Chalking them off

I’m sceptical about news stories you sometimes read of big black cats roaming the countryside. I was, however, tempted to don my boots for a hike I found on the internet titled In the Footsteps of the

■ Distance: 7¾ miles/12.5km ■ Time: 3½-4hours ■ Grade: Moderate

Three historic country houses in Yorkshire, a stone’s throw from the most northerly of Britain’s 16 white chalk horses, offer comfortable contemporary living and fascinating backstories

Starting on Christmas morning of 1964, residents in and around Warminster in Wiltshire heard a loud noise in the sky that they described as being like a loud clatter or crackling associated with a hum

Between a Constable resonating with Nature and a Castiglione blaring with turbulence, a picture by Algernon Newton captured the quietude of absolute stillness

Jim Perrin pens a paean to a famous place of threshold for climbers, equally beloved of coastal walkers: the cliffs of Gogarth and Holyhead