Stourbridge Common – tracks to nowhere, the iron bridge, memories of the fair… Stourbridge Common is the nearest piece of semi-rural land to where I live in Cambridge. It is only a five minute cycle ride away but on dark winter afternoons it can take on an epic doom-laden appearance… The straight track across itsContinue reading “The Old Straight Track”
Author Archives: urthonamag
Watercolour is alive and well
Some fine water colour paintings by Buddhist artist Sudhi S. Pooniyil. He finds inspiration in the village life of his native India, as well as scenes in the UK. More on his website at https://sudhispooniyil.com
Backstreets of academe
Some recent sightings in the backstreets of Cambridge, not exactly dingy but not well heeled either. Raffish encounters with odds and ends… Golden tunnel to nothing good
Littoral Fringes of the New Forest
Many of us would like to have a corner of the earth with which we have a special connection. But I suspect I am not alone in finding myself pulled in two directions: there is the place where I was brought up, on the fringes of the New Forest and the edge of the largeContinue reading “Littoral Fringes of the New Forest”
New Post – THE GATE IS OPEN: William Blake’s time by the sea
THE GATE IS OPEN Adriana Díaz-Enciso explores the inspiring but troubled sojourn of Blake and his wife in a cottage by the sea on the South Coast at Felpham THE GATE IS OPEN
New Post – striking mythic drawings based on ancient slavic beliefs
We feature the fascinating mythic art work of Marek Hapon based on the ancient slavic beliefs of his pagan ancestors. “My first contact with ancient Slavic beliefs occurred while spending summers at my grandmother’s farm in eastern Poland. It was there that I discovered the world of supernatural beings — some frightening and others wondrous. OneContinue reading “New Post – striking mythic drawings based on ancient slavic beliefs”
A walk in the Malverns
It was a sultry summer day, not very hot, but humid. There was a decadent end of summer feel even though it was only towards the end of July. I decided that August would be a herald of autumn rather than a glorious finish to the season, and so it was necessary to make theContinue reading “A walk in the Malverns”
Castle Hill at dusk
The Castle Hill area of Cambridge is almost certainly the oldest continuously inhabited part of the city – it is here that the Roman fort was established in the first century CE. Perhaps this is why the whole area, which is still a tangle of streets and alleyways, once you leave the wide ring roadContinue reading “Castle Hill at dusk”
Cambridge on a winter afternoon
A walk in Cambridge on a razor bright February afternoon. The market square below is in shadow with warm slumberous lights beginning to glow from the various stalls. Long furtive shadows from bicycles and pedestrians on the streets. Even manhole covers seem scalded with an otherworldly radiance. Up above old bricks are etched with lightContinue reading “Cambridge on a winter afternoon”
Mist and relics on Southampton Water
Woke to find a blank impassive wall of fog, plaster board grey, utterly featureless, where there would normally be a view of the estuary from my father’s back garden. Every few minutes the fog horn would let out its erie drone, to be absorbed immediately by the blanketing silence. Two hours later and the firstContinue reading “Mist and relics on Southampton Water”