Box Hill makes me think of Switzerland...

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. We do this in a bid to be less polluting and tackle climate change while at the same time keeping a global outlook. At certain times of year I hunger for mountains with their spring flowers, clean breezes and magnificent views. Here Nicola Baird hikes up Box Hill thinking it's a bit like Switzerland.

A ridge walk with a hilly view. Box Hill has everything Switzerland
has. Just imagine the motorbike roar as tinkling cow bells.

I love mountains, but I'm a bit scared of heights and cable cars. I don't even know how to ski. So what could be better than a day trip to a beautiful high point in the UK that makes you think you are in the clean mountain air of, say, Switzerland when in fact you are up at the top of 600ft Box Hill in Surrey. 600ft is a perfect height: it feels like you've gone up, but for anyone reasonably fit if

Pilgrim cycles - lovely place for a cuppa and cake.
And calls itself a "climbing cafe, without mountains".

Like Switzerland this area is well served by trains - I arrived on the Box Hill & Westhumble station to find a cycle shop renting bikes, selling maps and serving snacks in the lovely old booking hall. Pilgrims feels idiosyncratic which reminded me of the Swiss obsession for getting outside and doing Olympic type feats (eg, cycling an alp just to get a good cup of black coffee with a view). On my brief walk from the station to the down I was staggered by the number of people in lycra trying out the unforgiving hills that made up part of London's 2012 cycling course.

Not so quiet
Box Hill is a busy place. There are the cyclists, walkers, leisure drivers and scores of motorbikers (fortunately on ZigZag Road rather than the chalk tracks crossing Box Hill). It's managed by the National Trust which seems to do an amazing job keeping every interest group happy. There are cups of tea and fat slabs of cake at the hill top visitor centre; nature trails making use of the wonderful box trees (Mole Gap is where 40% of the country's wild box trees grow) and plenty of opportunity to fly kites, run trails or spot birds and butterflies. Obviously dog walkers love it too.

(4yo girl in angry tears): I want to climb a tree! 

25 mile views from the top of Box Hill.

You can try the strenuous four mile Juniper top walk or just take a stroll to Salomon's Lookout. This was far too busy when I turned up, but it does have amazing views over the Surrey Hills. I followed the steep path down the cliff edge (not realising it was a cliff until I looked back) to reach the famous Stepping Stones crossing the River Mole into Burford Meadow. Except it's spring and the water was too high to spot the stones (luckily there's a bridge too).

(9yo girl beaming as she puffed up the hill): You should see the mud!

Relief map: pale green is flat and dark green indicates steep slopes.

There are also all sorts military hardware on Box Hill - an old fort designed to save the British Empire but now beloved by bats. Far below it are 12 concrete pillars positioned to prevent tanks crossing the river and pounding to the summit. Excitingly I even came across a disused pillbox (fyi: type 24 infantry shell proof)when I got distracted off the main path by the wild garlic (it makes fabulous pesto) growing along the riverbank.

(20something woman): I feel so good after being outside all day. 

In any mountainous country there are inevitably tall tales of fierce people and beasts. But at Box Hill you have Labilliere's grave - the major who insisted he was buried head downwards in 1800 because he felt the world was changing so quickly and in such a topsy turvy way that one day he'd be the right way up... And there's also a Swiss Chalet, a Little Alp and Broadwood's Tower. This is storybook country with fab views. Do go.

(20 something man): I've done 23,000 paces...

OS Explorer 146: Dorking, Box Hill & Reigate
Over to you
Where else in Britain offers a great mountain-style view? Or do you have any ideas about where I can take my family to explore the world without leaving Britain?

Ways to ski in UK snow

This blog is about low-carbon family travel. Will it or won't it snow this year? With  Facebook friends publishing endless pix of far away spots where the snow is falling (from Serbia to Sheffield) how do you guarantee kids can have a taste of  Christmas holiday snow when it's not snowing where you are? Here Nicola Baird tries out snow in a snow dome.

Did the picture on the side wall fool you? It's easy to imagine
you are in the mountains, not Hemel Hempstead.

