Nk’Mip Desert Centre, Osoyoos, Canada In today’s non-stop world of digital input and 24 hour news, with people stuck for hours at a PC or almost permanently attached to a smart phone, many of us struggle to find time for ourselves. External pressures create stress and mental health issues are...

CFBA organisers Sue Coulson, Janett Walker and Sophia Newton – photo Victoria Sedgewick ‘I gotta feeling’ by the Black-Eyed Peas rocked out from the speakers as Sue Coulson, Janett Walker and Sophia Newton stepped onto the stage to announce the start of the very first Cumbria Family Business Awards. Sue, whose company,...

Razor-sharp beak pointing towards the sky, the blue-footed booby flaps its wings in a couple of wide-angled swooshes, then returns to preening its brown and white feathers. Its bright blue feet seem to be suckered onto the rock, never slipping as it grooms and turns about, having a good wash. Beside...

Relaxing beside Grasmere The stone hits the water with a splosh and rippling arcs curve further and further out towards the fells in the distance. Light peeks through darkling clouds as the weather god makes up his mind whether to shower Grasmere with sunshine or a wee bit more rain....

Brontë Parsonage Museum The ‘Pillar Portrait’, half way up the stairs of the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, says it all. The most famous sisters in the world gaze enigmatically into the distance, dressed in simple Victorian dresses, drab colours reflecting what might be perceived as their drab lives. They were...

Okanagan Lake Canada It was at delightfully named Peachland in British Columbia, that I knew I was hooked. Sitting on a folding chair, ham salad on lap, gazing out across tranquil Okanagan Lake, surrounded by mountains, the early summer sun shining, all was right with the world. Our motorhome waited...

David Hockney looking at a picture of fellow Yorkshireman Alan Bennett – photo Salts Mill You may have heard of, or even been to see, the new David Hockney exhibition at Tate Britain in London. One of this country’s most loved and respected artists, Hockney was born in Bradford in 1937,...