Birdsong – melodious and relaxing, or just a godawful racket?
	2:21pm Fri 9 May 08
	SOME years ago, someone asked me if I thought birds enjoyed singing.

It’s May – time to protect your home from the threat of witches

1:01pm Friday 2nd May 2008

MAY has long been known as the month of blossom. There can be little doubt that it is the most beautiful month of the year so far as new growth and floral splendour is concerned.

One grand spring morning, with sheep and lambs in party mood

12:57pm Friday 25th April 2008

A COUPLE of hours before settling down to write these notes, I walked through the grounds of our local abbey. It was a bright, sunny April morning and the mighty bell was booming to summon the monks to mass. As I walked, I could see them emerging from their monastic quarters to hurry into the abbey church while the life of others such as myself continued around them.

Manor houses – welcoming waifs and strays long before the pubs

12:03pm Friday 18th April 2008

IHAVE come across an interesting theory that some of our country inns might have developed from ancient manor houses. An alternative is that our inns were initiated, probably from ordinary houses or farms, when people began to travel extensively from their own part of England and so required food and accommodation during their journey.

Northallerton – a personal past, or do its roots lie in the trees?

1:25pm Friday 11th April 2008

DISCUSSIONS with a fellow author led to a debate about the name of Northallerton. She understood it should be spelt as two separate parts, ie North Allerton whereas in most modern publications it is a single word.

	Influx of wild birds is one of the many wonders of nature
	2:51pm Fri 4 Apr 08
	ONE of the delights of early springtime is the seasonal influx of wild birds. In huge numbers, they come to our shores from faroff places, here to spend the summer months and often to produce their broods of new chicks. Then, when the chicks are but a few weeks old, they will fly all the way to their parents' homes overseas. That is an even more amazing feat. How do they know where to go?

The legend of the Leyburn Shawl, retold

12:02pm Friday 28th March 2008

FROM time to time, I am asked by visitors to the dales if I know why Leyburn Shawl is so-called.

Easter, a moveable feast, much to the Government of 1928’s chagrin

12:44pm Friday 21st March 2008

APART from being the first day of spring, today is also Good Friday which is the start of the first major holiday break of the year.

Not allowing the facts to get in the way

1:09pm Friday 14th March 2008

THE village of Wath lies about four miles north of Ripon and I can remember it having one of the busiest magistrates' court in the North Riding of Yorkshire.

A tale about cats who take a walk on the wild side

1:41pm Friday 7th March 2008

IN recent weeks, wild cats have featured in the news because they are now considered to be an endangered species. It is difficult to know precisely how many of them remain in our country but one wildlife consultant thinks there may be at least 400 and probably more.

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