It's not just snowy weather that inspired me to write this post - there's also this amazing TEDx (teen) talk from ski fan Logan LaPlante who talks about how to hack life (ie, make cool changes). Worth having a look at too... here http://youtu.be/h11u3vtcpaY

I love the way snow messes up the UK - as kids we all long for it. As commuters we loathe it. As a mum I worry most about school ski trips. I've never skiied but I'd love to do so - it's just fiendishly expensive. However if you can collect the money together (and lots of schools give you as much as 18 months warning before a ski trip) the school ski trip is the way to let your kids have a taster. Mine are going to France and Italy in 2015 - both via coach.

Kitted up.

Turns out there are even better ways that guarantee snow and don't involve sacrificing the February half term or part of the two week Easter holidays... getting a taster session at a snowdome. The Snow Centre at Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire has two slopes - one looks huge, the other is a teaching slope. The centre offers lots of opportunities to learn how to ski and snowboard. You can hire equipment and buy it too. There's even the option of toboggan parties! And it's open all year - so you can learn to ski in the summer (when it's not going to be so crowded) or you can learn in the winter knowing there will be snow in the dome.

Kids can start snow lessons incredibly young - there are plenty of two year olds with snowboards at the Snow Dome. But my daughters joined a holiday class for 12-16year olds. It's nice to see them both trying something new together again as for a while that hasn't been possible. It's £55 for a two day course (two hours on two consecutive days) for 4-6 year olds and £99 for 7-16 year olds. There are good discounts for members though.

Lola

The verdict: learning to ski in the UK is still an expensive treat but the beaming smile on the kids' faces as they gradually learnt how to plough and slalom down the slope (so far without poles) was wonderful to watch. My motto is definitely becoming if you can give people the chance to learn to do a new skill, then do it! It was fun to watch their progress through the huge windows lining the Snow Centre's roomy cafe too - all in all a perfect ski taster which made me feel I could just have easily been in Andorra, Finland, France, Germany, Slovenia, Austria, Switzerland... or any of those fab skiing mountain resorts.

Nell

Travel tips: Take the train to Hemel Hempstead. A taxi from the station to the Snow Centre takes less than 10 minutes for the two mile journey and costs around £6 (it would take about 40 minutes to walk). And don't forget that if you are going skiing in Europe you can book a train via voyages-sncf.com thus avoiding the hassle of a plane or long car journey.

You can find Switzerland in the UK

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. Impossible? No. This post gives a few tips on how to find Switzerland in Derbyshire and the Lake District - or simply just stick to reading Frankenstein. Words from Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).

Swiss fast food: try making fondue (approx 200g of a cheese like gruyere and emental per person). Serve the Swiss way with small cubes of bread, cooked potatoes and cherry tomatoes.

How could Switzerland with its views of vines on the hills above luminous blue lakes and away to the sublime, often snow-capped mountains ever be mistaken for the UK? I didn't think it was possible until I read Mary Shelley's famous horror story Frankenstein.

Frankenstein - written by Mary in a competition with Lord Byron (and others) to see who could write the best ghost story while both were resident in a very rainy Switzerland - is a really scary book. If you aren't moved by words, then you should jump at the film. I've been woken twice by nightmares since trying to read it ready for my book group's discussion in September. But in Chapter 19 there are suggestions of places in the UK you can go in order to get that Swiss feeling of awe inspiring landscape, with something a little bit dodgy coming up behind you...

Try Matlock in Derbyshire or the Lake District.

"The country in the district of Matlock [when it was a village] resembled the scenery of Switzerland; but everything is on a lower scale and the green hills want the crown of the distant white Alps which always attends on the piny mountains.." There's even a cave similar to ones at Servox and Chamounix." 

"In Cumberland and Westmorland I could almost fancy myself amount the Swiss mountains. The little patches of snow which yet lingered on the northern sides of the mountains, the lakes and the dashing of the rocky streams were all familiar and dear sights to me..."

Both quotes from Frankenstein, chapter 19.

Like the UK Switzerland insists on using its own currency - Swiss Francs - rather than Euros. The landlocked state is also insanely expensive, so being willing to put up with a little less snow on your mountain views in the Lake District could be a wise investment!

Over to you
Let me know where you've been in the UK that's reminded you a little of Switzerland.

