Journey Through the Heart of England

Volume I in the World's Most Beautiful Waterways series, this is a nicely photographed journey down the canals and rivers of south central England. Starting in Worcester, the program moseys along, visiting historic sites and villages near Tewkesbury, Evesham, Stratford, Warwick, Napton Junction, Banbury, and Oxford, with lessons on the waterways' industrial uses passed on along the way. Introduced by David Suchet of Hercule Poirot fame, the tape presents a relaxing, unusual introduction to the “charm and beauty” of the areas in question, and despite the lack of a countrywide map on screen and no specific “here's when to travel” tips, this is still a pleasant-to-watch production that could be generally recommended for travel collections. I say could rather than is because the $99.99 price (discounted, according to the distributor, from the bizarre price of "$266.65") is way out of line for travel tapes (generally $19.95-$29.95), and the extraordinarily lame, typo-ridden video jacket only adds grammatical insult to financial injury. Also available in the series: The River Thames and Ireland. Aud: P. (K. Glaser)