A few years back, when I wrote several articles for The Spooky Isles magazine, one of their suggestions was to write about the first ever place that I thought was haunted. At the time, I couldn’t remember where I’d first got that frisson of other-worldliness for the first time, but I’ve thought about it, on … More First ever haunted house?
Holehird Gardens, the home of the Lakeland Horticultural Society, are only about four miles from our doorstep, and given that they’re completely outdoors they’d have been a wonderful place to visit during lockdown. Sadly, they took the decision to close. This week we noticed that they were open again to local visitors, so on Monday … More Two go to a frosty garden
Nope, still estuary! But at least the sun shone today. This time we were on the other side of Morecambe Bay, at Grange-over-Sands, looking south towards Arnside where we were about two weeks ago. Grange is known for its mild climate – there are palm trees growing along the promenade – and for its stunning … More Two go to the seaside – again
I’ve just finished watching the third episode of the recent series of The Great British Dig, which was filmed on location last autumn during the pandemic. Hats off to the production team and crew, because they’ve managed to make a remarkably seamless set of programmes featuring some fascinating subjects, while contending with social distancing regulations … More Great British Dig: lost priories
One of the nicest things about lockdown easing is that we can now get about locally rather than just staying in our town. We’ve made the most of it over Easter with several trips out, including a lovely one to Coniston on Saturday. We expected the area to be madly busy thanks to the sunshine … More Two go on a coppery trail
Our next door neighbour has been digging out a new flower bed in his very pretty cottage garden. His house used to be a warehouse and stables before it was converted to a dwelling, and it’s obvious that his garden must have been the junk heap judging by the things he’s been discovering. These included … More Buried treasure
Well, estuary-side would be closer to the mark. This morning we needed to collect something a friend had made for us. They live in a village that’s just the other side of Morecambe Bay, and now that the ‘stay local’ rule is no longer being fully enforced we decided to make a trip of it … More Two go to the seaside
The process of producing a book from start (first words on screen or page) to finish (the published book, hopefully!) can be long, arduous, and emotionally draining. The sheer hard work has often struck me before: long hours spent typing or chewing the end of a pen when the words won’t come, frustration, sudden spurts … More The emotion of writing
Apologies to my lovely publisher Fox Spirit Books for not pouncing on this sooner, but I’ve only just spotted that the Kindle version of my paranormal romp ‘Got Ghosts?’ is now on sale for less. Quite a bit less, actually, since the original price of £5.99 has now come down to a mere £2.99. For … More All the ghosts, less money
The Library of Rejected Beauty is one of those wonderful ideas that only comes along occasionally, but once it does you wonder that nobody thought of it before. Basically, it’s an online magazine dedicated to taking only those stories that have been rejected elsewhere, but which are still valid works in their own right. On … More Taking flight
