Our 2018 Christmas was a bit of an experiment. We’d seen the family earlier in December and rather than rush around over Christmas we all decided to stay put.

We moved to Thirsk five months ago, as my roots are in Washington, near Newcastle, and we’d wanted to move up north for ages so in a gap between grand-children we made a run for it.

From Thirsk there is an excellent train service to London, as long as you book well in advance unless you’re a millionaire, so it’s perfect. But what of Thirsk itself? Familiar to many through James Herriot’s books and the TV series All Creatures Great and Small, The Yorkshire Vet, not to forget The Heist, Thirsk is a wonderfully friendly, quirky and interesting market town, and set within glorious countryside.

But back to Christmas. So, here we were, in Thirsk for Christmas – where to eat? I had met a visitor from London walking her dog a few months previously who was up from London, and staying  at The Golden Fleece and enjoying it. A hotel that welcomes dogs? It shouts, welcome, don’t you think. So, we decided to take a punt and choose it for Christmas lunch.

Dating from the 1500s with some of the original features still in place including an inglenook fireplace, The Golden Fleece is believed to have its origins as a private house. However, it was in 1810 that George and Mary Blythe started the hard work that established it as one of the north’s most iconic coaching inns.

Set on the market place and ideally placed for the coach services running along the Great North Road it accepted guests disembarking the coaches at all hours of the day and night, with stabling for 60 horses. The railway arrived in Thirsk in 1841 but The Golden Fleece, nothing daunted, still held sway under the control of William Hall, George Blythe’s great nephew. William extended the clientale to include the townsfolk, and tourists visiting the area.

Still keeping The Golden Fleece in the family, William Hall’s son, William Wellbank Hall had the PR sense to provide a grand luncheon in 1911 for a mix of Europe’s great and good who were competing in a stage of one of the world’s car rallies. Royalty in the guise of Prince Henry of Prussia, and literary royalty – Arthur Conan Doyle – pitched up, amongst others. It wasn’t until the closing stages of the 1st World War in 1918 that The Golden Fleece was sold out of the family.

Just as The Golden Fleece had attracted the coaches in former times, the PR coup of the luncheon of 1911 continued to draw early motorists to The Golden Fleece even under new ownership, though by now the stables were converted to garages, two of them with pits for mechanics to do running repairs on their cars.

In 2015 the hotel was acquired by The Coaching Inn Group, and has undergone a major refurbishment to meet the needs of today’s market while respecting and retaining many features of its fascinating heritage.

So this is The Golden Fleece – but let’s get the lowdown on our Christmas lunch.

We booked well in advance, since our stomachs are of supreme importance to us, and we chose our meal ahead of time. There were two sittings, and we chose the first at 12.30.

I did worry slightly that the ambience would be rather stiff and posh, and Dick kept running round his finger round his collar because he is an anti-tie man these days. Our friend and neighbour, Catherine, made up our party of three, and requires gluten free which sometimes catering finds a pain at these busy times; what’s more, they let that pain be known. So, all in all,  it was with slight trepidation we set off

So was it posh and were they grumpy? Emphatically not. It was huge fun, with a Christmassy décor, and the most amazing crackers on the table,  so elegant were they it seemed a sin to pull them, but pull them we did. For how could we not wear paper hats? The manager circulated, totally accessible and chatty, the staff were efficient, and great fun, Dick relaxed, Catherine enjoyed her gluten-free food, I sipped my wine, gobbled my food, and looked around and saw that everyone was chatting, and laughing, and having the greatest time. What’s more the ages ranged from children to oldies like me – oh no, never you, I hear you shout – and all were having a really good time.

And as a plus we live near enough to walk home, so could have that extra glass of fizz. We had coffee in the lounge looking out over the square and did rather envy those who were staying the night. From all accounts they were loving every minute.

I do like to pick out something that didn’t work, to show I’m not easily impressed, but I can’t. We all loved it, so much so that Catherine is having her birthday lunch there very soon.

ps Look out for the duty manager, Gabriel. She’s great.

The Golden Fleece Hotel, Eatery and Coffee House, Market Place, Thirsk, North Yorkshire YO7 1LL Phone@ 01845 523108. goldenfleece@innmail.co.uk

Reservations: 01845 438300    reservations@innmail.co.uk

www.goldenfleece.com

Dogs are welcomed but only in certain bedrooms. They are not allowed in the restaurant but are in the lounge etc.

