Tewkesbury Wellbeing Walks map launched to encourage green travel
Ms McDonnell added: "We know that time outdoors can have a huge impact on wellbeing, especially when it's local, low-cost and easy to access."These walks have been developed to support that, helping people to connect with nature, with each other, and with their local area. "This map supports access to nature, wellbeing and sustainable travel and we hope it encourages people to explore Tewkesbury in a new and meaningful way."The project builds on GCRP's similar initiatives in Stonehouse, Cheltenham and Gloucester. Backed by Great Western Railway's (GWR) Customer and Community Improvement Fund and Community Rail Network, the scheme aims to reduce barriers to travel and improve access to green spaces.
The maps have been created with the help of residents through workshops run by Art Shape. Amy Iles, project manager at the organisation, said: "By using art to reflect personal experiences of walking and wellbeing, the map represents a celebration of community, access and everyday connection with place."Emma Morris, GWR's senior community impact manager, said: "Travelling to the area by train helps to make these lesser-known routes car-free and accessible, and we're thrilled to have contributed to the growing list of trails in the Gloucestershire region."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
This British seaside town is in the middle of a cool revival. Here's why
When amateur photographer George Woods and his family moved down to Hastings in the 1880s, they joined a legion of Victorians migrating south from the smoggy capital in search of pure, restorative sea air. Displayed in the Fishermen's Museum along the seafront, his black and white images document an era when this coastal town was thriving – women wearing flamboyant bustles shade from the sun with frilly parasols, and salty sea dogs fix fishing nets while puffing on clay pipes dangling from their lips. Even more fascinating – for me – is the fact Woods lived in my house. Six months ago, I left London for a place where properties are still relatively affordable. Initially driven by economics, I quickly discovered the benefits of waking up to sea views and listening to gulls squealing from rooftops. An even greater find, though, was the spirit of entrepreneurial optimism that's been disappearing from London for some time. Like so many Victorian seaside resorts, Hastings and neighbouring St Leonards-on-Sea fell into decline during the seventies and eighties. Buildings were abandoned and facades crumbled. But artists, writers and creatives have a habit of breathing new life into decaying spaces – and that's exactly what's happened here. St Leonards has led the way, with bars and restaurants trailing along the Kings Road which runs from the mainline station, where trains take an hour and 20 minutes from London Bridge. A playful vibe continues along the seafront with cool cafes like the colourful Goat Ledge serving coffees, croissants and craft beers to dog walkers, joggers and locals watching waves crash along the pebbly shore. Following suit, main town Hastings is slowly reinventing itself. Located along the pier, which was renovated and reopened in 2016 following a devastating fire, the Samphire Sauna serves anyone keen to embrace hot/cold therapy with a dip in the English Sea. A few metres away, boards can be heard cracking against concrete in The Source skatepark. Head down to the courtyard where the local Brewing Brothers Brewery serve their beers on tap. Look up to dig deep into the roots of this town's evolution. Reached by a near-vertical climb are the ruins of Hastings Castle, built by William the Conqueror in 1066. The stone fortification – and several other local landmarks – feature in the Bayeux Tapestry, the famous fabric narrative of the Norman conquest of England. This autumn, the masterpiece will be loaned to the British Museum until July 2027 as part of celebrations heralding 1000 years of the belligerent Norman king's birth. What a shame it won't be displayed here. More history was made a short stroll away on West Hill, where Scot John Logie Baird conducted early experiments for the mechanical television. Pathways and tunnels once used by smugglers now trail into the Old Town, a cluster of lanes filled with cute cafes, vintage stores and rummage shops. One thing I love most about my new home is the sea view from my study. But visitors to the area can go one step better by staying further west along the coast. A 15-minute train ride from Hastings, the Relais Cooden Beach spills out directly onto the sea. From bedrooms, the restaurant terrace or even the pool table, it's possible to sit for hours staring at the sparkling water. A couple of minutes' walk from the station, the mock Tudor building – which was once a family home – has been brought up to date with jolly deck chair stripes and an Aromatherapy Associates spa. After a glass of local Kent wine, strolls along the beach are almost mandatory – walking past private homes where firepits flicker to gaze up at clear skies exploding with stars. Here are a few more fine places putting Hastings on the map… Bayte It's a skill to create a space where you can hear yourself think but still be surrounded by people. This knockout convivial neighbourhood restaurant fills up fast on a Saturday night – but there's none of that London queuing around the block nonsense needed to sit down and savour a good meal. A compact but varied menu makes choices easy – classics like steak and sea bass are cooked with flair in an open kitchen, served alongside locally grown vegetables and leaves from the chef's garden in Lewes. A selection of focaccia sandwiches is a gourmet lunchtime treat. Visit Boatyard The accolade of 'best fish and chips' is a hotly contested title in Hastings. Hands down, the winner is a palate-pleasing plate served at one of the region's most exciting restaurants. A cider batter gives a meaty hunk of plaice a sweet flavour and crisp crunch. It's the definition of other-worldly and a firm favourite on a chalk board menu presenting inventive new dishes with every turn of the tide. Chefs make use of as many local ingredients as