This is us…

Hello this is Us

We are Andrew and Emma.

We live the Lake District in the North West of the UK with our six year old son, Benji. We write this newsletter together; I (Andrew) mostly write The Digest and Emma writes Nature Happenings, although we help each other out if we get stuck on what to write, which we frequently do. The Digest is a weekly account of our adventures in the mountains and valleys here in the Lake District. Our idea of what constitutes an adventure might be different from some. We believe in taking it slow, becoming part of the landscape and considering Nature with deep reverence and curiosity along the way. Of course, the majority of our adventures also involve our young son, so many of our posts relate to hiking as a family and all the joys and trials that can bring. Our thoughts often stray onto the complex relationship between society and Nature, and when they do we share them here. We also share our encounters with Nature, detailing which creatures and plants are on the move each week. There are many kinds of ways to know Nature, and we like to offer a broad spectrum based on our own experiences which encompass a practical understanding of ecology and a deep connection, bordering on the spiritual.

Together, we run Miscellaneous Adventures, which is a business of sorts. It is the umbrella under which we carry out the many strands of what you could loosely categorise as “work”. This thing, whatever it is, has seen many iterations over the years, sometimes being our main occupation, at others ticking along as a side project. Ultimately though, it has come to represent who we are.

Emma and Andrew by Jody Daunton

But how did it all get started? Well, just over ten years ago, we moved to a barn in the woods. Nestled in the arboreal embrace of a small woodland, we accidentally discovered a new way to live and a connection to Nature that we didn’t know was possible. By pure happenstance, a second event, our first ever true wilderness adventure in the far north of Sweden was timed to overlap with the early days of our woodland journey. These two episodes, though no doubt significant on their own, merged together to to create the singular idea that we needed to make Nature and adventure central to our lives and work and to inspire others to do the same. Miscellaneous Adventures was born out of that idea and still seeks to serve that function today, with varying degrees of success week by week.

There is much more we could share here about that part of our journey and our life in the woods, and perhaps we will dedicate an essay to it one day, but for now the best thing to do is listen to our podcast right here on Substack, called Lessons from the Woods. This was a series of open and honest conversations me and Emma had together as we lived out our final few weeks in the woods. These conversations cover everything from how we found our woodland home, to what it was like to leave 11 years later, touching on our relationship with Nature, raising a child in the woods, and recalling many of the struggles and joys along the way.

The first episode, Beginnings, is here.

The little barn in the woods where it all began...

In the very beginning, I made wooden goods and sold them though an online store alongside my regular work as an illustrator. We then branched out (no apologies for the pun) into teaching workshops together, passing on skills, wisdom and ideas gleaned from the woods. In time, more and more strands of our lives became intertwined and entangled with the woods, like the ever ramifying, seeking threads of mycelium, and Miscellaneous Adventures finally absorbed all the things we do. Over time, we have been craftspeople, outdoor instructors, writers, photographers, designers, brand ambassadors, artists, woodland managers, public speakers, estate workers, foragers, grounds keepers, and conservationists. Although many and varied, each of these individual strands is connected by our reverence for Nature and our desire to make work an adventure rather than a chore.

A Woodland Woodcarving Workshop 

We are certainly miscellaneous by name and miscellaneous by nature. But what about that name? It stems from the idea that even small adventures can be just as impactful as big ones. After all, what makes something adventurous is relative to the individual; a walk in the woods might be a common activity for many, but for someone venturing into the woods for the first time it can be a revelatory, boundary pushing experience.

The start of our first ever long distance hike in Sweden

On our first long distance hike in Sweden, we loved the aesthetic of the embroidered patches our fellow hikers had accumulated over the years, stitched onto ageing rucksacks and jackets, each one marking the memory of a national park, or trail or adventure of some kind. When we came back, full of ideas and inspiration, I liked the idea of having a patch that recognised the many small adventures we have as well as big ones. I set about drawing one up, featuring the words “Miscellaneous Adventures”. Given the benefit of hindsight, perhaps I should have picked something shorter and easier to spell…

The original Miscellaneous Adventures patch

After 11 glorious, transformative, at times challenging years of living in the woods, we moved to the Lake District in January 2022. It was hard leaving that place behind; we had become so entangled with the woods, so connected to our wild neighbours, the birds, beasts, trees and plants, that walking away was an act of severance. Yet, here we are and we couldn't be happier with how things have worked out. For a long time whilst living in the woods, we craved more frequent adventures in the mountains, to be somewhere with more space to roam free. Nearly two years on, we have definitely found what we were seeking, with the addition of some unexpected extras.

Breakfast by our favourite river spot

Now we find ourselves weaving the many strands of the things we do into this new landscape. We are at peace with living a simple life and strive not for material wealth but one with time to spend in Nature and try to schedule our workload accordingly. I’m lucky enough to spend many of my days working in the woods, sometimes on my own and sometimes as a member of The Coppice Co-op. This woodland work is multi-faceted, but it all seeks to improve the resilience and biodiversity of our woodlands. I’m also a photographer, taking photos for craftspeople and other interesting folks and also for our own social media feeds which occasionally generate a bit of income in the form of influencing - which you should know we are extremely selective about. Our workshops are currently on hold, but I think teaching will be something we get back into soon enough. Emma splits her time between working on Miscellaneous Adventures stuff; often taking photos too; making fabric items; helping me out in the woods; sorting out our various admin tasks; foraging; and making medicines from plants. She also works part time for The Landworkers’ Alliance, who if you don’t know are a union of farmers, growers, foresters and land-based workers. We are both naturalists, with a particular focus on trees and plants and we love nothing more than to be out in wild places together finding out new things about Nature by simply looking and seeing.

It’s funny how we tend to define ourselves by the work that we do isn’t it? In our case we have chosen to make a living doing the things we love, so it’s hard to separate our life from our work, but I’d still prefer it perhaps if instead of asking, “what do you do?” we should be asking “how do you live?”.

Well, that about sums us up, or at least the bits relevant to this publication and the things we do now. It’s been a good opportunity to think back over our journey; we are often so caught up in solving day to day challenges that we forget to remind ourselves how far we’ve come and to be proud of who we are, which is no doubt the same for many of us…

Anyway, we hope this post helps to paint a picture of who we are and what we do. If you have any questions or comments, or want to share your own story with us, then please just let us know!