Walking England's Rural Canvas

A brand new walking holiday- from a founder’s perspective

  A new walking holiday is always exciting for us all here at Foot Trails. And Journey Across the Cotswolds is the latest in our collection. Making a walking holiday involves a process which begins some considerable time before we are ready to announce anything publicly. Meeting with my team we decide the location and [...]

Sense of Adventure in Oxfordshire’s Windrush Valley

I am writing on route to Oxfordshire’s Windrush Valley on a glorious sunny June day. Here, with the children helping us, David and I will be putting together a short trail for guests to enjoy. There is an air of expectation. Driving through Wiltshire’s countryside the landscapes whizzing past the glass windows are bursting with [...]

An evening in the bluebell woods

This photograph was taken last weekend in wild bluebell woods in Wiltshire. It was one of those magical and memorable evenings. Memorable because of the atmosphere and the light. There were frequent bursts of the sort of bright piercing sunlight that appears like a surprise from behind the clouds and delights you each time, lighting [...]

Channel 4 Green and Pleasant Land

Please stick with me, this post is a little longer than usual. (May I suggest a nice cup of tea as you read?) I strongly recommend the new Channel 4 TV features within the evening news program, Green and Pleasant Land. There have been a number of films to date which are examining and looking at [...]

May day – more than meets the eye

It is the 1st of May. Did you know that today is May Day. And it is my pleasure to talk about and encourage the celebration of this wonderful English day. A day which has its roots deeply embedded in country legend,folklore and English history. The celebration of May Day as a festival goes back to pre-Christian times. A time when people believed [...]

The first bluebells…hurrah!

Taking my children to school yesterday I saw the first bluebells of the season in flower in the woods. Ah my heart soared instantly! There is something special about the bluebell which brings smiles to faces and a sort of sigh, to people’s voices and a dreamy eyed look to their faces. There are certain [...]

Speaking at the Wire National Conference yesterday

I was hugely excited to be speaking as an inspirational speaker at the Wire (women in rural enterprise) national conference yesterday at Harper Adams University in Shropshire. For those who may not be familiar with Wire, it is a organisation set up to help support and encourage women in rural areas of the UK to create, [...]

On the air waves

Last week I had a great experience as I was invited to join BBC Radio Wiltshire for two different interviews during English Tourism Week. For the first I traveled to the South West of the county near Tisbury (a beautiful corner) to join Alan, the owner of a country pub I’ve worked with for ten [...]

Foot Trails and bluebells hit the headlines

Our fabulous new rural walking holiday for spring 2013, A Bluebell Trail, has certainly been hitting the headlines recently! A week or so ago, the travel editor of the Mail on Sunday recommended the new break to readers, and yesterday the Guardian included it in their top ten breaks to enjoy in the UK. If [...]

Inspired by BBC Countryfile

Did you watch BBC Countryfile last night? It was a special episode to celebrate the program’s 25th anniversary and was guest edited by Prince Charles. It’s available to those anywhere in the world via BBC I-player if you missed it. The program has done a fantastic job in raising awareness of rural issues in both [...]