‘Words on Water’ illustrator, John Richardson, has upped sticks and moved east. Here’s how he’s getting on:

A letter from Zanderland

Father’s Day and my son bought me three books from the Caught By The River shop. They were what ‘I was mostly going to be reading’ through the summer. Now it is almost November and after a house move to Fenland I’ve only just started reading them. The compulsory summer reading turned out to be a surveyor’s report. Riveting, but the woodburner is in, the wood sawn and split, the loft floored (as a rod room), the new windows are in and the guttering sorted. Most importantly the Albion Press is now installed and ready to print.
Andrews of Arcadia landed last week and the first fishing expedition was undertaken. Roach, Rudd, Perch, Gudgeon and the Pike moving as darkness fell. Perfect; even if the weather seemed to have been imported from the Demark Strait.

The area is fantastic. The landscape and the skies are awe inspiring. The people are welcoming and kind. We can walk the two terriers through orchards and fields, help ourselves to apples, pears and walnuts with only the sound of tractors to break the peace. Mind you there are a lot of them… and hundreds of thousands of pumpkins. When you see a pumpkin bobbing along the Sixteen Foot it looks like the biggest orange Pike float in the world.

With the big house projects out of the way it’s down to serious exploration of the area, curiosities and the hunt for a first Zander.