AFTER 40 years in Herefordshire author Graham Roberts thought he knew almost every nook and cranny.

Now he knows that he has hardly scratched the surface.

His love and knowledge of the county persuaded the retired Hereford city surveyor and planning officer to plan 12 car based tours around and about Herefordshire and the southern Welsh Marches, test them out and pass on his experiences to the world at large.

It took 18 months, each tour being traversed three times, covered more than 3,500sq. miles of roads, track and territory and packed what he discovered in to 304 pages of information that every tourist would like to know.

For good luck he has included 350 black and white pictures, mostly taken by his own fair hand with another 30 colour photographs on the front cover.

Unsung hero

He called his book Around About Herefordshire and the Southern Welsh Marches. It was in the shops before Easter and is already a sell out in the popular tourist spots.

Graham is the first to admit the unsung hero of the road-based tour guide is his wife Wendy.

While he snapped and wrote up his notes she took the wheel, driving to places they had never been before, often reached by rough tracks and roads with grass growing up the middle.

The result is a book useful to every home. It makes deciding a car day, or half day trip out simple. Just dip in, choose one, pack your picnic box and go.

They range from 30 to 90 miles in distance and as well as covering Herefordshire touch neighbouring Powys, Monmouthshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire.

Graham and Wendy have no outright favourite. "Everyone has its own special magic and we enjoyed every place we went. But perhaps the time spent in the hills gave us the most lasting memories,'' said Graham.

Graham sought to find new information about the routes he chose, avoiding much of the obvious information already available in local guide books.

In the churchyard at St Margaret's Church in the Golden Valley he found the headstone of Harriet Powell who died in 1910 at the age 77 enscribed ''She was a district nurse, attended 526 births and never lost a mother''. Long before the NHS, he noted.

At Brinsop there was reference to William Wordsworth of daffodil fame pointing out that he was a regular visitor with a stained glass window in memory of his family in the local church.

Across country at Bagwyllydiart Graham explained about the controversy over its different spellings and meaning of its name.

Not far away old favourite Kilpect Church is described as one of the most perfect village churches in England.

In border country at Old Radnor Graham found that apart from the scenery there was little else to offer except the village church, the biggest church in the whole of Radnorshire and one of the finest in Wales. But it chose to remain in the Hereford diocese.

Graham says there are many undiscovered places in Herefordshire and much more for people to find out for themselves.

But don't be fooled, his own labour of love in producing Around and About Herefordshire and the Southern Welsh Marches provides plenty to be going on with.

It has already been hailed by many satisfied customers as 'just what we have been waiting for''.

The book is published by local Logaston Press at Little Logaston, Almeley and is priced at £12.95.