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This paper aims to provide an exploratory investigation into contemporary interpretation methods used in historic gardens and their fundamental role in enhancing the visitor experience and sense of a place.

A series of semi-structured interviews (n = 65) with Wrest Park visitors – who had the opportunity to experience new interpretation methods provided on-site – have been carried out in an attempt to explore their sense of place through interpretation.

The research suggests that interpretation has a fundamental role to play in “telling the story” of historic gardens, with 92.5 per cent of the sample understanding elements of the place’s history, significance and evolution. The findings further suggest the presence of two distinct visitor typologies – history explorers and leisure seekers.

The study provides implications for theory and practice and recommendations for historic garden practitioners.

The importance of conceptualising and operationalising interpretation in historic gardens has received relatively little attention across the extant body of heritage interpretation literature. English Heritage’s Wrest Park, which is amongst England’s most prominent historic gardens, is used as a case study.

The purpose of this article is to disseminate to a readership of researcher development professionals the authors' own experiences of having organised four writing retreats, and to share their tips for good practice.

Although the authors do draw upon references to pertinent literature, they choose a predominantly descriptive format. They detail the format of each retreat and present their reflections on the process of organising and delivering the retreats.

Retreats are positive, inspirational and valuable to those involved. They provide an opportunity to participate in the practices that are generally central to an academic identity and that can help participants in their identity transitions.

This is not intended to be an academic article.

The article can inform practice and provides practical recommendations for delivery of writing retreats.

The article incorporates discussion of the authors' experientially‐informed view that writing retreats offer supportive environments for developing early career researchers, and enabling their career growth through publishing, and often they provide opportunities for engaging with the academic community, which participants may not have experienced before.

There are few published articles that focus on writing retreats. What this article offers is a culmination of experiences from four different retreats. It has the potential to provide a reference point for academic developers and those considering writing retreats or related researcher development interventions.

Travel and tourism graduates are facing challenges in securing jobs within the travel and tourism industry, as their degrees have low recognition among travel and tourism employers. Yet there are growing numbers of tourism courses provided by universities, and these are increasingly popular among students. This paper attempts an informed discussion of the relevance of travel and tourism degrees, comparing students' career expectations and aspirations with industry needs and perceptions of travel and tourism degrees and graduates. Students' perceptions were investigated, using a questionnaire survey, while the employers' perceptions and needs were explored through semi‐structured interviews. The results indicate a desire and optimism amongst current travel and tourism undergraduate students towards securing a job in the tourism industry, while the industry is not convinced, or at best unaware, of the benefits of tourism degrees and employing tourism graduates.