Lifestyle

Longstanding readers of this blog may recall that our beloved border terrier Martha gave birth to 5 puppies on Boxing Day in 2010. Actually to be really accurate she gave birth to 4 puppies on Boxing Day and 1 more on 27th December 2 hours after all the others. All of the pups went to […]

There’s always been a bit of debate about when it’s best to finally put Christmas in the past and just get on with what the New Year may bring. Personally, I’m a huge fan of the "New Years Day tear down" but my children (and wife for that matter) are always reluctant to consign Christmas […]

When friends and relations celebrate birthdays and anniversaries I often amuse myself by investigating the vintage in question and finding out what type of wine, if any, it was good for. If the research is fruitful you can then have more fun trying to source a bottle from that year as a topical gift. The […]

As a self confessed oenophile and melomane this time of year throws many a swerve ball – the wine that I both know and love is flying out of the doors here at Yapp HQ and the staples that I habitually imbibe during the year are getting thin on the ground or await re-stocking from […]

I’ve always loved songs where the narrative of the lyric is the reverse of the tune that carries it – I have far too many favourites to name check here (but clearly there’s a nod here to the Morrissey/ Marr song writing partnership of the 1980s) but there are times when things that shouldn’t work […]

As a native of Somerset and someone whose working life is preoccupied with the origin and provenance of comestibles I am often struck by what a raw deal Cheddar cheese gets in terms of geographical protectionism. Proper Cheddar is one of this sceptred isle’s most outstanding products and yet we happily let outrageous interlopers, making […]

Summer (assuming, of course, we actually get a Summer) is a time for carefree and irreverent imbibing when we can quaff pretty, coral-coloured rosés and aromatic, young Sauvignons en plein air. Salads and picnic foods cry out for simple, supple wines. Nobody wants to drink anything too demanding while relaxing in a deckchair – clean […]

They say you should never meet your heroes, presumably because you’ll be disappointed to discover their feet of clay but there are exceptions to prove every rule. I grew up loving the storybooks written and boldly illustrated by John Burningham. Borka the goose without feathers, Humbert the dray horse who pulled the Lord Mayors coach, […]

At a recent family gathering (my nephews 3rd birthday to be precise) there was thankfully a good selection of Yapp wine doing the rounds as well as more child friendly fair, my Aunty Shirley mentioned that she liked a glass of wine with her meal but didn’t always fancy broaching a full bottle. This started […]

It was over 30 years ago, while doing a ‘five stretch’ at Sexey’s school, that fellow inmate Anthony ‘Ant’ Thomas (lead singer of Accumulative Poison – the best punk band in Bruton) taught me how to screen-print. The reason we wanted to screen-print was to produce T-shirts proclaiming our fandom of more obscure bands whose […]