Milly Adams is a bestselling Arrow, Random House, author.

Listening to the Animals – becoming the supervet.

Being asked to review Listening to the Animals was a no brainer. I LOVE this bloke. The very thought of him makes me smile, and this memoir by the fantastic Noel Fitzpatrick is imbued with the man we see on the TV. Whimsical, fast talking, full of memories, full of love and strangely full also of self-doubt.

I had the impression this was written as he darted here and there in Fitzpatrick Referrals dodging from one operation to another, and stopping, breathless, to write the next few pages. it is written with immediacy, and honesty. We travel with him from his beloved parents’ farm to school where bullying of this ‘culchie’, a lad from the bogs,  was unremitting.  Noel Fitzpatrick decided early on, though, that he had a choice – to make the most of this education in order to achieve his dream of working with animals in spite of the agony of his day to day existence, or to accept the general opinion that the culchie would come to nothing.

So on he struggled, and no wonder self-doubt became a dominant emotion, in the face of this behaviour. Nonetheless, at this school he received a good education, one which allowed him to strive towards his dream, a dream sustained by his  dog Pirate who was his comfort during his lonely struggle, and of course, his family unaware though they were of the bullying.

Fitzpatrick’s writing is lyrical, raw, humorous, heartbreaking and inspiring. I couldn’t put it down, and hardened book reviewer and author though I am, I cried, and I cheered, I was awestruck.

Is there anything this amazing man can’t achieve?

As the founder of a charity for ill and injured veterans Words for the Wounded I long for this orthopaedic excellence – a prosthetic limb fused directly into the bone of an amputated limb – to reach our veterans as a matter of course. Indeed, I noted in the Bucksfreepress.co.uk recently that  a young man found just this treatment in Australia. Please may it soon reach here, and if Noel Fitzpatrick has anything to do with it, it will. God bless the man.

Becoming The Supervet by Noel Fitzpatrick. pub Trapeze hb £20 ebook and audiobook available.

Read it, love it.

At Frost we’re hopelessly obsessed gardeners, though none of us aspire to an English Country House Garden. We do however most certainly visit, examine, envy and love them.

We love this book too. It is one for the coffee table, but not just for appearances’ sake, it is for dipping into, losing yourself in, finding inspiration, finding calm.

Stroll amongst the images of high yew hedges, the topiary, and traditional planting with oodles of old English roses, the white gardens, the herb gardens… Yes, somehow quintessentially English this book digs deeper and introduces us to the owners, and the stories behind the making of the 25 gardens; the struggles, the obsessions. We learn about the ins and outs of the grand, the personal, the discreet, the private. Its like peeking from the top of a bus into other people’s worlds. The photography covers the gardens throughout the seasons, and somehow captures the nature of the owners as it is reflected in the gardens. I now have a long, long list of places I have to visit this year.

This book is a treat. Keep it with you. Admire its text and images, and visit, visit and cherish the sheer existence of these glorious gardens.

My one disappointment is that Heligan is not included, but then we have followed its rebirth from its early days, so perhaps we don’t need to know more, but maybe in a later issue.

The English Country House Garden by George Plumptre. Photographs by Marcus Harpur pub White Lion Publishing. hb £18.99

Company Directors: Jeremy Thompson & Jane Rowland

Frost Magazine has a soft spot for Matador as it is enormously helpful to one of Frost’s favourite charities, Words for the Wounded and its Georgina Hawtrey-Woore Independent Author Award, and through WforW we know some of its authors’ books, and fine looking and produced beasts they are too.

It was great news, therefore to hear that:  Matador has pipped Amazon into second place as the best self-publishing service provider in the self-publishing sector of The Independent Publishing Magazine’s Publisher Index.

Matador has been ranked as the best self-publishing service provider, knocking Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) off the top spot for the first time, and being rated ahead of big names like IngramSpark, Kobo and Smashwords by The Independent Publishing Magazine (see: www.theindependentpublishingmagazine.com/2018/11/publishing-service-index-november-2018-with-notes.html).

