I regularly pass the road leading to the isolated hill farm at Ravenseat
Ravenseat is a 2,000 acre hill farm at the top of my dale where Amanda Owen, ‘Yorkshire Shepherdess’, lives with her husband and nine children. You may have seen her on the telly in programmes hosted by Ade Edmondson and Ben Fogle. In November and December, Ravenseat was back on the box in four fascinating episodes covering the changing seasons on the farm. It painted a very realistic picture of what hard work it is to manage the isolated farm at the top of the dale,...
Autumn is here, the evenings are drawing in and it is time to start working on my next book
Last night I enjoyed an evening in Reeth that began with the lighting of the enormous bonfire and culminated in a really spectacular firework display. The centre of the village was packed with adults and children of all ages celebrating an attempt to reduce the House of Lords to rubble! This is the time of year when I begin the next book. Currently I am still working on the plot but soon I must start monitoring the word count and ensuring that the weekly target is maintained, otherwise...
My local library is run by a band of volunteers. It is only able to open at certain times in the week but it is an excellent resource.
Surprisingly, now, even places with large populations like Richmond and Catterick have what are referred to as ‘community libraries’. I assume that now means they are run by the community (rather than for the community).
As a child I would borrow three books a week, exchanging them on a Saturday morning. I find myself doing the same now. Of course I choose authors I know I will enjoy such as Ruth Rendell, Reginald Hill and Sophie Hannah but I always select one book by an...
The sun shone on the 113th Muker Show on 5th September - a small but perfectly formed agricultural and horticultural show that included sheep dog trials, a local produce tent, fell races and the wonderful sound of the Muker Silver Band playing in the sunshine
The annual agricultural shows in the Yorkshire Dales generally take place at the end of the summer holiday season – two of them over the August bank holiday weekend: the Wensleydale Show in Leyburn is a big affair attracting many thousands of people on the Saturday, and the Reeth show in Swaledale is smaller but remarkably popular with visitors. Last but by no means the least is the Muker Show in early September. It is a much smaller event, tucked away in Upper Swaledale but there...
I’ve spent the last two weekends at events in Wensleydale publicising ‘Stone Tomb’
Writing is quite a lonely task – sitting for hours without speaking to anyone, staring out of the window and walking in the dales with a head full of alternative plots. Sometimes one might seem to be quite oblivious of the outside world. I keep in touch with readers by giving talks about my work – both writing and forensics – but it is a real treat to chat to readers who are avidly waiting for the next book in the series. In the last two weeks I have met people who came to...