Seven Miles of Steel Thistles

This is a post I wrote a few months before my mother died, nine years ago now. It was (and is) a heartfelt one. It's Mothering Sunday...

  RIVER VOICES   As I walked down by the river Close by the sounding sea, Up rose three water maidens Who stretched white arms to ...

'An Incident at the Battle of Culloden' by David Morier, oil on canvas.   This post first appeared on The History Girls blo...

  On 26 th December 1662 , twenty-nine year old Samuel Pepys met his friend Mr Battersby, who recommended ‘a new book of Drollery in verse...

  A book called ‘The Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song’ edited by R.H. Cromek and published 1810, contains this “Account of Billy Bli...

  I am extremely fond of house-spirits, two of which appeared in my first  books for children. The three books of my Troll trilogy all featu...