sky high!

I am also an artist and craftsperson – I draw, I paint, I sew and I’m a cross-stitch fiend. I love embroidery and create all sorts of handmade textile fine art cards and gifts. Oh, and I have a slightly unhealthy love of jigsaws.

Discover all about Tilly Jaye Horseman from Travel Junkie Girl - a UK travel blogger with a passion for the arts, culture and heritage and a love of the Great Outdoors. She is a proponent for slow travel, seeking 'off the beaten track' places whilst indulging in a touch of affordable luxury.
Definitely one of the best viewpoints in all of Bilbao

I have a passion for photography and am definitely a self confessed travel junkie! I adore being outdoors too – wandering the millions of footpaths criss-crossing the UK with an OS map in hand and until recently a dog by my side. Unfortunately I lost my beloved pooch Roger suddenly to cancer in April 2020. You can read all about my favourite travels with Roger here.

Discover all about Tilly Jaye Horseman from Travel Junkie Girl - a UK travel blogger with a passion for the arts, culture and heritage and a love of the Great Outdoors. She is a proponent for slow travel, seeking 'off the beaten track' places whilst indulging in a touch of affordable luxury.
One of my favourite snaps with Roger whilst on a walk in the Lune Valley, Lancashire

I write predominantly about the UK as I love my home country so much, but I do venture out into continental Europe from time to time too.

I find that as a massive culture buff, I am addicted to European travel as our cultures are so varied. As a result I have not travelled beyond Europe and North America (YET!)

I love really getting immersed in a place, so the concept of slow travel is hugely appealing to me, spending weeks in a place, rather than days. I regularly go back to places I’ve been before just to see and do more there and to feel like I’ve really discovered a place. I’m not one for rushing through a tick list or country counting.

Discover all about Tilly Jaye Horseman from Travel Junkie Girl - a UK travel blogger with a passion for the arts, culture and heritage and a love of the Great Outdoors. She is a proponent for slow travel, seeking 'off the beaten track' places whilst indulging in a touch of affordable luxury.
Looking out over Oxford from St Mary’s Church tower

I am a good ole English Northerner so on my blog you’ll find a huge focus on Cheshire (where I live) and the North of England and Wales. And I’m afraid to say I’m a perfectionist, which I’m sure all other perfectionists will concur is both a blessing and a curse. (Cheers Dad for passing on that trait!) I won’t feel like I’ve finished my post and done a place justice if I haven’t gone in to detail providing lots of relevant information – my posts regularly top 3000 words!

My Background

My creativity definitely spurned this innate need to travel. From an early age, my creativity showed itself in all sorts of forms – playing instruments (flute and piano), amateur dramatics, reading, writing, drawing, painting and making things, from bat boxes (one wet and windy day) to candles. It became obvious as time went on that Art was my thing and I was good at it!

I was lucky enough to have parents who drove me around the country to see exhibitions and after spending a couple of hours in a gallery somewhere, we’d go and explore the local area – often a city.

Discover all about Tilly Jaye Horseman from Travel Junkie Girl - a UK travel blogger with a passion for the arts, culture and heritage and a love of the Great Outdoors. She is a proponent for slow travel, seeking 'off the beaten track' places whilst indulging in a touch of affordable luxury.
On a city break in Nottingham… and a city break will always involve a museum or gallery.

I became interested in Land Art and forms in the natural environment and spent many years and most weekends visiting different landscapes and sites from stone circles such as Castlerigg in Cumbria to the weird and wonderful rock formations of Brimham Rocks in Yorkshire.

Discover all about Tilly Jaye Horseman from Travel Junkie Girl - a UK travel blogger with a passion for the arts, culture and heritage and a love of the Great Outdoors. She is a proponent for slow travel, seeking 'off the beaten track' places whilst indulging in a touch of affordable luxury.
The Rollright Stones in Oxfordshire
Discover all about Tilly Jaye Horseman from Travel Junkie Girl - a UK travel blogger with a passion for the arts, culture and heritage and a love of the Great Outdoors. She is a proponent for slow travel, seeking 'off the beaten track' places whilst indulging in a touch of affordable luxury.
Brimham Rocks, North Yorkshire

You could regularly find me trailing round sculpture parks like those at Grizedale Forest in Cumbria and The Yorkshire Sculpture Park. In fact you can pretty much rely on me to stumble across something sculpture related no matter where I go! More recently I’ve become addicted to sculpture trails and I travel all around the UK following many of them in a year.

