Well met! My name is Stuart Johns and I was born in the 1970s in Hampshire, England. I was fortunate indeed to grow up on the outskirts of a quiet village in a beautiful rural setting.
The love that my parents possessed for the countryside and outdoor life rubbed off on me and I went to Sparsholt College to study Countryside Management. I then spent many years working as an Estate Keeper and later a self-employed Gardener.
This love for nature intertwined perfectly with a passion for motorcycling and the freedom that it brings. I am blessed with a wonderful family who indulge my need to exist with one foot in reality and one away with the fae folk in some distant world of imagination; whether that be borne in the freedom of the road on two-wheels or in artwork, computer games and books... or even simply spending so much of my time generally distracted, as my wife will tell you!
I hope you will permit me to quote from the opening chapter of Overlooking the Sea, as it sums everything up quite nicely...
A hill surrounded by green fields and many a tree; an old chapel sits up there, overlooking the sea.
At first glance, any given day is in danger of seeming quite ordinary indeed. However, one only has to open their door and look at what surrounds them beyond their daily toil to realise that this is most certainly not the case.
If you are blessed to be dwelling in the countryside then nature is already on the doorstep; but, even in the midst of the greatest maze of bricks and mortar there will always be an horizon of trees and fields, or, if not, at the very least there is the sky above and the birds within it going about their business. Perhaps, in the absence of a garden, you have filled your town-dwelling with pots of plants and shelves of books that will transport you to anywhere your heart desires.
The twin treasures of nature and our own imagination form the key to the past and the map to the future; together they feed that great well from which we may drink our fill of life and unlock a true freedom within.
Let us travel now to a hill where such magic will always dwell; a place where many worlds meet...
* * *
It is my hope that the reader will find a connection in these books and, above all, that they will find their own keys to share their own worlds with others... it is my firm belief that there is indeed a great, refreshing well from which anyone may partake and, whenever we create, we in turn give back to that pool.
Surely that resource has been present throughout the ages and may it forever endure.
I would like to thank you for popping by and may I wish you the very best of days. Be safe in your travels! Should you need to, you can contact me via email.
Stuart Johns, November 2025
Wherever the green fields roll down to the bubbling brook, wherever the deer are on the moor – there is England.
Wherever the leaves rustle between the trees or the sea rolls upon the beach – there is England.
This ancient land of ours with mighty forests and timeless shores...
we are in the soil and the roots of the oak; our voices are in the wind that whistles through the highest hilltops.
We are in the bluebells that answer the sun bringing new life in the spring and in the crisp frost that lingers when we wake to a misty morn in the winter.
Angliae viridis et amoena
