Walking home

I’ve just read the February issue of

Country Walking and really enjoyed all the stories of how walking has helped people find happiness, health, adventure and friendship. It occurs to me that there is another benefit of walking that hasn’t been mentioned.

I grew up in Australia and came to live in Britain in my twenties. My family are English so I was familiar with the culture, but the landscape and nature (and, obviously, the weather!) felt very, very foreign. For me, walking was a way to discover the countryside and feel at home here. There’s something about walking that allows you to make the landscape part of yourself, and yourself part of it. It gives you a deeper connection to the place where you’ve ended up living, whether you’ve arrived here by choice or circumstance. And the friendliness of other walkers is a great reminder that this is still a welcoming country full of kind, helpful people.

I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that despite having been here for decades, I haven’t learned the names of many British plants. I can easily identify a jacaranda tree or a banksia, but I struggle to name even the most common native British plants. So my challenge for this year, as well as doing my 1000 miles, is to learn to identify at least 10 different trees, followed by 10 wildflowers and 10 birds. Being able to name things gives you more of a sense of competence and ‘ownership’ (and also more opportunities to either impress or bore your children on long walks!)

And my advice to anyone who’s newly-arrived in Britain? If you want to feel at home in this country, walk through it. Helen Phillips, Bristol