Picturesque ancient Boscastle perches on the side of a small valley in north Cornwall. It is possibly best known for its long narrow harbour, a natural inlet at the mouth of the River Valency, protected by two stone harbour walls built in 1584 by Sir Richard Grenville. It is packed with history, from the remains of the castle that gives it its name – Boterelescastel (1302), to its old fishermen’s cottages. It has an industrial past, but is now a destination for tourists who come for its potteries, art galleries, the Museum of Witchcraft, views – and walking; the South West Coastal Path runs through Boscastle. It has associations with Thomas Hardy, who met his first wife, Emma Gifford, while working as an architect on the nearby church of St Juliot. Boscastle is ‘Castle Boterel’ in his 1873 novel, ‘A Pair of Blue Eyes’. Beneath Penally Point is a blow-hole known as the Devil's Bellows, which sometimes blows a horizontal spout of water halfway across the harbour entrance.

Severe flash floods in 2004, and to a lesser extent in 2007, turned roads into gushing torrents and caused considerable damage.

Most of the land is owned by the National Trust.

Ceibwr Bay is a relatively remote and tiny cove of rocks and sand hemmed in by tall cliffs. It is not a beach to swim from, but the scenery is wonderful and it is possible to spot dolphins offshore.  The coastline either side is wild and spectacular and it is well worth walking in either direction.  About a mile to the south of Ceibwr Bay is the popular Witches’ Cauldron sea cave.

North east of Molygrove.  There is limited roadside parking on the narrow road near Ceibwr Bay.  Post code approximate.

Exmoor National Park is in the north of Somerset and Devon and covers an area of 268 square miles (694 sq kilometres).  The Park was established in 1954 and the highest point is Dunkery Beacon at 1702 feet (519 metres).  It is a varied area of moorland, farmland, deep valleys, ancient woodland and high sea cliffs, tumbling into the Bristol Channel.  Kites and kestrels wheel overhead, otters can be found in the gushing streams, while red deer and ponies roam wild.  Man has left traces from prehistoric times and in the middle ages it was a royal hunting forest.  Today, picturesque villages and hamlets nestle comfortably in its folds.

It is also famous for the fictional Lorna Doone, and the Beast of Exmoor – an elusive creature which, if it exists, may be some form of large wild cat, like a cougar, released or escaped from captivity.

Principal settlements in Exmoor include Lynton and Lynmouth, Dunster, Porlock and Dulverton.

A concrete memorial near the beach between Deal and Walmer commemorates the landing of Julius Caesar and his invading army in 55BC, which allegedly took place nearby. However, the location of this great event, and Caesar’s more serious landing the following year, 54BC, is disputed. It is suggested that Caesar, who described his landing in graphic detail, actually came ashore a little further north, in Pegwell Bay. This, claims the experts, more accurately fits the coastal geography of 2,000 years ago. The remains of a Roman fort have also been uncovered near Pegwell Bay, now inland but close to where the coast would have been twenty centuries ago. Maybe the Romans landed at Deal first and Pegwell Bay later.

Anyway, we can still stand by the Deal-Walmer memorial and contemplate the Romans offshore, fearfully hesitant to get stuck into the screaming woad-covered Britons waiting for them on the shingle beach – until the eagle-bearer of the X Legion leaped from his ship and lead to way to battle – and victory.

At school, we used to recite, “Julius Caesar, the Roman geezer, conquered Britain with a lemon squeezer.” Just thought I’d mention it.

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park offers the romance of Britain's largest lake (will you take the high road, or the low road?), sea lochs, Rob Roy's cave(s), mountains, beautiful glens, forests and wildlife. And it's right on Glasgow's doorstep. The Trossachs is an area between Loch Lomond and Stirling, which includes lochs, hills, forests and villages. The Park was established in 2002 and covers an area of 720 square miles (1865 square kilometres) which includes 22 large lochs, 40 mountains over 2500 feet (762 metres) high - 21 are in excess of 3000 feet (914 metres) – 2 forest parks and its highest point is Ben More at 3851 feet (1174 metres).

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park is divided into four, distinct, areas: Loch Lomond, with all its romance, is the largest expanse of fresh water in Great Britain; the Argyll Forest, an area of peaks, glens, rivers, coast and lochs; the Trossachs, often referred to as ‘the Highlands in miniature’, just a short step from Scotland’s populous central belt; and Breadalbane, an area of the southern/central Highlands.  So, naturally, the Park is loved by walkers and climbers.  Or wildlife lovers wanting to spot osprey, red squirrels, deer or otters.  Or for sailing and canoeing.

Visit the romantic ruins of Inchmahome Priory, which gave refuge to the infant Mary, Queen of Scots, hunt out Rob Roy’s cave (there are two of them), check out the Faerie Hollow or lose yourself in a botanic garden.  And, yes, there are castles and country estates…

Principal settlements in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park are Balloch, Callander and Tarbet.