Through a glass darkly
Abbot Hall art gallery in Kendal has a brand new exhibition featuring the works of J M Turner and John Ruskin, focussing on landscape paintings, the weather, and Ruskin's work in flagging up climate change. It sounds fascinating, and we had a spare morning on Friday so we hurried over to Kendal to see it.... Continue Reading →
We always enjoy poking round classic car shows - it's such fun to see all the old favourites our parents or grandparents used to drive, plus there are always surprises and new models we've never heard of before. Today was the turn of the 20th annual classic car rally at Leighton Hall, a spectacular stately... Continue Reading →
Not a real one, obviously. This is the wonderful Haphazardous Hippo, who runs a book blog and has rather foolishly given me free run of the place this weekend! In other words, she interviewed me recently and has posted the results on her blog today. The questions were great fun, so head on over to... Continue Reading →
Yesterday we took a break from endless chores and gardening and drove over to Coniston, which we hadn't visited for nearly a year. The forecast was for warm sunshine. In the event it clouded over and the light was a bit flat for decent photography, but we still enjoyed a lovely walk down to the... Continue Reading →
Not my birthday, but my publisher Fox Spirit Books are celebrating their anniversary with a grand birthday sale. And the great news is that Got Ghosts? is included. So if you haven't got around to buying yourself a copy, now's your chance, because there's a whopping 25% off it for the rest of the month.... Continue Reading →
...or, saying hello to some very old friends. When I was a kid my parents gave me a wonderful book. Actually they gave me lots of wonderful books, but this one has stuck in my mind more than most. It was a huge Readers Digest volume with a name that went something like 'Strange Stories,... Continue Reading →
The castle at Dartmouth is situated at the mouth of the River Dart, a short walk out of the town centre. It's a great place to put a castle, looking out across the river to Kingswear, and out to sea - and the people who lived here clearly thought so too because there's a medieval... Continue Reading →
High Street is easily one of the most famous Roman roads in Cumbria - and quite possibly in the whole of the UK. So much so they called a whole mountain after it: the eponymous High Street in the far eastern fells, where the road reaches an impressive 2,700 feet above sea level. It was... Continue Reading →
Not really, of course. I'm talking about Greenway House in Devon, which was the summer home of 'queen' of crime writing Agatha Christie and where she wrote some of her books, set at least one murder scene, and no doubt got inspiration for plenty more. We visited a few weeks ago. I'd never been before,... Continue Reading →
