When people think of rainforests they tend to think of tropical ones such as the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil. Not many people realise that that you can have temperate rainforests and that just as the tropical varieties are currently being cleared by unscrupulous governments and commercial organisations, so to did most of the temperate rainforests… Continue reading New Year, New Rainforest
Tag: countryside
A spring time walk through The Shire
With it being a long bank holiday weekend in the U.K. and horror of horrors, warm sunny weather, I have been out and about. Sitting in the sun, walking down quiet lanes, smelling flowers, watching nature and visiting the odd country pub. We’ve seen horses, foxes, turkeys, chickens, rabbits, deer and about 20 species of… Continue reading A spring time walk through The Shire
The Secrets of The Real Downton Abbey
September sees the return to our televisions screens of Downton Abbey in the UK and in January to the USA (more on that in the next week or two). Downton Abbey is actually the real life home of Lord Carnarvon at Highclere Castle set in a massive estate in the beautiful Hampshire countryside. Whilst the… Continue reading The Secrets of The Real Downton Abbey
The Man Who Planted Trees and The Green Wall of Africa
About five years ago, I watched part of a short animated film entitled The Man Who Planted Trees. It is the most lovely short French film (an English version can be viewed here) and it tells the story of a man in an early 20thC European Alpine valley that was desolate and empty of life… Continue reading The Man Who Planted Trees and The Green Wall of Africa
2013 Annual Cheese-Rolling Race!
This past Bank-Holiday Monday saw the weird and wonderful calendar of oddball traditions and activities in Britain move to Coopers Hill in Gloucestershire. Though the world media concentrates on sporting events such as Wimbledon, Badminton Horse Trials, Sailing, Formula 1 and The Open what most of us are interested in are much more low-key events… Continue reading 2013 Annual Cheese-Rolling Race!
In the footsteps of Lawrence of Arabia
Hopefully you will have read the previous post about the classic epic movie, Lawrence of Arabia, it’s not entirely necessary but it sets this post in perspective. I came to Lawrence through the film and after watching it, you do get a good idea of what he must have been like. Lawrence was also a… Continue reading In the footsteps of Lawrence of Arabia
A Guided tour walk around my neighbourhood
I love to walk whenever I can and I am fortunate that I live pretty much on the last street of the huge sprawl of London. I might not have as much as I want but I do have countryside almost on my door step so when I have time this is one of my… Continue reading A Guided tour walk around my neighbourhood
You think that you know Great Britain?
It easy for people who don’t live here (and even for some of us who do) to think that everything in Britain is old. We’re famous for old buildings and traditions but huge construction projects such as the London Olympics are helping to show us in a new light. Throughout much of the mid-late 20th… Continue reading You think that you know Great Britain?
What’s in a name? The name’s Liddell, Stephen Liddell.
Today is one of those days where I had a whole slew of subjects that I could write about but one thing led to the other which is why I am here writing about Robert Burns, the famous Scottish poet whose birth was celebrated on January 25th as it is every year. Or actually I’m… Continue reading What’s in a name? The name’s Liddell, Stephen Liddell.
Why don’t we eat horse meat?
This week much of the news in the UK and Ireland has been dominated by the discovery of horse DNA in a number of popular supermarket beef burgers where a sample from a Tesco burger revealed that rather than being a beef burger, there was in fact 29% horse-meat. Knowing the low quality of some… Continue reading Why don’t we eat horse meat?
Stephen Liddell 