Another Mountain

I’m sitting on the much travelled garden bench, looking across the valley to where the sepia toned fells disappear up into a band of softly rising and falling mist, there is birdsong and something that looks as though it might develop into a patch of blue sky. It has rained relentlessly for days and being able to sit outside in these surroundings, on a warm October day feels like the greatest gift. Well it is a gift of sorts.
Back in July I was aimlessly wandering around the garden centre, buying an extremely prickly red gooseberry bush to try and make the rented garden less attractive to one of the neighbour’s 5,000 rescue cats and more attractive to me, when I heard someone say my name. I was in such a daze that I’d failed to recognise the lovely Arwen from Lorton Shop who had lead a wonderful plant dying and printing workshop just a few days earlier. Arwen’s family had had similar experiences during 2020/21 of their rented home being turned into a holiday let, so out of habit I halfheartedly asked if there was anything coming up to rent in the area. To cut a long story short, thanks to that conversation and some kind words on our behalf, within a fortnight we had signed the tenancy on this place and by mid August had started ferrying crates of books (mostly still packed from the last move), lugging plant pots and stumbling through the endurance race of moving house and realising that there is so much STUFF even when you think you don’t have much – only this time we were doing it through choice (so no complaining was allowed out loud) and with an excitement we hardly dared admit to.

So that’s how we came to be here, landing softly with no expectation of permanence, within a bike wobble of the lake, another garden to learn about and new paths to walk; watched over by Grasmoor, Whiteside and Low Fell.
Dearham was not somewhere I ever wanted to be (nowhere is when you don’t choose it) but it ended up being a place to heal slightly – having my good friend Sarah just over the road and our wonderful landlords Carol and Ian treating us in a way that so contrasted with the previous over-privileged rotters that I think it helped to undo a little of the damage. I also discovered how nice it is to live somewhere that isn’t a tourist destination, just a normal place. I drew maps of the garden for the new tenants and we left that little house with a good feeling, gratitude and self respect.
So what now?

Well the big thing is I made the decision to give up my fancy studio unit and move everything back “home” at the end of this month. It has served it’s purpose during the past two years, allowing me some stability to work out projects for the book as well as do workshops and just have a base in the Lakes to enjoy. After the debacle at Newlands I swore I’d try to keep work and home separate but the truth is I can’t afford the extra rent now and anyway I’ve always worked best at home, keeping odd hours and lacking the motivation and discipline to make daily car journeys in the winter. My last few workshops in the Braithwaite studio are this month and I think a short rest from cyanotype might be needed anyway after two years of deep dive into the blues!

I’ve been doing some drawings for a little project with friends at Rounton Coffee Roasters, back home in North Yorkshire, they’re working with a Brazilian coffee farmer who also runs a bird rescue charity helping rehabilitate birds that have been illegally trafficked as exotic pets. Hopefully these drawings will become packaging for a limited edition coffee, raising awareness of the issue.

So one short blog post, the first from Witchmountain Version 0.4, not exactly the “habit” I was trying to acquire in my last post but with awkward glasses, a ton of unpacked boxes and all the treasures of an Autumn garden in Lakeland trying to distract me, this is a big achievement. The sun has come out and I have toucans to draw…or maybe a wander to collect acorns…

Reading: Alison Uttley, John Barleycorn, Twelve Tales of Fairy and Magic