In the meantime all the content for this blog will remain live although you won't be able to leave comments anymore. The book Go Slow England is already proving to be a tremendous success so make sure you buy a copy before it runs out (seriously - we may have to reprint!).

Otherwise the best way to stay in touch is to register on the Sawday's website (if you haven't done so already) and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

So thank you to everybody who took a few minutes everyday to read this blog and an extra special thanks to those who commented. I hope you all enjoyed the blog and found it informative and most importantly a bit of fun.

All the best and I hope you all get to go slow in your lives one way or another.

Cheers
Thomas

Cheers, Thomas

The Hog Blog - February 2008, part 4

I spent today sorting out who gets what and what will be left. By the time I have given Jules and Joe their share and taken some for me, the pile looks smaller. But there is still a lot to sell and it takes about seven minutes to clear the lot. We cooked a small pan of the sausages in the kitchen, opened the office doors, allowed the sweet smell to roll up the building and it worked. People arrived with their purses and cheque books and then it was gone. I just managed to write down who had what in time. But then there were the disappointeds. I kept having to nip back to my own supply and raid the sausages and chops – but not giving my joint away. Then I felt like Jonesy in Dad’s Army, sidling up to some of the disappointeds with a small package and nodding at them conspiratorially.

Meat is currency, and getting cash back for it gives me a good, wholesome feeling. I worked harder physically for that pork than I have in a lifetime of sitting at a computer. But I still have only made a tiny dent in my original costs, and those costs will rise if I get more to fatten. I am hooked, and write out cheques like a mad woman who has won the pools.

So, I can do meat. I immediately order another couple of fatteners from the farm in Devon. They will be about a couple of weeks behind Trotter and Elvis in age - so now I will get meat from three pigs instead of one. And I will still have my breeders, Elvis and Mabel. That will be the next learning curve.

Love has not sprung up between them yet, but I am hopeful. Elvis is incredibly friendly – almost gobby. I have clothed him in my mind in a rather jaunty leather jacket and some torn jeans - I know he will grow up to be a quirky ne’er-do-well, just my sort of a bloke. And I hope that my precious, stand-offish Mabel with her priggish lace cap will quiver with desire and fall under his spell. I now know I was over Beatrix-Potter’d as a child.

The weather at the moment is amazing. Still frosty and freezing at night, sunny during the day. It’s like skiing weather: it’s perfect. In the afternoons, at about 4.30, it is magical, with the sun going down on a golden pink sky and opposite a silvery full moon has risen already. We have a little robin friend. He keeps hopping about the pig pen pecking at something on the ground – maybe husks of straw or something the pigs are dropping. When he is there the wagtails are not. I heard robins were the bullies of the bird world; maybe it is true.

The End (for now)

Nicola

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The Times has launched its new green travel awards and two of the judges are Sawday's people - Toby Sawday and Richard Hammond, the editor of Special Places to Stay: Green Places.

You are invited to nominate your favourite 'green space', whether it's a hotel, cottage, park, restaurant, walk, or even a green taxi company. If it's green and it's a space, it can be nominated.

The judges will be looking at both the social and the environmental impact of each nominated 'green space'. Suggestions about places in the UK are particularly welcomed, though the awards will also include some places in Europe and further afield.

And the first 20 nominations each month will receive a copy of Special Places to Stay: Green Places.

For more info, visit www.timesonline.co.uk/greenspaces

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Cheers, Thomas

The Hog Blog - February 2008, part 3

Joe has produced a spreadsheet. Julia doesn’t agree with it and produces one of her own. I don’t like it because it requires Elvis to go to the abattoir to give us more profit.

I don’t want to send my prize board to the abattoir. But I don’t want to argue with anyone about money, least of all two people I am fond of.

Have radical plan. Will hurl even more money into pig project but will be the only investor. I will give all others their money back and pork in exchange for labour. With any luck Julia and Joe will still want to give time in the future towards helping look after them and I can pay them for that time with meat rather than money. Solves all discussion about money. Feel relief to have made a decision and email the others to ask what they think.

