'Life on the Mountains' now shipping

It's a bittersweet moment. Sunday was meant to be the premiere of Terry Abraham's final film in his 'Life of a Mountain' trilogy, focussing on that most-loved of Eastern fells, Helvellyn. We were also to be at Rheged to launch his debut book, Life on the Mountains. All of which is indefinitely postponed for now.

Even so, Terry and the team here decided back in March to press ahead with publication of his book regardless. People would be hungry for a taste of their beloved Lakes, we thought, and the overwhelming response to the book to date has suggested we got it pretty much right. It was also important to us to help keep the Cumbrian book trade ticking along. We're in for a rocky year, but there are various bookshops around the county – shout to Sam Reads, to Bookends, to Hedgehog – still sending out orders, and at some point tourists will begin to return.

It has been a busy few days. Shipping out 600+ signed pre-orders is a significant task for any indie publisher. But in lockdown conditions, with only essential travel sanctioned, we've run a tight logistical ship to get copies to Terry for signing, before dropping large bags of envelopes into Kirkby Lonsdale and Keswick Post Offices. Hats off both to Terry for working long into the night writing messages in the books, to our Vicky for packaging and making endless trips to Kirkby, and also to Pam at the Post Office in Kirkby for processing our hundreds of orders in her one-woman operation.

But we're pretty much done. And we're delighted with the book - a visual love letter to the fells and an insight into the man behind the lens.

You can buy it here.