London with more dash than cash

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. Impossible? No. In this post the family is on the hunt for cheap London entertainment after discovering the public toilets by the London Eye can only be entered for 50p... Words from Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs). I also publish an interview every week with people who live or work in Islington at islingtonfacesblog.com - there's a prize for the 100th follower.

London Eye fabulousness.

I'm lucky to live in London so have an endless variety of exhibitions, shows and trips to enjoy. However it's an expensive city - one of the world's most expensive cities, along with Oslo (Norway), Geneva and Zurich (Switzerland). We may not have run away inflation, like Zimbabwe had until recently, but my income is modest so day trips have to be planned carefully.
Result: lots of opportunities to explore all that London has to offer for free (not just museum, gallery and the Royal Festival Hall's free toilet facilities!).

This weekend a friend was celebrating her 50th birthday in a lovely way. Her husband had organised groups of friends and family to surprise her at various London sightseeing hot spots. I was particularly lucky to get a trip on the London Eye. It was a glorious sunny day and the half hour in the pod whizzed past as presents were opened and the Emirates stadium, Wembley, Crystal Palace mast, Ali Palace, Parliament and the MI5 building spotted... And then we said goodbye and off Debora went to her next appointment at the V&A gallery.

Find this tiny police station in Trafalgar Square - allegedly made from a hollowed out street light.

Inevitably I felt a bit low back on ground, so perked myself and my two daughters up by going to see London's smallest police station (installed in 1926 to enable one policeman to keep an eye on the demos happening in Trafalgar Square). It is a only a short - but stunning - walk across Hungerford Bridge from the London Eye and then past Charing Cross to Trafalgar Square. We took photos and tried to guess how many super-slim police officers could fit into this police box. Still at least it keeps the wind and rain off, and made my children dance around looking for Sherlock Holmes. 
As for the cost to look: zero pence.

We were then lured into the National Portrait Gallery where there's David Bailey's self-curated Stardust exhibition. Even for the £16 ticket it's incredibly popular... definitely worth gawping at the queue to see if you can spot a celeb. Once tired of that, aim to fit in a 30 minute-gallery talk (on saturdays at 12 noon) in front of a painting. You'll be given a stool and then hear an expert tell you its history, context and all sorts of gossip about it - and always for free. We found out about James 1/James VI's very strange interest in witches and how his booklet about them, and insistence that communicating with a witch should be a capital crime, inspired Shakespeare's Macbeth. I think it's lucky for James that he is better remembered as the man who made sure the Bible was provided in English rather than Latin. However I now understand why his witch-mania led to him being dubbed "the wisest fool in Christendom", a fact that I'm sure will be useful for pub quizzes...
Cost for a half hour history talk: free.

In the UK lots of secondary schools teach Geography or History for GCSE - it depends on the timetable. So if you feel you (or a child in your care) is missing out on history I reckon a cheap day ticket to London to Trafalgar Square area could be a rich investment in historic learning. If you bring some sandwiches and eat them in nearby St James' Park then that's a free day out. Enjoy.

Where do apricots grow?

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. Impossible? No. Here I have a look at how to grow exotic fruits in the UK - and consider a fruit tour.... Words from Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs). I also publish an interview every week with people who live or work in Islington at islingtonfacesblog.com - there's a prize for the 100th follower.

Can you grow exotic fruits in the UK? What would a fruit tour be like?

Peach tree in my garden - not looking too bad,
but it has struggles with peach tree curl and
in the winter when I cover it for frost protection
the fleece gets regularly blown off.

Apricot jam sounds English doesn't it? But years ago, after a trip to the north west corner of Pakistan I learnt that the best apricots are actually from Hunza orchards. This info remained unchallenged for two decades until I discovered that in certain cantons of Switzerland apricots are sold on roadside stalls and home brewed apricot liqueurs are popular. These two countries seem so far away that they'd be unlikely to have a reputation for the same fruit - although admittedly both specialise in super peaks.

