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Tom Allan on Muck Rack

Tom Allan

United Kingdom
As seen in: Medium, MSN Ireland, MSN UK, Financial Times, The Guardian, Yahoo Canada, Yahoo News UK, Yahoo Finance, The Irish Times, Yahoo Sports Canada and
Covers:  Travel, environment, outdoor sports, features
Thatcher, writer. Borderer 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 in Devon Not on X very often

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Tom Allan’s Biography

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I am a writer and thatcher (of roofs) based in Devon, in the UK.

My first book - On the Roof: A Thatcher's Journey - was published by Profile Books in August 2024.

My writing has appeared in the Financial Times, The Guardian, the Irish Times, Eurasianet and many other outlets. It focuses on issues around environment, place and cultural traditions.

I have spoken at a number of book festivals, and have appeared on BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends & BBC Radio Scotland, as well as on BBC Scotland's Landwar…

Tom Allan’s Journalist Portfolio

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Hidden in the hills, the Japanese villages where thatching lives on

Hidden in the hills, the Japanese villages where thatching lives on

In a nation better known for futuristic cities, a cluster of small villages is clinging to the ancient tradit…

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Black Sea breakers: exploring Turkey's ancient surf scene

Black Sea breakers: exploring Turkey's ancient surf scene

On a rocky headland north of Istanbul a lighthouse blinks out a warning, as it has done for more than 160 yea…

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Country diary: the Cheviots are studded with ghostly patches

Country diary: the Cheviots are studded with ghostly patches

This shoulder of the Cheviot Hills has always been an edge-land. It marks the watershed between the Rule and …

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Country diary: it's a day for making eaves turds and windy bundles

Country diary: it's a day for making eaves turds and windy bundles

On either side of the lane, the tall hedge banks stand sodden and between them a field is washing away down t…

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The plate outdoors: dining and hiking in the Black Forest

The plate outdoors: dining and hiking in the Black Forest

I came to the Black Forest in search of simple pleasures - to walk and to eat. And on a hillside overlooking …

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Country diary: foragers search out the fruits of a fortuitous mistake

Country diary: foragers search out the fruits of a fortuitous mistake

A genius, insists Stephen Dedalus in Ulysses, doesn't make mistakes - his errors are the "portals of discover…

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Articles

Country diary: A beekeeper’s lament – ‘Why did none of my bees survive winter?’

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By Tom Allan
| Yahoo Canada Verified
Tom Allan Wed, April 22, 2026 at 4:30 a.m. UTC 2 min read Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Beekeeper Richard Bray at Haywood farm, St Mabyn, Cornwall.Photograph: Tom Allan (Photograph: Tom Allan) Richard Bray’s hives stand in a crooked line at the edge of the apple orchard, beside a low thicket of nettles. Richard was “brought up with” beekeeping here at Haywood farm, and at the peak of his apiary business had 250 hives; today he has seven.
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Country diary: How much bad weather can one village take?

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By Tom Allan
| Yahoo Canada Verified
Tom Allan Thu, February 12, 2026 at 5:30 a.m. UTC 2 min read Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Repairing a thatched roof in Torcross, Devon, after the storms.Photograph: Tom Allan (Photograph: Tom Allan) During the storm, the waves sounded like bombs going off under the house, Bonni Breeze Lincoln tells me.
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Country diary: Mermaid’s purses bring riches to the beach

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By Tom Allan
| Yahoo News UK Verified
It’s two hours to high tide, and the beach has been reduced to a half moon of smooth sand. The sea is grey, grey-blue and green, and even here in the estuary it’s lined with ragged swell. Winter swimmers in trunks and swimming costumes are wading in, hunching their bare shoulders. Without much sand to run on, my four-year-old, Nina, decides we’re playing mountain goats on the boulders at the back of the beach.
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See all 68 licensed articles (119 Total)

Interview

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How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?

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Who do you wish followed you?

Editors, PR professionals.

Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?

I was the editor of my high school newspaper. It was a small school so me and one other student wrote just about all the copy.