The tale of three castles in the woods and a giant of a man
	11:39am Fri 22 Aug 08
	FOR a tiny village to act as host to three castles is probably quite unusual, but that distinction goes to Lythe, near Whitby.

A tribute to rosemary, one of the most versatile, and curious, plants

1:03pm Friday 15th August 2008

I HAVE come across a curious belief about the herb we know as rosemary, a plant widely used in food recipes with its sharp-pointed bluegreen leaves and attractive blue flowers.

The summery honeysuckle deserves to blow its own trumpet

12:10pm Friday 8th August 2008

OUR previous home was a delightful old cottage with honeysuckle around the door of one of the outbuildings. That building had been a stable in an earlier life because our cottage and its grounds had been used by the local blacksmith and farrier. Not surprisingly, I kept finding horseshoes in the garden.

A time to celebrate – it is Yorkshire Day, after all

12:38pm Friday 1st August 2008

IT IS Yorkshire Day when folk from God's Own County will be celebrating their love of England's finest and most diverse patch of our interesting nation.

We need more characters like ‘Awd Moses’ to preserve village cricket

1:03pm Friday 25th July 2008

A RECENT journey from Northallerton to Thirsk via South Otterington provided a traditional summertime sight. It was a village cricket match with all the players dressed in their whites and a small gathering of spectators watching from the pavilion area.

St Margaret’s Feast – the time of summer cloudbursts and floods

12:28pm Friday 18th July 2008

THIS coming Sunday is the feast day of St Margaret when, in the past, gardeners would ensure their turnips had been planted and also consider the day a good one to pick one's crop of pears.

‘Unicorn’ birth gives credence to the myth

12:22pm Friday 11th July 2008

ONE of the most curious news stories to appear in recent weeks highlighted a one-year old roe deer born in captivity at a research park in Tuscany, Italy.

The continuing voyage of discovery, in the name of witches

12:02pm Friday 4th July 2008

THIS week's diary comes from a part of Lancashire known either as the West Pennine Moors or the Forest of Rossendale. Those small merged areas form part of a larger region known as the South Pennine Heritage Area that includes parts of Yorkshire to the south of Skipton such as Keighley, Hebden Bridge and Holmfirth.

When lairs were for humans, not for foxes

11:34am Friday 27th June 2008

SOME time ago, while exploring the highlands of Scotland, I was intrigued by the small stone huts which dotted the more remote and isolated slopes.

It’s official – time does go by more quickly as you get older

10:51am Friday 20th June 2008

IT is difficult to believe we have reached the beginning of summer that officially starts tomorrow, June 21, with midsummer day (June 24) arriving on Tuesday.

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