They agree! And they want to continue helping in exchange for meat. Now I will be poor, but at least I will be my own boss.

Today I discover, quite by accident, that Berkshires are not fully grown until they are three years old. Why do they make them breed so early? It’s like teenage mums in council flats, and quite unworthy of a Berkshire. Who knows what they could achieve if they weren’t weighed down with the burdens of motherhood so early? Feel a plan coming on to make Mabel wait another year before encountering sex or babies. But can I afford it? Probably not.

February is very cold indeed, surprising us with thick frosts, icy grass and ponds, freezing fog which gives way to bright sunshine by coffee time. I drive to the abattoir in Frome to collect not Porker, but a carcass. I pay them £27 which seems incredibly cheap compared to all the other bits of looking after pigs. The body is in two halves with the head and feet still attached, the head sliced neatly down the very centre, so that whichever way I lay the long bundle one eye is looking up. She smells like meat and not like a pig. All her hair is gone and her skin is pink, but there is a small tuft or two of strong black hair close to her snout so I know it is her. It strangely reminds me of visiting my newly-dead father in the chapel of rest and noticing little tufts of cotton wool stuck to the bristle on his chin. But it turns out not to be sad. I knew that wasn’t Dad, just his husk, and I know this isn’t Porker, just her outside. Wrapped in a huge tarpaulin she makes the journey back to Bristol again, and Steve the butcher at the farm shop takes her in as if this is normal. He promises to have her ready in three days and I leave, feeling strange.

I have no idea how much meat to expect back really. I rang the abattoir and they said the dead weight was 57 kilos, but that doesn’t really help me work out how many chops, how many sausages.

I find out when Steve rings late in the evening to say all is ready to collect. Clever Porker gave: 16 bags of chops in twos, weighing about 500g a bag, 8kg of sausages, 4kg of belly pork, four rolled boned shoulder joints all weighing about 1.5kg, 6 leg joints (which I still fail to understand) weighing about the same as the shoulder joints, and two long ribs at about just over a kilo each. Steve charges me £30 which I think is incredibly cheap. Was thinking of maybe doing a butchery course but it is hardly worth it when he does a professional job at such a low cost. He is even cheerful about it and tells me it is good meat, which gives me a burst of pride. The head and the offal and the trotters and some innards were all in a separate bags, which I gave straight to Joe so he can experiment in the kitchen. I stuff as much as possible into the two fridges at work, put the rest in the freezer and go home with two pork chops.

I walk into the house with my precious package, feeling nervous. If it doesn’t taste good then all this will have been a bit pointless, and too expensive to repeat. I shout to all and sundry that I am home and I have meat! Silence. Nobody at home. This is rare. For a moment I’m tempted to feel sad about it, but actually the quiet is good, and the tasting maybe too solemn a thing to attempt with others.

I put the chops in a roasting tin. They look good. Chunky and lean but with a good layer of fat around them. I drizzle a little olive oil over them and sprinkle some chopped-up thyme from the garden, then pop them in the top oven of the Aga.

I have some fabulous purple sprouting broccoli so I prepare that while I wait for the pork. I set the table properly, light a candle, award myself (and Porker) a proper linen napkin, open a good bottle of red wine. After about quarter of an hour I take them out to turn them over. A quite remarkable smell wafts through the kitchen and I feel very very hungry. On the plate they look delicious. I sprinkle some lemon juice over them and push a knife through the first one. It goes through the meat as if it were butter. The flesh is white and moist and smells slightly gamey, but it is tender and the best pork chop I have ever tasted. The darker meat near the bone is almost like offal, and with a strong pork taste. Good indeed. Two of these huge chops is far too much for one person, but I am greedy for more so I keep eating until I have not only finished them both, but licked the bones clean too. I give a tiny bit of gristly fat to Bobbie. She is ecstatic. Her barking has, at last, got the better of Porker.