With over 25 years in the industry, Matador, part of Troubador Publishing Ltd, offers authors a range of self-publishing services, from editorial and production, marketing and distribution to ebooks and audiobooks. As the UK’s most widely recommended self-publishing services provider, Matador has moved up to the top spot in the Independent Publishing Magazine’s Publisher Index, which rates self-publishing companies on measures such as customer feedback, the quality of books published, the range of services and the quality of customer service.

The Independent Publishing Magazine produces a ‘Publisher Service Index’ twice a year, in which it independently ranks over 80 self-publishing companies worldwide. Matador have consistently been in the top three of the rankings for five years, alongside the industry ‘big boys’, but in November last year they took the coveted top spot for the first time.

‘We offer a bespoke and high-quality self-publishing service, with a wide range of options for authors, with a team of 24 committed professional staff and a strong emphasis on customer service, quality and producing books that are indistinguishable from those published by mainstream publishers. We are delighted that we have been recognised as the top choice for self-publishing authors serious about their writing and publishing projects. We’ve been helping authors for over 25 years and the publishing landscape has changed significantly since then, so we are thrilled to be at the forefront of helping authors produce and sell quality books. We’ve always been one of the most highly recommended companies, but now it’s wonderful to be recognised as such by an independent industry source too.’ comments Jeremy Thompson, Matador’s Managing Director

Matador publishes over 600 new titles a year for self-publishing authors, but also offers bookshop distribution and trade and media marketing to its authors. The company is selective in what it takes on for self-publishing, preferring to concentrate on quality rather than quantity. Matador is part of Leicestershire based Troubador Publishing, an independent UK publisher offering a range of publishing options to authors. They also organise a range of events for authors, including the annual Self-Publishing Conference (April 27th 2019)

For more information: matador@troubador.co.uk

Ovalhouse, 52-54 Kennington Oval, London SE11 5SW Wednesday 30th January – Saturday 6th April 2019

Random Selfies (Image courtesy of The Other Richard)

2019 is a significant year for Ovalhouse as it marks their final year programming theatre in their current home, before an exciting nine months, staging performances in unusual locations, prior to moving into their new space in Brixton. Ovalhouse’s Spring Season 2019 presents two full length shows and five FiRST BiTES as their theme of care and, most importantly, survival is further explored to strengthen the theatre’s important principles of nurturing emerging artists.

Kicking off the season with Rhiannon Faith’s Smack That (a conversation), Ovalhouse will transform the theatre into a giant house party, complete with cider and popcorn.  But, this is no ordinary party.  The powerful production is a very raw and honest account of domestic abuse, performed by a mixed cast of professional dancers and domestic abuse survivors.  As part of this production, Ovalhouse will become a J9 venue, supporting women in our community who experience domestic abuse; this unusual setting creates a safe space for them to share the challenges they have faced and celebrate their endurance with the audience.

Following its premiere earlier this year and Off-West End nomination for Best Production for Young People, the incredible digitally-animated Random Selfies by Olivier Award-winning playwright Mike Kenny will return for a three-week run.  Directed by Owen Calvert-Lyons, Ovalhouse’s Head of Theatre & Artist Development, this play explores child loneliness while bringing to life the vivid imagination of ten-year-old Loretta; a lonely girl in a busy world.

As ever, Ovalhouse’s FiRST BiTE programme is packed full of bright ideas and powerful personal stories.  Richard Stamp tells the story of his tumultuous six-months of diagnosis to amputation in Dick.  Coco Mbassi teaches us the power of music in Haendel on the Estate, while Sherine Chalhie stages her semi-autobiographical tale Hijabi Matters.

Additionally, Ovalhouse welcome back Pecho Mama with a work-in-progress showing of their new show Divine Intervention – an electrifying gig-theatre production telling the story of two broken people and their search for salvation.  And, Koko Brown will work together with Ovalhouse’s new Associate Artist Joana Nastari to create Amazonian Sweat Lodge, exploring the consumerism and faux spiritualism in a new collaboration with CASA.

