Saturday 6 June 2026

Sometimes when I am out and about in the countryside, and I am not wearing my lead, I struggle to
make the right choices. Readers may recall the unfortunate affair on Dartmoor involving a snapped harness, abscondment with phone and car key and numerous members of His Majesty’s Armed Forces. Which is why I was particularly delighted to learn of the opening of two new dedicated dog exercise fields on the edge of one of my favourite local walk areas – Crab Wood in Winchester.

There are two generous-sized fields available – the longer “Oak”, and the slightly larger square “Ash”.  Both have plenty of space for running and games, as well as tunnels, logs and stick piles to sniff at and hand-crafted hazel wattle alleyways.  I have been lucky enough to be able to test both fields.  As you may imagine, I am not widely versed in recent off-lead action, so Miss Roo was interested to see what I would make of the experience.

A little uncertain when my lead was first unclipped, I was soon in my absolute element.  The fields are securely fenced and maintained but enough of the natural outdoor elements remain, with plenty of tempting aromas and opportunities for quality leg-lifting.

Each field also has a bin for our natural leavings, which I know humans particularly love to harvest, as well as bowls and fresh water taps, which were exceedingly welcome after a hearty exercise session.

Each field costs £10 for 50 minutes (more than plenty of time for me).  Further information and the booking portal can be found online at: www.hants.gov.uk/thingstodo/forpaws. The dog fields have a dedicated parking area, signposted on Sarum Road, Winchester, SO22 5QR. The w3w location is “brisk.confident.skirting”.

These fields are a very welcome addition to the local exercise cannon. Wildlife and livestock can go unmolested, and owners may walk in peace, free of the consequences of poor decision-making of their over-exuberant dogs (hmm).  Already, I sense a palpable relief in certain members of the local deer community – who, inexplicably, are never as happy to see me as I am to see them.

If you visit on Thursdays to Saturdays, Beechcroft Farm is opposite the Dog Field area – their lovely tea barn is open between 10.00 – 16.00 with a tempting array of hot drinks and cakes. Plus their excellent butchery counter.  Nothing like a fresh grilled chop or six after a joyous session in the dog field…

Thursday January 1 2026

 Happy new year to friends everywhere. I hope that 2026 brings you happiness and good cheer.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Jasper Horatio Stafford establishing this blog, in August of 2006.  Not even my grand-dogs were born then.  But I am very pleased and honoured that I have found myself here, in the end.

I will conclude with the usual promise to put more updates on this year.  And very best wishes to you in the meantime.

Your friend, Rory Gamin de Pycombe. x

Friday 7 March 2025

Oh dear.  2025 is well underway and I have been a neglectful boy.  I am no further forward with the little black dog at work.  But on the plus side, I had some gravy with my dinner last evening. So not all bad.  I must try harder...

Here I am, being chief taster for a new batch of soup that Roo made:

The world is a very upsetting place at the moment.  I try not to watch the news, but Roo does and it upsets her very much, what is happening with the USA. We are worried for our friends there and frightened for the world with such dangerous, nasty and ignorant people in charge. Roo tries to make light of things - calling the president and his lickspittle "Dump and Trance" instead of their real names.  But really it is not funny at all.  I am proud to stand with Ukraine.  Tyrants and bullies like Trump and Putin must not be allowed to prevail, for the sake of us all. For if they succeed in crushing Mr. Zelensky and Ukraine then they will be coming for us.  It's been tried before, and still within human living memory.

But it is important to remember that there is still good in this world. Be one of the good ones. I can't do very much. But I try and leave things a little bit better than I find them.  Here are some things that you can try:

1) When Roo and I go out for our walk we try to pick up at least three bits of litter as we go.  Extra bonus if the litter is plastic and can be put into the recycling bin.

2) When you go into a shop, smile at the person serving you on the checkout and ask them how their day is going. People are often so rude to shop and café workers. Try not to be one of them, even if you are having a bad day.

