Go Wild in the Country

Thank you to Flore Diamant for the photography I’ve used to illustrate this newsletter. Flore explored Glen Dye with childlike wonder in midsummer.

The Endless Advantages of Going Wild in The Country.

Childhood Summers at Glen Dye.

When I was young, we spent our summers at Glen Dye.

We had friends to stay, and our parents left us alone from breakfast until supper time. Sometimes we came in for lunch, but more often than not, we ate outside.

Many years later Dad said that if he’d known what we were up to he might have paid more attention to us, because occasionally we got up to some dangerous stuff. We made death defying swings, lit fires wherever we could, swam in angry spates, jumped off roofs, threw stuff around, capsized boats.

I had first cousins who were reckless and feral and they inspired us to do things that are exhilarating and fun because they were dangerous.

BOOKS I HAVE READ* INCLUDE

*By way of a reminder, I only mention things here that I enjoy as I am not a critic, rather I see myself as a friend recommending stuff.

Orbital by Samantha Harvey won the Booker Prize, and I think it is unbelievably good. It is a thin book, albeit with dense type but it somehow reads like a long one.

It’s unlike anything that I have read, in that while telling a story it often feels like a work of non-fiction. And it is incredibly lyrical, painterly, thought provoking, sad, uplifting and warm.

I still think about it a lot.

Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton is absolutely wonderful.

First a disclaimer, I am fascinated by hares; I love them. But this will appeal to most readers. It is a true story of a woman who finds a leveret on a country track and after passing it twice, immobile and apparently lost, takes it home.

What follows is equal parts heart-warming, educational and unpredictable.

Dalton offers a masterclass in learning through quiet observation, and while she changes the hare to some degree, I think she is changed by it to a greater degree.

This is going to be a huge hit.

Lazarus Man by Richard Price.

Price is one of the great chroniclers of contemporary American life and this clever, dense novel is full of remarkable characters and diverse plots, all of which intertwine to create a mesmerising, believable and very human tale.

The story follows a number of people who are somehow involved in a gas explosion which demolishes a building in Harlem, either as survivors, victims, observers or investigators. It’s all quite complicated but in Price’s masterful hands it works incredibly well.

I raced through it and loved it.

Anyway, I suppose that my first -and key- message here is that Glen Dye is a terrific place for families. Children can run wild here; they can explore and jump and climb and crawl. There is fresh air, peaty cold water, the scent of pine, mud, everything you need to understand the beautiful power of nature.

Some activities can be organised for you, some will be chanced upon.

Our Discovery and Adventure Trail makes an excellent starting point, and my guess is that your children will want to do it several times, backwards and forwards.

It’s equal parts challenging, fun, unexpected and wildly beautiful.

There is so much written about all of this, the benefits of nature and of getting messy and wet and dirty. And it is all absolutely correct; the benefits are profound and important and deeply consequential.

By the way, one of the magnificent advantages for parents is that after a long morning of proper, wild outdoor activity for the children, we feel good.

It’s like taking a dog for a long walk, there is a sort of afterglow that feels that your duty has been done and it’s okay for the dog to just lie down and sleep for the rest of the day.

Maybe this is why holidays in the UK seem to be having a moment after a weird few years of ups and downs (Covid, the staycation, the exodus abroad when the floodgates opened).

A strange and challenging 2024 for the UK holiday industry appears to be being followed by a strong 2025.

Maybe people realise the benefits of the Good, Simple Life, of afternoons paddling in streams, building dams, climbing trees, and skimming stones, not to mention of avoiding airports and scorching midday sun.

Or maybe that’s wishful thinking on my behalf; either way, I deeply and profoundly recommend time spent in the Scottish countryside with your children this summer because it’s here that something lasting and profound will happen, I promise.

Until next time,

Charlie x