One of our neighbours in the village is a professional ecologist and undertakes work for Herefordshire Wildlife Trust as I understand...

Soil, that is. Ton upon ton of it being delivered here as phase 1 of the hanging gardens of Babylon draws to a close. The guys from...

The guys are making huge strides strides at Oaklands and I am keeping my excitement managed with colouring pencils and lots of reading....

Jane had showed me on a Zoom call the other day our Jotul stove all cleaned from its exertions last Winter. It has seen its first season....

I watched the Prime Minister with interest last night from my villa in Dubai. While I am more reliant on the judgement of His Royal...

May marches on, weeks of blazing sun and lockdown compliance giving way under newly arrived cold winds and political media treacle. A...

The bluebells are now fully out. We have watched that spring tide come up and across the country as friends and family report of their...

I have been putting off starting to set down any kind of plan for quite a few weeks but from a practical point of view it would be better...

I am very much isolated in Dubai at the moment as the lockdown in both the UAE and the UK, our twin seats of our life, continues. Jane...

April 7th, and a week of almost unbroken sunshine has transformed the garden. The young fruit trees are on the verge of blossoming, the...

Well, what a week. Boris asked us all politely to stay at home, and apparently we didn’t, so now the order has come that we must. Easy...

Mid-March, edging towards Mother’s Day, and how much has changed. A global pandemic. Countries in lockdown. Catastrophic demands on...

I will leave Jane to post a much longer piece on the progress of the garden works. Needless to say in the two weeks Jane has been in...

So I am sat at my dining table in Dubai on a Saturday evening, which is the equivalent of a Sunday evening here fighting off the "Sunday...

Rural areas are steeped in myth and legend - dark woods, strange topographies, curious rock formations all give shape and form to ancient...

Pheasants are not indigenous to the United Kingdom and were introduced purely for the purpose of sport in the last few hundred years....

A frivolous post really but I am back in Dubai in the New Year enjoying the blue skies and mid 20s temperatures but obviously spending...

10th December to 8th January at Oaklands. Our first winter stay in the UK for a long time, and our first Christmas in our new home. Old...

I am a very happy man in Dubai this morning. My usual routine at the weekend includes a good hour or two looking at websites and a degree...

A rapid departure last week from Oaklands as we headed to Amsterdam to see old friends. The house and grounds tested us on this quick...