Tom Cox's Blog, page 11

On wassailing and the magic of Devon's hills

My January 2015 column for The Guardian's Life And Style section.

My Ace Records Top Ten

The excellent Ace Records recently invited me to to pick my top ten songs on their label. This is what I wrote about them.

22 Things I Have Learned About Devon

It will soon be a year since I moved to Devon. I am still a novice Devonian, but I am falling more and more in love with the place, and have learned a few things about it during that time. Here are some of the main ones:


1. No sight gladdens a Devon dweller's heart than that of Devon, viewed from a train window, after being somewhere that isn't Devon - even when there's a bit of seagull shit

A Wander Around Totnes With My Friend Pete And His Owl

I wrote about the owls of the brilliant Totnes Rare Breeds Farm a few months ago here in my Guardian column. Last Friday I bumped into Wizard, the farm's resident European eagle owl (above), and his handler, Pete, on a walk near Totnes. Pete told me he was going for a wander around into town again the next day, with his own Finnish great grey owl, Lady Jane Grey, and that I was welcome to join

The Power Of The Witch: rare 1971 documentary (featuring Theo Brown, Cecil Williamson, Alex Sanders)

My Weird Animal Rescue Story

I was walking on Dartmoor today and noticed a pony roll over on his back, about forty yards from the path I was on, above Dartmeet, not far from Yar Tor. "Hello!" I said to him, in the fake posh voice I always use when speaking to ponies and horses. I assumed he was just rolling in the sunlight for fun, but noticed him kick his legs a few times, so went over and took a closer look. He seemed

A Modern Book And An Old Record

Sara Maitland - Gossip From The Forest (Granta, 2013)

I'm not convinced the travel aspect of Maitland's book (in which she visits one of her favourite bits of British forest every month for a year and discusses the symbiotic relationship of humans and woodland) and the more academic side of it (in which she analyses the roots of fairy stories) always fit smoothly together, but she's such a

A good thing about my winter walks in remote parts of Devon

A good a thing about my winter walks in remote parts of Devon is that I never seen anything scary and never feel at all afraid.

A good a thing about my winter walks in remote parts of Devon

A good a thing about my winter walks in remote parts of Devon is that I never seen anything scary and never feel at all afraid.

Some Of My Recent Country Columns For The Guardian

My lesson in countryside detective work

Has that cat got semen on its back?

The owls of Totnes

My cat for your firewood: a fair exchange? 

A walk on Dartmoor