Category Archives: Out and about

The ‘English’ pub outside of England never has the atmosphere of the ‘Irish’ pub outside of England, perhaps the Irish are more homogenous. Perhaps it is the case that an Irish person can walk into a pub and almost be … Continue reading →

Joining the Facebook group, ‘Disused Stations,’ I wondered what it was that prompted a fascination with former railway stations, some of which closed sixty years ago. Among my railway books, there is one with a particular capacity to revive vivid … Continue reading →

Christmas is past and thoughts turn to summer. Sailing from Rosslare to Cherbourg on 3rd June, I am planning to pay my respects at Juno Beach in Normandy before going to the Western Front. More specifically, going to Flanders, to … Continue reading →

In childhood years, we thought the railway line that passed by my grandfather’s farm at Pibsbury was the most important line in the country. As a teenager,  I remember someone from elsewhere challenging my description of the railway as “the … Continue reading →

I must declare an interest. My mother’s family have been farmers for generations, raising stock, milking cows, growing crops, in a small area of Somerset, definitely since the Eighteenth Century, and probably for centuries prior to their recorded activities on … Continue reading →