Category Archives: Uncategorized

Most of us have heard of Route 66, the iconic road trip across the United States. Now it has a rival – Route 500. This is a circumnavigation of the North of Scotland. It begins and ends in Inverness and … Continue reading →

Country folk in sarcastic mood might say of another: ‘The apple didn’t fall from the tree’, but I have chanced on a mystery. In our small woodland I have found windfall apples lying far from their parent tree – and … Continue reading →

… to Rattray Head including Orkney. It is poetry and repeated each day in the Shipping Forecast. It is a wonderful way to start one’s day at 05.20 each morning. And on it goes round the coast. Even if one … Continue reading →

I visited Coleridge Cottage in Nether Stowey a short while ago, the anticipated haven the poet quit Bristol for to live off the country, courtesy Thomas Poole. Coleridge with his Jacobite sympathies was regarded with suspicion by local residents, not … Continue reading →

It’s not all happy down in the woods; desease and deprivation are happening, and on a big scale. The Woodland Trust have highlighted the increasing problem of ash dieback. It is not a small problem, look at the hedgerows, particularly here … Continue reading →

With my son and family flying to the United States, one is aware of just how many people are in the air at any time. My late father would have been impressed two of his grandchildren with their spouses and … Continue reading →

With time to spare in Hampstead last week, I found myself close by Keats House, the small late Georgian house, then named Wentworth Place, where John Keats lodged from late 1818 until his fatal journey to Italy in 1820. He died … Continue reading →

I’ve been doing a lot of gardening over the last few days seeking to cut back on the summer surge of growth of intruding grass and weeds. And my old, yes they must be ten years old, gardening trousers have … Continue reading →

Well, today was the day – and the rain Gods did their worst, not only that, a competing air display sent clattering helicopters overhead. But the show must go on and the Yeovil drama students, and all concerned behind the … Continue reading →

I’ve spent the morning stacking timber, now I need a cooling drink.  A real truth is that trees do us a great service in terms of the heat they generate many times as we harvest them. At every stage they … Continue reading →