Two adventurous women with a love for the outdoors are the final guests at the Bowness Book Club this year.
The club meets at the Burn How Garden House Hotel, and unlike others there’s no requirement to join or read a particular book each month. Instead, visitors are treated to talks from a wide range of authors, and ask them questions about their life and work.
On November 15 the guest will be paddleboarder Jo Moseley. Jo is a bestselling author, podcaster and award-winning short-film maker from North Yorkshire. In 2019 she became the first woman to stand-up-paddleboard coast to coast from Liverpool to Goole, fundraising and picking up litter. A film about her adventure called Brave Enough – A Journey Home to Joy has been screened at prestigious adventure film festivals including Keswick Film Festival and Kendal Mountain Film Festival.
In 2022 her first book Stand Up Paddleboarding in Great Britain – Beautiful Places to Paddleboard in England, Scotland and Wales was published by Vertebrate Publishing to an incredibly warm welcome. It was nominated for the William Hill Sports Book Awards and shortlisted for The Great Outdoors Magazine Book of the Year.
A single mother of two grown up sons and now in her late 50s, Jo recognises how short and precious life is and how it’s important we give ourselves the opportunity to find joy, community and purpose in the outdoors and our work. She believes you’re never too old and it’s not too late to have an adventure – including writing a book.
“Jo spent the spring and summer of 2023 researching her second book, this time about beautiful places to paddleboard in the Lake District. She is a member of the Lakes Adventure Writing Group and is very much looking forward to spending the evening with us,” said organiser Vicky Robinson.
On Weds Dec 6 the guest will be artist and writer Liz Wakelin whose acclaimed Sketching a Year in Lakeland has just been published by Inspired by Lakeland. The book is an exquisite diary in handwritten words and glorious watercolour sketches revealing everyday life in the towns and villages, on the hills, and beside the water in this loveliest of national parks.
It’s a personal journal that Liz – mountaineer, cyclist, runner, adventurer and immensely talented artist – is very happy to share. The book tells the tale of her life during those 12 months: her walks around the fells, the cycle rides with husband Barry, visits to the local bookshop and ironmonger and, above all, tea and cakes in many pictorially perfect cafes.
It’s a book that people will fall in love with, for the delicacy of the colours, the detail of leaf and petal, the humour on the faces of people walking and sitting and chatting. There are images of high mountains, of course, including a spectacular panorama of Fairfield and the Helvellyn range from Place Fell. But also among the sketches are jars of marmalade and honey on a stall at Keswick market, teapots and tea-cosies, stiles and gate-latches, sheep and lambs, and, above all, flowers. Wood anemone, primrose, celandine and – of course – oceans of daffodils.
The events start at 7pm, there’s no need to book, and no entry fee.
Further information: 015394 46226
