‘There is a serene and settled majesty to woodland scenery that enters into the soul and delights and elevates it, and fills it with noble inclinations.’

Washington Irving 

(and thanks to Hal (Clare's son) for sending Clare the quotation)

Our thoughts and feelings when we began were not so eloquent, however here’s our diary entry for the 7th August 2013, the day we completed our purchase:

‘We are landowners! I walked to the woodland and John drove - we sat - raised a glass to investing in life.’

Looking back, ‘investing in life’ seems the best description of our relationship to the land, to us as individuals and as a couple.

The first step in transforming this very general vision into realistic terms came when Clare asked, “What are we going to call the land?” Finding a name seemed very important. We tried various options, then ‘Liddells' announced itself to Clare. Her maternal grandmother, Isobel Mary Liddell, was born in Howden-le-Wear and Clare’s sister had found records of these Liddells living in the Tyne Valley as far back as the eighteenth century. John, a native of the north-east, was delighted that choosing ‘Liddells' acknowledged Clare’s connection to the land. 

Choosing the name gave us the opportunity for a party. 

When we first walked over the land two things became clear: there were several distinctly different habitats offering creative opportunities and we recognised that we did not wish our investment to become a commercial enterprise. The idea of turning Liddells into a nature reserve came pretty quickly. We realised our grown-up families would not wish to inherit our project - although supportive and delighted for us, they have careers and interests of their own. Clare came up with the idea of giving Liddells to the Northumberland Wildlife Trust (NWT) when we could no longer manage it ourselves. A NWT representative visited and said the Trust would be delighted to accept Liddells. Giving it to the NWT remains our intention.

We soon realised our amateur enthusiasm needed to be backed up with help and advice, and this enabled us to fulfil our wish to involve other people. From the beginning we have been astonished by the goodwill, generosity and support that has come our way. We have learned about landscape, geology, plants, birds, butterflies, ponies, trees, sheep and bees. Existing friends and acquaintances have revealed expertises and enthusiasms previously unknown to us. Some have simply wished to be let loose with their chainsaws or mattocks or to enjoy a day getting muddy and tired working with others.

Over time we have had ideas that have changed, ideas abandoned altogether, delights, achievements, mistakes, about turns, challenges, setbacks, disappointments, growing confidence, increasing expertise, aches and pains, more aches and pains.

We expect all of these to continue. 

(The banner photo for this page is from Imbolc 2015 when we invited friends to walk the fire circle and make wishes for the year ahead. Thank you to our friend Sally for the photograph)