Food. Thoughts. Nature

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  • Reviving Nature: One Year of Ecological Restoration

    The quiet return of a living landscape. Last month marked a year since I began the process of giving some of my land a rest. 12 acres were taken out of intensive agriculture for some much needed R&R, and to let nature take control — almost. One year on: no herbicides, no pesticides, no fertilisers,…

  • Smoke in the Stubble: A close shave

    Yesterday afternoon, the air above my usually quiet bit of the British countryside was thick with smokey fog of burning vegetation.  A field fire that roared rapidly across the parched remnants of a recent wheat and hay harvest, consumed first stubble, then hedgerow, and fencing followed. In the now uncomfortably regular season of wildfires across…

  • Ghillie 1L Adventurer Kettle & Cook Kit Review: A Compact Outdoor Cooking Solution

    My experience using the Ghillie’s lightweight, British-made, Adventurer Kettle Cook Kit * Note: Review based on my personal experience with the Ghillie 1L Adventurer Kettle & Cook Kit. I’ve not been sponsored or paid by the manufacturer to write this post, and have had no communication with them. I purchased the product myself. I just…

  • Giants of our landscape: Bowing to the boughs

    The lungs of the planet, important ecological habitats, vertical playgrounds, winter fuel or a canopy for youthful romance; the ever-important trees. The Sycamore Gap tree is in the news again. After being illegally felled in an act of pointless idiocy and vandalism back in 2023, the two culprits have just been sentenced to 4 years…

  • In the Footsteps of Ghosts: Exploring an Iron Age Legacy

    Discover the Iron Age hill fort at Credenhill Park Wood in Herefordshire. A scenic, dog-friendly walk, rich in ancient history and natural beauty. As I rise up the steep path – brambles and fern, elderberry and fireweed either side, tall trees beyond: oak, ash, fir and yew to name but a few – there’s a…

  • From Scrub to Wetland: Nature Project in Worcestershire

    When I first decided to devote a bit of land to nature regeneration, I began by planting trees. I earmarked 12 acres in total, with 10.5 acres for trees and the remaining 1.5 acres for, well, something else. I imagined birdsong, shade, and slow-growing permanence. It was the start of something hopeful: a personal attempt…

  • 🥖 For the Love of Bread: In Search of a Better Loaf

    Back When Bread Was Still Bread I was lucky enough to grow up in the seventies and eighties, a time when music was better, cars were more interesting and proper, good, wholesome bread could still be found on most high streets in independent bakeries. The full-scale decline hadn’t yet set in. Bakeries were already on…

  • Nature’s Highways: Homage to the Hedgerow

    From folklore to foraging – the hidden wonders of Britain’s living boundaries. Often overlooked and sometimes taken for granted, Britain’s hedgerows are among the oldest features of our rural landscape – living relics that have bordered our fields since Neolithic times. They likely began as remnants – trees and shrubs left standing after Neolithic farmers…

  • Looking out from the ridge: the Malvern Hills and distant memories

    The photo on the homepage, and above, is of a place I return to time and again. From there, the land falls away on either side, revealing a patchwork of pleasant fields and hedgerows — Herefordshire and Wales to the west, Worcestershire to the east, and, on a clear day, the view extends as far…