'Context' - A Blog

18/06/2021

Approaching the anniversary of one of the most important train stops in English Literature, at Adlestrop in Gloucestershire, I take a mental walk around the history of streets of my local town, Llandeilo, and wonder whether it might be time to think a little more carefully about our experiences of moving around. ...more

11/06/2021

How a lost station in Carmarthenshire, an ‘unlost’ track in Surrey and other fragments of the way we once travelled, provide a chance to gain a reflective connection with our past. ...more

04/06/2021

How a lifetime of gazing skywards led to the spontaneous creation of a painting commemorating the action of a Battle of Britain Spitfire pilot, who died eighty years ago today. ...more

28/05/2021

It sounds like some biblical type portent, but is this (only slightly weather related) event a sign of a comeback for the elm, one of our most intriguing native trees? ...more

21/05/2021

Working in farming, using historic faming and smallholding techniques and working with old tractors has always been interesting for so many reasons. But there is one peril that no-one ever mentioned to me in all the training and instruction I have received over the years... stuff falls out of your pockets. ...more

14/05/2021

A lot of thought is going in to ‘no till’ (also known as ‘no dig’ or ‘no plough’) systems of land management these days. Could it be that the writing is on the wall for this several thousand year old implement and all its elegant simplicity of purpose? I’m not so sure. ...more

07/05/2021

When I first got to use a plough in earnest, it all turned out rather a mess...but what a superlative piece of kit it is... ...more

30/04/2021

How the enigma of an old plough in the nettles led to an insight into the landscape all around and helped seed a lifelong interest in the significance of ploughs, ploughing and ploughlands. ...more

25/04/2021

How I ended up behind a horse and plough because of a day’s sketching ...more

16/04/2021

A lovely spring smell is in the air which takes me back to the scent of grass and earth mixed together on a Sussex farm... ...more

09/04/2021

How paying attention to the geographic definition of esker and its Welsh equivalent, esgair, was a missing key to understanding the landscape around me. ...more

02/04/2021

How a place name comes about in the first place and what it might tell us about those who first used the name. ...more

26/03/2021

How looking at the roots of the old words for the hills and other places in the landscape around us, can bring us into closer touch with our surroundings. ...more

19/03/2021

When we look at hill, do we ever see it properly? ...more

12/03/2021

How seeing the same things around us from a different angle for a moment, might help us gain a little sense of escape from the day to day difficulties that surround us. ...more

05/03/2021

Why the determination of these little birds draws comparisons with the inhabitants of wartime London. ...more

26/02/2021

How a tiny, unassuming brown bird provides cheer and inspiration in the cold of late winter. ...more

19/02/2021

How thoughts in February centre on damp and difficulties, at one of the hardest times of the shepherd’s year. Yet there is solace and strength to be derived from the sheep themselves. ...more

12/02/2021

Should the figures in our landscape paintings be harmonious or discordant, or even there at all? ...more

05/02/2021

Should the people in our landscape paintings be from now or the past and should they confront or soothe us? ...more