‘Colt hunting in the New Forest’ – Palace House

To kick off season 2 of Past Matters, podcast host Ploy Radford talks to Dr Steven Parissien, CEO of Palace House, Newmarket, about a painting by Lucy Kemp-Welch – ‘Colt hunting in the New Forest’.

Lessons in life… from horses

Anyone who knows me now, knows I love horses. I’m crazy about them, I try and ride twice a week, go on riding holidays, attend Olympia Horse Show and the Royal Windsor Horse Show religiously each year, have far too many clothes and items of jewellery that reference horses, etc.

Their appeal isn’t just because I think they are cute though – it goes much deeper than that.

Christmas 2019 special: Margaret Beaufort’s tomb – chosen by historian Nicola Tallis

As a special Christmas treat for you, my listeners, I have done something a bit different for this episode of Past Matters. Instead of asking a museum, gallery or historic house what their most underrated item is, I have instead asked historian Nicola Tallis, what historical object she thinks is underrated.

Christmas 2019 special: Torcheres – Apsley House (with added bonus audio)

Apsley House (also known as No.1 London) is the home of the Dukes of Wellington and for the first time has extended its opening times to the 22nd December 2019 and decorated the house in 1840s style Christmas decorations. Visitors can therefore experience this already beautiful building as it may have looked for a Georgian Christmas. It therefore seemed fitting to feature one of the Christmas special episodes here.

Christmas 2019 special: Two clocks – The Charles Dickens Museum

‘A Christmas Carol’ has got to be one of the most famous Christmas books out there, so it seemed fitting to interview Dr Cindy Sughrue, Director of the Charles Dickens Museum in London, for one of the three 2019 Christmas specials of Past Matters.

Rarer than pandas and transforming London – meet the city’s last working herd of Shires

Every November at Hampton Court Palace, visitors can witness Her Majesty’s chaplain blessing London’s last herd of working Shires prior to evensong.

THINGS I’M AT LEAST IN THE PROCESS OF FIGURING OUT AT 30

Five years, ago when I hit what I thought was the ginormous milestone of 25 (hahahaha, oh 25 year old me, shut up) I wrote a blog post titled ‘Shit I thought I would have sorted out by now’. As I’ve somehow survived a further five years and hit 30, despite the best (read worst) driving efforts, an appreciation of fine (read: any) wine, and a hobby that involves convincing a half tonne animal with a mind of its own to trust me and my terrible spatial awareness, I figured I should write another listicle. This time I thought I would be positive and write about things I’ve at least started figuring out, progress, right?

As I actually turned 30 in May, I can tell you now, punctuality is not one of those things.

Fashioning better mental health

The fashion industry gets a lot of well-deserved criticism for a lot of things – its use of size 0 models, sexual harassment, the devastating effect on the environment fast fashion particularly can have etc. However, today – on World Mental Health Day – I would acknowledge what a positive force fashion has had on my mental health. After all, a key thing therapists like to drill home is that there is a silver lining to every situation, and fashion does have them, and not just in clothes.

The environment should be seen for what it is – more important than Brexit

July’s bloody cull by new Prime Minister Boris Johnson showed he had little desire to reuse the political assets already sitting in Cabinet.

So, what does his government mean for the future of waste and recycling in this country?

The power of playtime

A new study has confirmed the value of live theatre for young people – but with tight budgets and a crammed curriculum, how should schools respond?