Dovedale, and 20th revisted
Back in January, Kevin and I tried to celebrate our 20th Anniversary. I say try, because our quiet few days in the Yorkshire Dales was ruined by our car conking out. It died on the day we arrived. We had …
Other Musings
ME Awareness Day 2017, and my gardening clogs
12th May marks ME Awareness Day. In particularly, the #MillionsMissing movement aims to raise awareness for M.E., an underfunded and ignored disease. Today we ask for increased government funding for research, clinical trials, medical education and public awareness. It’s timely …
Ditty for a new home
Some Sheffield place-names are merely Easy to pronounce, like Heeley. Others, if not heard but seen, will Lead to mistakes like “green hill”. If you’ve only seen Beauchief on a road sign You won’t know it’s “bee”, not the French …
Welney wildfowl
We spent a couple of hours at the Welney Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust. Birdies, clear blue skies on a cold winters day. Beautiful. Hooper swan with a collection of Pochard ducks. A flock of… No idea, but pretty. We couldn’t …
Waiting with ME
We have all been there. We’ve booked in a tradesperson to come around and fix something in our home (whether rented or owned). You plan for it, often taking a day off work. They don’t turn up at the agreed …
Eyam well-dressing 2016
By chance we visited Eyam last Saturday, just as the community was proceeding through town as part of their annual well-dressing celebrations. Since we were there we thought we would mingle for a while. Flowers, plant foliage and berries are …
Postcards from Dumfries and Galloway
On our recent holiday we spend a week in Dumfries and Galloway. This is the lowland border area of the South-west of Scotland. I chose this as a holiday destination in part because I’ve always wanted to visit the sub-tropical …
Garden visit: Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
After visiting Logan Botanic Garden in Dumfries and Galloway, it was quite a change to a week later visit the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. The weather was quite different for a start. At some times it was hard to tell …
Palace of Holyroodhouse: a very personal revisit
September 1988. Under grey skies in Edinburgh, 20 year old me stood in the Palace of Holyroodhouse, next to the plaque on the floor telling visitors that this was where David Rizzio, Mary Queen of Scots’ Italian Secretary, was murdered …
Garden visit: Logan Botanic Gardens
I’ve long wished to visit Logan Botanic Garden, situated on the most southerly point of Scotland. Thanks to the gulf stream it has a warmer climate than one might expect this far north in the UK, and therefore plants from …