Feeling rather bloated now. But by golly it was good. Porker did so well I raise a little toast to her. She was a good piglet, a lovely pig, she went to her death with hardly a squeak (apart from the ear tag noise) and she gave us all fabulous meat. What a pig! I will never forget her, and in fact she gets her own back, because I am windy all night. My fault.

Nicola

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But for now here's another instalment of Nicola's Hog Blog. Have your tissues ready.

Cheers, Thomas

The Hog Blog - February 2008, part 2

We arrive early at the abattoir and I go in to sort out the paperwork. Three forms for one pig. A pig movement form, a transportation form and a what she has been eating form. One of the forms is three pages long and I understand none of the questions. They are in code. The guy who manages the abattoir is about 65, with the ginger grooved wrinkles and the deep, watery chested voice of the dedicated smoker. His ‘office’ is a sort of freezing cold garage with a tiny electric fire at one end and a small wooden table and chair at the other. He is an old hand. He is not overly friendly. He’s seen it all before. I feel like an idiot. I am behaving like a ridiculous townie at a cocktail party, enquiring about his job and whether he ought to have a bigger fire, and oh gosh, these forms, how on earth does one make head or tail of them? He groans and lights another fag.

Help is at hand from a lovely young man in a white coat and white wellies: the man from DEFRA. He helps me fill in the forms, then helps us get Porker down the ramp and along a long, stone corridor. He is so gentle and sweet with her ‘Come on lovey, come on sweetie’, patting her gently and encouraging her down. Pigs don’t like going downhill much. I instantly like him and trust him and there is a lovely, straw-filled pen waiting for her with a drinking bowl and everything. I give her a pocketful of pignuts and stroke her nose for the last time. She is next in line. I walk away. Turning once I see her just rooting about in the straw like normal. I am not worried.

I make arrangements to collect the carcass in three days and return to work. Feel strange all day. Quite grown up.

Nicola

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The Hog Blog - February 2008, part 1

Bitterly cold with a strong easterly wind, but the sun is shining and there’s a frost on the mud, so not claggy, but sparkling. I meet Tom in the field, he’s already reversed his Landrover and trailor up to the gate and is asking me which pig? I point to Porker, feeling like Judas except I didn’t get the 30 pieces of silver. No, I had to pay much more than that for this particular act of treachery. Porker, as usual, is at the front of the queue so it’s easy to open the gate and let her out and start shutting it on Mabel. The new little ones escape too, though, and rush up the straw-ridden trailer ramp as if they are just sooo excited about a trip to the slaughter house. Tom puts them back in the pen and Porker is alone. He loads up the ear tag thing and advances up the ramp to insert it. I walk away and look over the fence, dreading the moment I will hear her scream. How unfair to have to have this shock and pain and then go to the abattoir with nothing nice happening in between. I resolve to tag the next one at least two weeks before slaughter and then give him treats in between so he’s forgotten all about the ear when the trailer time comes. A pineapple I am thinking, or some kiwi fruit, their favourites. No scream comes at all. Tom comes down the ramp and says he dropped the tag at the last moment because she moved her head. He loads up another. I think maybe 50 wasn’t enough? Second attempt resoundingly successful judging by the terrific noise. Pigs are the most dramatic creatures on earth. They should all be on the stage. If you don’t believe me pick up a piglet, gently and kindly, and they’ll make the sort of noise that is only heard during the last few minutes of a Jacobean tragedy when all on stage are tortured and killed and there’s a lot of fake blood.

Nevertheless the sound produces fear in me. The same sort of fear one feels when holding out your precious baby to the surgery nurse for a jab. I immediately give her an apple to cheer her up. She eats it happily. Good.

Off we go then in the Landrover to Frome. Cross country – through Chew Stoke and over hills and down dales. Sun bright and low, flickering through hedges, blinding round bends. And Tom talks. We chatter about family, animals, bloody paperwork, how things have changed. I’m getting old: I enjoy it.

