Diary of a stationery geek: The Lochby Field Journal

Some time back I was chatting with Stu Lennon from the fabulous Nero's Notes (source of most of my stationery) about notebooks and stuff, and how fabulous the Lochby Field Journal looked.

He very kindly offered to send me one, in exchange for a review. He hasn't seen this prior to now. All opinions my own, etc. (There are links to Nero’s Notes here, they’re not sponsored at all, but they are brilliant and speedy with delivery and my first port of call when it comes to shiny new stationery bits and pieces.)

Right, that over with, here we go.

The short review: I absolutely love it. You'd have to prise it out of my cold hands.

A brief interlude for a short history of Dave's notebooks:

I've tried a LOT.

Moleskines used to be my jam, then I got into Field Notes (still love a good Field Notes notebook and the collection is growing). I've dallied with Hobonichi, tinkered with Midori, picked up a couple of TRAVELER'S Company Notebooks (passport and regular size) and they've all had their place in the rotation at one point or another.

I’ve also got a Lochby pocket journal, which is lovely and takes a couple of Field Note size books and a pen.

Fast forward to now. What I realised I was looking for was something different. Bigger than the Field Notes (which I go through really quickly). Wider than the TRAVELER'S (love the cover, love the inserts and the ability to have multiple notebooks for different things, but it's a bit on the slim side and takes a specific size which you can only really get from them).

My requirements:

• sturdy cover

• holds a pen

• carries multiple inserts.

The Lochby Field Journal fits that to a tee.

The cover is a lovely waxed canvas, which is only going to get better with age. It's got a nice, solid metal hook to keep it closed, a carrying handle on the spine, a good size elastic pen loop built in and a velcro pocket on the back (perfect for a Field Notes book, just sayin')

It's also super customisable. As well as the regular Lochby notebooks, a huge selling point for me is that it also takes a standard A5 notebook (or Moleskine/Leuchtturm if you're feeling keen). The Lochby inserts are great quality, and come in a range of options - plain, dot grid (yay), ruled, wide ruled, planner. They're held in place by elastic cords, and you can probably get 4 slim notebooks in.

There’s also a couple of delightfully yellow/gold ribbons for keeping your place in your various notebooks.

Mine currently has a Lochby dot grid (love a dot grid notebook) and a MD Notebook Journal from Midori (also in dot grid, told you). One for work, one for notes, scribbles, novel planning, you get the idea.

Inside the front cover you have a slot for a spare notebook, a mesh pocket for... things? and a couple of other slots for business cards, post-its, and one is even big enough for a Field Notes book.

Back cover is just one big pocket which I use to hold the back cover of a notebook.

The handle on the spine is useful too - either for general carrying, or when you've got it open. Slip your hand through it and the cover is nice and secure when you're writing and don't have somewhere to put it down.

This thing is built like a tank, and it’ll last forever*

*probably

However, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. It’s not cheap, and if you’re used to super lightweight notebooks, this one might not be for you. But if you’re looking for something that’ll survive the daily grind, being thrown into a backpack, having coffee spilled on it (love that waxed cover), takes a bunch of notebooks, then I’d definitely recommend checking this one out.

Well, not this one. This one is mine, my preciousss.

Like the sound of it? Go see Stu and the gang over at Nero’s Notes. Tell them I sent you and say hi. They’re lovely.