“Shabby little Shibden”. That is how Anne Lister (1791–1840) describes her family home in Gentleman Jack, the BBC period drama that portrays the real-life romance between Anne Lister and her neighbour Ann Walker. 

Shabby isn’t how you would describe the 600-year-old manor house today. Owned by the Lister family for over 300 years, Shibden Hall is where Anne Lister once lived and wrote her famous encrypted diaries. They remained here, hidden within the walls until John Lister, the last inhabitant of Shibden Hall, found them. The diaries weren’t decrypted until long after Anne Lister’s death and proved to be of great historical importance. They offer an understanding of her life in West Yorkshire and a deep insight into her romantic relationships with the “fairer sex”. 

The TV series culminates with a romantic reunion played out in front of views over the Shibden valley, a landscape as breathtaking as the drama itself. 

• Find out more about Shibden Hall

Castle of romance

True love blossoms on Mull for the protagonists in I Know Where I’m Going!. Young, attractive and fiercely independent social climber Joan Webster meets her unexpected catch on the isle – a heart-throb naval officer, Torquil MacNeil.

One of the greatest silver-screen love stories, I Know Where I’m Going!’s evocative cinematography captures the magic of this Scottish isle, even 75 years on. Blending comedy, romance and dark undertones, the drama begins as Joan (Wendy Hiller) embarks for the fictitious Island of Kiloran to marry an elderly and wealthy industrialist. But a storm maroons her on Mull, where she meets – and soon falls in love with – Torquil (Roger Livesey). In the end, an ancient Celtic curse binds the two together.

• Visit: Duart Castle, Mull

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Calf Crag highs

The much-celebrated writer Alfred Wainwright is perhaps best-known for his seven guidebooks describing 214 fells in the Lake District, but his Coast to Coast route across northern England is a close second in the hearts of British ramblers. 

The 182-mile trail traverses the width of England, from St Bees Head in the west to Robin Hood’s Bay in the east. If you’re feeling intrepid, take on the whole 182-mile pilgrimage; or, if time is scarce, simply walk a stage or two.

One of the very best legs is the delightful Rosthwaite to Grasmere section (pictured). Crossing the Central Fells in the Lake District, this stage includes more than 700m of ascent.

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Gorgeous great tit

By February, the great tit’s clean piping notes are refreshing our woodlands. The most easily recognised is the “tee-cher, tee-cher, tee-cher” two-note call.  

• Guide to Britain’s tit species

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Aerial displays in Aberystwyth

As the winter sun sets with a glower over Cardigan Bay, vast flocks of starlings swirl and pirouette over the seaside town of Aberystwyth.  Having dispersed widely into the surrounding countryside to feed during the day, the birds return to the town and gather in their thousands to perform this dazzling sky dance. As night falls, they roost noisily on the cast-iron legs of the Victorian-era pier.

• What is a murmuration?

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Goldfinch foraging

A more recent arrival at bird feeding stations, the goldfinch is making up for lost time. Sometimes flocks of this yellow, brown and black, red-faced bird with a delightful twittering song will descend on to feeders. Originally attracted by nyger seed, it will eat sunflower hearts and small seeds, too.

• British finches: how to identify and where to see

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Three Cliffs Bay sundown

It’s not as if the south Gower coast is otherwise unremarkable – maritime grassland atop limestone rock, which has been scoured into beaches and bone caves, yielding to an expansive sea with Devon fizzing on the horizon – but Three Cliffs Bay is a truly special place. 

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Bewick’s swans on the move

At 1.5m in length, this is our largest native wildfowl. The adult possesses all-white plumage with huge black feet and a black knobbly beak marked by an extensive orange tip. It is among our favourite British birds and for this reason it thrives almost everywhere, from the Outer Hebrides to inner London, and occupies any habitat with open water, including coastal harbours.

Despite the bird’s popularity and partly because of its confiding manner, some swans fall victim to vandalism. Up to half of all nests in one study area failed, even before hatching, because of human persecution. Surviving cygnets can remain with parents for almost one year.

