Back in 1996, a fresh-faced 22-year-old version of me was bold enough to venture into the world of self-publishing. It was a tiny endeavour, printing little booklets on my home computer and then stapling them together on the living room floor before posting them to my friends. Print runs would rarely exceed 20 copies and I'd always be terribly shy at putting my name to them.
Originally called 'Fennel's Ginger Beer and Wine Gum Factory', the name of my publishing house (room) was changed in November 1996 when my friend Bernard Venables (the famous artist, author, editor, and angler) suggested the name 'Fennel's Priory' to me. He felt that the original name was too lighthearted and didn't reflect the deep sentiments within my writing. The name's been with me ever since.
It was years later when I realised that a priory is an offshoot of an abbey. Bernard was abbot of the abbey that had shaped my philosophy on life. His books and artwork had led me to him, and he had led me to a priory of my own. So there's duty in what I do, to perpetuate his philosophy. It's best captured in the first edition of his Creel magazine from 1964:
"Our times are strange times, with a sort of fever on them. Men, who should have their feet on living soil, are shut up in sky-offending towers of flats; great towns sprawl and breathe foul fumes, not air. Crafts die and machines are master; cold plastic replaces the honesty and nature of wood. We, citizens of the chemists' era, must search with a kind of panic for those rooting tendrils that should unite us to our true origins."
Fennel's Priory became my way of taking up the challenge of searching for the tendrils that unite us to our origins. It sought to connect us to the pastoral beauty of the natural world and in so doing enable us to escape the noise and stresses of modern life. 30 years on and it's still here, still publishing my work, and still connecting us to natural honest things.
To celebrate Fennel's Priory's 30th birthday, I've treated it to a new website. The old one had become a sprawling jungle of more than 350,000 words of blogs. I gave the content a tidy prune to ensure that nature connection takes centre stage. Fishing's still there, as a way of travelling deeper into nature, and conservation is prominent. A traditional rural life it is, with handcrafted organic things filling our hearts and crazy eccentricities proudly filling our laughs and identities.
Ultimately this little publishing venture, that's shaped my life for 30 years, is my way of reaching out to connect with likeminded people who might appreciate my writing.
From a living room floor to a study full of books, Fennel's Priory is still me. Authentically and uniquely me. Writing to and for you.
I hope you like it.