Now I've discovered that there is an apricot capital in the UK, well a place in the flat lands of Northamptonshire called Aynho but known as "Apricot Village". I'm told you can spot an apricot tree growing up cottage walls or free-standing in most of the village's front gardens ... and the fruit grows beautifully thanks to the stony, sandy soil. Aynho isn't too far from Banbury, Oxon - or the amazing Aynhoe Park which can be hired for expensive weddings.

Over to you
Next time you buy some apricots will you be reading the small print to find out where they come from?

Best things to do in London. Ever.

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. Impossible? No. This post is in praise of London - fabulous to visit and a fine place to live too. Could you mark it on the country cookie?Words from Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my eco-friendly books and blogs).  


Since 2007 I've been visiting curious places in the UK that remind me of another country. Usually they are a fabulous place to visit in their own right too. As I've wandered around my home I've started realising, that, for all sorts of reason many people in London are nervous of moving out of their postcode. This is a tremendous shame - and it isn't always to do with cost. Here's a list my 11-year-old Nell and I put together as the absolute best things to do in London, for yourself, with or without visitors. Most also offer a lot of fun for children.


#1 Walk around London
TIME the Capital Ring is 170 miles - how long have you got?
COST Oyster card and Family & Friends Railcard keep the prices down.
WHERE IN THE WORLD peeps into all sorts of places including Switzerland.
VERDICT achievement of walking the whole way around London is off the rating. Plus you get to see parts of London you'd never expect to visit - miles away from hip Hoxton, Camden and the City.
ALTERNATIVE could you join a sponsored walk or bike ride around a London park or over the many bridges crossing the Thames? Lots of 5km park runs are organised - though I love hash-house-harriers.

#2 Tour of Highgate Cemetery (West)
TIME one hour precisely (check website)
COST children £3 (8 years and up); adults £7
WHERE IN THE WORLD this is the other world - rated by the Victorians as the most magnificent of the magnificent seven cemeteries ringing London. Hammer Horror has filmed here. There's an Egyptian burial chamber family vaults at the Circle of Lebanon.
VERDICT dappled 20 acre woodland site filled with atmospheric and historic graves. Your camera will love this stop off.
ALTERNATIVE Go and see Marx's huge stone head memorial in the East Cemetery, which is open more often.


#3 Dickens Pub Crawl (suggest this is child free!)
TIME several evenings (avoid weekends as the City shuts)
COST ££ pubs aren't expensive, but inhibitions may disappear
WHERE IN THE WORLD feels like Restoration London. Parts of it look like it too, especially on the edges of Fleet Street.
VERDICT simple solution to what to do tonight.
ALTERNATIVE just think of a Londoner and concoct your own pub crawl. Douglas Adams of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy must have drunk somewhere in his home beat of Islington... George Orwell was up in Hampstead... etc. See info on CAMRA London pubs here.

#4 End to end on the #19 bus
TIME Finsbury Park to Battersea (or vice versa)
COST Oyster card and Family & Friends Railcard keep the prices down.
WHERE IN THE WORLD See the Algerian cafes with mint tea, black coffee and sweet cakes around Finsbury Park's Blackstock Road; then through Angel (where the Monopoly Board game was dreamt up at the building now used by the Co-op Bank); past Dickens Museum, along Shaftesbury Avenue and Theatreland; past Green Park and Hyde Park (green oasis in the city); past Harrods (the rich person's mecca, perhaps a little taste of Dubai?); then on to Sloane Square and Kings Road (quintessentially English) and over a pink-painted bridge (San Francisco?) with Battersea Park and the Japanese Peace Pagoda on your left. 
VERDICT marvellous - and a good route for unaccompanied (sensible) children/teens as there's plenty to spot.
COUNTRIES: Algeria, Japan, UAE, USA, 
ALTERNATIVE: any end to end bus route that suits your lodgings.



#5 London's skyline from Ali Pali
TIME don't rush this one, take the day and if you've got visitors from the tropics give them a go at the vast ice skating rink.
COST £20 max but just as good free if you opt to stroll and feast your eyes. There's a cafe in the adjacent park that sells the best coffee while the owner sings opera (not open on mondays).
WHERE IN THE WORLD peeps into all sorts of places including Switzerland.
VERDICT Gorgeous park, mighty view.
ALTERNATIVE: £££ on the London Eye. Or look at the view from Parliament Hill or Kenwood House, both on Hampstead Heath.



