Month: January 2026
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The Conservation Walk That Has Vanished
It seems fitting to be posting this at the end of January 2026, a month that quietly marked a profound centenary. One hundred years ago, Section 193 of the Law of Property Act 1925 gave the public a legal right to access around a third of the common land in England and Wales. For the…
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Letting Sheep Be Sheep
I cannot quite tell whether these sheep huddling under the gorse to dodge the sleet are tough old “moor” sheep or soft “lowland” types, but either way they carry the usual reputation. Sheep, like cows, belch methane, methane warms the planet, and that is that. Or so we thought. A study with the esoteric name…
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When Eskdale Held Its Breath
A dreich day in Bransdale, so I am clinging to a favourite photo from yesterday, taken high above the clouds under a blue sky. It does the soul some good to watch mist creep up the dale while back home in the Tees valley was wrapped in damp fog like a forgotten parcel, although I…
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In Search of a Broch, Finding a Bog
My mission today was to chase down a tiny mystery. On the O.S. map it appeared as two neat black circles, concentric, barely a millimetre across and quietly absent from the legend. Naturally this would not do. The puzzle was set by a friend, so thanks to Lenny for the nudge that sent me off…
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The Hidden Life of Newton Wood
All was quiet in Newton Wood today. No leaves rustling, barely a bird bothering to sing. Colour drained away. Even the fungi looked as if they had clocked off. Appearances mislead. Fungi are like icebergs. What shows above ground, the mushrooms, is only the fruit. The real organism is the mycelium, a vast web beneath…
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Nature’s Invitation, Authority’s Refusal
It may have been a cold walk around Cod Beck Reservoir today, but imagine it is hot. The height of the summer. You are with friends. A dull sign saying “No Swimming” stands between you and a better afternoon. Many people have stared down that sort of sign and decided it probably does not apply…
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Tinghou: From Meeting Place to Housing Estate
Not the most flattering view for today, I will admit. A quiet field, currently earning its keep as horse pasture, pressed up against Lowcross Farm. I took the photograph for two reasons, neither of them aesthetic. First, for the record. This field sits under a planning application for a new estate of 117 houses. If…
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Little Fryup Dale
Little Fryup Dale on a very dreich day. The cloud lifts its base just enough to show the moors in the distance, a wide sweep of heather and bare earth. Even under this leaden sky it is both beautiful and desolate. It feels unchanged, as if wind and rain have been quietly getting on with…
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Viaducts, Violence and Victory: How Rival Railways Fought for Cleveland
The old viaduct at Slapewath stands forlorn and overgrown. It looks peaceful now. Built in 1861 by the Cleveland Railway, it sat at the centre of one of the fiercest railway battles in the north of England. By the time the Middlesbrough & Guisborough Railway was running, one thing was clear. It was not going…
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The Station That Was Not for the Plebs: How Guisborough Got a Railway, Reluctantly
The photograph shows an overgrown piece of railway history: the remains of the private station, built not for a town, but for Sir Alfred Edward Pease of Hutton Hall. It is a neat place to begin, because it tells you almost everything about how the railway first came to Guisborough. In 1850, Guisborough had no…