Wordsworth the influencer

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

Ian McEwan is strolling through the garden of his Cotswolds manor house. Bees waft drowsily between wildflowers. Plump apples, pears and walnuts bauble the trees. Vibrant cerulean-blue damselflies hov

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

Marian Boswall finds a major design exhibition provocative and compelling

I’ve just returned from three magical days in the Lake District. Craggy mountains, mist over the fells, and the gentle hum of a Herdwick sheep or two. I stayed near Hill Top, once home to Beatrix Pott

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