Sissinghurst garden; a place of history, romance and beauty. House hunting in the spring of 1930, the English poet Vita Sackville-West viewed a crumbling castle in the Kentish countryside. Standing in the middle of a cabbage patch she looked up at Sissinghurst’s romantic, Elizabethan tower, turned to
Read more →SHAKEN AND STIRRED! Thanks to classic wines such as Penfold’s Grange, Australians are now less likely to be perceived as a nation of unsophisticated beer swillers. However, cocktails are perhaps more generally associated with Manhattan or Paris than ‘the
Read more →It is such a pleasure to host this guest blog by John Paul Bernett, who lives in the atmospheric Yorkshire town of Whitby. One of the joys of social media is connecting with people completely outside one’s usual orbit. I am a pretty conservative Australian writer/gardener with
Read more →CLENCH YOUR PEN AND KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT! Authors are constantly advised not to respond to negative reviews. I fully agree; you simply cannot argue with another person’s opinion. It is worth remembering that many literary classics suffered a hatchet job when first published. I particularly love
Read more →A PRICELESS GIFT On September 26 1968, Australia’s Consul-General in New York, Sir Reginald Sholl, received a visit from an elderly gentleman offering to present the Australian government with a pair of earrings associated with Governor Lachlan Macquarie’s wife Elizabeth. Sholl’s visitor was Edward Manley Hopkins, great-grandson
Read more →RUFFLED FEATHERS For the seagulls of Australia, the arrival of Europeans was an unpleasant experience. As Cook’s Endeavor made its way along the east coast in 1770, the crew were forced to supplement their dwindling provisions by shooting and eating the birds. Sir Joseph Banks wrote; Sea
Read more →It’s a rare, but delightful experience to come across a project that is fresh, funny and completely engaging. For me, it was author & illustrator Katie W. Stewart’s book, Famous Animals. I was so impressed when Katie posted a sample in a writers’ group we belong to,
Read more →Unlike my ancestors, I have never thought of England as ‘home’. However, I did grow up a little confused about my national identity. At primary school in Tasmania we stood before the flag on Empire Day and sang God Save the Queen before being handed a packet
Read more →Spring warmth after frost and snow is one of the joys of nature. It was that period in the vernal quarter when we may suppose the Dryads to be waking for the season. The vegetable world begins to move and swell and the saps to rise,
Read more →I bought this Victorian cabinet to display them in when we move into our new house. AN OBSESSION IS BORN- MANY PILLBOXES FOLLOWED! On holiday in Tasmania some years ago, I purchased a sweet little pillbox in an antique store at Evandale. It was gilt, with a
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