How to Make the Most of the Outdoors During COVID-19

1. Get your camera out

Early morning walks have been all the more exciting, when I have been taking my camera to film a few seconds of footage or capture a few close-up snapshots of the plants and natural forms in my local park. However, it could be absolutely anything! If you aim to capture a one-second film or a photograph per day, by the end of the week, you will have a portfolio of seven different photographs and/or film snippets, unravelling your story for the week! You will be amazed how the change in the weather, can create a versatile range of effects, from a dramatic, rain-drenched bridge to a golden-hued daisy drifting in the wind.

2. Plan a route & mix it up

It is amazing how there are places that we live so close by to, but have never had the time to stop, notice and explore them... until now! Plan a route. Aim for a 'landmark' to focus your journey towards. It could be an old shop, a statue, a tree, a bridge or something that has caught your interest that you have never had the time to pay closer attention to before.

3. Go on a sketch walk

Take a sketchbook with you and a few pencils, biros, crayons or whatever you have to hand and start making a series of 15-minute sketches each day of people, places, or things that catch your interest. At the end of the week, watch how the your sketch walk journey unfolds!

4. Go out for ice-cream

Go on an ice-cream-run and buy ice-creams for you and your family to enjoy outside! What's not to like?!

5. Find a national park near you

In the UK, we are blessed with breathtakingly beautiful national parks, including: the Peak District, Lake District, Dartmoor, North York Moors, Yorkshire Dales, Exmoor, Northumberland, The Broads, New Forest and South Downs in England; Snowdonia, Brecon Beacons and Pembrokeshire Coast in Wales; and Loch Lomond and the Trossachs and Cairngorms in Scotland. Plan a hiking trip in one of these beautiful destinations and discover the natural beauty beyond your doorstep!

6. Set up a range of sports in your garden

From making your own goal stumps for an 'at home' football match with your siblings, to setting up a net to create your own badminton, tennis or volleyball court, to getting a frisbee out or a scarf to play limbo, there are a wide range of sports you could have fun with in the garden. If you want to go old-school, why not recreate 'Sports Day' with the iconic egg & spoon race, sack race, obstacle course, beanbag throwing and much more! You could thrown in some quirky alternatives such as wellington-boot-throwing, or paper-plane-gliding!

7. Exercise

Whether it's going out for a run, a walk or a cycle- simply getting out to exercise is another great way to soak up that Vitamin D!

8. Read a book

Reading a book outside is a refreshing and relaxing way to read a book you have always been meaning to read, whilst the world goes by.

9. Be a tourist in your local area

Maybe it's that local museum you went to on a school trip when you were 8-years-old or going to a local bakery that you have never set foot in to try the 'local produce'- step outside and explore your local city, town or village from a new perspective!

10. Make a list

Create a bullet-point list or spider diagram of things that you would love to do, to make the most of the outdoors this summer! You will be surprised how much you will come up with!