Jeanie the hag
It’s rather wonderful to discover something new about somewhere you thought you knew back to front. Less than a ten-minute walk from my cottage, Mulgrave Woods is an enchanting place…
The cliff route to Robin Hood’s Bay
The sun has been venturing out lately, and so have I. Yesterday, after working late into the previous night, I crawled out of bed to discover the sun rising into…
A brace of birds
Pheasant shooting finished at the beginning of February, and with the closing weeks of the season came a frenzy of activity across North Yorkshire, as fieldsports enthusiasts took every opportunity…
Cleaning up a Chillington ARPAX
Yesterday, while rooting through an old chest in pursuit of lightbulbs, I unearthed a WW2 fireman’s hatchet. It’s a Chillington ARPAX, and as axes go, it’s a bit of an…
2016 updates to the Norwegian pilgrim trail guide
Around this time last year, Dave and I put together a short PDF guide to the St Olav pilgrim trails in Norway. Since I posted it, a full English-language print…
Hibernation time
This is possibly my least favourite day of the year. It goes against all natural instincts to starve your pet for a fortnight then stick him in a Chinese takeaway…
Biblical times in the north
It’s been a dramatic few weeks in meteorological terms. Only last Monday evening, we had such a downpour in Whitby that all routes into town were cut off, and the…
Brewing wild hop beer
I’ve written before about the annual Glebe Cottage hop harvest, and I thought it might be fun to post my latest method for dealing with such a glut of pungent…
The Sherlock Holmes Book
Sometimes the perfect job falls into your lap. As a 13 year-old picking my GCSE options, I quite fancied taking chemistry. Until further consideration revealed that I was abysmal at…
Wild camping in Kielder Forest
IMPORTANT: AS OF JULY 2020 THERE IS NO WILD CAMPING ALLOWED IN KIELDER FOREST. It’s such a shame that it’s come to this, especially since Kielder has always been so…