Discover all about Tilly Jaye Horseman from Travel Junkie Girl - a UK travel blogger with a passion for the arts, culture and heritage and a love of the Great Outdoors. She is a proponent for slow travel, seeking 'off the beaten track' places whilst indulging in a touch of affordable luxury.
Some of the various sculpture trails I’ve followed in the UK
Discover all about Tilly Jaye Horseman from Travel Junkie Girl - a UK travel blogger with a passion for the arts, culture and heritage and a love of the Great Outdoors. She is a proponent for slow travel, seeking 'off the beaten track' places whilst indulging in a touch of affordable luxury.
Finding sculptures in San Sebastian
Discover all about Tilly Jaye Horseman from Travel Junkie Girl - a UK travel blogger with a passion for the arts, culture and heritage and a love of the Great Outdoors. She is a proponent for slow travel, seeking 'off the beaten track' places whilst indulging in a touch of affordable luxury.
Yes, I can even find a sculpture in a forest!

After excelling at Art and Design in school, I completed an Art Foundation Course, then went on to study Contemporary Crafts at university. Through these I developed a love of architecture, culture and heritage; visiting castles, stately homes, historic sites and cathedrals and taking out memberships with the National Trust, English Heritage and the Historic Houses Association.

Discover all about Tilly Jaye Horseman from Travel Junkie Girl - a UK travel blogger with a passion for the arts, culture and heritage and a love of the Great Outdoors. She is a proponent for slow travel, seeking 'off the beaten track' places whilst indulging in a touch of affordable luxury.
Exploring Avebury Manor, Wiltshire (National Trust)
Discover all about Tilly Jaye Horseman from Travel Junkie Girl - a UK travel blogger with a passion for the arts, culture and heritage and a love of the Great Outdoors. She is a proponent for slow travel, seeking 'off the beaten track' places whilst indulging in a touch of affordable luxury.
It was a freezing day when I visited Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire (H.H.A.)

My love of Art took me to cities the world over to visit galleries and museums, from L’Accademia in Venice to the Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Kelvingrove in Glasgow and the Guggenheim in both New York and Bilbao. This fuelled my love of a good city break, immersing myself in the culture and heritage of the place, eating the local food and meeting the local people. And we certainly have a wealth of different cultures in Europe – I never get bored!

Discover all about Tilly Jaye Horseman from Travel Junkie Girl - a UK travel blogger with a passion for the arts, culture and heritage and a love of the Great Outdoors. She is a proponent for slow travel, seeking 'off the beaten track' places whilst indulging in a touch of affordable luxury.
Love the floral Scottie Dog at The Guggenheim in Bilbao
Discover all about Tilly Jaye Horseman from Travel Junkie Girl - a UK travel blogger with a passion for the arts, culture and heritage and a love of the Great Outdoors. She is a proponent for slow travel, seeking 'off the beaten track' places whilst indulging in a touch of affordable luxury.
Having fun with the Time Mirror installation at Blackwell House, Cumbria

Why I love Great Britain so Much

I could never understand it when I heard my peers saying they were bored during holidays and at weekends when there are so many exciting things to do, see and experience in the world. And despite their grumblings to the contrary, such things didn’t have to cost a fortune, or require travel to all corners of the globe. Great Britain: the world in miniature is on our doorstep and is so accessible to all.

Discover all about Tilly Jaye Horseman from Travel Junkie Girl - a UK travel blogger with a passion for the arts, culture and heritage and a love of the Great Outdoors. She is a proponent for slow travel, seeking 'off the beaten track' places whilst indulging in a touch of affordable luxury.
Barmouth Beach, Wales

And what is Great Britain particularly rich in? The Great Outdoors!

I love being outdoors: country walking and particularly fell walking with my Dad. As a family, we love the English Lake District and trekking to waterfalls countrywide.

I walk for the views, the landscapes, the cloudscapes, the cityscapes, the seascapes and the colour: the vibrant yellow of gorse rich landscapes in spring, summery oil seed rape fields, the reds and golds of autumnal woods and a breathtakingly warm sunset. All have their own unique charm and I love capturing it all on camera.

Discover all about Tilly Jaye Horseman from Travel Junkie Girl - a UK travel blogger with a passion for the arts, culture and heritage and a love of the Great Outdoors. She is a proponent for slow travel, seeking 'off the beaten track' places whilst indulging in a touch of affordable luxury.
Walking up High Cup Nick in the Eden Valley, Cumbria
Discover all about Tilly Jaye Horseman from Travel Junkie Girl - a UK travel blogger with a passion for the arts, culture and heritage and a love of the Great Outdoors. She is a proponent for slow travel, seeking 'off the beaten track' places whilst indulging in a touch of affordable luxury.
Love walking in the English Lake District
Discover all about Tilly Jaye Horseman from Travel Junkie Girl - a UK travel blogger with a passion for the arts, culture and heritage and a love of the Great Outdoors. She is a proponent for slow travel, seeking 'off the beaten track' places whilst indulging in a touch of affordable luxury.
Autumn is my favourite time of year for all the fiery colours our foliage turns.

