We need more than just 'be nice' advice from the updated Countryside Code | Carey Davies

The outdoors is more popular than ever, but there must be a well-funded, ambitious campaign to foster a love of the environment

Honeypots and beauty spots are mobbed. Once-secret riverside hideaways are bustling with wild swimmers. Car parks next to reservoirs and beaches and mountains are often overspilling. The signs of surging interest in the outdoors are everywhere.

It is a paradox of the pandemic. Over the past year, despite successive lockdowns keeping us largely housebound for long stretches of time, “the outdoors” has been experienced and talked about more than any other time in recent history.