One of the things that makes me happy 😊❤️

Two fab books on Hadrian’s Wall to which I contributed some forty pen illustrations.

Funny re-discovering an oldish photo of oneself. I knew it was me because I’m laughing 😜

The Watson Hall, Castle Carrock’s Village Hall designed as a test piece by John Laing the famous civil engineer when a teenager.

An glacial esker (a mound composed of sand and gravel) that in Spring is clothed in bluebells. Now we have the joy of a blue sky.

Snowdrops soaking up the sun on the roadside in Castle Carrock.

Sheep pastures beside the road from Hallbankgate to Talkin.

Very old horse-drawn hay rack at rest above oir cottage.

📚 The author's copy of my new book has arrived! Printing Birds and Wildlife in Linocut, about how to make linocut prints, is available for pre-order and will be published in spring 2026. Find out more 👉 www.michellehughesdesign.com/printing-bir... #linocut #printmaking #books

First sight of daffodil leaves outside Carlisle Cathedral. Global warming what global warming.

Sun brings out the majesty of Carlisle Cathedral. Dedicated to St Andrew from the time when this northern part of Cumbria lay in Scotland (Strathclyde).

Roman engeneering it’s just bricks and genius

A handle to grasp, that is the essence of a good mug… shot.

Superb, simply superb. My favourite tone of blue too.

'She will be dearly missed' GWENDA Matthews, founder & owner of Bookcase & Bookends in Carlisle & Keswick, has died at the age of 74. She will be missed by her family, book lovers, authors, publishers & all Cumbrians. Personally will miss her kindness, knowledge of books & brilliant advice

The UK’s only author-run co-operative publisher Gritstone celebrates its tenth anniversary By Andrew Bibby

Has a period piece feel to it, early 1900s. The Abraham Brothers perhaps.

Happy birthday to us! Our founders – Octavia Hill, Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley – believed that nature, beauty and history were for everyone. On this day in 1895, they set up the National Trust and we're proud to continue their work today. Thank you to all those who support what we do.

Many congratulations to Dr Alex Langlands & team from Swansea for this stunning new discovery from Margam Park in south Wales 😮🥳. The coastal belt in south Wales is very heavily ploughed, but it sounds like this villa complex has been preserved below old parkland 👌 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Gorgeous contemporary ceramics on show at Blackwell House.

Beautiful daffodil inlay and wallpaper within Blackwell House Arts & Crafts masterpiece near Bowness-on-Windermere. The subject of our next podcast going live later this month.

Linescape of Blackwell House, a classic Arts & Crafts building completed in 1901. Owned and sensitively cared for by Lakeland Arts. Come to see the fabulous craftsmanship within, it is the subject of our next episode of Countrystride.

Raise your head to the White Side of Helvellyn.

‘At the edge of the mere’ Artist: CF Tunnicliffe (What to Look for in Winter, 1959)

Rossett Pike and Hanging Knotts identifiable in this pleasing and very wintery aspect.

Your art a joy to behold. Am tackling Blackwell House today, white-washed with a covering of snow from my podcast visit last Tuesday.

Rising was a seaport, When Lynn was but a marsh; Now Lynn it is a seaport And Rising fares the worse! #ozymandias

St Cirq Lapopie

Really lovely art. Name me another bridge in Britain with a handsome defended tower gate?

For #StandingStoneSunday the magnificent triple stone circles at the Hurlers, Bodmin Moor, #Cornwall, seen here on a frosty January morning in 2024 📷 My own

An image that opened a tunnel of childhood memory for me to tumble bittersweetly down. My mum would have known exactly whose house that (once) was, next to the churchyard.

Chilly for fell ponies, but they graze on unperturbed.

A cottage in Farlam, passed during Walk 10 in my set of a dozen country walks from Hallbankgate Hub.

I forgot all about this image, taken a few weeks ago - lichen view on the wall of Skiddaw House #lichen #skiddaw #lakedistrict #northernfells @skiddawhfoundation.bsky.social @cumbriawildlife.bsky.social @fscblencathra.bsky.social

Waes hael! Its wassailing season. Grab some cider and toast and enjoy a noisy apple tree ceremony. Fun to find out about a fine tradition for Country Life mag.

Road-sign in Farlam, cast in 1910, two years before the Titanic sank. Connection? Joseph Bell chief engineer on the ill-fated ocean-liner was born in Farlam, north Cumberland.

Blackwell House our latest Countrystride recording conducted in the brief snowy episode yesterday. All about the Arts & Crafts movement and the story behind this stunning house.

Esker composed of sand and gravel formed by glacial meltwater some 20,000 years ago beneath ice. Such water flowing east into what is now Tynedale, contrary to the present drainage into the catchment of the Solway Firth.

How I adore the regal stature of a wintering tree.

Gorse is in flower, so kissing season is with us 🤣

Talkin Tarn

Lovely farm-sign at Farlam

Walking to Talkin Tarn via Farlam.

A classic Pennine Prospect - High Cup Gill breaks through the curtain of Whin Sill, with Narrowgate Beacon the distant headland.

Exmoor pony, so why the long face… to get a stroke as it turned out.

Runner in Hynam Wood

What's blue, but not very heavy? ................. Light Blue

Pile-up in Hallbankgate, no casualties. 😉

Luing cow above a wall borrow pit quarry.

New for 2026 I have prepared free walk cards detailing ten country walks from the community hub in Hallbankgate. Come over and give them a try, as too the scrumptious cafe and great company of volunteers.