Welcome to Under the Hawthorn Tree

My new Substack newsletter and community

Hello,

For those who are here for the first time, or have stumbled across this by chance, I’m Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent, a writer, wanderer, broadcaster and lover of all things wild.

I’ve spent a great deal of the last two decades travelling alone in remote regions - talking to people and recording their stories. I’ve published three books about my journeys, made a number of BBC radio documentaries and written for The Financial Times, The Guardian, Geographical and more. The Sunday Times said my broadcasting was ‘thoughtful and thought-provoking’. Conde Nast once described me as ‘Indiana Jones in a dress.’ 

While my focus is on the mountainous regions of Northeast India and Central Asia, I also write about Southeast Asia, the Caucasus and Eastern Europe.

Always on the hunt for the untold and the little-explored, I try to tell stories that hit the sweet spot between making me come alive, whilst also engaging people with the stuff that matters: climate issues, Indigenous rights, biodiversity loss, the astonishing beauty of the natural world.

Why Under the Hawthorn Tree?

Writing is one of the keystones of my existence. I can’t imagine a life without it. But in recent years I’ve found that more and more of my thoughts, stories and observations don’t make it further than my own diaries. The journeys I go on, and the longform features I want to write about, are too niche for most newspapers and magazines and don’t fit neatly into any genre. And when I am commissioned to write for publications, I often end up feeling frustrated and undervalued. 

Add to this the pandemic and accelerating climate breakdown - both of which have left me questioning how I can put my storytelling to better use. What’s my purpose? How can I use my writing to amplify important messages without boring the pants off people? Do my words have any impact? I'm hoping that this newsletter will act as a compass, a light in the dark. And in helping me, and providing an outlet for my words, I hope in some way it helps you, my readers, too.

I cast around for the right title for this newsletter for weeks; scribbling lists of ideas, wrinkling my nose at names I’d enthused about just an hour previously. I wanted something broad enough to allow my mind and words to wander. Something that didn’t tie me to travel, nature, the environment, or writing about the creative process. 

Then I thought of the Magic Tree.

In the mountains above my house in mid-Wales is a lichenous old hawthorn I’ve come to know as the Magic Tree. I often go and sit under her knotted boughs, the hills unfurling beneath me, to think, and to write. Ravens scull past, the wind like bellows in their wings, and clouds roll over the distant peaks of Bannau Brycheiniog. Up here in my mountain eyrie, away from people and noise, ideas form and dreams take shape. I’m hoping this newsletter will have a similarly catalyzing effect.

So this is where I’ll share the things that don’t quite fit into mainstream publications. There’ll be new writing from previous and current journeys and dispatches from my radio documentaries. There’ll be book recommendations and Welsh wanderings. And there’ll be things I haven’t yet dreamed of, ideas unspooling like pulled thread. I won’t have to fit other people’s demands or deadlines. I’ll be writing for myself and for you, my readers. 

In 2024 you can expect stories from western Kazakhstan, where I’m about to record a BBC documentary; an interview with musician and activist Brian Eno; tales from the Caucasus, and new writing from previous expeditions in Northeast India.

Please DO comment, share your thoughts, and tell me what you like, and what you don’t like. Substack is about community as much as it’s about stories, and I’m really looking forward to connecting with you all.

Love and mountains,

Ants x

In Other News…

I’ll be speaking at the Kendal Mountain Festival Tour on 2nd May in Pontadarwe and 8th May in Worcester. Tickets and information here.

My BBC World Service radio documentary, Future Shaman, is a finalist for Broadcast Programme of the Year at the TravMedia Awards. The winner will be announced on April 22nd. Wish me luck!

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