Owen Calvert-Lyons, Ovalhouse’s Head of Theatre & Artist Development, comments, We are delighted to be bringing Rhiannon Faith’s Smack That to Ovalhouse this spring.  This is a really important production exploring the impact of domestic abuse against people.  The show celebrates what it means to survive.  As part of this process, we are training all our staff in order for Ovalhouse to become a J9 venue; supporting people in our community who experience domestic abuse.  Mike Kenny’s Random Selfies makes a welcome return after the success of its run last year which saw the show nominated for Best Production for Young People. We are also announcing our brilliant new Associate Artists: Joana Nastari, Xana and The Thelmas.  These three artists will work with us over the next two years, beginning with Jo Nastari’s latest production Amazonian Sweat Lodge which questions society’s fascination with consumerism and faux spirituality.  These are all extraordinary artists and I can’t wait to introduce our audiences to their work.

Tickets are available priced £15 | £10 concessions   Preview tickets are £9 Random Selfies tickets are £10 adult |£7 under 16s Discount family packages|£28 (2 adults, 2 children)  FiRST BiTES tickets|£5 in advance |£8 on the door Available from Ovalhouse Box Office and

More details of the programme from: www.ovalhouse.com, 020 7582 7680.

Twitter @Ovalhouse

www.facebook.com/Ovalhouse

Lots to look forward to:

Rotterdam – Donnacadh O’Briain’s Olivier award-winning production

The fastest growing arts festival in the UK, VAULT Festival returns to Waterloo (23 Jan – 17 Mar) with its biggest and boldest programme yet with the best in new writing for theatre and comedy, immersive experiences, cabaret, live performance and late night parties.

Making her West End debut, Star Trek: The Next Generation star Marina Sirtis will take the lead in the world premiere of Dark Sublime, the love-letter to British sci-fi television for both those that make it and those that adore it. (25 June – 3 Aug, Trafalgar Studios)

Tackling the migrant experience and performed by a mixed ensemble, including those who have recently sought refuge in the UK, Welcome to the UK has its world premiere at The Bunker. (22 Jan – 16 Feb)

The first time Soho Theatre have programmed circus, No Show joyously and heartbreakingly deconstructs superhuman circus performers and reveals what lies hidden beneath the showmanship. (22 Jan – 9 Feb)

In 2019, Waltham Forest will be the first ever London Borough of Culture and to mark this, audio visual artists Greenaway & Greenaway, in a unique collaboration with award-winning musician Talvin Singh, have created a spectacular projection for the Town Hall as part of the opening event, Welcome To The Forest. (9 – 13 Jan)

Across the UK:

Following critically acclaimed runs in London and a highly successful transfer to New York, Donnacadh O’Briain’s Olivier award-winning production of Rotterdam, which explores transitioning and sexuality, will now embark on an extensive UK tour (Apr – June 2019).

Following its acclaimed premiere in spring 2017, good dog by Arinzé Kene (Netflix’s Crazyhead; BBC’s EastEnders; Channel 4’s Youngers; Girl From the North Country, West End; Misty, Bush Theatre and West End) embarks on a national tour (Jan – Mar 2019).

A punchy and poetic exploration of family, race, identity and love from Manchester-based dual heritage writer David Judge, SparkPlug is the story of a white man who becomes the adoptive father, mother and best friend of a mixed-race child. (Feb – Apr 2019)

With their first foray into new writing, Chippy Lane Productions present the world premiere of BLUE – the debut play of young Welsh writer Rhys Warrington which shines a light on the current state of innumerable families across Wales as vital medical and NHS services are cut. (5 – 16 Feb, Chapter, Cardiff)

The title says it all.  How does a talented, intelligent young man grow up, pursue a career and find a life partner, with cancer sitting on his shoulder?

A fifteen year old shouldn’t get cancer at all – but Mark did – a malignant melanoma. Treatment at the time was to remove the tumour and cross your fingers. Because there was little else available, and a high chance the cancer would return.

55% five year survival; 50% ten year survival – these were the stark figures Mark heard during a medical lecture on melanoma, four years later. Yes, Mark was studying medicine – partly to help others but also to give himself the best chance. In which 50% would he fall? Would he even get to qualify as a doctor?

He did – but a severe stomach pain shattered the reprieve and on his 27^th birthday he learned that his cancer was back.

There was some hope though. Research had made massive leaps, and a new treatment could specifically target an abnormal protein found in 50% of melanomas. Would he be in the right 50% this time? He was, and started Dabrafenib. The tumours shrank, but didn’t disappear.

Importantly Mark felt better and grabbed the opportunity to live – really live.  He wrote a bucket list, ticking off every country in Europe with his twin brother, and arranged a big party in Malta. He raised money for Cancer Research UK. Within a few days he’d raised £20,000. (Today his fund is well over £200,000).

