Stories, walks and places from across Northumberland.
Lucy on letting go of summer, finding her autumn wardrobe rhythm, and the small matter of a wedding outfit still to sort.
A quick look at Wallington turned into a whole afternoon — wind, wandering, an accidental garden discovery, cake, and Tom's six-year quest for a fleece Lucy accidentally gave away.
Tom has bought and sold more watches than he can count — and now there's a new one he can't stop thinking about. Getting Lucy to the Metrocentre without arousing suspicion is another matter.
Ponies, giant tortoises, very good coffee and Tom developing an unhealthy interest in bowler hats — a Saturday at the Glendale Show near Wooler.
We finally handed the Journal to someone who actually knows Northumberland's history. Peter takes us from Hadrian's Wall to the Border Reivers, with a detour via a great many stolen cattle.
Tom and Lucy skip the queue at Cook & Barker for Friday lunch at The Northumberland Arms in Felton — a coaching-inn schnitzel regret, a competitive pudding league, and Meg keeping a close eye on proceedings.
An early Coquet-side walk, a proper Northumberland breakfast at Bertram's, Warkworth Show and a castle Tom somehow forgot was this good.
A day trip across the border to Melrose - an easy riverside walk to Abbotsford, coffee with a view, and quite possibly the best sticky toffee pudding yet.
Our EE broadband died for five days, so Tom finally tried Starlink. The satellite connection was brilliant. Getting Wi-Fi to reach the whole house was another story entirely.
A 45-minute drive from the coast, Cragside swaps dunes for pine woods, Victorian ingenuity, and the quiet company of deer once the crowds head home.
The Running Fox and Carnaby's, tried on consecutive mornings after two very different walks — which one comes out on top?
A mile of golden fields and dunes leads to an empty beach between Bamburgh and Holy Island, followed by a second breakfast at Carnaby's.
Wind turbines, moorland sheep, an imaginary rectory purchase and a proper breakfast at The Running Fox — the long way to Ingram.
The history behind Preston Tower's thick walls — three centuries of border raiding, the families who lived by it, and how the word 'blackmail' came to be.
A visit to Preston Tower, a 14th-century pele tower built for a family waiting out the worst of the Anglo-Scottish Border — and what its seven-foot-thick walls were really for.
A very ordinary British house spider, Lucy's dramatic reaction, and the tricks we've picked up for keeping them outdoors as Spider Season approaches.
A market town day out in Morpeth — coffee at The Central Bean, browsing Sanderson Arcade, and a riverside walk through Carlisle Park.
A quiet dawn walk from Beadnell to Seahouses — sleepy dunes, racing snails, a kind stranger, and coffee at The Landing before the rest of the coast wakes up.
Three cafés we keep coming back to for breakfast in Beadnell — The Landing, The Courtyard and Edgewater — plus a couple still on our list.
An unhurried summer afternoon watching cricket beneath Bamburgh Castle — blankets, coffee, ice cream and nowhere else to be.
Fifteen years, several Barbours, four Flint and Tinders and one Levi's x Filson later, comparing the Filson Tin Cloth and Dry Wax Short Cruiser jackets to find the one that actually gets worn.
From Howick Sands to Dunstanburgh Castle, via smoked kippers, sea cliffs and a castle that never looks the same twice.
