book gifts – The Extra Mile

Posted on 05/06/202505/06/2025 by The Extra Mile

Win a Devon escape – last chance!

Win 2 nights in Devon - competition blog post header

Competition ends 8 June. ENTER NOW!

Our competition has been running over on Instagram for a wee while now so we’re giving it a final boost…and you a final chance to enter. Here’s what the prize includes, and it’s a good-un…

Win a pitch for two nights at Ocean Pitch, Croyde; a £50 voucher for Biffen’s Kitchen; a £50 cinema voucher; plus copies of bestsellers The Coastal Café Guide (from Extra Mile Books) and The Salt Path.

🌊🌊🌊 TO ENTER 🌊🌊🌊

1. FOLLOW @extramilebooks on Instagram and LIKE the Competition post
2. FOLLOW @oceanpitch on Insta
3. FOLLOW @biffenskitchen on Insta

🌊🌊🌊 THE PRIZE 🌊🌊🌊

🌊 SLEEP: A pitch for 2 nights for 2 people at Croyde Bay’s Ocean Pitch Campsite, Devon (bring own van/ tent etc)

🌊 EAT: £50 in vouchers to spend at Biffen’s Kitchen Food Truck (on-site at Ocean Pitch)

🌊 WATCH: £50 Cinema Vouchers to see The Salt Path? The Surfer? Your call…

🌊 READ: A copy of #1 bestsellers: The Coastal Cafe Guide from Extra Mile Books, The Salt Path by Raynor Winn

🌊🌊🌊 GOOD LUCK! 🌊🌊🌊

🌊 TERMS AND CONDITIONS
One winner will be chosen at random from competition post ‘Likes’ on @extramilebooks’ Instagram page, on 09.06.25. Deadline for entrants: 23:59 on 08.06.2025. To be valid, the entrant must have ‘Followed’ @extramilebooks, @oceanpitch, + @biffenskitchen on Instagram. The winner will be contacted via Instagram DM and has five calendar days to respond or they will forfeit their right to the prize and a second random winner will be drawn and contacted. The Ocean Pitch and Biffen’s Kitchen prizes must be taken during the same consecutive two-day period. No cash equivalent or part-refunds will be offered. Ocean Pitch camping dates are subject to pitch availability. Weekend availability is very low until September but any available dates including mid-week dates are permitted. Prize valid for bookings with Ocean Pitch for dates until end Sept 2025. No purchase necessary. Entrants must be resident in the UK and be at least 18 years of age. No monetary equivalent offered. No transport or other costs are included. This prize is not transferrable unless agreed with Extra Mile Books. This giveaway is run by Extra Mile Books (www.theextramile.guide). It is not affiliated with Meta, Facebook, or Instagram in any way. Please send any Qs to the organisers: hello@extramilebooks.co.uk.

A Coastal Campsite of the Year

Ocean Pitch is a brilliant, surf’s-edge campsite in Croyde Bay, Devon. This spot is world-renowned for its perfect waves (and Ocean Pitch is renowned for its epic staff!). As if that’s not enough, the competition winner also gets £50 credit at Biffen’s Kitchen. The legend of his pinkled onions alone is enough to keep hungry surfers coming back year after year. We’re also throwing in £50 in cinema vouchers – tell us your closest complex or indie cinema and we’ll sort that bit out just for you.

Click to watch the competition film:

Enter The Coastal Café Guide's competition below

If you need a break and an escape to the edges of the country (whether you win the competition or not!) you might just need The Coastal Café Guide. It’s packed with around 150 places to eat near the sea, from beach eats to fancier, fishier restaurants, to cool, surf-inspired shacks like the hidden gem that is Biffen’s Kitchen, at Ocean Pitch, Croyde. To browse this or any of our other guides, see below.

Posted on 04/06/202505/06/2025 by The Extra Mile

The Joy of Getting Slightly Lost

The lost joy of getting slightly lost: why paper guides still matter

We’ve all been there, following the blue dot on a phone–screen, eyes down, marching toward the next café, viewpoint, or farm shop with barely a glance at what’s around us. Efficient? Maybe. But satisfying? Not always. In a world of digital maps and algorithm-driven reviews, we’ve lost something quietly magical: the joy of getting slightly lost.

The beauty of the detour

One of the best things about slow travel – especially along Britain’s coast or countryside – is its unpredictability. The winding lane that wasn’t on the route? It might lead to a family-run café with the best crab sandwich you’ve ever had. That missed turnoff? You could stumble across a beach no App has reviewed (yet). Paper guides – the kind you can hold in your hands, scribble notes in, and spill coffee on – invite this kind of discovery. They don’t demand your attention. They suggest, rather than dictate. And they leave space for chance.

