juliachalkley

A few days in Lynmouth

We’ve just had a few days’ holiday in Lynmouth, north Devon, to celebrate His Lordship’s 70th birthday. We’ve never been to Lynmouth before, though we did spend a week at Croyde Bay in the late 70’s. Camping. We aren’t that tough these days, especially in December. Don’t be fooled by the photo above, we’ve hadContinue reading “A few days in Lynmouth”

Floored

Our living room floor was a mess when we moved in. It’s a project that’s been waiting its time behind all the others – the leaky roof, the flaky render, the bowed studding, the drunken sailor of a fenceline, the complete lack of flues and chimney pots in the chimneys and the windows that wereContinue reading “Floored”

About wood and water

I had the chance to attend a woodland workshop last week, learning how to light bonfires and whittle spoons. It was fun, taking a small axe to a chunk of birch branch to take off the largest excess parts, then taking a small whittling knife to the wood to carve a more delicate outline, andContinue reading “About wood and water”

Festival Finale

This is the end, I promise, the very end of the Essex Book Festival 2021. Today was the big reveal on the Story Hunters project, the invitation to visit one of twenty nominated sites in Essex, take a photo of yourself to prove you were there and write a story of between 50 and 250Continue reading “Festival Finale”

The Green Man

I had a strange encounter last Saturday, and it’s taken me until now to decide whether to write about it. I doubt the man involved will ever read this blog, but I do worry about upsetting people by what I make public. I went to our community wood on Saturday to help plant the bulbsContinue reading “The Green Man”

Welcome a Board

Preparing the front room for the builders’ return with the new floorboards is a bigger task than we’d bargained for. The cement base for the tiled plinth around the fireplace seemed to have been built in several small chunks, and the old floorboards ran through the middle of one side, like an oak sandwich withContinue reading “Welcome a Board”

Cutting Edge

It was an odd weekend. We’d been so focussed on arriving on time for my aunt’s funeral that I’d put to one side the fact that I’d volunteered for the committee for my local woodland trust, with the first meeting due for this Sunday. While I was on holiday, the call for all hands wentContinue reading “Cutting Edge”

Saying goodbye to my aunt

We returned from our holiday in Northumberland and Scotland and prepared for my aunt’s funeral. She’d reached the age of 100 and had her sons and their families close by for the last forty years, ending her life with a fall and a brief illness. Not the worst way to die. Her sons, daughters inContinue reading “Saying goodbye to my aunt”

A Tale of Two Breakdowns

After a quiet year, chaos. I was due to meet friends in Scotland in mid-November, and we decided to drive up together with a stop in Northumberland for stargazing and a visit to Hadrian’s Wall. We took his Landrover and my very elderly car, so that he could return home before the friends’ reunion toContinue reading “A Tale of Two Breakdowns”

Six foot under

The night-time half of our holiday in Northumberland has been spent at Battlesteads Observatory, seeing the light emitted from stars and nebulae thousands or millions of years in the past. The days have been spent looking for the more recent past along Hadrian’s Wall, and it’s been just as amazing. We went to Housesteads FortContinue reading “Six foot under”