You can definitely get carried away with hiking gear. There is a lot of choice and a LOT of technology to consider. I mean there’s raincoats now with seemingly more technology than my first mobile phone! Don’t get me wrong, there’s some quality products out there that’ll keep you safe and comfortable – especially during […]
Oak Tree Island
10 Reasons to Travel Your Own Country
The world a big place. There is so much to see and experience, and it’s relatively easy, cheap and fast to get anywhere in the world. So naturally, most people are looking to visit the faraway and the exotic. In my home country of England, people tend to want to escape to the sun and […]
Pendle Hill | The Spookiest Halloween Destination in England (2022)
What Halloween means for people in England seems to change as you grow up. As a kid, it’s all scary masks and knocking on doors ‘trick-or-treating’ to gather a treasure load of sweets. As a teenager (or certainly in the suburban London area I grew up in), Halloween essentially turns into a day of anti-social […]
A 30 mile Hike on the Lancashire Coastal Way
This article contains affiliate links, meaning we’ll earn a small commission if you purchase through these links. The commission is paid by the retailers, at no extra cost to you. After a month of work after Christmas, through the dreariness of January, I decided to take a random day off. I wanted to take the […]
Climbing Whernside | Yorkshire’s Highest Peak
Since moving north from London to Manchester almost four years ago, I have met many Yorkshire folk, and there is always a fierce pride on show if the Yorkshire Dales come up in conversation. “…far more beautiful than Lancashire” they would claim, occasionally a reference to “God’s county”, the Mancs would sometimes bite back but […]
World War One Trench Stew | 1914 | Heritage Food |
As we near Remembrance Sunday, I decided that the next historic dish to recreate would be from the cold trenches of The First World War. I studied this war, and in particular the wartime poets, in great detail whilst at school. I recall myself and my entire class being captivated by the grim details and […]
World War Two Spam Fritters | 1940 | Heritage Food
First up on my culinary journey back in time was a classic from the Second World War – Spam Fritters. Spam is obviously very well-known with many saying that the canned meat helped us win the war. However, asking someone if they like the taste of Spam will usually bring about a laugh, a face […]
An Interview with a Pagan Witch
Cornwall is very mysterious place. Looking beyond the sheer natural beauty and tourist resorts, Cornwall at its heart is a faraway county full of peculiar stone circles, eerie folklore and is the home one of the fastest growing religions in the UK – Paganism. As part of the Shire Checklist (my 8-point to-do list for […]
The Shire Checklist: A Mission to Visit Every County in England
It sounds daft, but travelling to the middle of Siberia made me realise that I don’t properly know my own country. It should not have taken numerous 30-hour train journeys through Russia’s gigantic icy plains to reach this realisation; but it was actually getting to a wild, far-away fascination of mine that the thought […]
The Shire Checklist #1: Cornwall
It seems fitting that the first of the 39 Historic Counties visited was Cornwall. Home of Land’s End, the start of so many long-distance challenges, Cornwall resides at the far south west corner of England. Cornwall is effectively an island; the Tamar River that runs from north to south cuts Cornwall off from the mainland, […]