Nicola

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Also, for those of you in London don't forget Alastair's appearance at Standfords next Tuesday. Click here for more details.

Cheers, Thomas

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Cheers, Thomas

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The Hog Blog - January 2008, part 2

Rang abattoir in Nailsea today. Porker has only four weeks or so left to go. I need to hire a trailer and also get her an ear tag or slap-mark of some description. Not sure how to go about it, but I phone the North Somerset council man and he tells me which company to order them from. He is also, he says, coming to inspect me in February. Blimey. Order ear-piercer and tags with my herd number stamped on them over the internet and they arrive in the post. Fifty ear tags minimum order. Oh well, I shan’t have to order again in a hurry.

I have a mad two weeks trying to get out of going to the Nailsea abattoir (I hear gossip from Steve the butcher at the farm shop that a mate of his sent some rare-breed pigs to Bakers and didn’t think he got his own pigs back; and there were bits missing that he had specifically asked for). But I’m worried about not having any alternative. People keep telling me about nod-and-a-wink travelling folk who come with a small gun and do it in the field. On research, they don’t appear to exist, or only do it secretly.

Steve says there’s another abattoir in Frome which is smaller and less commercial and gives me the number of a mate who knows them. The mate recommends them and I worry about the fact that it is 27 miles away rather than eight. My address book, which used to be filled with city numbers, is now criss-crossed with numbers for trailer hire folk, ark builders, mates of mates who shoot pigs in fields on the sly, farmers and hedge trimmers, oh and abattoirs. Weird. It is make my mind up time. Every time I look at Porker I feel like a traitor.

Later that month...
Time up. I opt for the Frome abattoir. But how to get her there? Ring Pete the hedge trimmer as he is a Long Ashton local. He tells me to ring Tom James who keeps cows in the field below me. Tom is brilliant and agrees to help (for £60!) We talk pig on the phone and I like him. He meets me in the field the next day and we check to see he can get his trailer in and every question I ask (there are many) he answers patiently and kindly.

Nicola

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Anyway, in case you missed it our April newsletter wend out this morning and it can be read on line by clicking here.

Meanwhile, one our readers, Barbara from Surrey, has sent in the below photo that was taken from her window during yesterday's snow downfall. Barbara writes:

We live by the River Mole and River Ember that both join the River Thames just yards away. Each year a pair of swans bring their new cygnets to visit us most days and they don't seem at all afraid of the fast flowing water of the weir.

It sounds rather delightful doesn't it? Barbara also tells me that the area has been invaded by green parakeets that some consider interesting and beautiful while others feel they are a nuisance. It sounds like a debate is brewing!

Cheers, Thomas

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Rude Health offer
Our friends at Rude Health have a generous on-pack offer for Go Slow England that will hit the shelves next week and appear in 5000 Riverford veg boxes.

April newsletter
We're sending out the Alastair Sawday Publishing April newsletter next Monday. These newsletters are monthly and contain information about all the Sawday's books, featured properties, special offers and any other bits of information that we think may be of interest to you. The theme of our April newsletter is Paris Hotels in the Springtime and it will contain a code to purchase our Paris Hotel book for half price.

If you don't already receive our newsletter then you can first register on our website (quick, safe and free) and then request to be on the newsletter mailing list by clicking here.

2008 catalogue
Our new catalogue has arrived! It contains all the infomation for available and upcoming titles in 2008 so click here to view it online or right click the and select "Download Linked File" (Mac) or "Save Target As…" (PC) here to download.

Cheers, Thomas

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]]> http://goslowengland.wordpress.com/2008/04/02/the-hog-blog-january-2008-part-1/ Wed, 02 Apr 2008 12:04:47 +0000 goslowengland http://goslowengland.wordpress.com/2008/04/02/the-hog-blog-january-2008-part-1/ It's time for another instalment of Nicola's Hog Blog! (Nicola's the editor of our British Bed & Breakfast and British Bed & Breakfast for Garden Lovers books you know).

