Bee Lilyjones

I’m Debbie — but please call me Bee.

I’m a writer, naturalist, art curator (and somewhat accidentally) a community archivist and local historian, living in Cumbria. What began as a curiosity about the place I call home — its fields and footpaths, its people and patterns — has grown into something wider. The facts of a place, for sure, but also an attention to the details that make somewhere what it is.

I’m the founder of a small creative business called Before We Leave, which began with a question: what would it mean to truly know a place before we left it? Its history and landmarks, yes, but also the rhythms of daily life. The local knowledge and stories people carry. The small, easily overlooked details that make somewhere feel like home.

The name Before We Leave holds two meanings. It speaks to the leaving we all eventually do — whether we move away, or simply grow older. And it asks what we might leave behind: records, memories, connections that outlast us. This work began with one Cumbrian parish and a desire to honour it properly. But the question at its heart isn’t limited to one place. Every community holds stories worth knowing, and many of them risk being lost.

My work brings together curating, storytelling, and design. I work with individuals, families, community groups and parish councils to gather and shape fragments of history and lived experience into something meaningful. That might mean uncovering and writing the story of your house, helping you or your family preserve memories of a particular time or place, or supporting a parish or community group in building an archive. At other times, the work might take the form of an exhibition, or an anthology of place-based writing. But what emerges isn’t a finished report to be filed away but something that’s beautiful to look at that continues. I draw on a professional background in digital and visual work to help you build a living, evolving digital archive — something you can return to, add to, even carry with you wherever you are. What matters to me is not only gathering information, but shaping it: creating narratives that feel readable, grounded, and true to the place they come from.

At its heart, my work is about care and conscientiousness. About paying attention to where we are, and to each other. About noticing what might otherwise slip away, and creating something that remains not just as a record, but as a living connection.

If you’re thinking about documenting a place, a story, or a piece of your own history, I’d be glad to hear from you. There’s no pressure, and no need to have everything figured out.

Just a conversation, to begin with.