Although I live in Manchester, a city not known for its access to green spaces, I’m within very easy reach of some of the most beautiful rivers and parks I have seen in the UK. I didn’t expect this when we moved here a few years ago, so it has been a very welcome gift this lockdown.

During the summer of 2020, the partners of the GP practice where I work built a garden as a 'thank you' to the staff for their efforts during the first Covid19 lockdown. It's a much valued sanctuary away from the stress of work and a temporary escape from wearing PPE. It gives us a chance [...]

It is interesting how quickly words change their meanings or acquire new ones. Until Spring 2020, 'lockdown' for me had something to do with prison dramas and security threats. Now it has only one meaning - having to stay at home for more hours a day than I care to, being unable to go to [...]

As lockdown eases in Cambridge, the winding medieval streets fill up again, narrow enough to warrant a new one-way system - enforced by slapdash signs spray-painted hastily onto the cobbles. The quiet fens, until recently the haunt of herons and the occasional egret, are filled with picnickers and punters, in numbers unheard of even in [...]

The Covid-19 crisis piggy-backed onto the climate and ecological crisis, demanding changes to my daily life as a GP, activist, mother, and daughter of an ailing nonagenarian. There have been times when connection with nature and exercising in green space has been not just a nice addition to life, but an essential therapy to keep [...]

When lockdown started, all my work as a keynote speaker vanished almost overnight. For a few days I felt lost, and not a little panicked. But then I realised that I had some valuable insights to share. I've spent up to five months alone at sea, so I've had to acquire strategies for dealing with [...]

Life changed dramatically and immediately in Australia on March 21st when the government imposed reasonably strict lockdown and social distancing restrictions. As a result of these restrictions, Australia seems to have been spared the brunt of the impacts of COVID-19.As it stands, the first two weeks of Winter in New South Wales have seen no [...]

During New Zealand lockdown, we were allowed to go out for exercise, as long as we stayed local. Without the cars, everywhere became a silent space. Everyone was sharing their relishing of this silence when they stopped to chat with random strangers. Wistful sigh! It was a golden time of community. It was also a [...]

Throughout the crisis I have felt incredibly privileged to live in a part of the country where you can go about your day to day business for hours without seeing another soul. My horizons are fells and big skies, dotted with small villages of tight communities. It has felt like the perfect place to weather [...]

Unlocking the padlock on the gate, a bit of apprehension. What will I find? Birds, unused to being disturbed, fly back into the hedges and trees. Each week it seems like nature is reasserting itself and growing uninhibited, basking in the glorious sunshine and taking over the spaces we usually try to control. Weeds growing [...]