Before Covid, giving up flying was taking off. We need to get that momentum back

Interest in low-carbon living, including pledges not to fly, was high before the pandemic. After lockdown, we must not allow climate action to fall off the radarIt’s hard to remember what life was like before the pandemic hit. A year and a half ago, 2019 was drawing to a close with something like a promise. It had been the year of Greta Thunberg, Extinction...

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10 of the best places to see outdoor art in the UK: chosen by readers

Many a lockdown walk has been brightened by a piece of modern art. Readers pick their favourites, from seafronts and forests to more urban settingsConversation Piece – 22 bronze statues on Littlehaven beach in South Shields – is by Juan Muñoz and peers out over the sand dunes towards Herd Groyne lighthouse, the point where the River Tyne spills into...

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Born for fun: Hampshire’s Springsteen-inspired glamping site

No need to head to Dorset or Devon for quaint villages, walks and pubs – this west Hants site, now with revamped narrowboat, offers rural bliss without the crowds‘The Rat’s Sleek Machine” reads the sign on one of three parking spots just inside the gate. Though our battered Toyota wasn’t ever sleek, we know that’s our space, as we are to be the first...

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10 of Britain’s best arts festivals for summer 2021

Festivals are back to brighten up our lives, with events from Edinburgh to Brighton lining up live music, art trails, theatre and family fun, alongside virtual showsLast year was one of cancellations, postponements and digital reinventions, but this summer many arts festivals are hoping to go ahead. Most are planning an adaptable, hybrid format, with...

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Scotland to lift Covid restrictions ahead of schedule

Nicola Sturgeon says ‘Covid is in retreat in Scotland’ as travel and outdoor rules easedCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageNicola Sturgeon has accelerated the relaxation of restrictions on travel and outdoor meetings as she said Covid was “in retreat” in Scotland.Announcing the changes, which will allow Scots to meet up with...

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Tell us about your favourite independent UK bookshop to win a £200 holiday prize

In-person book buying is back (for most of us), so shine a light on a top indie bookshop for the chance to win a Sawday’s breakWhiling away a couple of hours in a bookshop will be near the top of many people’s wishlist now that lockdown restrictions have been eased in England and Wales (though those in Scotland and Northern Ireland will have to wait...

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Why I long for the wilds of west Cornwall

Immersed in a Cornish fishing community for her first book, the writer plans a post-lockdown trip to the coast near St Just on the Penwith peninsulaOn 30 December 2019, I was on my hands and knees crawling through a narrow granite ring on the stark stretch of moorland between the north and south coasts of westernmost Cornwall. My travelling companion,...

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Our Devon holiday park is full of smiling faces: the beginning of the end of lockdown

As holiday lets reopen in England, our writer reports from one north Devon resort where there’s an air of celebration among tourists and staffOne night in January, I was at a low ebb in a period of particularly low ebbs, when a friend messaged to say she’d booked a caravan in Croyde for the last week of the Easter school holidays. She and her husband...

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France to ban some domestic flights where train available

MPs vote to suspend internal flights if the trip can be completed by train within two and a half hours insteadFrench MPs have voted to suspend domestic airline flights on routes that can be travelled by direct train in less than two and a half hours, as part of a series of climate and environmental measures.After a heated debate in the Assemblée Nationale...

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The dream ticket: sleeper trains could soon run from London to Europe’s cities

An ambitious plan to take overnight services through the Channel tunnel reflects a growing interest in sustainable travelIt is being hailed as the latest evidence of a new dawn for the European sleeper train. Citing changes in attitude wrought by the two crises of the climate emergency and the Covid pandemic, a new night service in 2022 was announced...

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