It’s nice, that.

If you have ever messaged us on Instagram, you’ll know that we’re not there as often as we would like to be. However, one day I was scrolling through, and saw that we had been followed by “pocket notes”.

Long story short, I got in touch with Andy, the man behind the brand and asked if we could sell some of his lines.

With the joys of international post, his notebooks finally made it to the mountain hideaway yesterday.

Ee by ‘eck. These are good.

Regular readers will know I’m fond of getting out for a walk, whether along the Camino de Santiago, in the bondu of Cyprus or the National Parks of the UK. So , a set called “Three Peaks” featuring the topography of three of the UK’s greatest peaks was always like to appeal. (Ben Nevis, Snowdon & Scafell Pike)

First-up. These notebooks are handmade. Hold all three together, and you’ll see that they are not exactly the same size. Gasp! In this notebook world, Scafell Pike is a tiny bit taller than Ben Nevis. I daresay that two Scafells side by side would be the same size - that’s the nature of hand-cutting. Does it impact the quality of the notebook? Not in the slightest. The books are 48 page, and 120 gsm. That’s asking a lot of the saddle stitches (staples). They’re coping fine now, but we’ll see how well they stand up to some rough handling.

Now - the paper. 120 gsm is heavy - and that means it can handle pretty much anything. I tried fine and medium nibs with no feathering, show-through or ghosting. The paper’s “normal” so write-anywhere refills like the Fisher sport are a bit feeble. There’s a bit of tooth to the paper, which is lovely - and means that graphite plays very nicely with it. Fineliner / gels like my uniballs love it.

The ruling is 5mm dot grid.

Alright, the summary.

These are three fantastic notebooks. Handmade in the UK, Yorkshire, no less. The covers are distinctive and interesting and the paper of the highest quality.
And…they’re £9 a pack.

Now - time to have a look at Land + Sea + Air, by the same maker.