Meg christens herself
When my daughter Meg was nineteen months old, I had her christened in our family’s parish church in England. Here’s …
Category Archives: Crich and the farms
Bell-ringing at St Mary’s Church, Crich, Derbyshire
There’s something so very joyous about the sound of church bells ringing. The church down the street from my house …
A donkey in search of a scratching post
I saw this donkey and its mother a few days ago in the field next to our holiday cottage in …
The crackling of winter barley
“Gordon,” I said to my cousin this morning in his farmhouse kitchen as he was pouring hot milk into mugs …
Cattle Market
After six months of mild, mostly dry, sunny weather–so dry that there’s been a 19-month drought–it’s been god-awful for the …
How to Build a Stone Wall
To me, there are few things more beautiful than a well-built dry stone wall. A stone wall is a work …
Who will farm the farms?
Two weeks ago I walked along the Dimple Lane that extends from my aunt’s house near the Crich marketplace to …
Inland Sea: Wind whistling through the winter barley
There are few things in the middle of the country–even such a relatively small one as England where it’s said …
Beacons across Britain: the Spanish Armada and the Queen’s Jubilee
In 1588, when the 151 ships of the Spanish Armada arrived off the coast with the intention of invading England …
My great-grandfather John Bent Wallis’s painting, in 1901 and now
Today I’m going in search of the spot where, on a summer day in 1901, my great-grandfather, later the nature …
The Year of Living Englishly 