The motivational lessons of James Bond novels
There’s a tendency to underrate the perceptive capacities of thriller writers. You get so bound up in the pace and action of a plot that observations that would give you…
Harvest time at the oast cottage
It’s that time of year again. The fields are reduced to stubble, the apple trees in some parts of the country are already picked clean (hello, climate change), schoolchildren are…
Adventures of a 1920s Braime
For a bit of variety, today’s post is a sort of guest blog from my grandfather. Grandpa Braime was a colourful and adventurous character: an industrialist, aviator and lifelong motorist;…
Blakey Topping. And fog.
The other week, as I stood atop Simon Howe on a clear, sunny morning, I looked across at the distinct hump of Blakey Topping in the distance and thought ‘that…
Simon Howe
I have a new second-favourite viewpoint on the North York Moors. My favourite is still Danby Beacon (which has become a sort of place of pilgrimage any time I’m in…
Last of the season
Whenever I see the bilberry mentioned online or in books, it often seems to be preceded by the word ‘humble’. The humble bilberry. And I can never work out why,…
Sea mist
Of course it’s lovely when the sun shines, but I also have a soft spot for those days on the east coast when a sea fret rolls damply in off…
Adders and lonely places
Much as it’s always exciting to go where the path doesn’t, it can also be bloody hard work. As you struggle through thick, chest-high bracken, sticky ropes of goosegrass tangle…
The cautionary tale of the Saltersgate Inn
[Update 2025. Since this post from 2014 still gets a surprising amount of traffic and occasional comments, it’s worth mentioning that the remains of the Saltersgate Inn were demolished some…
Visit Lythe
The other day at Ormesby Hall there were loads of vintage travel posters pinned up on the walls in the old servants’ quarters at the top of the building. I…
