Pocket Hitchhikers – Autumn Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay. by Robert Frost How many times have you come back from a walk and found your pockets full of little treasures of nature? It seems that some of us can’t help but pick up stones from the beach or conkers from the woodland, small tactile pieces of natu

Summer In Yorkshire Print from Raspberry Thief Summer In Yorkshire “I tried to find beauty there where I had never imagined before that it could exist, in the most ordinary things, in the profundities of ‘still life'” – Marcel Proust By the time Summer came upon us, drawing and journalling everyday had become a welcome habit. From the epiphany I had in Spring, the sense of new beginnings and learning, to a feeling of natural habit. The feeling of making leaps in my watercolou

Illustrated Map of our journey. In August we decided to walk up Kinder Scout, after our trip to Edale earlier in the year we were keen to go back to the Peak District. So Bank Holiday Monday we were all up early (no mean feat) and out of the house by 9am. We parked at Upper Booth, and began heading towards Kinder Scout. Our route from Upper Booth, to Kinder Low trig, Kinder Plateau and down via Crowden Clough. 7.5 miles I’d read how unpredictable the weather could be on Kinde

Illustrated map of a walk from Aberford. July is usually a very busy month for us, lots of end of term school stuff going on, planning for the summer holidays, and birthdays. It was another unplanned, last minute decision trip after looking at a rather full calendar.  Instead of driving out further afield in the car we decided to stay local and explore somewhere we hadn’t been before.  We grabbed our local OS map and set off. 9 mile route from Aberford, via Hazlewood Castle,

“A big fat sky and a thousand shrieks The tide arrives and the timber creaks A world away from the working week Où est la vie nautique? That’s where the sea comes in…” – Dr John Cooper Clarke The end of June seems like such a long time ago, we’ve packed a lot in since then. Sunny days and sandy feet are still etched firmly into our memories though, and this little one night camping trip was full of magic. The weather was set to be good so be took advantage and decided to camp

‘Spring In Yorkshire’ Spring In Yorkshire “Be willing to be a beginner every single morning” – Meister Eckhart When I began the #100dayproject I had no idea how much it would develop and spark my creativity.  Following on from my plan to combine my art and our outdoor adventures  it became a natural progression to include the birds, flowers, and insects that end up making me stop still and notice. Not just stop still and notice, but to properly stop, take it in, and document