#6 Kew Gardens in spring (any time is a treat, even when raining as lots of heated greenhouses)
TIME this is a day trip
COST it's free for children, but adult tickets are £££. You'll need snacks/ice cream/hot choc depenidng on the season.
WHERE IN THE WORLD rush to the hot houses for Tropical scents, info and warmth.
VERDICT never knew you could learn so much from a park walk. Ideal for a mixed age group (oldies can use the "train" and meet up at a cafe when the energetic have worked up an appetite running from the Japanese pagoda across to Kew Palace via a few plants...



#7 Big Ben
TIME not long, this is a neck stretching exercise. Get to Westminster tube and look up
COST nil
WHERE IN THE WORLD just think of the chimes on the World Service and you can spirit yourself anywhere.
VERDICT this is an iconic bit of British life. I try to give visiting children a sticker book, or get them to make their own of the interesting things they see in London. Big Ben is also very close to Trafalgar Square with all those cute stone lions...



#8 Take a Boris bike to a theatre show
TIME use these bikes carefully - short hops are cheap, keeping them all day makes the price rocket.
COST £££ for the theatre unless you really don't mind sitting in the Gods (very hot in summer)
WHERE IN THE WORLD London
VERDICT you should have a fab time, whether you pick something cerebral or a musical, or even more populist like Stomp (energetic dance). 



#9 Cup of tea at the V&A museum (ideally on Sunday when there's a pianist)
TIME about an hour
COST ££ (find the right cafe, you need it to be totally over the top tiled, with a massive chandalier. Easier to find if you enter via Exhibition Road).
WHERE IN THE WORLD this is history - you're surrounded by Victorian clutter, but it's grand.
VERDICT memorable space, though the acoustics make it hard to hear your companions!
ALTERNATIVE: Sir John Soane Museum, near Holborn - just as much clutter, but no chance of a cuppa. If you time it right you'll get to see Hogarth's famous Rake's Progress revealed in a room that has paintings hung double on its walls.





#10 Walk on the Southbank with lunch at Borough Market
TIME all day, traffic-free route. Mon-Wed lunch only. Thurs-Sat full market. 
COST potentially zero, but Borough Market has tasty offerings
WHERE IN THE WORLD peeps into all sorts of places including Switzerland.
VERDICT the London landmarks are out in force including The Globe (Shakespeare plays), Tower Bridge and loads of big art galleries.
ALTERNATIVE: any city boasting a big river now seems to have a riverside walk used for galleries, festivals, stalls etc. London's isn't the best (Brisbane, you win!), but it's still an amazing pleasure and think of the landmarks you're going to tick off.


Over to you
What places would you rate as 10 of the best in your town? (Happy to get one idea, three even better).

Feeling Ouchy (near Lausanne)

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. Impossible? No. This time a book in French provides a wonderful family project - and the surprising news that Charles Dickens was friends with a great great great uncle when he was living in Switzerland. This post is by Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about books and blogs)   

The research for this piece led to a Guardian published article in october 2014, How I found my secret Swiss roots, see here

A couple of Christmases ago I organised for a book written in French by my great great aunt Anne Van Muyden-Baird (1855-1945) to be rebound. Anne (see pic sidesaddle above) grew up in a lovely villa, Bellerive by Lake Geneva, Switzerland. The village is called Ouchy (you need to say this in a very French accent, it shouldn't sound like you hurt yourself). Then I gave it to my mum. Two years on mum has translated the rebound book into English and printed 29 copies for members of our family as a unique present.

Like Lausanne, Ouchy used to be full of expats, including many retired ex-colonial solders, although Anne's parents were Swiss-Irish. The book was published in Lausanne in 1943, two years before Anne died at the mighty age of 90. In it she describes her young life (1855-1880) growing up in a world I know as history.


While wars spread across Europe her parents are able to pop to Florence for a ball, and wherever she visits there appears to be an Emperor (French, Italian, Austrian!) to put a pretty crinoline on for, or goggle at as they pass in a coach.

