Beautiful britain: a celebration of our land

The connection between nature and creativity comes in many forms. Here, artists, writers and musicians talk about the different ways in which they take inspiration from the outdoors - and share the places that fuel their imagination

The owners of a Cotswolds manor house have rekindled its centuries-old spirit and transformed it into a welcoming family home full of style and warmth

At the southern end of the Yorkshire Dales lie the ruins of Bolton Abbey, ingrained in my memory since I first marvelled at them as a teenager on a family outing. Using my simple, very limited Kodak B

I’ve wandered into an oil painting. In front of me is a millpond with a cream-coloured cottage at its edge and a froth of English greenery on its banks. The scene is unmistakable. Where my mind’s eye

PLACES TO GO, THINGS TO DO, IDEAS TO TRY

Fantasy author JRR Tolkien’s mythological Middle Earth takes inspiration from a number of places in Gloucestershire and the West Midlands. Tolkien frequently visited the Forest of Dean and its tempera