possible, but draw inspiration from their travels. Other delights include gurnard with local shellfish, Pernod butter and sauteed baby gem lettuce, and Sussex green beans sprinkled with almonds, anchovies and sherry vinegar. Visit Find the restaurant in Heist, a marketplace of independent outlets close to the seafront in St Leonards. A sister venture – the Farmyard – can be found closer to the station, serving organic meats, Sunday roasts and – very soon – some natural wines from the owners' microwinery. Visit Half Man! Half Burger! When Rory Myers and his business partner Matt Woodhouse set up shop along the seafront a decade ago, the area was close to being a cultural and culinary wasteland. So much has changed over the years, partly sparked by their pioneering efforts. There's no messing about with the menu here – it's all about burgers and they're damn good. Go for a classic Big Cheese or blow the tastebuds with a Chilli Nelson – a patty slathered with slow-cooked beef chili, pink onions and chipotle mayo. Afterwards, pop next-door to Rory's low-fi Ritual bar for cocktails and local craft beers. A former Londoner who spent a stint in Brighton, he firmly believes it's the influx of creatives and a vibrant spirit that makes St Leonards and Hastings so special. Both venues can be found along the front of Marine Court, an iconic art deco block built to mimic an ocean liner. Visit
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
‘It has echoes of happiness': life for gen Z in the seaside town I once called home
If you had asked me as a teenager whether I saw my future in Morecambe, I'd have laughed you out of our faded seaside town. I'd been plotting my escape since I was 14. The sea was grey, the sand was treacherous and the wind was always messing up my hair. I was totally unmoved by the view across the bay of the Lake District fells. It felt like half of the world was cut off. You could go left or right on the prom but never straight ahead, unless you wanted to end up stuck in mud waving frantically for the coastguard. A whole compass point was out of reach. Over the next year, the Against the Tide project from the Guardian's Seascape team will be reporting on the lives of young people in coastal communities across England and Wales. Young people in many of England's coastal towns are disproportionately likely to face poverty, poor housing, lower educational attainment and employment opportunities than their peers in equivalent inland areas. In the most deprived coastal towns they can be left to struggle with crumbling and stripped-back public services and transport that limit their life choices. For the next 12 months, accompanied by the documentary photographer Polly Braden, we will travel up and down the country to port towns, seaside resorts and former fishing villages to ask 16- to 25-year-olds to tell us about their lives and how they feel about the places they live. By putting their voices at the front and centre of our reporting, we want to examine what kind of changes they need to build the futures they want for themselves. This summer, 25 years after I left for good, I returned to talk to the young people living there now as part of the Guardian's Against the tide project, examining gen Z lives by the sea in England. All the research shows that life chances are drastically reduced if you grow up on the coast, which rather contradicts Morecambe's motto: 'Beauty surrounds and health abounds.' The truth is that bad health abounds. One in four people have a limiting, long-term illness or disability. People smoke and drink too much, and they are 20% more likely to be depressed than the national average. In Morecambe town centre, men have a healthy life expectancy of only 56 years and can expect to live to just 72. Deprivation is at the heart of it all. My mother was a psychiatrist in Morecambe and often lamented that whatever she prescribed, she could not make poor people rich. Life can be tough for many of Morecambe's young people, too. Take Eleanor Adamson, a bright and funny 22-year-old carer who spent some of her teenage years living in the Forum, a homeless hostel on the promenade – a completely unsuitable place for a child trying to get to sixth form each morning. Eleanor thinks Morecambe is beautiful, particularly the Lakeland views that left me so cold as a teenager. Yet her eyes widen when I tell her what has disappeared in Morecambe since I was her age: a wild west-themed amusement park called Frontierland, an indoor-outdoor pool with slides called Bubbles, and a music venue on the prom called the Superdome. My first proper gig was there, at what became renamed the Dome, to see Blur in the mid-90s. She can hardly believe it: 'No way. They came to Morecambe? Wow, imagine that. 'I would love for there to be a music venue,' she says. 'I think it would just get the whole community buzzing. Things to look forward to are so important.' Now, though, there is nothing to do for teenagers, she says, except go to the park and 'try to meet fit lads from the grammar'. I go back to my old school, a comprehensive one block from the prom now called Morecambe Bay Academy. When I was there, I was largely oblivious to the challenges of many of my classmates, even though I knew some lived in caravans or B&Bs. Now, the sixth formers I spoke to are more aware of how many of their classmates struggle. These days, almost 40% of all pupils at Morecambe Bay Academy are eligible for free school meals and a third have special educational needs – far higher than the average across England. And although results are improving, only 46% of children got the equivalent of a C or above in GCSE English and maths last year, far lower than the national average of 65.1%. 'There's a lot of poverty-stricken families and food banks and food clubs,' says Imogen, who moved to Morecambe a few years ago from Nottingham. The school recently started a 'preloved uniform' sale, offering trousers and coats for £3. The 17-year-olds I interviewed were also clear-eyed about the decline the town is experiencing. 