The world from my window

I've been rather tardy of late and haven't blogged for several weeks. My apologies - things have been pretty busy in Maddie's World, with a new weekly column of that name just about to be launched in The People's Friend magazine (hoorah!), which I'll be posting regularly on this blog once it's published, and other close encounters of the writing kind. I'll be bringing you updates from Lush Places and the wider world as soon as I can.  In the meantime, here's a link to The Lady Shed , a writing project I'm working on with two friends. Each week, one of us writes about a subject which grabs us. Every four weeks we all write about the same thing. The latest posts are all about the National Health Service. This Friday, I'll be in the shed on my own, talking about sibling rivalry, as it's my brother's birthday tomorrow - Lady Day, ha, ha. The only boy in a family of girls, he is known as Golden Balls by Mr Grigg. I've never quite g...

It had to happen. It seems there's  trouble in Fairyland. This magical spot, about which I've written before but have never named, is in danger of being overrun by fairy doors. They started off tastefully. Some were elaborate. Some were birthday presents. Then little things began appearing behind the doors, along with notes from visitors. Excited children darted around, looking down at the base of the trees. Soon, word spread far and wide that this was an enchanted wood. People came from miles around, some of them adding new doors. But now, the trustees of the wood say it's getting out of hand. They're concerned about the effect screwing the doors has on the trees. And they're worried the emerging bluebells are being trampled by eager little feet tearing around the woodland and straying off the path. So, rapid development and doors out of keeping with this very special place are being deterred.  I hope this coincides with t...

There were gasps as the verdict was announced. Surely not? And then the programme went on, with twists and turns, including the unexpected and the entirely predictable. Anyone would think the popular television drama, Broadchurch , was for real. Well, for those of us who live here, where the show was made, it does feel a part of everyday life. The writer lives in Bridport and the actors are now frequent visitors to the town and its harbour, West Bay. The series' backdrop is as familiar to us as the backs of our hands, although the magic of television splices the geographical areas of North Somerset and West Dorset with surgical precision, so that the dramatic East Cliff of West Bay on the south coast suddenly looms on the distant skyline beyond Clevedon and the Bristol Channel. In Bridport last night, the charming Electric Palace Theatre  played host to the haunting, atmospheric music of Ólafur Arnalds, the composer for the series. He and his band filled the q...

We've just had a photo session, Mr Grigg and me, here in the kitchen. It's usually me behind the camera - I've never been much of a one for inflicting my fisog on the world. Invariably, pictures of me on the web are of tea cups, tiki masks and Fra Newbery's painting The Spirit of Bridport . I also use this one a lot.  I like it. I took it. But I'm not in it.  'Smile girls,' I yelled from afar. 'Jump up and down a bit.' So they did.  It's one of my favourite pictures. But, over the last few months, it's me who's had to be the subject of the photographs.  'Can you send me a nice photo of you by the sea?' the feature writer at Good Housekeeping said to me last summer. 'Do you really need it?' I said. 'Can't you use a picture of the Greek village we lived in, or a back view of me?' 'Well, not really,' she said. 'It's a two page feature and it's all about y...

It's Broadchurch tonight. It's funny to see our Dorset coastline in all its glory. Week after week after week. Those cliffs at West Bay are a towering presence in this popular television series, which is gripping the nation with all its twists and turns. Through the magic of television, we even saw East Cliff looming up on the skyline in a shot filmed at Clevedon, on the other side of the south west peninsula. The whole series, whether you like it or not, is a great advert for this part of the world. In real life, though, you have to keep away from the foot of the cliffs. They're unstable and pieces could - and do - fall at any time. So we kept to the shore when we introduced Artemis, a ten-month-old Korthals Griffon , to the ocean for the very first time yesterday.       The verdict? She says she likes it. She'll be back. That's about it. Love Maddie x

It's been ages since I've written a blog post, and I apologise for that There's been lots going on in Lush Places and lots going on in my life. All good things, I hasten to add, but sometimes real life takes over. There's been new work on the horizon, which I've grabbed with open arms because I need the money and the human interaction. There's been collaborative writing in The Lady Shed , with my latest post about the Greek elections here . I've signed up for a TEFL course after being inspired by those wonderful children in Peru. Whether I'll ever use the qualification I don't know, but at least I'll have it. I'm going to revisit my masters in classics and ancient history with The Open University later this year and I'm going to be writing and publishing more things Greek. I've missed Corfu these last few months. And I'm singing again. Laaaaaaa! Some doors are closing, others are opening. Open me, open me, close me...

We sat in our seats, the lights went down and there was not a whirr to be heard. At the opening night of our very own Lush Places cinema in the village hall, we had a few shorts, including the Happy video I made with a friend last year. And then it was the turn of Effie Gray, a beautiful film made by Emma Thompson, featuring a great, mainly British cast, and based on the true story of the ill-fated marriage of Victorian art critic John Ruskin. The ladies in the audience, in particular, were gripped by this tale, even though nothing much really happened. 'It was miserable and too long,' said one of the men. 'Aren't you glad you're not married to someone like that?' said a husband to his wife in the front row. But it was a hit as far as being the first film of our community cinema was concerned, despite the man behind the scenes (and behind the stage curtain like the Wizard of Oz)  poking his head out from the side of the roll-down screen as the st...