With Hallowe’en just around the corner, I’m taking a look at the dark and mysterious tales surrounding two of our longest living and most iconic trees, the mighty oak and the venerable yew, both of which feature large in the collective mythologies of our islands, … Continue readingTALES FROM THE WOOD
For me, there is no better way of whiling away a few hours on a gilded Autumn afternoon than to wander through the quiet country lanes and by-ways of my home in North East Wales in search of fruits and berries. At this time of … Continue readingQUICK, QUICK, SLOE
Today is the first of September, and it’s brought with it a good drying day. Cobwebs and bed sheets fly in the wind as fleets of cumulus clouds billow in full sail across the blue of a fresh-washed sky. I’ve been out gathering apples from … Continue readingCRAFT CIDER CYMRU
Together with a small group of enthusiastic amateur botanists, I could recently be found seeking out the wild flowers of Halkyn Mountain in Flintshire with the Clwydian Hills in the distance before us, their blue and violet outline just breaking the soft grey of a … Continue readingON HALKYN MOUNTAIN
‘Rewilding’ has become a bit of a buzz word, with the issue lately receiving increasing exposure from the mainstream media. A wide-ranging and far-reaching subject, the basic premise is that we can all do our bit for wildlife by allowing our gardens and other outside … Continue readingWHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
For me, one of the most thrilling moments of spring is the sight and sound of swifts returning to our skies. Following an epic and often hazardous journey of up to 6,000 miles, common swifts normally arrive here in late April. But in the spring … Continue readingTHE AERIALIST
Who knew that a trip to a garden would make a rock fan of me, but that’s exactly what happened on a recent visit to the National Botanic Gardens of Wales in Carmarthenshire! On a dreary and damp day in mid May when even the … Continue readingWALES ROCKS
A modern day story of patience, love, tortoises…and gin Down a quiet lane in the heart of the Flintshire countryside, an extraordinary alchemy is taking place. Carefully chosen and prepared botanicals and infusions are gently commingling in a traditional copper still as eight tortoises of … Continue readingThe tortoise and the still
Today has been spent walking one of my favourite haunts, a secret place among the quieter paths of the Clwydian hills. With the Vale of Clwyd ethereal under blue and gold, and a soft breeze riffling my hair, I watched as a skylark sang and … Continue readingTHE CLWYDIANS