I even love the English weather! Wow – now that’s a controversial statement…! After all – it is our unpredictable weather that gives us such moody cloudscapes, not to mention waterfalls in spate.

So – Why a Blog?

As writing is also a passion of mine – writing stories as a child, postcards to practically everyone I knew when on holidays, monthly letters to my grandparents, a hopelessly devoted pen-pal to many, a (weird) love of writing essays at school and uni, commercial script-writing for many years; and now creatively writing short stories, I’m amazed I didn’t start blogging sooner.

I enjoy bringing my experiences to life via the written word, complimented with outstanding photography. I have recently invested in a Nikon D750 camera as well as a Pixel 3 (which I love for taking photos) If I can spread just a fraction of the joy I feel in doing all this to you, I’ll be a happy bunny!

Discover all about Tilly Jaye Horseman from Travel Junkie Girl - a UK travel blogger with a passion for the arts, culture and heritage and a love of the Great Outdoors. She is a proponent for slow travel, seeking 'off the beaten track' places whilst indulging in a touch of affordable luxury.
Trying out my Nikon D750 in Hamburg

Some of my Favourite and Most Read Posts

I started Travel Junkie Girl in June 2016 – I can’t believe I’ve been doing this for 4 years. I have had a few breaks along the way due to health issues but am still going strong.

Here are some of my most popular posts:

Discover all about Tilly Jaye Horseman from Travel Junkie Girl - a UK travel blogger with a passion for the arts, culture and heritage and a love of the Great Outdoors. She is a proponent for slow travel, seeking 'off the beaten track' places whilst indulging in a touch of affordable luxury.
I saw the Knife Angel on its first unveiling in Liverpool

The Knife Angel – a contemporary sculpture and monumental memorial that is touring the UK – see if it’s coming to a town or city near you…

Penshaw Monument – the Greek Temple of North East England

Walking amongst the Iron Men at Crosby Beach in Merseyside

Exploring Brimham Rocks in the Snow

Discovering Hamburg in Autumn

Discover all about Tilly Jaye Horseman from Travel Junkie Girl - a UK travel blogger with a passion for the arts, culture and heritage and a love of the Great Outdoors. She is a proponent for slow travel, seeking 'off the beaten track' places whilst indulging in a touch of affordable luxury.
Botanical Gardens in Hamburg

Other Travel Writing Contributions

I have contributed travel pieces to various other websites and have seen my work in print in Nottingham’s ‘IN Nottingham’ Magazine, contributing regularly through 2018/19.

Most recently I contributed to website Your Parking Space (an excellent source for finding and booking parking in the UK) who regularly feature write up’s on the Top UK Attractions and Destinations to Visit. You’ll find my favourite Yorkshire location of Brimham Rocks amongst many other fabulous UK destinations.

I am particularly proud of a piece I put together for European Interrailing Package Company: Euroventure on A Culture Seeker’s Guide to Brussels – Brussels is a city that for some reason just makes me want to return to again and again, which I have… but I still want to go back, just once more I promise!

A Travel Junkie Girl!

I guess through my site I aim to be a travel guide…

I’d love to be considered a travel guru one day….

But right now I’m most definitely…

A Travel Junkie Girl!

Discover all about Tilly Jaye Horseman from Travel Junkie Girl - a UK travel blogger with a passion for the arts, culture and heritage and a love of the Great Outdoors. She is a proponent for slow travel, seeking 'off the beaten track' places whilst indulging in a touch of affordable luxury.
In Lanzarote with the (long suffering, wait while I take a million photos) hubby: Mr TJG, November 2018

If you would like to receive email updates when my blogs go live, you can sign up in the side bar to the right, or if you’re on your phone, just scroll a little further down and it’s right there below my piccie!

If you’d like to discuss a collaboration or just stop by to say hi, you can contact me here or drop me an email at tilly@traveljunkiegirl.com

And of course – you can find me on all your favourite social media platforms – on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. I don’t know about you but Twitter is my fave!

Thank you for reading…

love Tilly Jaye x

Portrait of UK travel blogger Travel Junkie Girl in San Sebastian, Spain

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Portrait of UK travel blogger Travel Junkie Girl in San Sebastian, Spain

WANT MORE?

SIGN UP TO RECEIVE MY MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FULL OF TRAVEL TIPS & MY LATEST BLOG NEWS, PLUS LOTS OF U.K. TRAVEL INSPIRATION!

By subscribing, you agree to receive our marketing materials by email. I promise we don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more information.