Screens don’t make memories

Phones are useful. We won’t deny that. But they tend to flatten the experience: screen glow, search results, star ratings. You arrive knowing exactly what to expect because you’ve seen it all in advance: the buildings, the meals, the platters, the views.

With a paper guide, you arrive hoping for something, often finding more than you bargained for. There’s been no hype, no amped expectation, no Instagram filters. This allows you to discover the place as it truly is, so you’ll meet real people, producers and farmers, often selling their own homemade food for your enjoyment. This isn’t sat-navigation: it’s adventure.

Why we still make printed guides

At a time when almost everything is online, we deliberately make real guides: designed to be enjoyed offline. They are beautiful, colourful, high calibre books: carbon-neutral print products made with vegetable inks and using certified paper from carefully managed forests.

They don’t need signal. They have no batteries to die, no pop-ups to annoy, no notifications to cause you stress. Just pages packed with handpicked, characterful places, some of which we’ve got very lost trying to find.

We believe there’s something grounding about unfolding a map or drifting through a guidebook, circling a café, ear-marking a page, or flipping through pages over breakfast to plan your next stop. It’s a type of travel that invites you to stay present… and sometimes to go off course.

So go on. Get a little lost

Next time you hit the road, leave the SatNav off for a while. Let your finger trace a route across a page. Embrace the scenic way. Look out for high points, viewpoints, nature reserves, picnic bench signs, car parks atop cliffs. And if you take a wrong turn or it takes ten minutes longer than planned, don’t panic; that’s where the best stories often begin.

Gift a guidebook today

Our printed guides, The Extra Mile, The Farm Shop Guide, and The Coastal Café Guide, are packed with brilliant places that are worth getting slightly lost for. They are also ideal gifts, especially for people who prefer the real world to the digital one, or who prefer books to screens.

‘You can’t wrap an app’ as we like to say, but you can gift a lovely guidebook, ready to create countless foodie memories for your recipient as they follow their tummies and noses around Britain in search of good, honest, local food, with a little bit of adventure thrown in.

Explore Extra Mile Books’ full collection of guides below.

Posted on 29/05/202527/05/2025 by The Extra Mile

Beyond the Big Chains

Betty Berkins cafe, an independent cafe in The Extra Mile

Why independent motorway stops-offs matter

When you’re halfway through a long drive and your stomach starts to rumble, the default is often a motorway service station: convenient, predictable, and usually forgettable. But what if there were a better way to break your journey? One that supported local communities, served better food, and added character to your trip?

Welcome to The Extra Mile: a curated guide to delicious, independent places to eat near UK motorway and main-road junctions. We believe that taking the scenic (and tasty) detour is about more than just what’s on your plate; it’s also about whom and what you support along the way.

Image above (c) Betty Berkins

The trouble with chain services

Let’s face it: the average motorway service station is hardly known for its individuality and charm. From lukewarm fries to overpriced coffee, chain-dominated services tend to serve up convenience somewhat at the cost of character.

Many service stations are owned by a handful of large operators, meaning that their profits leave the local area and sometimes the country, even though the services themselves may be located in the heart of Britain’s rural communities.

Why do independent food stops matter?

1. Better food, made with care

Independent cafés, bakeries, and farm shops near motorways often use fresh, local ingredients. Many make everything from scratch, from sourdough toasties to homemade cakes and seasonal soups.

2. They support local economies

When you stop at a family-run café or regional farm shop, you’re keeping money in the local community. That means more local jobs, stronger rural economies, flourishing local food and drinks producers, and thriving high streets.

(Certain services brands, i.e. the Westmorland company’s Gloucester, Tebay, and Cairn Lodge services, act in a way that is more akin to independently run pit-stops, and are notable exceptions to the general rule of motorway services’ profits leaving the area. Each of the Westmorland trio supports hundreds of local farmers and food producers by stocking and introducing their goods to their millions of annual visitors.)

3. A more memorable journey

Nobody reminisces about that generic burger they grabbed at the services just off Junction 18 that time. But taking a one mile detour to stop at a converted barn café or a friendly farm shop with goats and garden tables? That becomes part of the story.

4. Lower your travel footprint

Many of the places featured in The Extra Mile: Delicious Alternatives to Motorway Services keep their eyes sharply on their carbon footprint and sustainability efforts. They buy local produce to reduce food miles, offer EV chargers, or work hard to reduce their packaging use.

