The Journal
Seasonal stories, wildlife notes, recipes and news from a working estate in the North York Moors.
When the daffodils come
The week the dale changes colour, and why we never quite know which day it will be.
Lambing in the dale
Late nights in the lambing shed, and the first wobbling steps in a cold field.
Reading the moor in winter
What the bare months tell us about the land, and the slow work of keeping it.
Beating the Bounds: a centuries-old walk
Inside the estate's oldest tradition — walking the boundary, one September at a time.
Damson jam, our family recipe
Three generations of the same recipe, straight from the estate kitchen.
Meet the new head gamekeeper
Tom Ridsdale on moor management, the shoot at Snilesworth, and his first season.
Foraging along the Dove
Wild garlic, sorrel and elderflower — what to look for and how to use it.
A guide to the dale’s dry stone walls
How they're built, why they're rebuilt by hand, and what to look for on a walk.
Curlew return to the moor edge
A good spring for the estate's ground-nesting birds, and why it matters.
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