Welcome to the Dexter, a rare breed cow. They are my neighbours but living outdoors rather than in. I suspect that we meet and chat to them (cowtalk) more than we do our human neighbours. They [...]

I have tried to ignore Prince Charles. Certainly, his treatment of Diana was diabolical. However, his rather weird behaviour has always made him look eccentric. In Britain, we have always ignored [...]

The hazards of being a pensioner creep up on you. However, at 75, I am now quite skilled at avoidance techniques. This really started after we did a long walk in London and stopped at a cafe [...]

We found it, finally, and felt flushed with success. Having parked by the Beggars Plot, we walked into Bradwell along rows of cottages built of limestone rubble. They looked cosy but the [...]

It’s the 1st September, outside the Cat & Fiddle Inn at 1689 feet. The temperature is 12.5C. We walk south across the moor and in 5 miles will not see another human. The dense cloud [...]

The parkruns are starting again after the pandemic. I look forward to an outdoors run with so many people. There is much joy in surging forward in the pack. Whatever, the joy is shortlived, as [...]

It is the 1st September and world CLL day. You might never have heard of it nor understand what it means. I, meanwhile, am a member of this unique club, albeit not a membership I ever desired. [...]

My father was a good father. He lavished love on his children. Subsequently, he supported them through school and took them on holidays. He then supported their children through university. Those [...]

When I moved to the Peak District, I anticipated that my Neolithic understanding gained in Dorset would be an advantage. However, that has not happened even though the similarities are many. Both [...]

When we moved back to a rural life, in the Peak District, I had it sussed. “Here we are, back to mediocrity”, I said. For certain, I now have to apologise. Yet, I must not be too [...]

We walk up Main Street and turn left up Old Smithy Lane. The first cottage has a sign outside, “An old rooster lives here with a young chick”. We climb up past the old smithy and the [...]

In the past, Ann and I lived just outside the Lake District. Even by the early 1980’s, the area was full of dead villages. The cottages still stood, but the owners dwelt in Newcastle and [...]

I am currently sporting a bias, both to left and to right. However, it’s nothing to do with politics. As I walk or run, I scan the verges to one side or the other. I think it is a maternal [...]

What a Spring it has been for wildflowers! I have never seen so many different species nor the sheer mass of pastel colours. In the Peak District the display started with anemone nemorosa, which [...]

We drifted down Main Street, past the byre and along the lane called The Gates. Two people approached, looked lost and so we chatted. However, their route was complex so we gave up our walk and [...]

Curbar Edge looked razor sharp in the morning light though the wind was stronger than forecast. We ran past the climbers practice boulder, covered in chalk, and up through birch forest. The path [...]

Welcome to my world (with apologies to Jim Reeves). I currently live in a bubble composed of birdsong, wild flowers and mountains. Well, not quite mountains because such edifices have to be over [...]

Buying a new house in the Peak District is pretty difficult. The few new houses are built on brownfield sites because planning approval is impossible elsewhere. So, when new houses were [...]

Everything you read today implies a negative correlation between age and fitness. Muscle declines from the age of forty, as does bone strength and sexual performance. The brain cells diminish as [...]

I have recently replied to a couple of respondents with a personal desire for sky burial. They contacted me because I have written two previous posts on the subject. The first was on setting a [...]

I watched that Climate Change Festival on Sky Arts, which was a mistake. It was held at the London Coliseum, my favourite theatre, by English National Opera. It was droll, joyless and portentous. [...]

The derelict cottage in the Peak reads rather like an old poem. Indeed, it even sounds like an old poem as the moping owl calls in the dead of night. The photograph shows the building exactly as [...]

I become heartily sick of programmes analysing our lack of preparedness for the pandemic. We were not prepared and I doubt we ever will be. As mentioned in a previous post, I was tasked in 2005 [...]

I have read that stone walls last about 50 years before they need rebuilding. That’s similar to a human life, you might think! However, until I moved to Taddington I gave stone walls little [...]