Taking the detour is easier than you think

All the venues in The Extra Mile are within 15 minutes of a motorway or main A-road junction (most are a lot closer or within a few minutes). This means better food without a major diversion, plus the satisfaction of skipping limp chips and queues in sterile food halls.

From artisan bakeries off the M5 to coastal cafés just beyond the A30, there’s a better alternative waiting just off your route.

Find your next ‘new favourite’ food stop

The Extra Mile: Delicious Alternatives to Motorway Services is your glovebox guide to over 275 independent, welcoming venues across Britain, including cafés, pubs, farm shops, and delis that are well worth a small detour.

If you’re ready to swap the service station sandwich for something made with love, order your copy of The Extra Mile and discover the tastier side of travel. Extra Mile Books now also publishes The Farm Shop Guide and The Coastal Café Guide, so you can branch out and continue enjoying adventures in local food from the heart of rural Britain to the salty edges of our island.

Posted on 07/11/202409/12/2024 by The Extra Mile

OUR TOP SEASIDE LIDOS AND MARINE LAKES IN THE UK

The 1920s and 1930s were boom decades for Britain’s seaside lido. Having fallen out of favour for a few years, the UK’s beloved lidos are back in vogue, with many being restored and reopened to the public. Now that wild swimming and cold-water swimming are surging in popularity (and, let’s face it, the coast never goes out of style), here are some of our favourite spots for enjoying sunshine and an open-air dip without being at the mercy of the waves. Love an open-air or sea swim while at the coast? You’ll love our best-selling and eminently giftable book: The Coastal Café Guide.

1. Looking for a lido in Plymouth? Head to Tinside Lido

A classic Art Deco complex right on the harbour under the stripey tower of Plymouth’s Hoe, the Tinside Lido is an iconic spot to splash in the water or bask on the sundeck. At 55m wide, there’s plenty of space, even on hot days. The perfect spot for some near-sea swimming in Plymouth.

2. Seeking an al fresco dip in Brixham? Shoalstone Seawater Pool, Devon

Brixham’s answer to Bondi, this seawater lido dates back to the 1890s with views over Torbay. Entry is free but please do be generous with donations – a campaign is currently underway to fix a growing crack in the 1920s foundations. Pop into the Shoals restaurant alongside to enjoy fresh seafood, or take a picnic poolside.

3. The UK's largest seawater pool: Jubilee Pool, Cornwall

This is the UK’s largest seawater swimming pool, and is now geothermally heated (although not the main pool). It was built by the good people of Penzance to commemorate King George V’s Silver Jubilee, and what a way to mark it. We recommend trying the plastic-free café, booking in for a twilight swim, or warming up with a sauna session.

4. Looking for a lovely lido in North Somerset? Portishead Open Air Pool

One of our locals at Coastal Café HQ, the Portishead lido has a special place in our hearts as the host of many a childhood summer day’s adventure. It was originally opened in 1962 and was renovated in 2008, adding jolly colours to the original concrete. It’s heated… except in winter when hardy souls can try the cold water Popsicle. With sea swimming made difficult by challenging tides around these parts, the lido is the ideal place to get an outdoor swim in at any time of year. If there’s someone in your life who loves visiting the coast, have a copy of The Coastal Café Guide in reserve for their next birthday. Coffee and cakes are on them!

5. Cold water swimming in Scotland at Stonehaven Open Air Pool, Aberdeenshire

Outdoor swimmers love this Olympic-sized seawater pool that’s strung with bunting and edged by a colourful pavilion. The paddling pool and water chute were added more recently, and it’s heated, so it’s fun for all the family. This is a lovely spot to pass sunny summer days for everyone who loves nothing more than an outdoor swim.

6. A vintage lido experience at Lymington Sea Water Baths, Hampshire

Proudly one of the oldest lidos in the UK, Lymington Sea Water Baths traces its history back to 1833. Today, they are council-owned and offer swimming, inflatable obstacle courses, and stand-up paddle boarding with views over to the Isle of Wight.

7. Fancy outdoor swimming in Brighton? Saltdean Lido, Brighton & Hove

An elegant seaside lido that has been recently restored to its former glory. Swim in the 40m heated pool, let the kids loose in the splash pool, or loll on the lawn alongside for a spot of sunbathing. Dogs are not normally allowed, but check at the end of season when a special ‘Dogtember’ day is run for furry water lovers. When the renovation is complete, the main building will also offer a café, library, and co-working space.