Why not go for a walk in our countryside?

Whether your inclination is to a short stroll or a longer ramble, the local countryside offers a delightful mixture of tranquil rural vistas, ancient churches and other historic features.

A walk might allow you to trace the impact of human settlement over the ages, from iron-age forts to ancient field systems; grand houses to charming cottages and even memorials to significant people and historic events.

The rich tapestry of fields and coppice, wildflowers and grasslands rivers and lakes that characterise our landscape, are testimony to generations of human activity that have shaped the patterns of settlement over the centuries. Such settlements, some now long-abandoned, have left their legacy in the humps and bumps in the fields you will walk across and the lanes and bridges that feature on the way.

In England we are remarkably fortunate to have an extensive network of footpaths which make such rambles possible. Built up over the centuries as local people walked to neighbouring farms and villages, these paths are a precious legacy for which we owe thanks to those campaigners who fought to preserve them.

But our countryside is not set in stone; rather it is continually changing as new farming practices, the need for new homes, the spread of solar farms and the impact of climate change combine to challenge our precious rural vistas.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has been at the forefront of efforts to ensure a good future for our countryside for one hundred years. As we celebrate the centenary of CPRE in 2026, it is good to recall the major role that it has played over the last century in campaigning for, among many other achievements, the establishment of National Parks, the Green Belt and Town Planning laws.

Nowhere in England exemplifies better the beauty and heritage of our countryside than Gloucestershire. Whether your walk is in the Severn Vale or the Forest of Dean, the Cotswold Hills or the valleys and lakes, you will be prompted to reflect on the priceless legacy of rural tranquillity and beauty that we have inherited from our forebears.

So, if you can, please join CPRE Gloucestershire and help us continue our work of protecting that legacy for future generations to enjoy.