THINGS TO PLAN AND DO
A DAY OUT: Take a tour of a graveyard
Spooky it may be, but there’s something restful about a wander among tombstones, and there are fascinating things to see, too. Throughout January you can go on an interactive tour of Settle Graveyard in the Yorkshire Dales (see visitsettle.co.uk/graveyardtours for dates) and hear all about its quiet (and occasionally unquiet) residents.
If you can’t get to Settle, there are graveyards with stories to tell everywhere, from Bunhill
Fields in London, known as the choice of resting place for non-conformists, to Eyam in the Peak District, the plague village where inhabitants infamously carved their own tombstones before succumbing to the plague. And even your local graveyard will have stories to tell. Try asking in the church if there’s a map or any other information available, and take a camera with you to photograph any ‘stones with stories’ you happen across.
This is interesting A podcast to please: NOTHING MUCH HAPPENS
We love a bedtime story, but these stories are designed to help you sleep. With relaxing content about everyday things such as baking bread, they’ll soon relax you into a restful snooze.
A new hobby to learn: PYROGRAPHY
There’s something satisfying about burning designs into wood with a pyrography pen. You can buy kits in John Lewis, Hobbycraft and on Etsy, or just pick up a pen and create your own projects. Great for labels and gifts, such as personalising wooden spoons, chopping boards and furniture.
Book group
Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May (Rider)
This non-fiction meditation on the many meanings of ‘wintering’ is a comforting read in the depths of January, which looks at how winter periods are a normal part of life and how we should embrace them. Questions to consider: What does ‘wintering’ mean to you? Have you experienced ‘winters’ in your life?
Further reading: Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom (Sphere) explores the wisdom he learned from an old man in the winter of his life.