JB Smith goes searching for solitude in the forested folds of the Rhinogs – and finds himself falling under the spell of Eryri/Snowdonia’s quieter side

Not every gardener would look at a plot dominated by an impassable slope and think, ‘I can do something with this’, but Ruth Howell is one of them. In 2008, she and husband Peter, both professionals i

If we had to choose our “special place”, Andy and I would always choose Exmoor National Park. It’s a place we often escape to. Straddling the Somerset/Devon border, Exmoor’s coastline is littered with

We arrive at the top of High Cup Nick in the North Pennines. “It’s like the world starts just over there,” comments my friend Mark. He’s pointing down the U-shaped chasm of High Cup Gill, beyond whose

AS hotel names go, this one’s a little unusual. Across Church Street, where I’m standing in the Welsh Border town of Chirk, is the Hand Hotel. Parts of it date back to 1610, during the reign of James

(Photograph taken in 1888) As a family, we first stayed at Rothay Manor in Ambleside in 1953 and it was then that I had my first experiences in fell walking, trout fishing and negotiating the nearby s