3) There is a homeless person near us, who lives in a little tent in a hedge. He always says hello if we see him.  At Christmas time, me and Roo went to some local charity shops and bought some thick woolly socks, gloves, a scarf and a hat.  We wrapped them up and left the parcel quietly outside his tent on Christmas Eve.

We ran away after leaving it there, but it had been taken in by the next morning, and there was a pair of old, manky socks hung up to dry on one of the tent ropes.  It was the best money we spent this Christmas.

How about contacting a local residential care home and asking if there is a particular resident who never has any visitors? Send them a card "from someone who thinks they are very special".  You don't have to put your name in it.

Just small, tiny things. To make someone smile and remind yourself that there is still goodness, despite the hatred, anger and cruelty coming from the minds and mouths of the unholy trinity currently in charge of the USA and its actions.

I am trying to be nice to Carrot the cat.  But I think that might be pushing it a little bit too far.

Have courage my friend.  Good will prevail.  And if it doesn't, I shall go down nipping at the hands of wickedness.

Wednesday 4 September 2024

 Scant progress has been made towards contact with my new friend. I haven't seen him since my last report.

Instead, I have been forced into wearing increasingly insulting head apparel for photo opportunities.  Where is the justice in this?

I have also been back to Dartmoor - mercifully uneventful this time - and shall return in a few weeks' time.

In the meantime...

No justice at all.  Frankly unacceptable.

Thursday 25 April 2024

 I think I have found a dog friend to have adventures with, like Jasper with Ewan and Fizzy and Gisele!  Since I last wrote about my day I have been three times with the woods and have seen him two times at least.

I haven't got very many friends who are dogs. I like them but sometimes I find it hard to understand them.  My best dog friend is Rolo.  He is a big black Labrador and I think he used to be one of Gisele's favourite husbands. I wanted him to be my husband too, but he wouldn't commit himself.  I am also friends with Hastings, who looks like Rolo and lives with his same people, but who is a puppy.  He is fun to run and play with at Abbotstone, though I cannot understand the half of what he is saying. 

Here are some pictures of my new dog friend in the work yard where Jasper and Ewan used to play:

I called out to him, more than once, "Hello dog! Will you like to be my friend and make some adventures with me?" but I don't think he heard, because he got up and walked away.  It's the same with the red kites at Abbotstone. They just look at me and then fly away.

But I will try again the next time I see this new fellow.  He looks like a friendly dog to make adventures with.

For now, I am just having fun with Roo.  The bluebell flowers are out and are very pretty this year.  Here I am enjoying them last week:

Lovely, hehehe...

 

Drinking in the same water spot favoured by Jasper and Gisele

Pretty colours in different local woods

Hopefully the new dog will speak to me next time. I will let you know how we get on and what adventures we might have.

Good evening to you.

Friday 12 April 2024

 A most agreeable day today.  It has been very warm and I was pleased to sit outside at lunchtime in the warm Spring sunshine.  Here I am, savouring the warm rays, while - if you can spot it - the first pretty butterfly of the year rests on the wall behind me...

I have accompanied Roo to work in one of her office places twice this week, where I have done my utmost to be a good boy.  Roo says that this is where she used to take Jasper and Gisele, and where they had lots of adventures that they barked about on here. (Here it begins - Jasper's first day at work: Link).

I listened with interest to the tales of Ewan and Fizzy, their adventures with Jasper and subsequently with Gisele.  I walked down the oft-trod bridleway, where once they played with Ewan's football.  I don't know what a football is.  We walked past the badger sett, still active and now so enlarged as to be partially fenced-off for public safety.  But I have no wish to tally with a badger in its own home.

Miss Roo says the echoes of happy times are all around us there, in the scent of the flowers, the breeze in the trees, the chirruping of the birds and the gentle buzz of the insects.  She says that we will make all new adventures there - but just us. There are no others there now.  But the woods will forever be the place that made memories, preserved in text and pixels here, if you care to seek them out.

