Just off the Horsforth roundabout in Leeds, there is a little gem of a place selling huge bunches of asparagus (three for £5). We walked with my father-in-law all the way from Pudsey, along paths and by meadows I never knew existed. Here’s where we ended up, and here’s what we did. I can’t even begin to describe how good this stuff...

What do you get when you take an old roll of wallpaper, some paint, and two little girls who like doing jumpy-bendy-flippy stuff? Gymnastics, painted, that’s what.  

Check your age category and group. Register and get your number perma-marked here… …and here. Find the transition area. There are lots of marshalls around to help. Get the talc out. Lay out your top, towel and trainers (liberally talced). Listen to the briefing. When the time comes, join your group poolside. Manage your nerves. Swim...

Snowed in? Us? When the heavy snow fell back in March, it was too good an opportunity to miss. We caught the train from Bramley to Walsden and stumbled over the hill to Todmorden, at times sinking up to our thighs in snow. On the way we found enormous icicles, had dramatic views over the Calder Valley, dug snow holes, slid down the snow bank at the...

Answer: tadpoles! I vividly remember collecting dozens of tadpoles to ‘grow on’ in a tank, when I was about 10 or 11. It was a complete disaster, because I didn’t have a clue what to feed them. They all died, and I felt so bad about my lack of tadpole husbandry skills ever since that I’ve never dared try again. But that’s...

Three-quarters of UK teens are worried about how global warming will affect them – and people elsewhere in the world, according to a Unicef survey. They want the government to take action and show strong leadership. That same government, has of course been busy drafting new national curriculum guidelines that will remove discussion of climate...

When nature just isn’t as interesting as a facial experiment.

“Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.”  ~ Unknown

…to the seabirds at Flamborough Head.