https://gillmaiden.co.uk/ Stories, projects and quiet corners of the UK en Sun, 08 Nov 2026 06:36:06 GMT https://gillmaiden.co.uk/scenic-route-nowhere-in-particular/ https://gillmaiden.co.uk/scenic-route-nowhere-in-particular/ One ordinary afternoon, I bought a day ticket and boarded a bus I had no reason to take. What began as a wrong turn became a small creative practice: noticing, eavesdropping and letting the route write itself. Gill Maiden Slow Travel Sun, 08 Nov 2026 04:54:42 GMT https://gillmaiden.co.uk/ticket-tin-tiny-social-miracle/ https://gillmaiden.co.uk/ticket-tin-tiny-social-miracle/ The tombola table is not really about winning. It is a village-hall theatre of hope, regifted shampoo and deeply British small talk. Here is how to read the prize display, survive the drum, and host your own without accidentally awarding three tins of peas. Gill Maiden Creative Life Sun, 08 Nov 2026 04:54:42 GMT https://gillmaiden.co.uk/pinned-in-place-slow-guide-village-hall-noticeboard/ https://gillmaiden.co.uk/pinned-in-place-slow-guide-village-hall-noticeboard/ Forget the heritage plaque and the Best Kept Village sign. The cork board by the hall door is where a place actually tells you what it is — the ukulele circle, the missing cat, the laminated warning about the bins. A field guide to reading it properly, and to pinning your own notice without committing a social crime. Gill Maiden Slow Travel Sun, 08 Nov 2026 00:54:30 GMT https://gillmaiden.co.uk/too-much-pva-not-enough-time-carnival-float-diary/ https://gillmaiden.co.uk/too-much-pva-not-enough-time-carnival-float-diary/ In February I wrote my name on a clipboard. By July I was kneeling in a wet field at eleven at night, gluing glitter to a cardboard swan while somebody's dad reversed a tractor. A project diary about collaboration, compromise and what happens when a community makes something joyful with no budget and no time. Gill Maiden Creative Life Sun, 08 Nov 2026 00:54:30 GMT https://gillmaiden.co.uk/first-go-best-go-wobbly-start/ https://gillmaiden.co.uk/first-go-best-go-wobbly-start/ The maiden in Gill Maiden is not a claim to expertise. It is a reminder that everyone starts somewhere - badly, bravely, and usually in public. A gentle case for first attempts, community projects, and the awkward beginning. Gill Maiden Creative Life Sat, 07 Nov 2026 20:56:25 GMT https://gillmaiden.co.uk/the-second-glance-twelve-quiet-uk-corners/ https://gillmaiden.co.uk/the-second-glance-twelve-quiet-uk-corners/ A personal atlas of places that reward a slower look: a moorland chapel, a tidal path, a village phone box turned library. No big signage, no queue, just small stories and practical notes for visiting gently. Gill Maiden Slow Travel Sat, 07 Nov 2026 20:56:25 GMT