After months of cold, wet and gloom, today was the first warm sunny day of the year. Combined with a spring low tide, this was the perfect opportunity for a seaside walk. I’ve visited Seaton many times, but never at such a low tide, which revealed a wave-cut…
Category: genius loci
Despite the dodgy weather forecast today, a trip to Dancing Ledge on the Isle of Purbeck was a welcome respite to being inside looking at the interminable rain we’ve had till very recently – the older I get, the more depressing I find gloomy weather! After a sprinkling…
The west end of the Jurassic Coast is formed of Triassic sediments laid down in desert conditions – as a result, there are lots of red rocks to see. Ladram Bay is home to red sea stacks and cliffs, and a distressing amount of ghost gear, plastic bottles…
The tattered remains of Hurricane Ophelia blew in to the southwest of England yesterday, starting with the most ominous and eerie light in the morning. I have never felt so oppressed being on the beach before – the darkness was like dawn even at 10am, and the sky…
It’s been a perfect autumn afternoon – warm sun on my back, cirrus in a blue sky, a cool breeze soughing in the hedge. I walked along on the sunny lee side, where I could hardly hear the ever-present hum of traffic on the coast road, but was…
Just off the busy A35 north of Axminster is a delightful oasis of calm and tranquillity. Since the mid-17th century, Baptists have been meeting here in this thatched chapel, often in secret to escape persecution. It’s though that the isolated site was chosen for secrecy, but I do…
We’ve been lucky enough to have a long dry and warm spell this autumn, so it was hard to resist the call of the local forest today. Charmouth Forest on the borders of East Devon and West Dorset is a mix of broadleaf woodland and coniferous forestry, and…
My first visit to Polperro a couple of weeks ago reminded me just how clear the Cornish sea can be – where I live on the Devon-Dorset border, coastal erosion means that the sea is often cloudy with sediment. Most of the time I was there, the clouds…
I have a great fondness for old ramshackle buildings, and Southwold Harbour in Suffolk is a fertile hunting ground, with its abundant fishermen’s and boat sheds in various, glorious, states of dishevelment. Tarred wood, corrugated iron, paint and dusty glass combine to make lots of little cameos for…