Cheers, Thomas

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The Hog Blog - January 2008, part 1

I collect two little Berkshire boys from the farm, one to be Mabel’s husband in the summer, one for the table. Elvis (the breeder) has a quiff, and Trotter is a bit friendly. He already knows what sex is about because he keeps trying it on with Elvis, who wriggles away. They seem much smaller than the girls when they arrived, and less robust. Just taken away from Mum they view the girls as something bigger with nipples and so rush about them madly trying to get cosy. The girls behave like teenagers who have just discovered their little brother in their bedroom, going through their things. They charge into the ark as one and use their snouts to hurl the boys up into the air and out into the cold. But they don’t care! They rush back in again, sometimes between the baffled girls’ legs and just snuggle in the straw with each other. I suspect their own mother has treated them thus for a few weeks, bored with the constant breastfeeding. Can’t say I blame her. This circus continues until nightfall and I have to leave – worrying about the murderous, jealous look in Mabel’s eyes and Porker’s strong snout. Could they kill the boys?

I get home, cook supper, sit on the sofa and worry. Then I borrow a torch and drive back to the field to creep up on them and make sure that Mabel and Porker are not lying in their cosy bed, with Elvis and Trotter shivering outside. Instead I find them all asleep. Mabel and Porker curled up in a huge heap on one side of the ark, Elvis and Trotter entwined in a tiny heap at the other end. In between them is a pig-made hillock of straw.
These are the boundaries then, as well-defined as a long-married couple who sleep in the same bed but manage never to touch each other.

Over the next few days there is one bitten ear. Victim Trotter; biter unknown. Other than that, and a few shrieks at feedtime when the boys are roughly pushed aside to eat at the edges, there is little trouble. All is calm.

Nicola

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We're also naturally thrilled to have received this amount of press coverage and credit must go to Kat, who looks after all of our PR. She does seem to sleep 20 hours a day but still does a extraordinary job getting the word out about our books. We though you would enjoy this photo of her reviewing her work.

(OK, that was a lame gag but I completely forgot today was April Fool's and this was the best I could come up at the last minute. Our PR person is actually a human named Sarah, she is extraordinary and she only sleeps about 18 hours a day.)

Cheers, Thomas

PS Thanks to Viv Cripps for sending in the brilliant photo!

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I wrote about Carl Honoré and his kind words about Go Slow England in a post last week. Since then Carl has launched a beta version of his new website Slow Planet and it already looks fantastic. One of the main purposes behind this new website is to create a hub for all things Slow that currently exist on the internet already. This is a great idea as it brings together all the separate bits of information that are currently a bit of a chore to find unless you know specifically where to look. As well as links, Slow Planet is collating mentions of Slow in the media plus articles on Slow Travel, Slow Sport, Slow Work and Slow Design. Carl's also got his own blog
that no doubt will be informative and entertaining to read. Anyway, why not head over and have a look for yourself - www.slowplanet.com

Cheers, Thomas

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]]> http://goslowengland.wordpress.com/2008/03/28/the-hog-blog-december-2007/ Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:36:42 +0000 goslowengland http://goslowengland.wordpress.com/2008/03/28/the-hog-blog-december-2007/ It's been rather info heavy on the blog this week so I figured that a new Hog Blog instalment was well overdue. Don't forget to pick up The Guardian on Saturday and The Observer on Sunday for the Go Slow England supplements (see yesterday's post) and have a great weekend!

Cheers, Thomas

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The Hog Blog - December 2007

Weighed them with Jackie’s son Alex, who didn’t have any wellies so wore carrier bags over his shoes and tucked into his socks. Unfortunately the pigs thought there might be something interesting to eat inside these strange bags and so tried to eat his feet. Very funny.

