UPDATE Service: this is different from our Upgrade Service (see below)

Drivers will hardly grumble if confronted with a beautiful new road not shown on our touring maps. But for walkers the picture is very different. Whether a centuries-old trail has been bulldozed out of existence or a landslide has sliced a hillside in half overnight, even using GPS a walker will be in trouble.

Sunflower was the first publisher to introduce an Update service. Since then we’ve been copied by other publishers, but we still think our service (available free online) is the most comprehensive.

Updates are available for every book in print and even for a few books that are currently out of print. Each comprises anything from a few hundred to a few thousand words and includes, where necessary, diagrams or sketch maps for clarification. Typical entries might include route changes due to the construction of new roads or buildings; warnings of landslides or storm damage; changes to bus or ferry services; paths blocked by landowners; alternative route suggestions and even ideas for new walks.

The service enables you to download the most up-to-date information we have available just before you leave for your holiday. Note that Updates are not normally needed for new books until they have been on sale a few months. Moreover, there are times when Updates remain unchanged for many months — if no users write in to us and the author has not made a field survey.

Something you wish to add to an Update?

Don’t assume that someone else will have already told us about something you discover! If you are sending us any information, please tell us which edition of the book you were using. (Unless we know this, we may not be able to use your information.) To send us details, just e-mail us at: info@sunflowerbooks.co.uk. Please include the information in your e-mail rather than sending a separate attachment, since we normally do not open attachments from persons who are not known to us.

Updates Online

Updates are available online free of charge. Note that Updates shown are normally for the current edition — except that when a new edition is published, the Update for the previous edition may be left in position until information for the new edition becomes available.

How to find the Update you need

There is a link to the relevant Update on the destination page for each book we publish. Just click on the ‘Current Update’ tab.

UPGRADE your guide at half price!

It’s a false economy to use an out of date edition of a guide because so many things can change within a short while. Although new editions may sometimes appear to be pretty much the same as the previous edition, there are always scores of alterations, especially to the walking routes and maps. However, we realise many users are reluctant to pay for a new guide when the one they own may have been bought only a year or two previously. So for the many loyal users of our guides, we have introduced a concessionary Upgrade service for printed books only. (For technical reasons, we cannot at present extend the offer to pdfs.)

When you need a new edition of a paperback guide, we will buy back your old edition at half the current bookshop price (RRP). That amount is then credited against the post-paid price of the new edition of that same guide. We make this offer irrespective of whether you purchased your current guide from us, Amazon, a bookshop or any other supplier and irrespective of what you paid for the edition you have. However, this upgrade offer is only available direct from Sunflower — it is not available from retailers. (This offer is, of course, based on our supplying a new edition of the guide you return — not an offer to supply a different destination guide at the concessionary price.)

We used to ask that you send us the old book itself as proof of purchase, but with postage prices now sky-high (and the service sometimes unreliable), we ask only that you send the original page 2 (not a photocopy) of the old edition.

To take advantage of this offer, first check that a later edition is available for the guide you already have and the price of the latest edition*, then send the copyright page (page 2) of your old edition to us at Sunflower Books, PO Box 36160, London SW7 3WS, together with your cheque (payable to Sunflower Books) as follows:

• for guides currently priced at £8.99: £6.00
• for guides currently priced at £9.99: £6.50
• for guides currently priced at £10.99: £7.00
• for guides currently priced at £12.99: £8.00
• for guides currently priced at £13.99: £8.50
• for guides currently priced at £14.99: £9.50
• for guides currently priced at £15.99: £10.00
• for guides currently priced at £16.99: £10.50

*This is the RRP, shown just above the black Amazon button on the book page, not the Amazon price. If in doubt, look at the price on our booklist by clicking this link.

You can send us the book in an ordinary envelope addressed to: Sunflower Books, PO Box 36160, London SW7 3WS.
There is no need to use a padded bag or special packing, but be sure to use postage stamps to the correct value. We will send you the latest edition by return of post. The new edition is sent by second class post. If you need it urgently and would like it sent first class (UK only) please add £1 to the above prices. The steep rise in postage prices, coupled with the fact that our newer editions are wider and heavier, both contribute to the increased postal charges.