• Guide to Britain’s swans: species identification, folklore and where to see them

Why February 24th the luckiest day of the year

February might feel a miserable month – long after the festivities of Christmas and not much to celebrate in terms of spring cheer. In Old English it was known as “Mud Month” or “Cabbage Month” (the only vegetable still growing at this time of year).

However, despite its reduced complement of days, February24th has long been heralded as the luckiest day of the year, when all manner of good things can happen.

February 24th prestigious status is believed to stem from being the feast day Saint Matthias – the lucky apostle chosen to replace Judas Iscariot.

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High on Orrest Head

In 1930, the then 23-year-old Alfred Wainwright stepped off a train at Windermere Station, having travelled from his home town of Blackburn in Lancashire. This was his first visit to the Lake District. Immediately after leaving the station, young Alfred took the rough path that climbed to the nearest high ground north, bagging his first summit, Orrest Head. 

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Otter on Mull

The European otter, or lutra lutra (scientific name), is a carniverous mammal of the Mustelidae family (mustelid). There are seven species of mustelid living in the wild in the UK, each varying widely in looks and behaviour. Generally speaking mustelids are long-bodied, short-legged, thickly furred and tend to be active at night, which makes them elusive.

• What is a mustelid?

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Minke magic

Minkes visit the North Yorkshire coast in August to feed on herring, and while they may not breach in the style of exuberant humpbacks, to be surrounded by six or seven for several hours is unforgettable. Extend your wildlife adventure with a nightjar safari or some spectacular gannet action at Bempton Cliffs.

• Guide to dolphins and whales

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Prehistoric peninsula

On the western coast of the Scottish island of Mull, beneath the brooding volcanic massif of mighty Ben More, lies one of the wildest environments in the British Isles. The Ardmeanach Peninsula is a six-mile stretch of headland known simply as ‘The Wilderness’. It’s a fitting description of this trackless terrain characterised by deserted beaches, sparse coastal undercliffs and stunted trees beneath stark basalt terraces.

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Going underground

The intricate passageways and stalactite-hung caverns of the Marble Arch Caves are just one of the geopark’s many features. Surrounding this subterranean world are drumlins and snaking rivers, upland blanket bog and the imposing 655m-high Cuilcagh Mountain.

• Guide to Global Geoparks in the UK

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Month of the frog

Did you know, the earliest frogspawn recorded by Nature’s Calendar (which records seasonal events to keep track of climate change) was spotted on 1 November 2004. A mild February is a good month to check the garden pond to see if your local amphibians have been active, especially in the south-west of England.

• Guide to frogs and toads

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Tantalising Trinnacle

All along the Pennines the effect of ice is evident, not least at the hauntingly beautiful serrated edges at Wimberry Stones high above Dove Stone Reservoir. The line of stone edges strikes north as Dove Stone Rocks; splintered cliffs and gullies where ravens and peregrines scavenge and hunt above lakes secluded in the gouge of Greenfield Brook. Here at Raven Stones Brow, spectacular crags challenge climbers, none more so than the unique, three-pronged Trinnacle (pictured), a monolith that wouldn’t seem out of place in the iconic Monument Valley in Utah, USA.

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Dinosaur footprints

The spectacular mountain scenery of Skye is associated with fossil-free basalt but, around its coast there are tidal platforms of sedimentary rock where traces of the island’s Jurassic past have been found. At Staffin (pictured), Duntulm and Brother’s Point on the island’s north-eastern coast, clear imprints left by dinosaurs some 170 million years ago are revealed by the retreating tide.

• Top 10 fossil hunting destinations

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In search of Golitha Falls

We took at look at how to improve your health and fitness, while making new friends, by joining a walking group. Our guide on walking groups looks at the many benefits of walking with others and how to find and join a walking group in your local area.

• Walking groups: how to find and join a walking group

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