So… how to measure a pig. You take a piece of string (two pieces of string) and measure once around the tummy, just behind the front legs and then from the middle of the ears to the end of the bottom. Then you have to get the calculator out and do a weird multiplication and division thing and you get, apparently, the approximate weight.

Mabel weighed in at 110.7 lbs, and Porker 115.9 lbs. The right live weight to be ready for the chop is about 140 lbs. No wonder she didn’t like me measuring her!

They are standing in so much muddy water now that the ark really may end as one.

The whole of December is cold until Christmas. Iced up water that needs to be cracked open with a welly, biting northerly wind, then the water pipe freezes completely. They have enough to keep going for a few days like that but if it doesn’t thaw soon I don’t know what to do. Now worrying pipes might burst. No more long, lazy walks through the field, more like a quick whip round then straight back into the pen. No greenery now there for them though and they need to have some grass, so they do like their walks. So cold I can’t stand still with them and have to keep jumping about. Pete the hedge man actually phones me to say that the open door to the ark is facing east and that’s where the wind is coming from. He says I must open the back door and leave the front door in - they will be cosier. He is right!

Nicola

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The Guardian and The Observer

To kick things off The Guardian this Saturday and The Observer this Sunday will contain G2 sized supplements that both contain 10 of the special places featured in Go Slow England. So if you haven't picked up a copy of the book yet grab these supplements over the weekend to get an idea of what you are missing out on!

Praise from Carl Honoré

Many of you interested in all things Slow will have heard about Carl Honoré as he is the author of In Praise of Slow, one of the first books to celebrate the Slow Movement. After Carl received a copy of Go Slow England, he wrote this back to us:

The book has just landed on my desk. Wow, it's absolutely beautiful. I find myself gasping or nodding (or both) at whatever page I open to. Congratulations. This really is a triumph.

Considering Carl's influence and stature in the Slow Movement, not to mention his passion for anything that promotes a better way of life, this is incredible praise that has left all of us at Sawday's feeling very flattered!

Incidentally Carl's book is well worth getting a hold of. It is available on Amazon UK, Amazon USA and Amazon Canada but Carl does request that you try to pick up a copy from a local independent bookshop if you can. Carl is also launching a new website soon, which will act as a hub for all the existing Slow related websites already out there. I'll provide full details and links in this blog once it is all up and running.

Cheers, Thomas

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]]> http://goslowengland.wordpress.com/?p=89 Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:57:52 +0000 goslowengland http://goslowengland.wordpress.com/?p=89 Hi everybody

One of the editors of Go Slow England has sent me some information about a very interesting Slow related event over in the USA. Here is what she has sent me:

Slow Food Nation

First we had Eric Schlosser in his hard-hitting book Fast Food Nation telling us about the insidious nature of the fast food culture in America. Apparently any day one in four Americans opts for a meal from a fast-food restaurant, "without giving its speed or its cheapness a second thought". Depressing indeed.

Now though American foodies are determinedly ganging up to launch an event of global significance - Slow Food Nation - in San Francisco from 29 August - 1 September 2008.

The event's website says: "The world's most pressing questions regarding health, culture, the environment, education, social justice and the global economy are all deeply connected to the food we eat and how it is produced. Slow Food Nation is an event at the center of a movement with national impact and global implications." Carlo Petrini, Alice Waters and Eric Schlosser will speak.

Have a look at the Slow Food Nation website at slowfoodnation.org for more information and if are lucky enough to be over that side of the world for 29 August - 1 September then why not go along?

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]]> http://goslowengland.wordpress.com/?p=88 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 10:26:49 +0000 goslowengland http://goslowengland.wordpress.com/?p=88 Hi everybody and I hope you had a wonderful and slow Easter.

