THERE are few things more dispiriting than walking several miles uphill in the hope of finding a little peace and solitude, only to discover that everybody else has had precisely the same idea. This past week, pictures have emerged from Snowdon showing long lines of walkers making their way towardsContinue Reading
THERE are few things that unsettle the British countryside. Storms roll in. Rivers rise. The odd tractor backfires. Life continues. But at precisely 7pm on Friday, something happened that made even the hedgerows flinch as every mobile phone in the nation decided to impersonate a Cold War air‑raid siren. IContinue Reading
THERE is a particular kind of haste that grips the modern media whenever a high‑profile figure leaves us in dramatic circumstances. It is not grief, nor respect, nor even curiosity. It is the rush to explain, to dissect, to assign blame or brilliance before the facts have even had timeContinue Reading
A report delivered with reluctance, but necessity My dear compatriots of the countryside, I attended The Game Fair 2026 with the sort of optimism one reserves for a promising young retriever – hopeful, eager, and blissfully unaware of the disappointment awaiting it. By the time I left, I felt lessContinue Reading
DARTMOOR is one of our most treasured landscapes. It’s a place where culture, ecology and community are woven together as tightly as the granite beneath our feet. Decisions made about its management should reflect that complexity. Instead, ministers have chosen a path that feels worryingly reductive. The government’s ruling toContinue Reading
COUNT Binface – that noble, chrome‑domed emissary from the stars – has pledged to make Thames Water’s bosses take a dip in the Thames “to see how they like it”. A damned splendid idea, if you ask me. Though I fear the river may object to the pollution. But whyContinue Reading
England versus Altitude – a mountaineer’s guide to surviving the heights of Mexico CityContinue Reading
THERE comes a moment each year – as predictable as the first swallow and a hundred times as noisy – when the countryside begins to hum with a particular kind of energy. Not the gentle rustle of voles in the undergrowth, nor the soft gossip of wagtails along the riverbank.Continue Reading
IT has come to my attention – via a rather excitable vole who reads the human papers with more enthusiasm than accuracy – that there is talk of placing wildlife upon British banknotes. A charming idea, I suppose, though one must tread carefully when selecting which creatures are to representContinue Reading
THERE is a particular kind of madness that grips the environmental sector – a madness so entrenched, so quietly accepted, that most people don’t even notice it anymore. I’m talking about the scandalously low salaries offered for the jobs that keep our countryside alive. The roles that mend rivers, restoreContinue Reading