'I've lived here all my life and a lot has changed in Morecambe. And the change really is that things have disappeared rather than appeared,' says Eve. When I ask them what they do for fun now, one of the replies was 'walk up and down the prom and maybe pop into Aldi'. Florence thinks Morecambe does not get its fair share of government funding. 'We don't have anywhere to go because no one funds it,' she says. Sitting across from her, Lucas thinks that young people are neglected by those in charge, with politicians putting too much focus on trying to lure tourists back. 'They need to think about the locals, because there's actual people living here. It's not just a destination,' he says. The teenagers are all aware of what many in Morecambe are pinning their future hopes on: the Eden Project, a £100m eco-tourist attraction earmarked for the seafront, which promises to 'reimagine the seaside resort for the 21st century'. This will be the salty northern sister to the Eden Project in Cornwall, with a shell-shaped biodome surrounded by interconnected gardens. Though the Guardian first reported on Eden North in 2018, shovels are not yet in the ground seven years later. Matthew thinks it will be good when it finally arrives. 'It would open a lot of jobs for local people,' he says, 'and it could be a good push for Morecambe to start getting more funding to fix some of the problems that are already here.' Eve is more sceptical: 'It seems that we are disregarded and nobody cares really what's happening around here. If the government really did care about places like Morecambe, which are filled with specific types of wildlife that you don't find anywhere else and beautiful beaches and sunsets, why the hell isn't the Eden Project here yet when they've been promising it since, what, 2018?' To be fair, Rishi Sunak's government did chip in £50m, and Eden's management say construction will begin later this year, with the doors finally opening in autumn 2028. But what, beyond Eden, do local leaders have to offer young people in Morecambe? I go to ask Russell Walsh, another former pupil of Morecambe Bay Academy, who in May became one of 53 Reform councillors elected to Lancashire county council. Reform UK now runs the local authority and is therefore in charge of youth services. Walsh accepts the teenagers' diagnosis that Morecambe has become a place where things close, rather than open. But when I ask him what Reform have to offer them instead, he seems stumped. 'That's a very good question,' he admits. 'I mean we're definitely pro-development; we're in favour of Eden and we're looking on with interest at what's going to happen to Frontierland. And specifically for young people … do you know what, I'm not actually too sure.' I tell him that I have been looking at his social media and he seems focused mostly on opposing a local housing development and filling in potholes; I could see nothing aimed specifically at young people. 'You're right,' he says. 'You've caught me out.' He says it's 'just something else which I need to turn around and put on the list for us definitely to attack'. I hope that all the Reform councillors pop in and see what is happening at More Music in Morecambe's West End. When I visit, it is youth night, with teenagers creating bands in every corner of the former music hall. My favourite is Linus and the Zits – three boys from eastern European families, dreaming of becoming international rock stars with their Weezer-inspired jams. Leroy Lupton, one of the leaders at More Music, says Morecambe can feel disconnected from the rest of the country, and 'left behind' compared with Liverpool and Manchester, the two nearest big cities. 'I often think it has echoes of happiness,' he says, 'because I think with a few of the seaside towns, they used to be holiday destinations, and since people started going abroad, they kind of got left in the dirt and forgotten about.' That is why places such as More Music are so important, Lupton says. 'Maybe I'm being a bit romantic about it,' he adds, 'but it feels like a beacon, like a ray of light.' The Against the Tide series is a collaboration between the Guardian and the documentary photographer Polly Braden
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Revealed: The best commuter towns for 2025 as surprising spot takes the crown - and it's NOT for travel into London
When choosing a place to live, there are lots of things to consider, from local amenities, schools, and affordability. One important factor for many people is how far their commute would be to work, and how good the transport links are in the area. New data has revealed the best commuter towns in the country, and there is a strong Northern advantage. Sheffield shares good links to three of the top 10 spots for best commuter towns. Rotherham placed first with a score of 358 out of 469, offering good connections to the South Yorkshire city. Rotherham offers affordable house prices, low transport costs and fast links into Sheffield. A town nearby Sheffield, Dronfield, scored 324 points and placed second. While Barnsley, another South Yorkshire spot, ranked eighth with 296 and boasts reasonable rail fares and property prices. Another town nearby Sheffield, Dronfield, scored 324 points and placed second Other strong contenders on the list include Beeston, a suburb of Nottingham, which places third with 322 points. The town has one of the fastest commutes in the UK at just 6 minutes, meaning employees can easily make their way into work. Alternatively, those taking the train see a low-cost rail fare of just £3 – for an area that has relatively strong salary levels. Elsewhere, Penarth ranks fourth and has strong links to Cardiff, Wales. With a short commute time of 12 minutes and a high median salary in the area, it's a good spot to live for easy access to the Welsh city. It's closely followed by another northern commuter town, Pudsey, in West Yorkshire, which features good connections to Leeds and was given a score of 308. Stalybridge ranked next with links to Manchester. Then Long Eaton to Nottingham in seventh place. Ilkeston follows, with affordable house prices for those wanting to commute to Nottingham. The Derbyshire town has a strong quality of life score as well as a relatively short journey to the city. Meanwhile, Stockport, which serves Manchester, placed tenth.
