An author's home is her bastle ... Environment Editor Tony Henderson on one woman's mission to showcase the landscape of Northumberland.

Byline: Tony Henderson

AUTHOR Julia Grint has built a business around her desire to champion the Northumbrian landscape.

Almost three years ago she set up the Ergo Press which has published books that explore the many facets of Northumberland.

One of the aims is to encourage both local people and visitors to explore the county, and its history, culture and landscape.

Ergo Press grew out of Cogito Books, the family bookshop in Hexham.

Julia and husband Alan are keen walkers, and for a long time their outings had a very definite purpose.

They tracked down 26 bastles, which are fortified farmhouses built around 400 years ago when survival in Northumberland could rest on the thickness of your walls as Reiving raiders swept in.

The result is Julia's book, Bastles: An Introduction to the Bastle Houses of Northumberland, published by Ergo at pounds 7.99.

The book project has been supported by Northumberland National Park's sustainable development fund.

Julia lives in Wall, near Hexham, which is a "bastle village" with half a dozen examples.

"I want people to enjoy what we enjoy so much.

"It is a privilege to be able to have the opportunity to walk in such countryside and be in hand with so much history," she says.

It is estimated that about 1,000 bastles were built in Northumberland, with others in Weardale and around Alston.

Around 200 survive, either as homes, shells or ruins and they have become part of the historical and physical landscape.

In the making of the book Julia visited bastles in Allendale, Tarset, Redesdale, Otterburn and other far-flung locations.

She says: "If you enjoy walking in remote places, sooner or later you will come across a bastle, ruinous or restored.

"I hope the book will ignite an interest that will make people want to explore the countryside and its bastles.

"Bastles are an almost organic part of the landscape. They just seem to fit in and they captured my imagination completely."

Chris Jones, national park archaeologist, says: "Bastle houses are an enduring feature of the landscape of upland Northumberland, evoking a troublesome past and yet forming an integral part of the character of the rural landscape.

"I am acutely aware of the need to increase people's understanding and appreciation of the historic environment, and books like this are an invaluable source."

Julia has dedicated her book to her late parents Tom and Dorothy Armstrong.

Dorothy was a Ferguson before she became an Armstrong, and both are Reiver clan names.

Tom was manager of Hazlerigg Colliery on the outskirts of Newcastle.

"We used to go for walks and he would enthuse about the Reivers," says Julia. Her mission to showcase the diversity and quality of the Northumbrian landscape has also seen Ergo publish its second calendar of Northumberland scenes, at pounds 10.75.

The images are from top Northumberland photographer Simon Fraser, and include little-known gems such as Smales Leap hidden away in Kielder Forest, near Stannersburn.

Smales Leap is a waterfall where the Smales Burn drops into a small sandstone gorge.

Simon says: "You go up a forest track, cross a tussocky area and suddenly come across this little sandstone gorge which is really beautiful.

"There are a lot of special places hidden away in Northumberland which very few people ever go to."

CAPTION(S):

PASSIONATE Writer Julia Grint has researched Northumberland's bastles. She is pictured at Black Middens Bastle, near Tarset.; CALENDER SCENE Smales Leap in Kielder Forest photographed by Simon Fraser for Ergo's second calendar of Northumberland scenes.