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Caught by the River

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Yellowing the Orchard

Caught by the River ·

2025/09/07

As English apple season arrives, Ysella Sims writes on the arts of picking, harmonious growing, and eating. You might not think so, but there’s an art to picking an apple. Half a century ago my Grandmother taught it to me; first you must gently lift the weight of the fruit in your hand, then turn […]

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We Came By Sea

Caught by the River ·

2025/09/06

As the news becomes more strident and fearful, Horatio Clare’s ‘We Came By Sea’ tells migrants’ stories with humanity, writes Sue Brooks. In the winter of 2022, against the background of what is being described as a “migrant crisis”, Horatio Clare sets out on a three-year journey to see for himself what was happening on […]

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New in the shop

Caught by the River ·

2025/09/05

Just in time for Bandcamp Friday, we’ve added a handful of lovely new books to the shop from Ancient Magic Books in Cornwall — perhaps our favourite independent publishing house working in the UK at the moment. Brand new to the shop are copies of Ancestor Houses, documenting Hugo Winder-Lind’s construction of small chambers in […]

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Competition Results

Caught by the River ·

2025/09/04

Here are the results of our latest newsletter competition… Last week, we had three copies of Robert Winder’s Three Rivers: The Extraordinary Waterways That Made Europe to give away, courtesy of Elliott & Thompson. We asked: How many countries does the Rhine flow through? And the answer is: six. The winners are Martin Wells, Jon Booton […]

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Loomeweight

Caught by the River ·

2025/09/04

A year-long performance piece by Patricia Auchterlonie and Hestor Dart comprising the construction of an iron age-style warp-weighted loom, the weaving of foraged materials and the singing of wordless, improvised vocalisations, ‘Loomeweight’ is the detritus of our late-stage capitalist world woven into the long past, writes Jenny Vuglar. Photos: Geir Engene The weight of time, […]

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Back in stock

Caught by the River ·

2025/09/03

After a few months out of print, we’re very pleased to share that these two beautiful and popular titles from Black Lodge Press are BACK! A Radical Garden is a 16-page, A4, 2-colour riso zine by CJ Reay, collecting posters and thoughts on the radical act of gardening and growing. The zine looks at CJ’s […]

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England’s military heartland

Caught by the River ·

2025/09/02

Co-authored by Vron Ware, Antonia Dawes, Alice Cree and Mitra Pariyar and published by Manchester University Press, ‘England’s military heartland’ provides an eye-opening account of the sprawling military presence on Salisbury Plain. Read an extract from the book below. National heritage If you were planning to head across the Plain as a way to avoid the […]

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Unfurling: August

Caught by the River ·

2025/08/31

Medieval churches, pteridomania and custard creams: Pip Squire considers ferns’ lasting entanglement with the idea of beauty. Once you start looking, you notice ferns everywhere. I’m not just talking about physical, living ferns in the woods and walls, but also those utilised in the realms of art and design, where their sinuous forms have long […]

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Croft, Coast and Hill: Letters from the Northwest...

Caught by the River ·

2025/08/30

Annie Worsley and Kirsteen Bell’s latest croft-to-croft correspondence comes accompanied by grasshopper chitters, and the smell of crushed heather. Dear Kirsteen, How are you? Have your boys gone back to school? We have a final ‘batch’ of grandchildren with us until they start school in September – a much later return. I’ve been thinking about you, […]

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Return

Caught by the River ·

2025/08/29

Today marks the release of ‘Return’, a transportive new film which brings to life the RSPB and partners’ successful 50 year-long endeavour to bring the White-tailed Eagle back to our shores. The film blends spellbinding present-day footage of the birds thriving in their Scottish heartlands with archival gems, and features leading voices including RSPB Ambassadors […]

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Competition Results

Caught by the River ·

2025/08/28

Here are the results of our latest newsletter competition… Last week, we had 5 bundles of books from John Murray’s brand new John Murray Classics imprint to give away. We asked: Riffing on the David Attenborough book he has written the introduction for, what was the title of Dara McAnulty’s debut book, first published by Little Toller […]

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A Life Outside: Hope Bourne on Exmoor

Caught by the River ·

2025/08/28

Opening next month at the Somerset Rural Life Museum, A Life Outside offers a new appraisal of the work and life of the Exmoor writer and artist Hope Bourne. Late summer Autumn 89, Ferny Ball, The garden and the back of the caravan, looking towards the hill, 1989, colour photograph. Copyright The Exmoor Society This exhibition […]

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Dog Walk Report: June / July / August

Caught by the River ·

2025/08/25

Diva Harris reflects on a summer of big, ancient oaks and Little Owls. Ground cover: High grass full of lost possessions. Bracket fungus, pulped oak bough, fur and coughed-up bones. It began with a serendipitous encounter beneath the boughs of the park’s tallest, oldest tree several months ago, when there was still a chill in […]

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The Caught by the River Book of the Month: August

Caught by the River ·

2025/08/23

An extract from Jenn Ashworth’s ‘The Parallel Path: Love, Grit and Walking the North’, our August Book of the Month. ‘I’ve decided this is my mid-life crisis. Shirley Valentine in a North Face jacket,’ I said. My friend Clive was polite enough to laugh. But there was truth hiding in the joke I was trying […]

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Modernist Scotland

Caught by the River ·

2025/08/22

There are just 4 days left to support The Modernist Society’s Crowdfunder raising funds for the publication of Bruce Peter’s Modernist Scotland — a fully illustrated guide to 150 transformative post-war Scottish buildings. This comprehensive study documents the revolutionary architectural movement that transformed Scotland’s built environment in the decades following World War II. Through meticulous research […]

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Competition Results

Caught by the River ·

2025/08/21

Here are the results of our latest newsletter competition… Last week, we had three copies of Dan Richards’ Overnight: Journeys, Conversations and Stories After Dark to give away. We asked: What is the UK’s smallest species of owl? And the answer is: the Little Owl (Athene noctua). The winners are Lois Smith, Jamie Forman and Jill Brown. […]

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Now Playing

Caught by the River ·

2025/08/21

‘Cururu’ by Merlyn Driver. Drawn from a collaboration with Brazilian biologist Mariana Retuci Pontes and her recordings of amphibians in the Atlantic Forest, “The soundscape is a single unedited recording, capturing the remarkable calls of several different species” says Merlyn. “‘Cururu’ is the indigenous name for toads of the genus Rhinella, such as Rhinella icterica.” […]

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Wild Thyme and Honey: Walking in Prespa

Caught by the River ·

2025/08/20

Annemarie Lopez joins a gathering of walkers, artists, scholars, and ecologists in Northern Greece. It’s hot and my legs burn as I scramble down the steep rocky path to Cape Roti. I’m with a small group of fellow seekers, and we are looking for the evocatively named Metamorphosis hermitage, a sort of cave chapel that […]

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Lighthouses of the UK #23: The Sir John Barrow Monument

Caught by the River ·

2025/08/19

As his project documenting the UK’s lighthouses continues, Ben Langworthy reaches a lightless tower in Cumbria. This 100-foot-tall tower stands on Hoad Hill, just outside Ulverston in Cumbria, and offers spectacular views of the surrounding landscape to anyone willing to climb the 112 steps to the top. Completed in 1851, the monument was designed to […]

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Runner’s High

Caught by the River ·

2025/08/16

Out this Friday, ‘Runner’s High’ — Jesse Chandler’s second solo outing under the name Pneumatic Tubes — is a musical meditation on mystic landscapes and the spiritual power of running. Gareth Thompson reviews. Jesse Chandler was jogging beside the water in Istanbul. After about five miles he just kept going and going, it felt so […]

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517 results