I discovered the historical delights of Glastonbury and Salisbury for the first time, with a look in at Stonehenge - all by train and bus. I managed to constantly get myself caught in sudden snow storms where ice particles blew horizontally at face height rather than fall from the sky. I must admit though, it was very amusing coming down from the Glastonbury Tor on Friday to witness all the dogs and small children being literally blown off the path. It was also very funny at Stonehenge to witness all the people stand with their backs to the rocks who would briefly spin around to catch a look at the magnificent rocks before spinning around again to protect their faces from the shards of ice. I just fired my camera over my shoulder so I could look at the photos later. My wife had the better idea of us standing face-to-face so we could pivot on the spot and take turns peering over each others shoulder. It was actually all wonderful and what better way to appreciate such sites than to do so while caught in a furious tempest?

Before I sign off I'd like to give a special mention to the terrific B&B I stayed at while enjoying the delights of Salisbury. It is a Sawday's place (of course!) named Bolhays, run by a pair of sisters who simply know their stuff when it comes to creating an inviting and relaxed atmosphere. Thank you Bar and Sue!

Cheers, Thomas

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At the risk of shamelessly blowing our own trumpet, here's what the IPG say about us winning the award:

With green issues currently at the forefront of publishers' minds, Alastair Sawday Publishing was singled out in this category as a model for all independents to follow. Its efforts to reduce waste in its office and supply chain have reduced the company's environmental impact, and it works closely with staff to identify more areas of improvement. "Here is a publisher who lives and breathes green," said the panel of judges. "Alastair Sawday has all the right principles and is clearly committed to improving its practice further."

And here's Alastair's response:

Winning this award gives us a terrific boost! I admire the IPG for having the foresight to create it, thus bringing the urgent need for environmental awareness to so many small publishing companies. And our staff have been hugely encouraged by the award to make further efforts. In fact they will be even more ready, now, to challenge me when I don't come up to scratch. The die is now fully cast.

For more information about the other awards and nominations visit the The Independent Publishing Awards 2008 page on the IPG website.

In other news, Alastair will be doing Go Slow England presentations and book signings in Bristol and Bath next week. Check out the author tour dates pages for details. Alastair has also written a new post on his personal blog so head over there to have a look at what he has to say about the future of UK tourism.

Cheers, Thomas

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]]> http://goslowengland.wordpress.com/?p=86 Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:12:12 +0000 goslowengland http://goslowengland.wordpress.com/?p=86 Hi everybody. Since Ludlow received the most votes in our poll on the best place to go slow in England and since I'm haven't previously uploaded any sample pages from the region, I thought it was time to present you with Timberstone Bed & Breakfast in Shropshire.

This will be the last lot of sample pages that I upload for now as I've covered all the regions collected in Go Slow England. Remember that all previous samples can be found here.

Cheers, Thomas

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]]> http://goslowengland.wordpress.com/?p=85 Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:45:45 +0000 goslowengland http://goslowengland.wordpress.com/?p=85  Buy Go Slow England 

The Hog Blog - November 2007, part 1

Pete has cut all the hedges and I can see for miles! Pete is a lovely chap, probably in his sixties and lives down the road but on this side of the railway - as he was at great pains to point out. He does all the hedges round here. I might ask if he can do fencing as well – we need more pigs and more fences. But not at the price of the last lot. £1,800 for the pen and the surrounding fence, the hard standing and erection of the ark - which was nearly £400.

Mabel will need a companion soon. I can’t believe Porker is nearly half way through her life. Saw lots of dunnets today, this autumn has been the best I can remember, and the putting to bed time of 4pm is stunning just now: pink skies, amazing cloud formations and that winter twilight which is so special.

They are eating so much now I am constantly at the feed place, but now that the shed is up I can buy in bulk assuming I can borrow a bigger car.

Nicola

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While we are on the topic of all things to do with Alastair, click here to have a look at his personal blog where he has recently started a discussion about whether or not people in their 20s and 30s are still able to enjoy the simple things in life.

But for now, time to end the week with a new instalment from The Hog Blog.