Friends with Dickens
Anne often recalls her adventures with all her de Cerjat cousins (who raised her father after his parents both died) and lived close by in various villas - Fantaisie; Montchoisi and Bellerive. At one stage Charles Dickens came to stay at Lausanne and rented a pretty "dollshouse" villa, called Rosemount, which shared a driveway with Bellerive. While at Rosemount Dickens wrote Dombey and Son (here's the free ebook link). Not surprisingly, given how close they lived, the de Cerjat uncle (William Woodley de Cerjat) and Dickens' family became friends. Anne recalls this story:

"The entrance to the house at that time was in the centre and it was necessary to go round to it on arrival and the ground was treacherous. The coach used was always a sidecar pulled by a single horse. We were waiting one day for the Dickenses to arrive for a meal; suddenly... cries... we went to look; the sidecar had turned over, trapping the Dickens family, who were lying on their backs with their feet sticking out of the windows calling for help!"

Anne also remembers (p29) that: "after Dickens left Lausanne, he and my uncle remained close and corresponded. The letters of the celebrated English writer were without doubt full of wit, and my cousins said that their father shut himself up for three days at a time to put together the ideas for letters to his friend which were worth reading."

The old lady's words ought to be enough, but I was very excited to cross-reference this in the biography of Charles Dickens by Peter Ackroyd (p523-524). Ackroyd calls the de Cerjats "a rich but artistic and philanthropic couple..."

Things change. Money gets spent. And Bellerive was sold and is now IMD business school where you can be Chair of Coca Cola lecturing and orchestrate performance improvement (picture above is how it looks now - huge!). But it is wonderful to know that I don't have to define my past ancestors entirely as a hunting, shooting, fishing set. It also seems that a great number of them were also bi-lingual or tri-lingual - skills that completely impress me. Perhaps one day we will visit Switzerland and tour Ouchy. After all Nell, my nearly 11 year old, does want to go on a yeti hunting mission although I think now all she'd find in that area is the super rich. And the Swiss trains are renowned... Nowadays Ouchy is allegedly THE place to go for rollerskating and skateboarding - as well as a stunning view of France across Lake Geneva.

Here are photos from one hotel I found that gives a taste of what those villas, that were once family homes, were like.

A special thank you to my friend Helen Burley who roughly translated Anne's story in 2009 over a long breakfast at my house when the book was falling apart. The experience provided enough hints (and not just info about 19th century hair styles) that this was a fantastic story and the book deserved to be rebound despite the £40 price tag for repair! By chance there's even a book binder in a road near me, see here.

The actual book translation was done by Fiona Baird and Anthony Parish.

Ouchy mon village by Anne Van Muyden-Baird is also available on the web (slightly puzzling with a 1989 French reprint edition made in Switzerland available on the web here). The story of who else is interested in this lady, may well be a future post. Do let me know if you've got some clues - or have made a similar exciting family discovery.

The Alps are crowded... near Woolwich

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. Impossible? No. Here's how to get that crowded Alpine feeling in a London meadow. This post is by Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about books and blogs)   

I've written about walking the Capital Ring on a recent post, but on this weekend's bid to complete the 75-mile footpath the author Colin Saunders made me laugh with a photo captioned: "You could imagine yourself transported to the Alps as you approach the mountain hut at the top of Oxleas Meadow." 

I was looking forward to this, not least because it means I don't need to pop over to Beckton to climb the old waste spoil site from the gas works, better known as the Beckton Alps (for more good ideas about trips around London, low and high points see this interesting blog).

So when we did reach the famous view of the cafe - as you can see from my photo - it really did look like the Alps at its busiest as there were 150 walkers taking a breather at the top of Oxleas Meadows. In theory it's a good place to stop - one of the highest spots on the Capital Ring footpath boasting views over South-East London and away to the North Downs. It's just normally there aren't so many people here in kagouls and backpacks. We'd let the walkers surge in front of our modest group of four as I picked up a dog poo at the top of the wooded hill that winds down and then back up to the so-called mountain hut.

We thought we'd lost them. But even in "mountains" that are almost offering a Swiss/Italian/Austrian/Slovenian/Croatian/Bosnian/Servian/Montenegran view (see map below) this isn't easy...