He wrote a blog. Through writing and fund-raising he raised awareness of melanoma and received numerous awards, and he gave many talks. At one of these Mark experienced another major life-event – LOVE. Georgie, a pretty medical student didn’t shy away from Mark’s frightening diagnosis. They were drawn together immediately and supported each other throughout, even training for a half marathon – an incredible achievement for someone with melanoma.

Mark gives a perceptive insight into being a patient and a doctor. He quickly learned that a consultant audience probably meant bad news; and he could spot ‘Palliative Care Team’ on a name badge from a distance.

His bravery throughout is humbling. We read how he dealt with hope, later to be dashed; unbelievable medical traumas – sepsis, stroke, excruciating headaches and stomach pain; the horror of finding his brain was full of tumours; his fight to get back to medical work and normality; his eventual acceptance of his fate.

Incredibly during all this, he wrote his book, which he almost finished – his mother, a publisher and poet, wrote the final chapter.

It is a journey of love, bravery, medical explanations and patient experience. I can highly recommend it.

Available at Poetryspace and on Amazon. Proceeds go to Cancer Research UK.

Splitting Sunlight, a collection of poems by his mother, Susan Sims, about Mark’s cancer from her viewpoint, will be published by Dempsey & Windle in January 2019.

By Dr K Thompson, author of From Both Ends of the Stethoscope: Getting through breast cancer – by a doctor who knows

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01A7DM42Q http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A7DM42Q

http://faitobooks.co,uk

For me, the best thing about January is it is too cold and wet for me to feel I should be getting outdoors and I am able to indulge myself with a comfy armchair, a cosy blanket and a pile crime novels. Here are three great new reads for the post Christmas season.

Half Way by B.E. Jones

This starts out as a story of strangers being trapped by a snowstorm in an isolated building just before Christmas. They soon realise that there is more going on than they first thought, especially when student Lee makes a discovery in the cellar. The local PC Lissa Lloyd is struggling to make a name for herself at the police station and jumps at the chance to investigate a missing person and heads out into the snow.

So far it seems like a classic plot but then the story becomes an intriguing and claustrophobic tale of twists and turns right up to the end, where nobody is quite who you think they are. I was completely caught by surprise by the final chapter. Each chapter changes which character we are focusing on to keep us readers on our toes and gives the book great pace as well as being unsettling, in a good way.

The author is a former police press officer and crime reporter bringing her ‘true crime’ knowledge to this murky world of the psychological thriller. I do hope the policewoman is not based on anyone she knows…

Little Brown pb £8.99

Under The Ice by Rachael Blok

Jenny is an exhausted young woman struggling to cope with the demands of new motherhood, let alone coping with family demands in the run up to Christmas. Then a child is murdered and Jenny starts having visions of the night of the murder.

Her sleepwalking in the crime scene leads to involvement in the investigation and the police are getting suspicious, but could a secret from her past hold the key to the solution?

A suspenseful, gripping drama that pulls you right into the confusion in Jenny’s head, which then contrasts with the clear headed lead investigator. I felt the author really captured both the domestic upheaval a new baby can bring and the fascination of good police procedure. This was a thoroughly enjoyable debut novel and I look forward to the author’s next book. – Great jacket, too.

Head of Zeus Hb £18.99

The Body In The Boat by A.J. Mackenzie

The year is 1796 and Romney Marsh is awash with smugglers. But some of the cargo is unusual. And a few days after a birthday party, why is the body of a respectable banker found afloat, having been shot dead?

The local clergyman Reverend Hardcastle, as acting Justice of the Peace, and his widowed friend Mrs Chaytor are drawn into a twisting mystery of high finance and organised crime with international implications.

This is the third outing for the engaging amateur detectives, written by an Anglo-Canadian husband and wife team of writers and historians. As well as the main characters being just charming enough, the minor characters are also nicely draw. The historical details are laid in without too much of a heavy hand, setting the scene nicely for this pacy and enjoyable adventure. Perfect to be devoured in one setting on a wet afternoon. Maybe with a tot of rum for authenticity.

Bonnier Zaffre pb £7.99

All I need now is someone to keep me topped up with hot chocolate and leftover Christmas cake.