I’ve been thinking about changing the name of my blog for some time. Of course, having spent nearly five years establishing the name, it’s not something to do on the spur of the moment. But well, it did seem that when I started out I chose a rather cumbersome name. Even if it did sum up what I planned to write about. When people ask me the name of my blog, I can’t help feeling it’s a bit awkward saying the whole ‘the single gourmet and traveller’. Something more simple was called for. But that wasn’t the only reason.

I have over 1,500 followers on Twitter where I’m known as ‘travel_gourmet’ and I thought it was a good idea to coordinate and use the same name for the blog. My Twitter account is pretty much just about the blog rather than a personal one.

As I said, the original name summed up what I planned to write about but since those early days when I primarily went in search of good places for people to eat and holiday on their own, the blog has expanded its horizons considerably. I do still eat and holiday alone sometimes and will continue to look for great places for the solo diner and traveller to go to; I will still sometimes write recipes that are great for one. But the blog is more than this: it’s eating out and holidaying with family and friends too; it’s cooking for guests and even parties! It’s TV and book reviews (all to do with travel and food, of course); it’s about good places to buy food – local markets and wonderful delis; it’s about the best things in my local area of Richmond & Twickenham.

‘A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,’ said Juliet to Romeo. Hopefully you will find that Travel Gourmet will read just a ‘sweetly’ – as in, what you’re used to – as The Single Gourmet and Traveller did. I’m not planning a major change. In fact, I don’t really have other changes in mind. But then having taken the enormous leap into a new name … well, we’ll have to wait and see if there’s further inspiration. Meanwhile, a very big thank you as always to my wonderful followers via email, Facebook and Twitter. It’s lovely to write blog posts about all my eating and travelling experiences, but so much nicer to know that some people do actually read and enjoy them!