Planting, prose and photography: creative field notes from the garden and beyond.
In February 2025, I self-publish my debut collection of poetry, ‘Intimacy in the Expanse’. And what a journey it has been to get to this point! I’ve adored the written word for as long as I can remember. Early childhood memories of walking to the library in the winter dark (what adventure!) with my mum… Continue reading Preparing to launch my debut collection of poetry…
It seems apt to spend the last day of the year retracing the steps that became so commonplace within it. This three and a half mile walk was not one that could have become any more familiar, but one that 2020 has undoubtedly made more intimate. Today the path is cold in the truest sense… Continue reading MMXX
Swathes of moorland grit and heather, dusted in the rugged russet of a dry November day. Waning branches wave skeins of yellowing leaves, the slender keys to a kingdom of expanse that has been unlocked just for us. The cold clods of yesterday's earth still shelter inside the whorls of my fingertips; grainy tributaries that… Continue reading Keys to the kingdom.
An early morning walk, a Sunday; but to label the day detracts from the nondescript beauty of anonymity-cloaking fog. Engulfed in silence, enveloped with questions, engorged with the opportunity to simply escape. A lone tree stands black and bleak in contrast to the faded greens below and the grey whites that swirl behind its branches… Continue reading Fog: the nourishing metamorphosis
To ‘review’ Ness for other readers feels almost counter-intuitive to the unnerving beauty of Macfarlane and Donwood’s creation: a piece of art that is enchanting, alluring and deeply captivating; a personal and intimate experience between writer, artist and reader. Inspired by the bleak and ghostly shingle spit of Orford Ness, off the Suffolk coast, Ness… Continue reading Ness: a haunting journey into landscape
It’s fair to say that humans are constantly searching for meaning. Some look for it in possessions, material objects, status; others in jobs, careers, relationships. But there’s a growing number of us seeking out meaning in the everyday and the everyday world around us. And on a balmy October Saturday in Nottingham, I found a… Continue reading Community & Connection: Shared Moments of Meaning
A few shots capturing the hues of change in a cold September garden.
Over at Creative Countryside, we all subscribe to the notion of living more slowly and in harmony with the seasons. And perhaps nothing encapsulates this more than gathering conkers in the autumn. This past week has been heavy, grey and atmospheric. Leaden skies of slate grey have set in with a resolute stoicism matched only… Continue reading Conkers, Fatherhood and a Speckled Wood
This is perhaps the first time in living memory that I have truly craved rain. I’m not talking about a half-hearted desire for precipitation, but an ardent anticipation for rainfall; something that has built slowly and steadily over the last few weeks. A genuine groundswell of feeling within, that something is amiss, not quite right:… Continue reading The Silent Symphony of Rain
To label it a 'riot' of colour would convey too proud a sentiment: the garden's delicate declarations of spring are quietly vocal, but no less a statement for their subtlety. Photos taken on Saturday 21st April 2018.
A Seasoned Soul. 