A wonderful wander with stones, witches and wizards!

In June, I journeyed along the Fife Witches Trail to stand at the stone we call Lilias Adies’ grave and to pay my respects to the accused witches of Scotland at Dunferlimne Abbey.

Happy Solstice Season to All!

Our three Gathered Tales were:

Goblin Combe: You’ll find many versions of this story, including the one in Folktales of England, by Katharine Briggs and Ruth Tongue, 1965

The Brecon Elves & the Wise Housewife: A Variation of a story that can be found in Folk tales of Wales by Eirwen Jones, 1978

The Fairy of the Dell: A short and sweet version of a tale told in Welsh Fairy Tales By William Elliot Griffis, 1921

Thank you to all who have supported me on Patreon this month - do check it out. There are free resources and bonus goodies each month!

Welcome to Midwinter!

Thankyou to Haley and Leigh who suggested I might add the Boscastle Museum of Witchcraft & Magic and the Maggie Wall Monument to my ‘To Visit’ List.

Our Tree Tales this month are of the Pine tree and Christmas Trees:

“In Germany the Christmas-tree is not a luxury for well-to-do people as in England, but a necessity, the very centre of the festival…For one thing, perhaps, in a land of forests the tree seems more in place; it is a kind of sacrament linking mankind to the mysteries of the woodland…at night it is a true thing of wonder, shining with countless lights and glittering ornaments, with fruit of gold and shimmering festoons of silver…The Germans have quite a religious feeling for their Weihnachtsbaum, coming down, one may fancy, from some dim ancestral worship of the trees of the wood.”

Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan by Clement A. Miles in 1912

Thoughts on this episode? questions? ideas? new witchy places I should explore? Say Hi on Instagram! @wildwoodsandwitchcountry

A short and sweet podcast episode for September!

If you are seeking more tales of forest folklore and witchy woods, Do pick up a copy of the Witch and the Wildwood

Join me for Tales from the Wildwood live Zoom event on October 30th, 6pm (GMT) ⁠⁠Eventbrite Link⁠

Enjoy some Folk Fun and Food drawn from my fourth Book; ⁠Kitchen Witch: Food, Folklore & Fairy Tale!⁠ and ⁠Kitchen Witch Companion: Recipes, Rituals & Reflections

Wishing you all many happy hallowed evenings this October!

Join me for Tales from the Wildwood live Zoom event on October 30th, 6pm (GMT) ⁠⁠Eventbrite Link⁠

I am thrilled to present, in what I plan to be a festive tradition for Witch Country: A Ghost Story for Christmas!

Since the days of Charles Dickens and a Christmas Carol (1843), and, I'm sure, long before, we have huddled around fires to tell tales of spirits and ghosts during the cold yuletide nights.

So here is a tale where witches raise storms and become ghosts themselves, seeking a little retribution, perhaps.

Merry Christmas One and All! Xx

For 2025, Our podcast journey starts with a wander to Avebury. My friend and I took a walk amongst these stones last year, about this time, as the equinox sun shone.

Links Mentioned:

• Find me on Instagram

• Join the chats on Patreon

• Kitchen Witch Audiobook

Thank you for joining me this month for Magic and Myth! See you next month for more Witch Country Wanders!

XXX

Join me as I wade though water, myth and marshy lands in the New Forest!

XXX

Welcome to Witch Country Ghost Stories. Prepare this month, to meet the White Lady of the Lyttletons, found in The Grey Ghost Book

by Jessie Adelaide Middleton, 1915

Sarah XXX

Wishing you all a very Marvellous May!

Mentioned in the podcast:

• Witch Country Ghost Stories

• Kitchen Witch audiobook

xxx

A very exciting episode with news and songs and delights!

As mentioned in the episode, find me on

Instagram @thisiswitchcountry

Patreon - www.patreon.com/witchcountry

And don’t forget to head over to WomancraftPublishing.com on July 9th!

Sarah xxx

With thanks to Mark from Dorset for inspiring much of this episode! Featuring ideas, stories and poems from Gemma Gary, Enid Blyton, Olive Knott and Walter del la Mare

Sarah XXX

As autumn descends, I wanted to face a classic symbol in British and European folklore - the black dog

We start in East Anglia, England, with perhaps the most famous of all shadow hounds: Black Shuck, who makes an appearance in St Mary's church of Bungay in 1577, storms to raise havoc. And a reading drawn from Ghosts and Witches by Wentworth + Ayrton, 1991, on the Galleytrot and Shuck.

Before facing:

• The Barghest of Yorkshire, accompanied by rattling chains, may have inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula's transformation into an enormous black dog in Whitby.

• Yeth Hounds (Devon)

• Whisht Hounds (Devon/Dartmoor)

• Richard Cabell's Hounds (Dartmoor) widely considered a major inspiration for Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles.

• The Devil's Dandy Dogs (Cornwall): A terrifying hunt led by Satan himself.

• The Wish Hounds or Witch Hounds of Sussex

• The Church Grim, a guardian spirit that appears as a large black dog

• And The Moddey Dhoo of the Isle of Man: Meaning "black dog" in Manx, this giant shaggy-haired dog that haunted Peel Castle 

And we finish with readings of The Moddey Doo or the Black Dog of Peel Castle from Manx Fairy Tales by Sophia Morrison, 1911 and The Book of Were-Wolves by Sabine Baring-Gould, 1865. And accounts of witch wolves from Estonia.

These are just a few of the countless legends of black dogs, wolves and hounds. Do drop me a message if you would like to share your own favourites! 

