Written By: Kirsty McCarrison
September was a very busy month for me.
First it was a ‘big’ birthday and I was lucky enough to be whisked away to the beautiful city of York for the weekend. It was great to spend time as a tourist doing all the things I suggest other people to do when visiting!
On a river cruise, we saw two Kingfishers which, as a bird loving photographer, absolutely made my day.
On the final night, we moved from a fancy city centre apartment to a tranquil shepherd’s hut with a friendly menagerie of llamas, ponies and sheep on the doorstep!
Second was a working weekend for our Young Producers Residential - something I look forward to all year. Young Producers are English Heritage volunteers aged 18-25, who help shape our programme of youth engagement and get involved in consultation work, creative projects and training opportunities.
This year’s residential was particularly special for me, as we visited my home county of Derbyshire. Saturday kicked off with a guided tour of one of our most fantastic English Heritage sites, Bolsover Castle, where the Young Producers were inspired by the fascinating life of Margaret Cavendish who was writing science fiction in the 1600s!
We moved on to the archaeological park of Creswell Crags to learn more about the Ice Age and discussed the historic ‘witch marks’ discovered there in a cave in 2018.
We finished the day at the village of Eyam, famous for the courageous effort of villagers who isolated themselves to prevent the spread of the plague in the mid-1600s; Eyam Museum tells this devastating story.
Along with the laughter, intense discussions around methods and styles of interpretation at heritage sites, and a magical evening of stargazing, we also did a lot of walking on what was one of the hottest weekends of the year. There was even a dramatic evening thunderstorm thrown in for good measure!
I was incredibly glad to have my Craghoppers boots ( on, which were fantastic on the varied terrain. Despite the boots being new, my feet were so comfortable, and I’m pleased to report that not a drop of water or single historic plague microbe made it through to my socks!
Inspired by my Kingfisher sightings in York, I’ll also be taking them down to my local river for a mini photography expedition very soon and look forward to having consistently warm and dry feet during a typical North East winter!
