Hi, I’m Helen Johnson, and I’m a writer based in Yorkshire.

If you’re looking for my latest blog report, including extras for Dalesman,  click here

If you’re looking for information on Appleton Wiske, click here

If you want to know more about me, read on…

I’m a freelance journlist.  I write and take photographs – hence I do words and pictures.  I live in the village of Appleton Wiske, and the picture shows me in my garden .  My house was built in the orchard of the ‘big house’, and I benefit from the fruit trees.

Here in Appleton Wiske, we are blessed with a thriving village, with shop, Post Office, school, Church, Chapel, two pubs and a village hall.  We are situated between Yorkshire’s two National Parks: the Yorkshire Dales, and the North York Moors.

Nearby County Durham boasts the Durham Dales – quieter than the Yorkshire Dales, but just as lovely.

There are many aspects to living in the countryside, but the thing that binds all of us together is the need for self-help.  Many services that are taken for granted in towns simply don’t reach us out in the rural areas.  So we rely on volunteers to manage the village hall, drive the community minibus, and fetch medicines for the sick.

My work reflects my location:  I write about Yorkshire, County Durham and life in the countryside.  My special interests include:

Yorkshire; Rural Life; Farming; Crafts; Environment and Conservation; Food; Heritage and traditions; Landscape; and  Co Durham

To see a list of titles I have published  in, click here