Happy September

Sarah X

Witch Country Arrives!!

This October, Witch Country the podcast and Witch Country the book finally meet! In this episode I read a large section from the October chapter. (I do say in the recording that it’s the full chapter—but in the end I trimmed it slightly for brevity, and to whet your appetite for more!)

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported this journey so far. And fear not—the path of Witch Country is far from over!

Sarah xxx

As of Halloween, you can buy Witch Country in paperback from all the usual online booksellers, direct from Womancraft Publishing and Red Wheel (our US distributors) or ask your local indie to order in! It's also available in ebook and audiobook form!

I’ve left the most chilling of our tales until the edge of Halloween…Set in Scotland. In this haunting tale of fear, death, hardship and superstition, Mary has the misfortune of meeting a Bean Nighe. This story is from a book called Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch. Written by Dorothy K. Haynes, it's a collection of eerie tales published in 1949.

Sarah xxx

Welcome, friends, to the November episode of Witch Country. As the nights draw in and the air grows sharp with autumn’s edge, I’ve been walking among the Rollright Stones — a circle steeped in story. Kings turned to stone, witches weaving fate, and whispers carried on the wind linger here. In this episode, I share my own walk among the stones, along with the folklore, legends, and uncanny tales that have gathered around them for centuries. And to close, a delectable and chilling treat: the tale of the Stone King, another version of the Rollright story, read by the incomparable Vincent Price from the 1973 archive A Coven of Witches’ Tales.

For your festive nights, enjoy this gathering of tales!

1. The Frozen Hearth Fairy (From the Old-Fashioned Fairy Book Constance Cary Harrison, 1843 - 1920

2. Extracts from Christmas and Christmas lore by Thomas G. Crippen, published in 1923

3. The Story of the Year by Hans Christian Anderson, 1805 - 1875

4. And I close with the poem Under the Holly Bough by Charles Mackay, published in 1857

Thank you for joining me through 2025. Here's to a merry and magical winter and bright 2026! 

Sarah xxx

Ok, just one more pod to end the year! Two extraordinary tales to see in Christmas with, retold in my own words.

• The Christmas Masquerade - Published by Mary E. Wilkins, 1892

• The Sparrow and the Winter Fairy - Published by Georgianna M. Bishop, 1859

Thank you for joining me this year in Witch Country.

May these old stories bring warmth to your hearth and a spark of wonder to your winter days. We’ll meet again in the new year for more tales, folklore, and seasonal reflections.

Until next time, keep the witch lights burning, may the glow of the season always guide you into safe harbour and may a little winter magic find its way to your door.

Merry Christmas and Bright Yuletide, one and all xxx

A very different kind of Valentine…. in a February special, this murky and mysterious little tale was written by Ethel Marriot-Watson in 1893. It is set within the misty marshes you may find in Cornwall, where a protagonist seeks love, or desire, but all is not as it seems...

Sarah XXX

The Witches of Wuthering Heights: Folklore and Wild Things of Yorkshire

In today’s journey, we touch on the lives of:

• Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855) – Jane Eyre (1847), Shirley (1849), Villette (1853)

• Emily Brontë (1818–1848) – Wuthering Heights (1847)

• Anne Brontë (1820–1849) – Agnes Grey (1847), The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848)

  In their own way, all three embraced a gothic vibe, drawing on Yorkshire folklore and the mists of the moors that permeate their work. And I've had fun exploring the ways witches and folkloric figures appear in their writing. And we’ll meet witches, goblins, ghouls and gytrash on the moors, oh my!

The Two Folktales I share are both from Legends of the North York Moors: traditions, beliefs, folklore, customs by Marion Atkinson, 1981

Links & Details as promised!

• The Tale of the White Dove, written by Carl Carmer, read by Vincent Price (recorded in the 1970's, hence the static!)

• Storm Magic, a tale from The Norwegian Fairy Book by Klara Stroebe

Newsletter >> Link

Patreon >> Link

Insight Timer >> Link

Instagram >> Link

Buy the Paperback >> Link or Listen to the Audiobook >> Link

Books Read from:

Extract from ‘April’ from Wheel of the Year: Living the Magical Life by Pauline Campanelli

‘Cunning Belladonna’ from Kitchen Witch: Food Folklore & Fairy Tale by me! Sarah Robinson

‘Belladonna’ from Unprofessional Tales by Norman Douglas, 1901

Sarah

XXX

(I have changed the sound settings for the pod episode this month, do let me know if it's better or worse! or indeed if you can't tell the difference!)

What an amazing special episode for June! I am so grateful for Clare and Miriam two dieties of the nature writing world for taking time to speak to me with such insight and kindness. We spoke of many magical things, here are the links to them!

Firstly WILD WRITING 2026 dont miss it! sign up now for a day, week or a full month of magical inspiration!

https://thewritingschool.co.uk/writing-

• The Book of Bogs edited by Clare

https://www.littletoller.co.uk/shop/books/little-toller/the-book-of-bogs-edited-by-anna-chilvers-and-clare-shaw/

• Miriam Darlington and her wonderful work:

https://mimdarlington.wixsite.com/mysite

• Clare Shaw on Substack

https://shawandmoore.substack.com

• The Writing School

https://thewritingschool.co.uk

• I mention Arvon, where I first met Miriam and where Miriam and Clare often teach - you can read more about Arvon here https://www.arvon.org

and

A luscious extended version of the June pod (featuring a magical bog witch from 1800) is available for all patrons, well worth checking out!

https://www.patreon.com/cw/witchcountry

Happy June! xxx