It’s that time of year again when the valley in which my house is located resounds with the baying of rutting stags, day and night. This year there are quite a few of them. It’s amazing to be in the middle of a challenge and to watch these giant beasts screaming at each other. One […]

A double rainbow… Summer just wasn’t long enough this year. In fact, life isn’t long enough. There are so many things to do and see, and places to go. Autumn is being a real let down with night time temperatures around zero, meaning it looks like we’re just going to go straight into winter. I […]

Yesterday was one of those days that really makes me appreciate my lifestyle choices. It was scorching hot, about 35 degrees Centigrade, and I’m in my country house. I spent the morning doing some finishing work on one of my hide paintings I’m currently working on, then moved into the garden to saw, sand and […]

Yesterday we returned, exhausted, after a week’s holiday to the tiny resort village of Arillas, Corfu. Prior to going I was a bit concerned that we’d be in some mega resort filled with lager louts and 24 hour nightclubs but the opposite was true. It was peaceful, beautiful and filled with nature. We stayed at […]

Summer is finally here and with it comes a selection of animals that we don’t see at other times of the year. Sadly, even after a horrifically long and cold winter, we’ve only had a few hot days thus far. Hopefully, the weather will pick up at some point. Probably the most noticeable summer visitor […]

  This year my old bike, Feisty, an Aprilia Pegaso 650, went past the MOT deadline and I was stuck looking for parts. I decided to sell her because she spent far more time in the garage (or in bits) than she did on the road. I needed something more reliable and, when my friend […]

This is a perfect example of what you don’t want to meet in the forest – a Wild Boar sow and her piglet (specifically, a ‘squeaker’). This was taken on an RD1000 trailcam outside my village in the Carpathian hills of north-eastern Slovakia. It always amazes me how the single-most cute creature on the planet, […]

Is Spring really here? The landscape says yes:   but the weather says no. It’s May and we’re still getting subzero temperatures at night and the occasional snow storm. Regardless, I put out my old trail cam in a much deeper part of the forest (about a 90 minute trip there and back) with the […]

Yesterday, we visited my sister-in-law to combine my name day and her birthday. In reality it was because the kids wanted to see their cousin’s new dog – a 5-month-old Czechoslovak Wolfdog named Jacky. For those who don’t know, a Wolfdog is a cross between a German Shepherd and a Carpathian Wolf. They’re a bit […]

Veles, my English Bullmastiff, has died. He was born on April 30th (Walpurgisnacht) 2007. Next month he would have been 10, which is a fairly good innings for a molosser. He was named after Veles, the Slavonic god of the forest, animals and the underworld. He was a really sweet dog and very soft with […]