I won't have the same stories and adventures like Jasper, or Gisele.  But I hope the ones I make will not be dull for being different.  After all - I have already involved myself in a significant scrape involving the military, many shenanigans and the concealment of an entire chicken curry in Roo's pants.

Unimpressed at the military's red flag flying on my return to Dartmoor - 

it surely can't just have been for me, can it?! ("He's BACK!! Go, lads, go!!")

And I've only been here for a year.  Surely this holds promise for future adventures?

I have already had cause to speak sternly again to a red kite at Abbotstone, just the one this time, but he followed my progress from the air a little too closely.  I have warned him that I know what he is about, and that he ought to examine his conscience.  He just stared at me. Hmmm.

When first we arrived at Roo's workplace, and location of many tales of glory (and some not quite SO glorious...), the door was propped open.  Upon closing it, a really rather remarkable sight was there to behold. Muddy marks from long, long ago, which have withstood the elements and the years (the door is behind shutters, so somewhat protected from the ravages of time).  Little stamps that echo the barks and playful yelps of those who capered in the yard so long ago now, but which seem as fresh as when they were first laid new:

The paw-prints of Ewan, Fizzy - and Jasper.

Good evening to you.

Wednesday 10 April 2024

 Here I write - Rory Gamin de Pycombe.  I have been learning as much as I can to be able to write my words on this blog, which Roo (Mama) tells me is now mine.  I don't think I will be doing as well as the ones before me, Gisele and Jasper.  They look like they were better of words than I am.

But here is a bit about me to begin with.  I probably should ask you not to judge me by the relation of my misadventures on Dartmoor.  I would like to say that I regret my choices on that day and I am sorry for the havoc that I caused.  But I don't and I'm not - I had a lovely time. Roo has booked another holiday for Dartmoor this summer for us.  She says that we will not be troubling His Majesty's Armed Forces again and that I will be on my very best behaviour. Of course I will.

I have been living here with Roo for a little bit more than a year now.  I first met her on 14 February 2023 and came home to live in my house on 19 February.  Some people called The Blue Cross helped me to find Roo.  The picture of me on the left in my black harness was the one on the Blue Cross website that she saw, and this is what they said about me. I was called Ory then:

I can't deny any of what's written there - that sums me up fair enough.

I was born in Wales, though I'm not sure where. My dam (mother) was a French Bulldog and my sire (father) was a Staffordshire Bull Terrier ("that must have been an interesting evening" says Roo).  For the first three years of my life I just lived with my mother.  My brothers and sisters went to other people's houses but they said that I was the best so they kept me.  My mother and I did alright together.  We had lots of outside and some inside all to ourselves.  People gave us food, but we mostly looked after ourselves.

Then, one day, someone came to where we were.  I think he was related to the people who gave us food. There were lots of things said that I didn't understand. Things like "not right" and "neglect", but I didn't really understand. The man left my mother there, I think she was happier there, and took me on a very long journey away.  I didn't understand, but he was nice to me and I didn't mind.  Then I lived with him mostly indoors in a house that we shared with other men.  That was fun.  We played games (I liked the rough wrestling games best), had nice food and I could help myself to what I wanted. But I wasn't allowed to go outside by myself anymore and I had to wear a harness and a lead every time the man took me out.  I didn't understand and I didn't like it very much.  We had a park that we walked to and then we walked home again when I had been to the toilet.  There were some other dogs (I didn't know that they were other dogs - they didn't look like my mother or me) who didn't like me.  They argued at me when I tried to be nice and then sometimes they bit me.  So I learned to be worried about other dogs and decided that the only way for them not to bite me was for me to bite them first.  That didn't make me or my man very popular, and it was a big city with only one park to go in.  That didn't help matters.

