When I'm feeling a bit shivery and off-colour I like to climb into a certain cosy grey cardigan with huge pockets and a roomy bagginess ...

Now I have to 'fess up to having driven past this place dozens of times, dashing back and forth from the Dublin ferry, without ever stop...

Once upon a very long time ago  snuff was all the rage. It started with the indigenous tribes of Brazil, and was carried back to the Old Wo...

Work on Beaumaris Castle, the castle on the fair marsh, started on 18 th April 1295 … and they still haven’t got the place finished. It...

The other day we headed off on a little pilgrimage to the ancient monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes. Once upon a (very long) time (ago) it...

At this time of the year we tend to go through rather a lot of vino, with friends and family dropping in, dinners, celebrations and general ...

Yesterday I went for the first time to a meeting of the Knitting History Forum . I'm an avid knitter and a keen social historian, so...

The other day we headed off in search of an ancient druid site, where some of the old magic still lives on in the dappled light of the fores...

The Basilica of Sant Feliu is an ancient place, a very ancient place indeed. It’s an older church than the Cathedral of Santa Maria on top ...

It's hard to think of a time when this folk park, devoted as it is to the theme of emigration, has been more relevant to the world we li...

Last Wednesday I headed over to Osterley Park, where their lovely volunteers were hosting a Georgian embroidery workshop. It sounded amazing...

They say it's haunted ... very, very haunted ... . Ham House, Richmond viewed from the Duchess's Garden And I guess if a ...

On this day, 2nd May, in the year 1536 Anne Boleyn was arrested on the orders of her husband, King Henry VIII. She must have known the writi...

Do you like to climb mountains? I love, love, love the mountains. In an earlier pre-being-a-mum incarnation I used to do proper climbi...

Today was a Red Letter Paella Day. Back home in sunny Sant Feliu de Guíxols there's nothing quite like paella de mariscos to keep the t...

When I'm going to South Ealing tube station I often take a shortcut past the allotments, and down the side of St. Mary's churchyard....

Jan van Eyck (circa 1390–1441) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Did you watch the Waldemar Januszczak series about the Renaissance...

On this day in A.D. 321 the Roman Emperor, Constantine, issued an edict declaring that his subjects should henceforth observe Sunday , as a ...

Happy Elizabeth Day! On this day, 17 th November, 1558 Elizabeth I, the great Virgin Queen of England, ascended the throne on the deat...

Thinking of the fallen ...