Latest Posts

  • Stars, stillness and a Spring reset at Fforest Fields

    I write this to a chorus of wrens, chiff-chaffs and willow warblers, layered with the bleating of lambs and the low burble of a nearby stream. Not a car engine, police siren or news bulletin in earshot. I wish I could seal this soundtrack in a jar and uncork it on grey city mornings.  If…

    Continue Reading

  • Discovering a dream doggy destination at Bala’s Palé Hall

    I am increasingly convinced that humanity doesn’t deserve dogs. They ask for nothing except food, warmth, and belly rubs; in return, they demonstrate more intuition, love, and loyalty than most of the so-called superior species (I mean, have you read the news lately?). I grew up with Labradors – not in a Mowgli-from-the-Jungle-Book-meets-Andrex-advert sort of way; it’s…

    Continue Reading

  • A love letter to Nanny Hazel 

    This week, we said goodbye to my beloved Nanny Hazel—but not really. Glimmers of her remain everywhere. The only words I could write this week are about her. Because I believe we keep people alive by sharing their stories.  And what 93 years of life she lived. I picture her as a child darting barefoot through…

    Continue Reading

  • Could AI companions be the cure for festive loneliness?

    Christmas is hurtling towards us again; a time of peace, goodwill to (most) men, and all that jazz. Yet, for many, it’s a difficult time of year. For those missing someone special around the dinner table or spending Christmas alone, it can be a torturous holiday to endure and wish away.  While Christmas has a…

    Continue Reading

  • Joining a Joni cult in La-La Land 

    I’ve tried many times to write about what Joni Mitchell means to me, but I always fail miserably. I mean, lines have poured out of me. But none do my obsession justice. Even attempting to write about her generation’s finest poet and musician feels audacious. You see, there’s something mercurial about Joni. When she left…

    Continue Reading

  • Time to kick out killer heels?

    Click, click, click. What’s that sound? Could it be stilettos sashaying to the sartorial graveyard, where fashion trends go to die? Here’s hoping. Off they trot, and not a moment too soon. It’s high time we waved goodbye to these sole-destroying objects of orthopaedic torture. They’re called “killer” heels for a reason. There are encouraging…

    Continue Reading

  • A sprinkling of the Green Man’s inclusive magic

    Hey presto! Another birthday, another magical weekend in the mountains at the Green Man festival.   It’s so thoughtful of the organisers to schedule the festival to coincide with my birthday again. Thanks, guys! You’re the best!  You see, I love parties, but I don’t love organising them. So Green Man is a dream, a ready-made birthday bash…

    Continue Reading

  • An unforgettable night for Welsh Swifties….

    I don’t want to be *that* person, but I’ve been a proud Swiftie since she was an ACTUAL EMBRYO. Ok, not quite that long, but it has been a long-standing, beautiful (and entirely parasocial) love affair. I first jumped on the Taylor bandwagon in 2009, when Kanye West’s stage invasion during her MTV Awards acceptance…

    Continue Reading

  • Decades-long Hay Fever

    Imagine standing nervously on a makeshift stage, sharing your tortured teenage poetry, only to be interrupted by drunken old man hollering obscenities from a barstool. That, reader, is my earliest memory of Hay Festival. Yup. I was heckled by a sozzled author while reading my over-wrought poetry at a fringe event in a smoky room…

    Continue Reading

  • A dreamy weekend at The Dreaming

    If you haven’t watched “Charlotte Church’s Dream Build” on Amazon Prime yet, add it to your watchlist. It’s addictive telly at its best, following the singer’s journey as she plunges her life savings into renovating Laura Ashley’s former country home in Powys, Rhydoldog, and transforming the unloved house into a dreamy healing retreat.  It’s a…

    Continue Reading

About this blog

About

Hello. I’m Sara. This site is home to my writing for the Western Mail, a newspaper kind enough to publish my internal ramblechats. In 2022 I was named Wales Media Awards Columnist of The Year for this column. Madness. You’ll find me spaffing opinions on feminism, inequality, festivals, tech, art and whatever else pops into my head at 3am the day before deadline. There’s also bonus content, when the muse takes me (WHERE IS SHE TAKING ME? I DIDN’T ORDER THIS CAB! Etc…).

Read more »

Follow Blog via Email

Enter your email address and you can receive my internal monologues direct to your inbox, as they happen. You lucky thing.

Connect With Me