Cheers, Thomas

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The Hog Blog - November 2007, part 1

They continue to grow. I wonder whether they are frightened of fireworks? They don’t seem to have fear really – the only time they freaked out was when I went into the field wearing a hat. Have read lots of stuff, mainly from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, about how much pigs love greens. Well mine don’t. They don’t like, or won’t eat: cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots, onions, celery or swede. They do like eating seasonally however, blackberries and apples in abundance when they arrived, now they like nothing better than pumpkins and squashes. Bananas and melon are also a favourite. They adore pig nuts.

They still like to run around in the field whenever they can, rushing about tearing up grass (they will eat that), and snuffling their snouts into everything, sometimes coming up with an acorn or a beech nut and cracking it between their teeth happily. Bobbie continues to bark at them now and then but nothing like before. Occasionally they nibble at her. She rather likes sniffing their bottoms and stealing the pig nuts.

So, we have settled into a routine. Which is fine. Except my petrol bill is soaring because of all the extra trips to the office. Julia and Joe coming up with business plan apparently but still no plans to extend.

We were going to get a couple of pigs from another farm where there are also cattle, but they texted me to say they had just had a positive TB test and couldn’t move anything for months. Back to Devon then I suppose, but I quite wanted to get a couple of girls of a different breed for a bit of variation. Julia and Joe are going to attempt the fencing so I won’t hold my breath. Must get more before February though when Porker will be off. Cannot have Mabel on her own. Research for other pigs necessary, but what type? More Berkshires? (not so good for bacon) …or a Gloucester Old Spot or a Saddleback. Maybe a Large Black, but would it matter to only have black pigs?

Nicola

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We got back yesterday in time for Alastair to make his first promotional appearance at Stanfords in Bristol. The event had already sold out earlier in the week and was a big success. If you want to see Alastair at his second Bristol appearance or catch him in either London or Bath then check the author tour dates page for more information. 

For now I will leave you with another set of sample pages from Go Slow England. I haven't uploaded anything from the South East before so I hope you enjoy reading these pages about The Griffin Inn in Sussex.

Cheers, Thomas

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Have a great weekend!

Thomas

The Hog Blog - October 2007

Clocks back, routine changed. No more getting here too early as pitch black till 7.30. And now they have supper at four. Lots more straw in the ark to keep them warm. All the blackberries are finished – too many to pick – so they wither on their stalks like neglected old ladies. It’s sad. I feel generous with the pigs and buy them a pineapple. They adored it, the whole thing including the prickly bits, and got covered in pineapple juice, so they’re sticky to stroke for a whole day.

We have a shed! It is wonky and has bits of corrugated iron holding up the more ramshackle bits, but it is dry inside and I can keep all the food and straw and tools in there. I have romantic images of summer days on a deckchair. I will sit outside the shed on a deckchair, sipping tea from a flask and eating sandwiches (not ham) while the pigs gambol around. What actually happens is that we have terrible gales and the roof blows off the shed and two walls collapse, the rain pours down over four expensive bags of feed and two bails of straw, soaking everything. Not good.

I am depressed about the shed, thinking it will never be fixed. But I go up to feed the pigs on the Sunday after the storm and there is the shed, with a roof! It looks a bit like the shed that the Grandfather flew around in in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Perhaps that’s why I love it. God Bless Julia’s husband, Mike. I replace feed and straw and hope we are home and dry.

Nicola

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We've put it into the Alastair Sawday Publishing online bookshop so you can now buy your own copy HERE.

When you buy Go Slow England directly from us you automatically get a 35% discount off the RRP (plus p&p). Everybody who pre-registered for a copy will soon be emailed a special offer code that will give them an addition 10% discount. Those special offer codes will show up in your inbox by the end of today.

Thank you to everybody who took part in our poll on the best place in England to 'go slow'. The poll has now closed and I'll put the results up online over the next few days.

And in case you are wondering if this is it for this blog now that the book is available - have no fear. I'll still be regularly posting sample pages, news, information about the author tour and press response plus instalments from The Hog Blog.

Cheers, Thomas

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