CURRIES, culture and Bradford Festival are picked out as highlights in the latest edition of a national travel guide.

Lonely Planet’s England places the city’s National Media Museum as the top attraction, chronicling ‘the story of photography, film, TV, radio and the web from 19th century cameras and early animation to digital technology and the psychology of advertising.’

It goes on: ‘There’s lots of hands-on stuff too - you can pretend to be a TV newsreader, or play 1970s and 80s video games.’

As a huge magnet for tourists, the museum deserves to hold the top spot. A visit there will not disappoint.

The vibrant, colourful Bradford Festival in July, offering a ‘multicultural celebration of music, dance, arts, crafts and food’ is a key draw for visitors, says the guide, adding its location, City Park, as another reason to visit the city. It’s home to the Mirror Pool, the country’s largest urban water feature.

There isn’t much more about the city’s landmarks, and would have thought the historic Wool Exchange would be included, but in a book covering the whole of the country space is clearly at a premium.

For eating out, there is only one way to go: it would be a shame to visit the city that has won the Curry Capital of Britain award so many times - five years in succession up to 2015 - and not sample its world-famous fare.

‘A great help is the Bradford Curry Guide (visitbradford.com/explore/Bradford Curry Guide), which helps sort the rogan josh from the rubbish nosh’, explains the guide.

Bradford’s oldest curry house Kashmir on Morley Street, where food is ‘served with no frills and no booze (although it is bring your own)’, is one of two included in the guide, the other being Zouk Tea Bar in Leeds Road ‘staffed by chefs from Lahore’ and serving everything ‘from chana puri (curried chickpeas) to legendary lamb Nihari (slow-cooked lamb with a thick and spicy sauce) for dinner.

The inclusion of just two is, I am sure,is down to available column inches. An entire book could be filled with Bradford’s amazing Asian restaurants, as well as those offering delicious fare from other parts of the world.

With its designation as a World Heritage Site, Saltaire is highlighted in the guide’s special ‘worth a trip’ suggestion box, with Salts Mill, ‘a splendidly bright and airy cathedral-like building’. The permanent exhibition of works by Bradford-born David Hockney continues to be a big draw for tourists, along with the village itself.

The book offers up details of useful websites for visitors, but this is quite hit and miss. Saltaire is covered, but Bradford’s main source of tourist information, Welcome to Bradford’s visitbradford.com only appears under the ‘eating’ section, where some may overlook it.

Much space is devoted to the Bronte village of Haworth. ‘It seems that only Shakespeare himself is held in higher esteem than the beloved Bronte sisters’ says the guide, drawing attention to key spots on the tourist trail including the Bronte Parsonage Museum and Keighley & Worth Valley Railway.

Sleeping and eating in the village are well covered, with accommodation to suit every budget from upmarket guest houses to the YHA.

Other West Yorkshire attractions picked out include Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Hepworth Wakefield, as well as the Royal Armouries in Leeds.

I was pleased to see the excellent National Coal Mining Museum for England in a ‘worth a trip’ box.

The easy-to-read book has maps dotted throughout, and a pullout map of central London, useful to anyone visiting the capital.

For anyone travelling around the country the England guide is a handy dip-in-and-out book to take you through the counties.

*Lonely Planet England 9th edition costs £17.99 and is available from bookshops. It can also be ordered from lonelyplanet.com and Amazon. Helen Mead