Arundel tulip festival

Wales on rails: a car-free break in Carmarthenshire It’s a quintessentially Welsh experience of castles, cockles and cawl when you explore the south-west of the country by train, bus and a new footpath opening this week

car-free Carmarthenshire www.theguardian.com/travel/2026/...

flowers and sunshine again for our annual walk from Bridport, where my mum loved, to the field on the Somerset border near Crewkerne, where she is buried...

blossom, birds and flowers in Bushy Park yesterday...

The new Country Walking magazine reminds me of some of last year’s favourite walks: through Oxfordshire bluebell woods, the Lee Valley in Hertfordshire, West Stow Country Park with its thatched huts, Ely in Cambridgeshire and the Hole of Horcum in N Yorks…

Rolling hills, rich heritage and great pubs: a car-free break in Leicestershire This picturesque corner of the East Midlands is a well-kept secret and it’s great for exploring by public transport

www.theguardian.com/travel/2026/...

flowers, food, great tube station architecture and museums along London's Superloop bus routes...

Kyiv zoo braves blackouts and bombardment to keep animals warm Staff are using stoves and generators to keep lions, camels and Ukraine’s lone gorilla safe from winter and war

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

spring flowers and even blue skies in the Beth Chatto garden in Essex...

Cable Street – Marylebone Theatre, London - The Reviews Hub Music and Lyrics: Tim Gilvin‍ Book: Alex Kanefsky Director: Adam Lenson‍ Far-right fascists blame immigrants for the country’s woes. Economic hardship and political disenchantment create room for extr...

my latest theatre review www.thereviewshub.com/cable-street...

Relieving the winter gloom yesterday with spring flowers at Osterley, lights at Canary Wharf and - finally - rousing, relevant musical Cable Street at Marylebone Theatre. www.marylebonetheatre.com/productions/...

Lovely weekend with friends in Norwich, exploring the newly-revamped castle, the cathedral and the Sainsbury Centre...

Two days of art across London with a museum café-crawl, including the V&A, the V&A East Storehouse, the National Gallery’s Radical Harmony exhibition and the Wallace collection…

The February issue of Country Walking is in newsagents now and with it some highlights of mine from a fabulous year of walking: the glorious Creswell Crags and Welbeck estate, gardens at Bowood in Wiltshire, the Norman castle and church at Orford, and coast path at Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire…

‘Waves break right on to the bus windscreen’: a car-free trip along County Antrim’s dramatic coast Three trains, two buses and a ferry take our writer from Essex to Northern Ireland, to enjoy wild swims, whiskey, sandy beaches and the Giant’s Causeway

my latest car-free coastal adventure for the Guardian www.theguardian.com/travel/2026/...

yesterday's walk: a grey squirrel, reindeer skulls, a wolf supermoon...

Wassail is celebrated in early January to wake up the trees in apple growing areas in South West England. The wassail cup enables orchard owners to offer refreshment when wassailers visit. Find this locally made wassail cup on the Multaka 'With These Hands' trail.

bit.ly/4ojhINP

‘A watery gold sunrise lights the turbulent water’: the wild beauty of the Suffolk coast Coastal erosion may threaten the area around Southwold, but a new ‘movable’ cabin makes a great base for exploring its windswept beaches, remote marshes and welcoming inns

‘A watery gold sunrise lights the turbulent water’: the wild beauty of the Suffolk coast

Stargazing in the Lake District: a new forest observatory opens in Grizedale There’s no shortage of stunning scenery and daytime activities in the Lakes. Now, an observatory is offering stellar nocturnal events too

A car-free Lake District adventure to visit the new observatory in Grizedale Forest www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/...

Heading into end-of-year mode and totting up the year's mileage. In 2025 I got 152 articles published, 1768 miles walked and 17 wild swims swum... Hoping for more of the same in 2026! Wishing everyone happy winter festivities. x x x x

January 2026 issue of Country Walking (out now) with four walks I did in the last year: snowdrops near Chippenham Fen (Cambs), rhododendrons in Sheringham Park, wooded Wimbledon Common and a beautiful heather-ringed loch in Aberdeenshire. Reminds me to start planning for the year ahead…

Amazing walk along the Sallagh Braes near Larne (Antrim)

About to get the night ferry to Belfast - here's a moonlit view across the Mersey...

Light show in Southwark cathedral

first visit to Rutland Water...

autumn leaves are lovely this year...

Beautiful day on the Dales Way in Cumbria...

The Shadow in the Mirror – The Mill at Sonning - The Reviews Hub Writer: Gerald Durrell Adaptor and Director: Dugald Bruce-Lockhart Unsettling, discordant music plays, underscored by strange inhuman sounds. Smoke drifts through uncanny shafts of light before a row ...

My latest theatre review - a spooky Halloween tale in the fabulous Mill at Sonning www.thereviewshub.com/the-shadow-i...

Yes, some strong flavours, but mussel curry tasted like a tub of curry powder and they couldn't even give us any bread to go with it all... not a fan. Overpriced wine, noise from downstairs... yes, all a bit odd.