I did wonder about skipping this newsletter in favour of dashing downstairs to make coconut and salted caramel truffles, get the stuffing and cranberry sauce made and try to get ahead. However, here I am, sitting in bed, a cup of echinacea tea by my side, listening to the wind howl in the treetops. From the window, a weak winter light is starting to emerge through silhouetted branches. I like the rhythm of these four newsletters a year, the last time we spoke was the Autumn Equinox, so here I am, taking time out to pause and pen this piece and keeping it simple.
I do hope it finds you well.
We are so behind this year - the foraged star made from dried seedheads and teasels is absent from the window, the mantelpieces above the fire are bereft of garland, no jugs of holly and greenery, and the Christmas cooking has barely begun. My youngest son and I did manage to get up to the Roman Wall Christmas Tree farm and bag us a Nordman Fir and decorate it. As I rummaged in the tea chest of decorations, I pulled rag wreaths and pine cone angels made in previous years, grateful for these to decorate the house in some form as I recover from the virus from hell that has laid me low for the past ten days.
We are most definitely keeping it simple this Christmas. I shared a photo of this rag wreath now in its seventh year, made from scraps of wool fabric on social media and some of you asked for a tutorial. If I had the time and energy and technical wizardry I’d put up a video on YouTube, but I don’t and it is only a case of ramming rags on a piece of wire, then joining it at the end into a circle.
We used fencing wire, but I’m guessing that isn’t something most folk would have to hand, so grab an old wire coathanger and undo it. The wire needs to be strong enough to hold the weight of the rags, or it will flop and you’ll have a teardrop, not a circle.
The rags I used were scraps from my old Woolly Pedlar days so felted wool, but you can use any fabric you like, and bling it up with shiny bits if you want.
Then simply poke the wire through pieces, folding them over and back until the wire is full, pushing them down so it is compact. Use pliers to twist the ends together and there you have it, an upcycled rag wreath.
What perfect timing! Tim has just come in with some welcome breakfast for me, homemade bannocks with plum and apple jelly. I was just about to write how we make bannocks for Christmas morning breakfast. He must be practising ahead of the event! The salmon went in the homemade smoker yesterday along with a chunk of cheddar so we can offer a smoked cheese on the after-dinner cheeseboard, always a favourite with my eldest son. The cream cheese is made by straining our homemade yoghurt through a muslin bag,
Last year, I wrote three posts for the Bridge Cottage Way website, showing how Christmas needn’t cost the Earth. I’ll get the rag wreath added to the first post when time allows, but here are some more ideas you might enjoy trying:
I’d love to see any foraged or handmade decorations or hear of favourite recipes you may have for keeping Christmas simple. Do share on our social media channels at The Bridge Cottage Way over on Instagram or Facebook.
The Bridge Cottage Way has taken rather a back seat this year, which is another reason for getting this newsletter out, and to say we’re still here, trying to live as sustainably as we can, both indoors and out, and love to share any tips we have with you. Do hop over to the website if you can, there are lots and lots of recipes and tips you might enjoy as you seek to reduce the drain on our planet’s precious resources.
Do you head out for a walk on Christmas morning? One of our favourite walks on Christmas morning is to go up the hill from here and look across to Sycamore Gap but this year, it really will be a gap. I wrote about The Felling of Northumberland and how our local community felt collective grief at this act of vandalism. However, I will use this story in my writing and have a sequel planned to my debut novel, The Rewilding of Molly McFlynn that will have tree preservation at its heart, hoping to turn grief into hope and hope into action.
When we last spoke, at the Autumn Equinox on 21 September, my debut novel, The Rewilding of Molly McFlynn, was still at the printers. It seems unbelievable that this was just a quarter turn of the year’s wheel ago! Since then it has been a whirlwind of book signings, events and marketing, posting almost 600 copies from here alone. The book, I’m delighted to say is flying! Hexham Waterstones reported it beat Lee Child as a best seller, two weeks on the trot!
I’ve loved how The Rewilding of Molly McFlynn has found its tribe. It has been given the genre of Young Adult Fiction, but is being enjoyed by readers of all ages and is earning the title of crossover fiction, especially amongst those of us who dare to be different and who understand the importance of connection with nature.
Here’s the synopsis:
It’s spring 2020 and fifteen-year-old Molly McFlynn is uprooted from town life by her mam to live with her bohemian grandparents in rural Northumberland. Molly is furious – her friends abandon her, the food is inedible and her grandmother is doing strange things in the garden at night.
Life takes a new direction when she meets a girl in the woods who appears to be on the run. Martha is from the seventeenth century, and a life lived on the edge of society. She is fleeing from the witchfinder and the men who have hurled her mother, Ann Watson, into the dungeons in Newcastle. As Molly’s friendship with Martha grows, Molly reconciles with her true self, develops a love of nature and moves away from her consumerist lifestyle.
However, as Covid strikes and a local witch hunt takes place, Martha’s is not the only life that is in danger. Molly must stand up for what is right, help heal family rifts and come to the rescue in a moment of peril.
I’ve had some amazing reviews, that have moved me deeply, and I’ll leave you with this one from Jane Grice who runs the Facebook Group, Waste not Want Not, Artisans and Crafters.
The Rewilding of Molly McFlynn can be found wherever you get our books…. In the UK ask your local bookshop to get it in for you if they don’t already stock it on their shelves, or go to Bookshop.org, Hive, Waterstones or Amazon, or head to my website www.suereedwrites.co.uk for a signed copy,
It’s available as an ebook worldwide, and we’re now getting international booksellers on board, Barnes and Noble being one of them. Amazon.com has yet to upload it, but it will only be a matter of days or weeks.
If you are local to Northumberland or fancy a trip up here, I’ll be speaking at the Alnwick Story Fest alongside
in February. When I set about writing a book, I had two goals in mind. One was to see a copy of my book in my local bookshop window at Cogito Books, and another was to be speaking at a local book festival. It would seem that manifestations can come true and I think my face says it all!I’ll love and leave you now, and send my very best to you and yours as you head into the festive season. Be gentle with each other, and with yourselves. You are enough.
I love the sound of your book Sue, right up my street.
I really enjoyed your newsletter. I hope you are feeling well enough to enjoy Christmas.
My daughter Ann and I are having our first country Christmas in our new home at Ampleforth. I have spent the morning stacking a delivery of logs from a local supplier to keep our logburner going. Ann is working very hard as a postie for the Royal Mail and comes home exhausted every day after about 10 hours and 12miles walking! We are looking forward to meeting up with neighbours for drinks and nibbles and just relaxing together.
Wishing you all a very very Happy Christmas xx