So if anybody is considering getting fitter, then I have found the perfect method, it doesn’t involve gymnasiums or poles. It’s called sheep herding. That is, sheep herding across bumpy, lumpy, sometimes boggy, sometimes completely muddy, sometimes just patches of water or grass up to your neck kinda ground. The rules are simple, get a group of people that can span out in a few directions, and well ….errr…. chase sheep.

I had an excellent yet completely exhausting afternoon sheep herding with the owners of the manor.

To be quite honest I felt a complete novice, let me rephrase that, I felt a complete unfit city-girl, whom every now again would go flying due to some lump that didn’t quite match her footing, and got redder and redder in the face trying to keep up. It is an afternoon I will not easily forget!

Saw a group of sheep the other day coming over the brow of a hill walking on the road that looked like a shot from the Tarantino movie ‘Reservoir Dogs’, you’ll have to trust me on this one as the shot is too blurry.

Apart from sheep there are lots of birds around; on the moorlands there’s Kestrels, Buzzards, Sparrow Hawks etc, and at the manor, Nuthatches, Tits, Nightingales, Robins and others that I’m trying to recognise with my exceedingly poor £2 bird guide book. Whilst eating I look out onto the most unattractive bird table that I have ever seen; well it hardly constitutes a table, more like a bird pole.
I bought two more bird feeders to go with the existing one; in fact all shops seem to sell bird-feeding supplies regardless of its main proprietorship.

Now I confess, I’m new to this bird feeding business, and quite frankly, even though its beautiful watching these striking creatures, I’m also a little concerned. It seems I have created what can only be described as a mini war zone and possibly the first obesity scare for birds. Now the Nuthatch is rather a pretty bird, but it’s also an incredible bully who is battling it out with a Great Tit for feeding rights. So repeatedly throughout the day there’s mini fights with the winner eating furiously, regardless whether they have done so before. Now surely a ball of lard with a few sesame seeds cannot be that tasty…can it? Are they over eating just to gain command? Should I put something out a little lighter than lard? The fighting was so bad the other day they both hit the window pain at full velocity with wings a flapping. Is this all normal? Any bird tips will be greatly appreciated.



Walking seems to be my complete joy at the moment and I continue to write my walking diary after every walk. Incredibly I even like walking in the rain. I am currently thinking of ideas for artworks that include walking somehow. I am becoming interested on the historic tracts that surround this area; a road/path is a record of those who have gone before and to follow them is to follow people who are no longer there. Shepherds would have to walk miles to take herds of sheep to market along drove roads; dead bodies would have to be carried to burial sites along corpse roads. There is a fascinating history underneath our feet!

Part of the Pennine Way is very near, and it feels wonderful walking along this historic track. Whilst on the Pennine Way I came across a craggy rock and had what can only be described as a Keira Knightly moment. I’ll explain…..in the recent version of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ (starring Keira) there is a beautiful shot of her standing on a craggy rock whilst her billowing skirt flaps around in the rather strong breeze whilst stunning scenery falls below her. I had the rather strong breeze, I had the craggy rock and the stunning scenery, but admittedly, I found out that waterproof jackets don’t seem to billow in the right kind of billowing way, and that bright red wellies can be distracting when your conjuring up images of Jane Austin’s heroines. This landscape also makes me think of ‘Wuthering Heights’ and thanks to Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon rather than Emily Bronte, I know the story rather well. I keep mumbling “Penistone Crag” under my breath and the odd “Heathcliffe, Heathcliffe”.

Sometimes when I’m walking the clouds are so low that my head is literally in the clouds, technically speaking its not raining, but its wet, its all quite surreal really. The skies are incredibly dramatic, often dark and brooding or shafts of sunlight that piece the landscape.

There are so many colours around that for the first time in my artist career I am considering using colour! I never knew there were so many shades of green and brown!


The tarmac track that leads to the main road changes with the weather too, if wet there’s lots of worms and the odd frog who have obviously tried to cross one side of the fell to the other, I say tried as most of them end up squashed. I rather like the tarmac, I’m not sure if it’s the city girl in me, or the juxtaposition of such wildness and practicality.

Laura came to visit for a couple of days whilst on route for some needed solitude in the wilds of Scotland. Apart from sinking almost a whole bottle of bourbon one night it was fantastic to see someone I knew. We drove to Kielder where there is stunning scenery, a huge lake, an observatory and a James Turrell ‘Skyscape’. He is an amazing American light artist and his work is not only clever but also simple at the same time.
His buildings have an opening in the roof that forces you to concentrate on the sky, its best to go when the sun is setting or rising, which then gives you a natural colour and light show. That’s of course if it’s not a grey cloudy day! For Laura and I, it became a ‘soundscape’, the resonance and echo in the round building was superb, much hooting, wailing, singing and the odd bit of drumming commenced, there was not going to be a light show that day so sound play instead.
Just outside the James Turrell round building, nature was competing rather well with astonishing round lichen…check this out!

Over and out…week three done!