I dropped my gardening tools, threw my bicycle over a hedge and went in search of fortunes laid beneath the hangman’s noose.

You have to feel the bite of the wind to appreciate the warmth of a winter coat.

Look back, but never look down.

The thing that matters most is what matters to you, not anybody else.

Creative people need strong encouragement.

Where the writing takes place doesn’t matter to a publisher, but it matters a great deal to the author.

I keep on dreaming, but to find freedom, one must first search inwards.

Angling is just a way of relaxing and escaping in the countryside.

I am happiest sitting against a tree, with my notebook or sketchpad on my knee, capturing the moment.

I like working among ‘creative clutter’. It gives me a sense of activity and achievement.

Proper writing ink comes in a bottle, can be swirled like brandy in a glass, and smells like apple blossom after rain.

Never interrupt an author when he or she is ‘in the zone’, else you’ll understand the real meaning of ‘writer’s nib’.

I needed some space to lay myself out, so that I could decide which pieces I wanted to pick up.

A perpetual world; a world within a world. Of my mind and outside my mind. The real world is the dream world.

Life in the wild, as I’m observing, is about survival as much as pleasure.

A traditional Englishman drinks tea to the point where his blood has long-since been replaced with an infusion of Ceylon, Assam, and Darjeeling.

Status: the perpetual carrot that entices us from the front and prods us in the back.

When sitting down to write a letter, it always pays to calm one’s mood, collect one’s thoughts, and have a plan.

People might consider you eccentric for being different, but this is good. Leaders and visionaries are not conformists afraid of standing out.

As with writing by candlelight, one’s greatest ideas come from ‘the flickering’ between darkness and light.

What I am interested in, what I write and care about, exists in the slow lane, somewhere between hand-ploughed fields and a pint of real ale.

Water creates so much beauty, life and mystery.

We are all Clapping Monkeys, but while some of us smile, others look around to see if anyone has noticed.

Eight months in the woods have hardened me, or at least firmed up my beliefs that if a man’s going to fend for himself, then he needs to leave his credit card at home.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it, this notion of simplicity? Simple things done simply by a simple person. But it’s not as simple as it seems.

Leaving the rat race is easy. All you have to do is quit your job, sell your house, and go and live in a tent in the middle of nowhere. It’s staying out of the...

Writers who copy or plagiarise others are dreaming in another man’s sleep.

Individuality and creativity are slowly dampened by a normal job with normal people.

Reality is just a matter of perception.

Confront the page that taunts you with its whiteness. Face your enemy and fill it with words. You are bigger and stronger than a piece of paper.

Organic life cannot be far from water.

If, like me, you suffer from lack of self-confidence you’ll know that the term is made up of two conflicting words, and that confidence isn’t easily found in the self.

I admit to being prone to deep thinking, which – given that I’m emerging from dark times – can take me to some very sombre or profound places. But this is no bad thing. I...

To not use a talent to the best of your ability is to stifle the thing that makes you most special. It is like plucking the wings off a butterfly.

I like to start slowly, and then ease up as the day progresses.

I’m pretty sure I’m the only author who intends to take the longest possible route to a destination that will always be over the next hill.

There’s merit in being different, inspiration in being individual, courage in being unique, and freedom in being yourself.

Doing nothing can be as rewarding as doing something. And doing very little can be as productive, in a creative sense, as doing a lot.

The pen that was once a gift has come to represent all that I hope to achieve.

One cannot help but identify with the life-giving quality of water, not just to quench our thirst, but for our emotional and spiritual wellbeing.

It’s ironic that those who lack self-confidence are often the ones who find it hardest to say no.

The process of creation begins way before one starts writing.

Often I have found myself gazing up at clouds – yesterday’s seas and tomorrow’s streams – to think of them as floating on an ultraviolet sea, beyond which is the infinity of space that presents...

I write into an old book that smells of dust and whose pages are floppy with damp. Sometimes the ink splodges onto the paper, other times it will barely leave the nib of my pen.

Why should we change that which makes us unique?

As an angler and a gardener, I cherish each drop of rain that falls.

I wasn’t born to fetch, or sit, or accept a beating. I’m here to be me, to write, and know my purpose.

Progress isn’t always good. There’s a reason why ‘breakneck speed’ is described as such.

Books are the most important of all my possessions. They capture the thoughts, feelings, dreams and lives of their authors, welcoming us into their worlds and inspiring us to emulate their adventures.

I like tea so much that I’m considering changing my name to Bergamot so that I can exist in a perpetual state of Earl Grey contentment.