“Suddenly a hot gleam of sunlight fell upon the white cottages, with their grey steaming roofs and little scraps of garden courtyard, and lighting up the wings of the gorgeous butterflies which fluttered from the woodland down to the garden.” Charles Kingsley Clinging to the side of a cliff in Devon, lies the winding, cobbled... Continue Reading →
If you mention Chawton to any Jane Austen fan, they will immediately think of her home, an unassuming cottage in the village. At some point, I'll do a blog post about that - but for this post we're going to visit Chawton House, the home of Jane's brother Edward. Sited just down the road from... Continue Reading →
If you're of a certain age (hello) or any kind of film fan, then you'll doubtless recognise the photos in this post. Known as Sycamore Gap - or Robin Hood Gap which probably gives the game away - this part of Hadrians Wall is famous for featuring in the epic 90s classic "Robin Hood: Prince... Continue Reading →
If you're a fan of anything in the fantasy genre, you're probably aware of "The Witcher". The series started as books, then became video games, and now it's a popular TV series on Netflix. I became familiar with "The Witcher" via the games first, then the TV series, and now I'm trying out the books... Continue Reading →
William Wordsworth is synonymous with the Lake District. As well as being born in Cockermouth, he also lived in three homes around Grasmere and Rydal, and his grave can be found in St Oswald's churchyard in Grasmere. Wordsworth (a man formed by nominative determinism if ever there was one), was born in 1770. Both his... Continue Reading →
Beatrix Potter is one of the most successful children's writers of all time. She was also into conservation, science, and illustration. There's plenty already written about Potter's life, so I won't try and shove it all in this blog post. Instead, I'll concentrate on Hill Top, the house where Potter lived and worked from 1905... Continue Reading →
Hidden away in the Cairngorms, lies the Burn O'Vat, an ancient place once used by the notorious outlaw known as "Gilderoy". Found in the Muir of Dinnet National Natural Reserve, this wonder of geology is only a short walk from the closest car park but does require a bit of a scramble to actually get... Continue Reading →
One of the things I like about exploring is finding out the history of a place - the stories it holds essentially. A case in point is Featherstone Prisoner Of War camp in Northumberland. When I looked into what happened there, I discovered a number of fascinating facts. Firstly, in 1944 it was one of... Continue Reading →
I've been on holiday and that means I've found a bunch of new inspiring places to blog about - so be prepared for a deluge over the next few weeks. Let's start by wheeling back in time to when the Romans ruled Britain. Vindolanda was a Roman fort and Vicus (self-governing village), located just south... Continue Reading →
Born Cicily Isabel Fairfax in 1892, Rebecca West was a writer, literary critic, and journalist, named "indisputably the world's number one woman writer" by Time magazine in 1947. Both a CBE and DBE, West died in 1983 and is buried in Brookwood Cemetery. Cicily took the pseudonym "Rebecca West" from the rebellious young heroine in "Rosmersholm" by Henrik Ibsen... Continue Reading →
Wordland 