A TRAVEL writer who was born in Ghana and grew up in Yorkshire has just published his latest ebook.

Takoradi to the stars (via Huddersfield) is a quirky take on travel writing by Pickering-based writer Jules Brown.

He said: “I’m a long-time Rough Guide author and travel writer for over 30 years, writing guidebooks and features for publishers, newspapers, magazines, blogs and websites.

“I like to think that I’ve made a living writing the world – in notebooks, guidebooks and magazines, but also on laptops, phones and postcards, the backs of lunch receipts, the margins of tourist brochures, and the edges of maps and museum entrance tickets.

“Anywhere, in fact, that I could scribble something down and turn it into a story that others might read.”

Jules said he made his first solo trip around Europe aged 17, and has been been travelling and writing professionally since he was 23.

“I’ve written and edited lots of guidebooks, and if you’ve ever been to Spain, Portugal, Italy, Scandinavia, the UK, USA, Hong Kong or New Zealand, I may have helped you out with a hotel or restaurant recommendation along the way,” he said.

“I’ve also written widely for newspapers, magazines, blogs and websites, and I’m a consultant for the best-of-UK-travel website Cool Places.”

Jules said: “Over the years I’ve gone backpacker-style and first class, climbed volcanoes, splashed in warm oceans, driven across Australia, helicoptered over the Niagara Falls, searched for the Loch Ness monster, and lived for varying times in Portugal, Hong Kong, Sicily and New Zealand. I’ve also been robbed, got lost, fallen in and off things, and eaten a jellyfish - and a puffin.”

His latest book is described as a “heartwarming search for home and identity by a seasoned traveller with a quirky take on travel writing”.

Jules said: “The journey starts in Takoradi, Ghana, in West Africa, where I was born, and then ventures out around the world from the English town of Huddersfield where I grew up.

“These two unsung places are the sort of towns that people leave, especially if they have travel in their blood.

“They have nothing in common, except for me, but the further I’ve travelled from both, the more I’ve wondered where home – and heart – lies.”

For more information, visit julestoldme.com