Down by the river in Richmond

Richmond has changed a lot since I grew up there but I still enjoy going back to catch up with family and friends. I always saw it as a pretty regular kind of place, where normal families went about their business and took it's pleasures for granted.



These days it's the kind of place that you can only afford to live if you have a well paid job in the city and is a favourite with business people moving from overseas with their families to spend a few years working in London.

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Camping in sunshine and showers - on the Gower in Wales

After the wet weekend camping in Cornwall last August, when our tent practically blew away and we had to decamp to a friend's holiday cottage, I'd vowed my camping days were over. Nevertheless, when my sister in law suggested a camping weekend together in South Wales, on the beautiful Gower peninsula, I took the optimistic view. In my imagination I was already basking in the sunshine with a view across the fields to the sea, nibbling on strawberries with a bottle of white wine chilling in the cool box.




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A Bluebell wood in Bristol

What could be more English than a bluebell wood in April? It's one of those things that marks the seasons like asparagus in May or strawberries in June.

We made a point last week of visiting a lovely wood on the outskirts of Bristol where the bluebells bloom at this time of year - but shh, don't tell everyone as it's a local secret.

It's a great place for a walk at any time of year and I've made a handy Google map to guide you to my secret haunt - but if you can't make it then take a virtual walk through the bluebells with me.

First park in the small car park at Abbots Pool. If you walk on down the track, you'll pass the lake where you can dabble and look for tadpoles in the springtime.


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A cycle in the Turia gardens - in Valencia

To get our bearings in the city we hired bikes in the old town at Do you bike, tucked down a side street in Barrio Carmen (€15 per person per day). Orange Bikes is also nearby but it was closed on Sunday and we also found an interesting small hire shop run by an English guy that specialised in Chopper bikes, but sadly not for children.

Following our man in Valencia and new friend Angel we wheeled our bikes through the narrow streets and alley ways to join the Jardines del Turia, once the bed of the river that flowed through the city, which was diverted in the 1950s due to regular flooding. It's now a big public park with a series of sports grounds, green spaces and childrens' playgrounds.


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