Category: Wellness

I saw a glossy advert in the village shop last week for a “premium wellness retreat” that cost more than a decent set of replacement windows for a Victorian cottage. It’s all very fine if you have the pocket, but for most of us, the idea that you need a monthly subscription and a room […]

I was out by the old flint wall near the bottom of Church Lane yesterday—the one we finally patched up back in ’94—trying to get a bit of work done before the rain set in. I’d only been out for twenty minutes before my eyes started watering like a leaky tap and my nose felt […]

I was out near the old flint boundary on Saturday, trying to get a stubborn section of dry stone wall to sit right, when the heat finally caught up with me. It wasn’t a sudden thing, but rather that slow, heavy realization that my head was thumping and my mouth felt like I’d been chewing […]

I was sitting in the village hall last Tuesday, listening to some well-meaning youngster suggest that the best way to support a struggling family was through a coordinated fundraising gala or a series of “wellness workshops.” Honestly, it made my blood boil. If you want to know how to help a carer, you don’t need […]

I remember sitting in my armchair last November, staring at a pile of glossy brochures that promised “holistic rejuvenation” and “revolutionary healing journeys” after my hip replacement. It was all nonsense, the sort of expensive fluff you’d see in a high-end boutique in Salisbury rather than a real home. They make it sound like you […]

I was out near the old mill last Tuesday—the one with the rebuilt lintel from 1924—trying to clear a section of dry stone wall that had given up the ghost. I ended up halfway through the afternoon with a blister the size of a five-pence piece because I’d trusted a glossy brochure over my own […]

I was out by the old tithe barn last Tuesday—the one with the flintwork dating back to the mid-1800s—trying to patch a section of dry stone wall that had given up the ghost. My knee decided, quite inconveniently, that it wasn’t going to cooperate with the damp weather. It’s a funny thing; you spend your […]

I was out near the old mill stream last Tuesday—the one built around 1740, if memory serves—trying to check a loose stone in a boundary wall, when the light simply vanished. It wasn’t just dark; it was that thick, heavy sort of gloom you only get when the hedgerows are overgrown and the streetlamps are […]

I was out by the old dry stone wall near the bottom of Church Lane yesterday—the one we rebuilt back in ’94—and the wind was cutting right through my layers like a blunt chisel. It’s that specific kind of biting chill that makes your face feel less like skin and more like cracked parchment. I […]

I saw a glossy magazine in the village shop last Tuesday claiming that the secret to wellness is a three-hundred-pound pair of carbon-fibre hiking boots and a subscription to a mountain retreat. Honestly, it’s enough to make you want to stay indoors and bolt the door. People make it sound like you need a permit […]