Sound guide to quiet pleasures

A guide to 'noise-free' zones has been published by Northumbria Tourist Board. Researchers listed locations where a visitor could savour the sound of silence, and even suggested that they row out to the middle of Kielder Water - Europe's largest man-made reservoir - to enjoy a quiet picnic. The guide also lists 12 hills where other people can be avoided, suitably remote inns, farms and country hotels, and routes to take the visitor through miles of moorland inhabited only by wildlife.