Author name: Cheryl Lucas

With temperatures rising in Europe, more of us are ditching the traditional summer beach break for the cooler climes of the mountains. Whether it’s hiking hut-to-hut in the wilds of Slovenia or a family holiday on an alpine lake in France, we’d love to hear about your favourite European summer mountain adventures. Tell us where […]

Lowther Castle, Cumbria In the dash for Cumbria’s lakes and fells, the area’s other green attractions can get missed. On Knipe Scar, at the edge of the Lake District national park, Lowther’s acres sprawl around the shell of a ruined 19th-century castle. Wildflower meadows, bee-friendly tree hives and rambling woodland contrast with a parterre, sculptured

Driving the back roads of Carmarthenshire in spring, beneath broad oaks, over little stone bridges and along stretches of fertile woodland, windswept peatland and flowery meadows, I was reminded of the rudimentary treasure maps I loved drawing as a child. The ones composed of contrasting, caricatured environments spaced neatly within the concise contours of a fictional island, say,

Gentle bird song and the soothing gurgle of water flowing over boulders wake me at dawn. The spring sun is not visible yet, but its pale-yellow light is catching the tops of the steep, tussock-clad valley where I spent the night. I am completely alone; it’s just me and my thoughts. These are the kinds

Silhouettes dart across a lake and the pale morning sky. Avocets screech high-pitched cries, defending their eggs from a squawking crow that circles above, while a barnacle goose with a barking call flies overhead. There are 12 of us watching and listening on a dawn chorus workshop at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) Slimbridge