Travel & Recreation

Every Christmas for the past 15 years or more my family has engaged in the seasonal sport of satsuma bowls. This is a keenly fought contest, loosely based on lawn bowls, the rules of which have been progressively developed and fine tuned. I have to confess to making the assumption the same would be happening up and down the land each winter when satsumas and clemantines become available in the shops. Google says not - apparently a satsuma bowl is an Japanese decorative antique!

There was a clear need to have satsuma bowls recognised as an official sport. To achieve this I have set out the rules of the sport as well as a bit of background information such as how to choose the ideal satsuma bowl, jack selection and scoring systems.

Feeling the need to walk off the excesses of Christmas day we took a walk up Roseberry Topping in the North York Moors. The site is managed by the National Trust and there is a convenient car park next to a pub in Newton under Roseberry. Setting off in the afternoon the sun was low in the sky and casting a reddish glow over the landscape. For the most part the sky was clear but with occaisional dark cloud creating quite a spectacular sight.