Minimus at Hexham Book Festival and Hands-on-Latin new website

Image - Copyright David Taylor

salve(te)! hello!

The Barbara Bell talk at the Hexham Book Festival went tremendously well - as did the tour of Vindolanda site and museum in the afternoon following the talk. Barbara got practically everyone in the audience involved. Even F, a reluctant actor, became a phenomenal Whiskers 'Vibrissa' cat. There was a super Minimus mouse and an excellent version of Lepidina. It was really good fun and everyone enjoyed everyone's performance.

Barbara also visited local first schools Greenhead, Henshaw and Herdley Bank the day before her talk. We were all involved in rousing renditions of Senex (Old) Macdonald throughout the day. The children loved the singing - even in rounds! The children all got excited learning about Minimus - the Latin Mouse...what he and his family at Vindolanda get up to...

There had been a big lead-up to the festival and I hadn't quite realised what goes on behind the scenes. Our thanks go particularly to the organisers of Hexham Book Festival (Susie and Gil), all at The Vindolanda Trust and Headteacher and Staff at the three schools. All the friendliness and superb organisation made everything go smoothly. gratias maximas vobis agimus! We thank you very much!

The reason for the absence from my blog is that I've also been working very hard on getting my new business 'Hands-on-Latin' up and running. The website is ready too (I will keep adding to it and tweaking it in various places). Maybe you'd like to take a look?: www.hands-on-latin.com
Your thoughts and feedback would be most welcome.

I'd like to offer a huge, huge thanks to local husband and wife team - David and Tania Taylor - for helping me with the website. I'd never have managed it without them. David's a wonderful photographer (whose images I often use), excellent with technology and Tania is superb with words. They make a great team.

I got to know David first through his amazing photos and then his wife, Tania, (almost by accident as she uses a pseudonym for her wonderful writing) on Twitter (I tweet as @hadrianasblog and @handsonlatin) and hey presto! a working relationship was created with the pair of them. They've formed a business to help other businesses get started. You can check them out via Twitter @WordsPhotos and their new website www.wordsphotos.co.uk David's photographic work can be found here: www.davidtaylorphotography.co.uk

A thank you too to Alison Raimes at WhistleArtStop based in Haltwhistle. She's a mover and shaker doing a lot for Art in Haltwhistle and the Tynedale area as a whole. Alison was the one who helped me a while ago and kickstarted me in starting to set things up. Anne Lawson - my business adviser - has been a massive source of strength, wisdom and recuperative cups of coffee as well.

Hey! This is turning into an 'Oscar' speech but....it all goes to show....how many people are there in the background...willing others on.

And what's the Latin motto for my inspiration? 'Carpe diem' - Sieze the day! which maybe a little overused but it encapsulates everything I believe in. Just get on with it!!!

vale(te)! for now and toodlepip! Hadriana/Catherine :-)

Time to blow our own trumpets!

The photo is of our B&B (Four Wynds - the website is on the sidebar on the right) with Santa climbing up it!

I've just put together the comments we have received from the guests who stayed with us at our little B&B in 2007 and 2009. (The B&B was not open for business in 2008.) They should be ready to go "live" on our website very soon. There is a man wot does the website for us and we need to give him lots of copy to make up the missing pages. It is definitely a work in progress and we need to fiddle with it further to get it absolutely right.

I just thought that I could use this opportunity to blow our own trumpets and give you a flavour of what our guests think of us (more importantly - Mr.H. as he is the "main man"). So here goes:

I really enjoyed hearing about Hadrian’s Wall story from Nigel.

Thank you for this lovely stay! After the drama of this day’s walk reaching Four Wynds was like a sort of safe haven! I especially appreciated the sandwich and the laundry – it feels so much better to set out clean today. Thanks a lot!

Thank you for a very comfortable stay. A pleasant, clean and tidy B&B, with a most welcome feel. Thank you, Nigel, for making us feel at home and also taking and collecting us from the local pub/restaurant.

Thanks for making us feel so welcome last night and for the hearty and delicious breakfast this morning. Your location is very convenient for the Pennine Way and therefore fine for those of us with wet feet!

Thanks so much for your warm welcome and kindness, particularly driving us to The Wallace Arms (wonderful old pub with great food) and on a miserable, wet morning coming to our rescue with transport to Carlisle. Much appreciated. Yummy breakfast! We will let other walkers know Four Wynds is a great place to stay.

A rare example of the website being true – real welcome, terrific breakfast (esp. toast from homemade bread and perfect poached eggs – that’s not to mention delicious sausages and bacon) – and some really thoughtful help to make the most of our time here – thanks very much, Nigel.

Lovely week here. Excellent accommodation, delicious breakfast. Nigel, you are a mine of information about the local area plus Northumberland and Cumbria in general. Thank you so much. We shall not hesitate to recommend Four Wynds to anyone we know who is visiting this delightful part of the UK.

Nigel, you truly made our visit extra special. The food, the conversations, the advice, the afternoon treats and so much more – those are the things that money cannot buy. We cannot thank you enough.

Thank you for your wonderful hospitality. We have been spoilt rotten and some of us are considering moving in! Excellent food, great local knowledge and advice and even a taxi service. Nigel, you are a legend. Thank you for everything.

We’ve had a wonderful stay here! Thank you very much for all the guiding and interesting stories! And having our own private chauffeur was far more than we could have dreamed of with our heavy backpacks! Your organic food was delicious! You’ve made our stay complete! Thanks a lot!

Delicious breakfast heerlyhe yoghurt, geweldige jams, the best so far. Nigel, thank you so much for your hospitable welcome, stories of the past and present. Good luck! from

Very nice stay and cracking breakfast. Thank you.

We have guests from all over the UK and so far we've had guests from USA, Mexico, Hawaii, Italy, France, Holland, Spain, Germany, Austria, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand and many more. We've had archaeologists staying (working at Birdoswald - English Heritage), diggers working at Vindolanda during the summers and people from all walks of life.

We so much enjoy what we are doing and we are very much looking forward to the new 2010 season. It's all kicking off with the "Illumination of the Wall" on Saturday March 13th. Hopefully more on this very shortly.....