I love walking, and I love everyone else walking - but crucially walkers aren't allowed to walk at the same time as me! This is a family failing: my dad was such a misanthropist that we only really went out on long walks when it was raining hard. I'll never forget the wet Sunday when this unluckily coincided with a sponsored walk (of hundreds of ramblers) heading in the other direction. How my Dad cursed them!



On this occasion I got so panicked by the crowds (fearing we might be associated with them) that I managed to fall into a muddy ditch, and lose the dog lead. I managed to find the lead but when I returned to where Nell had been guarding my rucksack was told that another dog had just come up and wee'ed over it. Lovely. And then somehow Nell's hot chocolate (fortunately cooling) got tipped over our dog...

No wonder my kids were laughing at the self-inflicted misfortunes caused by my fear of being made to step along with a crowd.

Over to you
Are there places you love but don't go to when the weather is good, simply because you too loathe the crowds, or change of atmosphere? Or is this just silly?

World food

Pete, Nicola, Lola and Nell love to travel with as small a carbon footprint as they can. Here's how they will enjoy world food this September. Post by Nicola

It's nearly the end of Ramadan and some of the mums (many with connections to Bangladesh, Somalia, Tukey and Nigeria) at my younger daughter's school are clearly looking forward to their long month of fasting to finish. There should be a big party in many homes for Eid Marabuk sometime this week - maybe wednesday, or thursday - definitely Friday (it all depends on the moon, and no doubt other details). I just wish someone would ask me to one of these celebratory parties as this will be a brilliant celebration feast.



Harvest festivals - and this year Ramadan - show that religions are clever at using our love of food as a spritual in, and an opportunity to thank too. But the UK has genius (often secular) food traditions - not just our fried breakfasts - and despite all our supermarket addictions it is hard not to miss the best autumn seasonal treats. Right now I'm loving blackberries, Conference pears, damsons, greengages, plums, cobnuts and the few grapes my one-year old vine kindly produced.



Obviously you can enjoy these treats on your own, but another way is to go to a food festival like Brighton and Hove which promises a chance to "taste the world" between 1 September and 7 October, neatly including the nationally celebrated local food week with a celebratory picnic at Preston Park on 25 September, from 11am-4pm. There's even a Regency Banquet - with dresses as sumptuous as the dishes, perhaps with even a few Indian courses given the look-East outlook of the time.



A quick look at the fascinating website of Common Ground (art merged with local distincitiveness) shows that 3 September was the opening of the oyster fisheries in Colchester, a tradition dating back to the 13th century. As you probably know tradition decrees that oysters can only be fished/eaten when there is an R in the month. This year Colchester's Mayor - a confirmed landlubber - caused outcry by doing the gin and gingerbread ceremony (yes, I know it sounds strange...) on dry land rather than a boat. She seems to have done it well though and the oysters can now be served up again.



More worryingly all blackberries are meant to be picked by St Michaelmas Day which this year is 29 September - after that the Devil has either spat on them or done something unspeakably horrible - so you have been warned. I have an Italian friend who says blackberries are considered unlucky throughout Italy making it a brilliant place to pick these delectable fruits. (And if you've got kids they are also a brilliant non-toxic face paint!).



But cutting back on your jam and blackberry and apple crumble supplies (assuming you've stocked up the freezer) does give you time to enjoy apple day and all the picking, preserving and juicing that goes with it on 21 October.



I am sure every nation has moments of food glut - the season of mangoes in the Caribbean, sardines in the Mediterranean, rich cream from Swiss cows, tumeric wherever spices grow - which you learn to love as a child and anticipate as an adult. Enjoy your autumn tastebuds and if you can't make it to a festival like Brighton's (or somewhere more local to you) you can always create your own special nature's larder celebration at home. Cheers!

Perfect mountan hideaway

Pete, Nicola, Lola and Nell love to travel but stay off planes to keep their carbon footprint down. Here's how they satisfy their passion for travel

The Wasdale Head Inn looks like a tiny white Lakeland cottage nestling in the flat green valley below the big mountains that ring it. But it's a mecca for anyone passing through this valley thanks to its micro-brewery, rooms and self catering apartments and a walkers/climbers equipment shop. As we stomp through the rain – Nell slithering in wellies as her feet have suddenly grown – the word INN in huge font gets pleasingly nearer... We will be happy here, no doubt.

