Where in the UK have you not been that you dream of visiting?
For me it’s the Cairngorms, well that’s one of the places because let’s face it we have a wealth of incredible landscapes, coast line, nature reserves and national parks here. I have visited many places across the British Isles but I know there are miles of footpaths, magic woodland and mountain adventures left for me to discover.
BACK TO THE CAIRNGORMS
I’d like to imagine that it feels like you really are in the wilderness and you might just step over a ridge and come eye to eye with a wolf, more likely a deer in reality but I can dream and maybe one day there will be wolves again. I have pangs of jealousy every time I see one of those highly polished shots of Scottish landscapes, I must stop following #cairngorms on Instagram and actually see it for myself.
Cairngorm facts
It is the largest national park in the UK, holds 9 nature reserves, 19 areas of conservation and 46 Sites of Special Scientific Interest, four of the five highest mountains in the UK and over 50% of the park is considered ‘wild land’ - I’m not sure what that means technically but it all sounds massively appealing to me. Get me on the next train!
the Cairngorms, North yorkshire and Snowdonia national parks
A year or so ago I designed a little collection of postcards inspired by some of our National Parks, below is the one I designed for the Cairngorms with eagles soaring over a high wild landscape and remote loch. It sits alongside a North Yorkshire lapwing and a Snowdonia landscape with ravens cronking high up above Snowdon.
These make nice postcards to send to friends and family but also mini artworks in themselves, you could frame them all together for just £6!! Each postcard has the name hand-written on the front in pencil.
Nan Shepherd and the Cairngorms
Some of you may be familiar with the book ‘The Living Mountain’ by Nan Shepherd, it is one woman’s account of her close connection to the Cairngorms and contains beautiful descriptions of this wild landscape. Whilst designing this little postcard I thought I’d go back and re-read some of her book. I came across this paragraph in which the description seemed such a lovely fit with the colours in the map….
“October is the coloured month here, far more brilliant than June, blazing more sharply than August. From the gold of the birches and bracken on the low slopes, the colour spurts upwards through all the creeping and inconspicuous growths that live among the heather roots—mosses that are lush green, or oak-brown, or scarlet, and the berried plants, blaeberry, cranberry, crowberry and the rest.”