Making the most of your daily walk.

Well, we’re in lockdown again and maintaining our fitness is more important than ever. Thankfully, we are still permitted to go for our daily walks, although we should not travel outside our local area. With this in mind, what better time to explore the footpaths near you?

A daily walk is something I really look forward to. For those living on the south side of town, the Killams Open Space will be very familiar and we hadn’t gone far before I was reminded of the little children’s books, the I-Spy Spotters Guides, there were so many birds “to tick off the list”. Blackbirds were rooting around in the leaves, wrens chirping angrily on being disturbed, long- tailed tits in their little family flocks, and, if I had a pound for every robin I saw...well... there’d be many more pounds in the tea and cake fund.

It just goes to show that, in Taunton, we are lucky enough to find nature on our doorstep, and it makes a walk more interesting and educational for children if they have things to look for.

We continued our walk towards Haygrass which really gave the sense of being in the countryside proper with views of orchards and open fields. With the aid of an Ordnance Survey map you can find all the footpaths in your local area. For Taunton, this is the O.S. Explorer 128, available locally from Brendon Books who are offering a click and collect service during lockdown. ( www.brendonbooks.org )

Please follow the current legislation from gov.uk

Exercising: You should minimise time spent outside your home, but you can leave your home to exercise. This should be limited to once per day, and you should not travel outside your local area.

You can exercise in a public outdoor place:
• by yourself
• with the people you live with
• with your support bubble (if you are legally permitted to form one)
• in a childcare bubble where providing childcare
• or, when on your own, with 1 person from another household  

This includes but is not limited to running, cycling, walking, and swimming. Personal training can continue one-on-one unless everyone is within the same household or support bubble.

Public outdoor places include:

• parks, beaches, countryside accessible to the public, forests
• public gardens (whether or not you pay to enter them)
• the grounds of a heritage site
• playgrounds