And we are – the first day it's good enough weather to see that only the tops are in cloud – so we set out to climb Lingmell. There's a pretty walk along Moses Trod (good name eh with hints of tradition, poetry and anticipation?) with the river on the right but as we climb up the hillside it's obvious that we are approaching from an awkward angle. Quick change of plans and we swerve left and up the fell to the place where four paths cross. Here, there's a teeny tarn the kids start throwing rocks into (not sure this is a good thing but they are happy and recharging) while I look around for a mountain to climb. Eenie, meenie, minie, mo... There's so many tops we could be in the Pyrennes, Alps or Nepal...

Most people go up Scafell Pike (England's biggest) but we are so close to Great Gable here – it's top is just 300m up which is an hour long staircase climb. Or something like that, and soon we huff and puff ourselves to the top, which is a bit cloudy cheating us of the stunning Wasdale Head view we should have. Not that it matters at all – the kids have climbed their second big mountain – and the views as we descend Great Gable are sublime. Even when the cloud wafts out the big picture Nell is enchanted by being inside cloud. It's like flying, but more DIY.

The next day Pete walks off his stiffness by doing five tops, Pillar etc, up the other, less crowded valley, and we all celebrate with chocolate cake and pasta when he makes it down: contented albeit 50. A proper happy birthday to be alone in the mountains contemplating...

The Wasdale Head Inn is not a chi-chi place. It's the birthplace for British climbing so is filled with climbing memorabilia – ice picks, photos of men in tweed and weather reports. It feels very male with its wooden panelled rooms (and no hot water while we are there in our apartment), but it hums with anticipation and adventure, and we all want to go back soon.

Cold comforts

Pete, Nicola, Lola, 9, and Nell, 6, spent three happy months during summer of 2007 traveling around Britain. Now we’re home, but the travel bug is still there. Join us for the occasional sightseeing plus tips on how to shrink your carbon footprint. This post is from Nicola.

For the past few weeks I've been run down by a coldy virus but at last I've found the perfect repair food - Racalet, as served at Borough Market. Racalet is a Swiss cheese but in this dish the stall holders scrape melted lashings from a huge wheel of cheese on top of a heap of hot, roughly mashed potatoes and then add some baby gherkins (presumably as a sop to five-a-day demands). On a Saturday at Borough Market you have to queue to pay for this gorgeous concoction and then queue to watch it being cooked. Despite the grey weather I felt happily revived after a sit down with my plate of Racalet. Then I found a loaf of still warm organic walnut bread and carried it home warming my side as if it was a hot water bottle.

Farmers' markets may be popular but Borough Market is a foodie beacon noteworthy not just for being the oldest food market site in London and a huge draw to weekend strollers, tourists and hungry food afficianados but also because it is a charity run by a board of trustees who all live in Southwark. If you haven't been, you must. Though if you go on Saturday (rather than Thursday or Friday) don't expect to get tranced into a mountains and Heidi mood even with a dish of Racalet as the market is just too crowded to let your soul yodel off to Switzerland.

Was this Switzerland?

Nicola, Pete, Lola and Nell want to travel the world with a difference. We hope to get a taste of many countries without adding to climate change (with needless emissions from aeroplanes) or having to waste hours of holiday time in airport terminals. We hope our adventures inspire you to take a Grand Tour of your neighbourhood. This post is from Nicola (pic is of the gang on the last bit of Skiddaw, this time via Switzerland)

When William Wordsworth's Guide to the Lakes became a best seller he was supposed to be rather bad tempered that he'd managed to ruin the tranquility of the places he loved by sending tourists to all the best spots. Of course it was totally his fault - he argued forcefully that the Lake District mountains were a better colour, more favourable size and general artisitic appearance than the dramatic Swiss Alps (despite some of these mountains being twice as big). Thanks to him visitors to the Lakes liked to claim it was better than Switzerland. This is one of the reasons that Skiddaw is still sometimes dubbed Keswick's Matterhorn.