A rail-ly good day out with Christopher Biggins

National treasure and TV legend Christopher Biggins recently hopped on board a CrossCountry train with his godson Joe Green to give him a day out he'll never forget.

After discovering that almost one in five (19%) people surveyed haven't visited a single city in Great Britain in the last year* the leading train company wanted to change this and is encouraging more people to discover somewhere new and experience a day out together.

Today (Monday 2 November) CrossCountry launched an inspiring video that follows train lover and former winner of ITV'sI'm A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!Christopher Biggins, 66, and Joe Green, 19 on their journey which starts at the train station in Stansted airport. The video shows the comical pair experiencing the foody capital of England, Melton Mowbray - the home of Melton Mowbray pork pies and Stilton cheese.

From pork pie making at the famous Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe to ale tasting at Belvoir Brewery, the duo enjoyed the delights of the hidden gem nestled in the heart of Leicestershire - surprising passengers and local residents along the way.

Christopher Biggins commented on his day out to Melton Mowbray; "Whenever I travel long distance I always use the train, I like to sit back and relax and enjoy the journey. This time, I wanted to take my godson Joe along to explore a bit more of good old blighty.

"Making pork pies was a lot of fun - I think I've missed my calling as a baker! I think Joe enjoyed the ale tasting the most but what was really great is that we just had fun together and the people in Melton Mowbray were so friendly. We're already planning our next trip to somewhere new."

To celebrate the release of the video, CrossCountry is giving away five pairs of First Class return train tickets to anywhere along its route in 2016. For the chance to win one of the sets of tickets viewers just need to watch the video to find out how to enter.

Lisa Beaumont Marketing and Communications Assistant for CrossCountry said; "Great Britain has so much to offer and something for everyone. Biggins and Joe helped us to show that you can have a great day out together at any age and we'd love to see more young people taking their older relatives out for the day - or vice versa. We have an unrivalled network across Great Britain so what better way to get around than by train with CrossCountry."

You can watch the video of Biggins's and Joe's big day out here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM0oHCPw2Hg and join in the conversation on Twitter by using the hashtag #MyTripForTwo.   

Special thanks to Stephen Hallam and his staff at Dickinson & Morris - Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe, Ian Smeeton, his staff and customers at The Belvoir Alehouse and the Melton Tally Ho Band.  

Notes to editors

*The research was conducted by CrossCountry and Censuswide on a sample of 2,453 UK adults between 3-10 March, 2015.  

The CrossCountry network is the most extensive passenger rail franchise in Britain. Stretching from Aberdeen to Penzance, Bournemouth to Manchester and from Stansted to Cardiff, it calls at over 100 stations. Based in Birmingham, CrossCountry connects seven of the Britain's 10 largest cities and delivers 295 services every weekday, equating to some 33 million passenger journeys a year.

For further information on CrossCountry services visit crosscountrytrains.co.uk or follow them online via Twitter at @crosscountryuk, Facebook.com/crosscountrytrains and their student Facebook page, Facebook.com/studentraildeals.

CrossCountry bookings

Passengers can buy tickets for any rail journey in Britain, with any train company and with no booking fee at crosscountrytrains.co.uk or via the free CrossCountry Train Tickets app.

Download the app by visiting your app store or by texting TRAVEL to 87080.

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Contact Information

CrossCountry Press Office: [email protected]

About CrossCountry

CrossCountry is a long-distance passenger train operator, with a network stretching from Aberdeen to Penzance and from Stansted to Cardiff and calling at over 100 stations. Based in Birmingham, CrossCountry connects seven of Britain’s 10 largest cities and delivers 240 services every weekday, equating to over 42 million passenger journeys each year.

For further information on CrossCountry services, visit crosscountrytrains.co.uk or visit one of our social media platforms via X @crosscountryuk or Facebook at facebook.com/crosscountrytrains