A team of freelances will be setting out on their most adventurous assignment – when they cover one of the biggest European stories in the past 20 years.

Phil Chamberlain, Rich Cookson and Matt Cardy are preparing to report on the enlargement of the EU.

They will travel to each of the ten new member states to gather human interest stories, hard news and features.

The trio will travel to Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia in a specially-equipped van.

They are to file copy back to the UK as they go, on a wide-range of subjects – from smuggling rackets to buying property abroad.

Phil is a former deputy news editor at the Bath Chronicle, Rich used to be editor of Big Issue South West, and Matt is a former Bath Chronicle photographer.

The trip will take between two and three weeks and will be tough going as all three share the workload – and the driving.

Phil said: “We plan to put a foot on all ten of the countries at the very least but will probably concentrate more on the land-locked countries as they will be easier to get around.

“But with the car ferries it is feasible to get to Cyprus and Malta.”

The group hopes that by travelling by road rather than flying, they will be better placed to gather the human interest stories they are looking for, and plan to cover as much ground as possible.

They already have a few commissions in the bag, and hope that by filling in the gaps the nationals haven’t thought about – or haven’t got the resources for – they can attract interest from a broad market of newspapers, trade press and magazines.

Phil said: “We have all worked on assignments abroad and are all experienced freelances.

“We’re hoping to have fun and do a good job and will succeed or fail by our own skills in finding the right stories for the British market.”