And then my man person had to change his working job and we went to live in a different place with different other men. That was nice too, but we only had one room for us, and not a whole house.  The man was working lots.  I know he loved me very much, but that is when he started speaking to The Blue Cross people, which made him very very sad.  They were nice. They came to visit us in our room and made some films of me going for my walks.  Not long after that, me and the man got on a bus and had a long ride to some buildings in the countryside, like a farm but with dogs and cats and little horses.  My man had to leave me in a room and go somewhere else.  When I was waiting there, I could hear voices outside and saw one of The Blue Cross ladies bring another lady into the next room where she sat down. The new lady looked friendly and I jumped up and down at the glass in the door because I wanted to meet her and be friends.  I like making human friends.  So I was brought out of the room and met the lady, who was Roo, and then we went for a long walk and talk with The Blue Cross lady.  We went around some fields and they had made it so another dog kept walking by, to see what I would do.  We saw some deer in a field too (they had those in Wales, hehehe) but I did my best to be a good boy.  After that, the new lady said goodbye and I was taken back to my man in another room and we went back home on the bus.

About a week later, we got on the bus again. That was quite nice.  We went to the same like a farm place, only my man seemed a bit more sad.  He gave me lots of cuddles and said goodbye.  Then I went into another new room and onto a table, where someone in a uniform grabbed hold of me and stuck a massive needle in my neck.  This was not nice.  It was, apparently, "a microchip".  While I was still yelping my disgust at that, I was stabbed with another smaller needle - "vaccinations", whatever they may be.  I was highly displeased and vowed that I would not put up with that nonsense ever again.  But I didn't have long to dwell on that.  I was soon ushered into another room, to be reunited with the lady from before - Roo.  We went for another nice walk (no deer this time) and then into a room where lots of bits of paper were signed.  Then I had my photograph taken.  And then I went out just with Roo and Ganna (her mother). I had a special space just for me in a car - a whole car, just for us - with a cushion and a blanket and something to eat.  We drove for quite a long time and then went for a lovely walk.  After that, just Roo and me went to another house and she said that it was where I live now.  A whole house, just for we two, not one room. And there was a garden too, but I didn't want to go into it, in case I ended up in Wales again.  

I am very very lucky, but I didn't understand why everything had changed again.  I was sad not to see my man again. He had been nice to me.  The Blue Cross lady said something like "there was lots of love and good intentions there, but he was unable to give Ory the time and life that he needed". Something like that.  Roo wrote him a letter, not with names on or anything like that, just a thank you for all he had done for me and saying that I would be a loved dog, for The Blue Cross people to send to him. I hope they did.  He helped to make my life better and I am thankful.

I found it quite easy to learn the ways of my new house with Roo.  I was very happy in my new life, very much.  Here I am, all happy:

After a few weeks though, Roo had to take me to a new place for something called "to be neutered". No idea what that meant, but it didn't sound good.  I recognised the smell and uniform type of the "microchip" and was having absolutely none of it.  But - alas! - the "to be neutered" was deemed essential. Miss Roo had signed a Blue Cross paper to say she would do it.  And so by medication and a muzzle I was hoodwinked and I fell prey to the evil needle once more.  And thus I was neutered at 3 and 1/2 years old.  You may judge for yourself from my expression in the car on the way back from the vet (for a vet's place it was) how happy I was about this latest development in my life:

Betrayed, in every sense, by a perfidious female Judas who ought to have judged better. And thus my love-spuds were no more.

But enough of this.  This is an account of who I am and how I came to be here.  I hope to share with you again.  But for now, Roo and I are off to Abbotstone - one of my favourite walk-places and also most popular with my erstwhile predecessors.  I am friends with Honey the elderly ginger cat who lives in my road.  She is ancient but agile and very sweet.  She was alive in Jasper's time.

Honey, a few weeks ago.

When I said to her about Abbotstone, she said to me to be careful.  She said that Jasper once had "some bother with a buzzard" there.  I don't know what a buzzard is, really. A big bird I think.  There were two red kites there the other day that were circling the sky immediately above me very closely but they didn't say anything.  I made it clear to them that their behaviour was unacceptable.  So that's the end of that.

Good evening to you.