A view of the bridge: the 'love-nest' cottage of Monica Jones and Philip Larkin
To Haydon Bridge in Northumberland, to find the cottage where the poet Philip Larkin and his long-time lover, Monica Jones, met four or five times a year – a place that is rather archly described as a ‘love-nest’ on the plaque outside, at 1A Ratcliffe Road. Unimpressive at the front, but with a wonderful view of the South Tyne and the old bridge from the rear windows.
Andrew Motion says in his ...
17th June 2025
Celebrating nature, mourning lost landscape: England’s ‘awkward’ poet John Clare
John Clare, that widely admired 19th century poet of nature, who also wrote about countryside used by ordinary people that was lost to land enclosures, died on 20 May 1864, and this year marks the 160th anniversary of his death. Here’s a seasonal poem by Clare, that was posted by long-time admirer R...
28th June 2024
