Town & Country

Whether you like your walks out in the wilderness or in the heart of the city, the coming week should keep you busy – with National Parks Week coinciding with Love Parks Week.

A popular annual celebration of the UK’s national park, the former offers hundreds of special events to encourage people to explore some of the nation’s finest countryside.  This year, the focus is on the diverse cultural heritage of people, places and traditions in stunning scenery from Scotland to the South Downs.

In Northumberland, for example, the National Park has joined forces with the award-winning museum of rural life – The Bellingham Heritage Centre – to offer families a holiday challenge with a Border Reiver Treasure Hunt*. The clue trail will take you to nine hidden historical gems, off the beaten track,  to discover the secrets of the past.

Elsewhere, with National Parks Week coinciding with the Festival of British Archeology, there’ll be historic re-enactments, kids activities and trails which explore the history of the nation’s parks – which is also celebrated online with a new map highlighting 30 ‘National Park Heros’ ranging from authors like HG Wells and James Herriot to poets, explorers, artists and campaigners like early feminist Joesphine Butler. For more information on what’s happening near you, visit www.nationalparks.gov.uk.

Back in the city, meanwhile, Love Parks Week offers the perfect excuse to get outdoors and enjoy the summer, with hundreds of events taking place in the UK’s parks and green spaces. The idea is to celebrate all that parks have to offer and campaign for the continued support for these valuable community assets. To find out what’s on, just visit the website – where you can also rate your local park, get involved and even register to organise an event.

*Participants are invited to follow the trail in any order to nine sites of the Border River Country in the North Tyne and Redesdale to answer a question located at each site.  When nine answers have been collected, participants go to the Bellingham Heritage Centre and, if all the answers are correct, they get a free family entry to the museum to find the final clue. The information desk will check each form and give each entry with ten correct answers a voucher for £5 to spend at local shops. A further £5 will be donated in the participant’s name to the Northumberland National Park Good Nature Fund for conservation projects, to balance motoring emissions and help keep Northumberland a low carbon National Park. Entry forms are available at the Heritage Centre, at TiCs or National Park information points or can be downloaded from www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk