Paddleboarding on the Menai Strait, Anglesey

While the Menai Strait has the reputation as a dangerous tidal channel, if you go with an expert (I recommend Sian Sykes, founder of Psyched Paddleboarding) with knowledge of the local area, in the right conditions certain stretches are sheltered and calm – perfect for paddleboarding.

Once on the board, start in a kneeling position, then stand up using the paddle like a supportive third leg of a tripod.

Soon you’ll be gliding past noisy gulls and manoeuvring around moored yachts as you head towards Beaumaris.

HAPPY VIEW

I am thoroughly enjoying the new BBC crime drama Bloodlands which is set in Belfast, partly because it’s really good (and I have a soft spot for James Nesbitt) but mostly because I get to see all the places I haven’t seen since the pandemic began.

SPACE INVADERS SPRINGING INTO ACTION

The good weather is definitely on the way and we are all starting to spend more time outside, and rediscovering our outside spaces again. So it’s time to dust off the deck chairs and water those plants for another garden party season.

When we are all able to go tavelling again, why not stay in a hotel which is literally out of this world. You will be able to book a room in 2027. I wonder what the rating will be one to five billion stars maybe?

The seeds of most outdoor spring-sown crops won’t germinate until the soil has warmed up to 7C, so be patient or start them off indoors.

Start chitting potatoes.

Have you pruned your shrub roses? It’s time to cut them back and cut out old or diseased stems.

You can help your soil heat up in the veg patch by using cloches. This can be as simple as a plastic bottle cut in half.

Early March is the time to prune summer and autumn flowering clematis.

Lift and divide hostas before they come into leaf.

Summer flowering shrubs, such as fuchsia, spiraea, perovskia, lavatera, buddleja, and deciduous ceanothus, like ‘Gloire de Versailles’, usually flower on new growth, so a good chop now will stimulate plenty of this.

Mulch shrub beds with well-rotted manure or compost organic matter to retain moisture and reduce weeds.

Lift and divide summer flowering perennials such as rudbeckia, hemerocallis, aster and heleniums.