Why full-grain leather makes the best traveller’s notebook

There are a handful of simple yet essential features that turn a standard notebook into a supreme traveller’s journal.

Durability, functionality and appearance are up there as key aspects that will help influence your decision when choosing the best notebook for your travel adventures.

And at Billy Tannery, we believe we offer the very cream of the crop when it comes to travel journals, each handmade from our 100% vegetable tanned goat leather, processed at our leather tannery in Somerset. It’s a trusty companion for roaming writers, sketchers and planners, that will be reliable and look great on infinite trips.

Key features of the best travel journal

A priority of ours is to make premium leather products that are both 100% functional and aesthetically pleasing.

While our sustainable goat leather is inherently good looking, we also put valuable research and testing into our accessories to ensure they tick all the boxes for our customers.

And a travel lover is a specific type of customer with particular needs (see our full range of leather travel accessories).



For a travel notebook to be successful, it must be compact and easy to transport, hardwearing, enjoyable to use, and ideally sustainable. When on the road, you don’t want to keep buying new notebooks when you inevitably fill up your current one, so a journal that can be reused time and time again is a huge bonus.

These key features are uncomplicated, but they need to be just right in order for a travel journal to feel premium and become a trusty lifelong companion.

Full grain goat leather traveller’s notebook cover

What then makes the best cover for a travel journal? Our vegetable tanned goat leather has this down to a tee.

Full grain leather like ours is classic - it won’t date. And as our A5 leather journal is made to withstand use, it was important that we developed a design that would last, and look good, forever. Not only does it look fantastic, our leather smells and feels wonderful too, which makes using your travel notebook a truly satisfying experience.

But the most special thing about using full grain goat leather for a travel journal is that it develops a unique patina over time. Every trip you take, every page you fill, every time you thumb through past entries under the blazing sun will each deepen and change your journal cover’s patina. It’s a physical reminder of all of your adventures and means that your notebook will be completely personal to you.

Plus, as travelling light is important for any globetrotter, it’s worth mentioning that goat leather is lighter in weight than cowhide whilst still being equally strong.

Sustainable travel journaling

In addition to being compact and easy to pack, our leather traveller’s notebook is refillable. This simple yet defining feature means that you’ll never have to buy another journal again.

Sustainability is important to us at Billy Tannery. Our entire company was born from a wish to end the wastage of goat skins in the UK and so we design each of our pieces with immense care to make sure they will stand the test of time.



Each A5 notebook refill has 96 pages of top quality Italian Remake paper. Made using recycled leather fibres, each page is sustainable and stylish. The finishing touches of luxurious green end papers and sturdy straw board covers are added here in England, and make the perfect notebook for writing, sketching, imagining and plotting.

The refillable aspect is one of the main features that makes our journal the best option for a traveller’s notebook. It truly is a companion for life.

The best and most ergonomic notebook for travel

Travelling is an enriching and stimulating experience, and we believe that using our accessories should be one in itself.

The best traveller’s notebook should be a pleasure to use, both in a tactile and functional sense.

You already know that our journal looks, feels and smells great thanks to the vegetable tanned goat leather cover. But we also know how important it is for a notebook to be easy and comfortable to write in.

The journal refill’s stitch bound pages mean that they lie flat, and make for an agreeable writing experience whether you’re on a train, plane, beach or mountain top.

Don’t forget to add your favourite pen to the leather journal’s handy internal pen loop - you’ll always be ready to get your creative juices flowing.

So there you have it, the search for the very best traveller’s notebook on the market is over. Our leather journal does indeed tick all the boxes for a voyager’s lifelong companion.

Browse our full collection of handmade leather accessories