The Journal | Stories of British craft

23 July 2026Rosie Thompson

I couldn't let these crafts disappear

I once drove 400 miles for a basket. Not just any basket. It was made by Simon, one of the few people left who still works his particular tradition of basketry, the kind of skill that lives in a person's hands and takes years to learn. I filmed the trip, put it online, and a surprising number of people watched a woman explain why a single basket was worth 4 trains and 9 hours of travel. That trip is really where The Haud started.

4 July 2026Rosie Thompson

The Haud Almanack: July Events

If June is thin for old customs, July more than makes up for it. The whole country seems to come outdoors at once: rushes carried into churches, a parliament held on a hillside, a sheep roasted at the edge of a cricket pitch. I have picked three.

11 June 2026Rosie Thompson

The Haud Almanack: June Events

June is supposed to be a quiet month for old customs. The May lot have packed away their hobby horses, and the harvest ones are still weeks off. And yet there are three things happening this month that I would happily cross the country for, all of them kept alive by people who decided a tradition was worth the trouble.

23 July 2026Rosie Thompson