About

In 2005 we moved from a life in the city to a sixteenth century farmhouse in the Clwydian hills in North East Wales. The house sits on the side of green valley with views up towards the ancient hillforts of Penycloddiau and Moel Arthur.

This is the bakehouse, painted white, which still contains the old bread oven.  The lower buildings are two stone built pigsties which we use as log stores.  Beyond, up on the horizon, is the heather covered mount of Moel Arthur, one of the many places in the west of the United Kingdom where King Arthur is reputed to be buried.  So we have an ancient house, two acres of land, a holiday cottage to run and lots of things to be grown outside and made inside.  Do I miss my corporate life?  Not at all.

Wandering through these pages you will find, me, Elizabeth, escapee from the city, writer, gardener, cook, wife, daughter, sister, friend, mother, stepmother, grandmother, sometimes stretched a bit thin but knowing that I am profoundly lucky to have all the people and the things that stretch me in my life. 

We lived in this glorious place for more than fifteen years but we have recently embarked on a new adventure, selling the farmhouse to a lovely new custodian and building a new house on a plot not far away.  Since I started my blog the old house and gardens around it have been my passion and obsession so it is interesting to discover how much the new house and its construction have taken over and how little I miss the house on the hill now that I know it is in safe hands.  Ian has been documenting the detail of the process here.  Having written this blog for many years I will be continuing but perhaps a bit sporadically.   I have also started another one to cover more personal musings and you can find that at so what happens next if you are interested.  I would love to hear from you.