When lockdown first happened back in March 2020, we were all rather bewildered with the fact that our entire world had shrunk to roughly the distance between our home and the park bench or corner shop.
6 weeks into this new-found solitude, our favourite British hobby, 'small-talk', had gone from conversations such as 'Wow, how lovely is this weather?!' and 'Gosh, can you imagine having to do lockdown in the winter?!' (ahem)...
...to a mild boasting; 'I haven't left the village for 6 weeks!'
But we are remarkably adaptable and very quickly we re-discovered a love for walking. Whether you lived in a rural location and could enjoy long ambles through fields and farms. Or you were in a town or city and re-discovered local parks or surprising wildlife havens, tucked between housing estates and main highways. If you looked hard enough there was a green space for everyone to enjoy.
A year on and here at GEUK, we want to stand up and say 'thank you' to the charities, organisations and individuals who have quietly been maintaining, championing and fighting for our green spaces. Their efforts over the years meant that when the 2020 pandemic hit, we had beautiful places to re-discover and enjoy.
This month - April 2021 - as our third (and hopefully final) lockdown eases we want to raise our voice to highlight the importance of protecting our beautiful, British landscape. As the relentless march of urbanisation continues across the UK, we all need to be keeping a watchful eye on our local, natural surroundings and we need to be prepared to step up and add our voice to the cause; to protect our green spaces, care for our wildlife and never take for granted the Great British countryside.
To help us better understand what practical things we can all be doing, we've asked Isaac Kenyon, the founder of Pedal 4 Parks to give us some pointers. If you would like your local walk to feature in our video then find out how to send it to us > We'll be sharing what we have learnt on our blog next month.
In the meantime, here is a reminder of why GEUK are proud to be sponsoring the Pedal 4 Parks team as they gear up to cycle across the UK with the soul purpose to raise awareness of the plight that our green spaces face, due to increased urbanisation.