Curlew Country

Our year so far has been rather fantastic I have to say. New opportunities and big changes have been the flavour of these first few snowy, chilly months.
For me it's meant goodbye to great colleagues but hello to a wonderful new job (you might guess where from the picture...) I'm based in a historic working pottery, promoting the amazing products manufactured there as well as the skills and craftsmanship...

If you get up to Flash, the highest village in Britain, drop over the hilltops and go down on to the ancient packhorse trails, you are in for a treat.
It's wild and rugged country, a place where three counties meet in the hills, once the hangout of all sorts of thieves, rouges and vagabonds. Today it was us there, with hikers, pony trekkers and a few motorbike scramblers for company (who soon cleared...

My dresser is especially dear to me. It was the very first piece of furniture I bought. I'd scoured the local classifieds for a pine dresser for my first house and could just afford to stretch to this.
It was horridly orange when I saw it in a dark little bungalow with my dad. The chap selling it was very shaken up after two previous people ended up scrapping over it in the street!? He was quite glad that dad and I spent just five minutes in his house...

Look! There's life outside despite it being so dank and dark. Not that I'm minding much. Seasons are what keep me going, they mark and celebrate the year, so darkness and chill during January are really just how things should be. Seeing the bulbs peep...