Why don’t you go to The Piece Hall? Where? The Piece Hall? Why? It’s a Grade 01 listed building and has got lots of shops. It didn’t do it for me. I didn’t go. I didn’t know what I was missing. I’ve since visited. I do now. I then said I was going to write…
Five Things You Never Knew You Needed to Know About Rhubarb
It’s cold, even by normal Yorkshire standards. Snow is on the ground and for several days temperatures hover around 0C, to which phone apps add comments such as ‘feels like -5C, which aren’t terribly helpful. Weather like this means a couple of things. The first is quite obvious, yes, it’s winter in Yorkshire, fortunately we…
Did you know the Mulbery Bush nursery rhyme originated at Wakefield Prison?
As a child, my grandfather would walk me to the fields above his house and as we gazed down over Wakefield he would always point out three buildings, conspicuous by their architecture, these were the Cathedral, the town hall and the prison. They are the three landmarks of Wakefield that have always been familiar to…
What do Sandal Castle, a nursery rhyme and Pontefract Cakes have in common?
Oh, the grand old Duke of York He had ten thousand men He marched them up to the top of the hill And he marched them down again And when they were up, they were up And when they were down, they were down And when they were only half-way up They were neither…
Rediscovering Yorkshire – The longest way round is the shortest way home.
Two things happened yesterday. Probably a lot more to be fair but two things to prompt this article, which is handy when you need daily content for a ridiculous writing challenge! The first was that I took dad out for a drive, he’s been getting cabin fever and, given that I’d been raving about the…
Walking With Vikings
Walking with Vikings Walking and words, two passions of mine. Last week I was out walking discovering, as many of us now have, my own back yard, finding walks and history and stories right on my doorstep that I previously never knew existed. Given the amount of rain and snow that we’ve had, as soon…
Online Dating During Covid – Part 01
Several years ago, sixteen to be precise, I was encouraged to start internet dating, by my chiropracter of all people. Baffled as to why I was still single at the grand old age of 34, he was determined to heal my broken heart as well as my self inflicted, broken body. I turned up one…
You’ve Never Heard of Ossett?
Summer 2012: Ossett, the town from which I hail decided to host a ‘Promote Ossett’ day in a manner in which has left me baffled ever since, not to mention leaving many local school children traumatised at best, scarred for life at worst. I heard about the event in the local pub the night before,…
Snapshots: Slimming Clubs Yorkshire Style
It would seem that a compulsory part of living back ‘Up north’ is to join a fat club, must be something to do with the traditional diet of pies and fish and chips. Now this has more benefits than just the weight loss though I am proud to say that I have so far lost 3.5 kgs, nothing to do with stress…
Encounters with locals – Yorkshire style
Conversations from Yorkshire:. Picture the scenario. A beautiful, sunny autumnal morning, out riding one of my favourite horses in the stunning Yorkshire countryside. Said horse having observed the field full of cows for several minutes and kept a beedy eye on them all the way down the hill, decided to freak out on drawing parallel….
God’s Own County vs God’s Own Country – Yorkshire vs Kerala
I recently saw an article in a national British newspaper which proclaimed that Yorkshire has just been voted Britain’s best holiday destination and that it also calls itself God’s Own Country. Now for the last 6 years, I have lived in India and spent a lot of time in the southern state of Kerala, which…