I recently chanced upon this brilliant zine in a local bookshop and feel compelled to share the word. Heath and Mud was created by Sarah Calcutt with content and photographs by her and guest contributors and concentrated on the folklore, landscape and nature of the English Peak District.

Three brilliant issues in and this stands tall amongst a pleasingly growing community of zine writers who have embraced the neopagan movement and are retelling the history and lore of their own backyards.

The Peak District is a remarkable place, the UK’s first national park, covering some 550 square miles across five counties: Derbyshire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Yorkshire, and Greater Manchester. Given England’s size, this is a large area of land, much of it wild with around 40,000 inhabitants with ancestors dating back to the Mesolithic period . This can be an unforgiving place with large area of moorland, valleys, limestone gorges, stunning boulder formations and standing stones.

The first issue of Heath and Mud was published in 2024, once the publication costs were paid, all proceeds were donated to the Edale Mountain Rescue Service, the proceeds from the second issue went to the Peak and Northern Footpaths Society with the third issue going to the Moors for the Future Partnership.

Each edition is full of articles, photographs and art by Sarah and guest contributors. It’s inspiring stuff; practical advice for walks, grid references, guides to hidden stones and a focus on the artists inspired by this landscape.

It’s a brilliant pathway into discovering new and exciting artists and it will be interesting to see how the zine develops over the coming issues. The Peak District has much to go at and discover, always seen as the poor relation to the Lake District, it’s an often overlooked area full of natural beauty. This zine goes a long way towards restoring the balance.

Heath and Mud can be found at:

http://www.heathandmud.co.uk

Instagram: @heath.and.mud