The weather

"What's the forecast?" asked Ian.

"Oh, showers and sunny intervals!" said Peggy. "But you don't want to believe the forecast!"

"I think we should go camping in France next year," said Ian. "The kids would love it and the weather would be more reliable."

The British love to complain about the weather. Notice how often they mention it when they greet you. However, there are rarely extremes of cold or heat in Britain and when temperatures drop below 0°C or rise above 32°C nobody is prepared.

There is usually more rain in the west than in the east, and more snow in the north than in the south. But, thanks to the Gulf Stream, the Western Isles of Scotland sometimes have milder winter days than the South of France.

Sir Charles goes on a bird-watching holiday

Sir Charles lay on the sandhill behind a clump of coarse grass. Behind him the waves of the North Sea were crashing on an empty beach. A board stuck in the sand warned "DANGER. NO BATHING". But Sir Charles was looking inland across the salt marshes. He was alone and there was not a building to be seen on the flat skyline, except a windmill and a lighthouse.

Sir Charles was waiting for the birds — not with a gun, but with a pair of powerful glasses. Birds came to feed on the salt marshes and on the mud flats of the nearby estuary. Sir Charles watched them through his glasses. The hours passed. When at last he looked up, the salt marshes had disappeared beneath the incoming sea, the line of sandhills had become an island. Far away he could see a small figure standing on the sand beside a motorboat. It was Anne. She had come to fetch him.

More and more people, like Sir Charles, are using their holidays to practise their hobbies and interests or to learn new ones. Last year Charles and Anne went on safari in East Africa. Their daughter, Susan, who enjoys dangerous sports, decided to learn hang-gliding and spent a week jumping off the tops of mountains in Scotland.

2 Where to go in Britain England

Dartmoor and Exmoor (Devon and Somerset): high, bare hills, rocks and deep wooded valleys with rushing trout and salmon streams. Wild ponies live on Exmoor. The coast is wild and rocky.

The Peak District (Derbyshire): There are deep narrow gorges (rocky valleys with steep sides) down which gentle streams flow.

Yorkshire Dales: a mixture of wild hillsides and farmland. Streams with waterfalls flow down broad valleys. Ancient villages have houses built of stone.

Lake District (Cumbria): crowded during holidays, but numerous paths stretch in every direction. Great variety of mountain, lake and woodland scenery. Wordsworth and other Lake Poets made this region famous.

Yorkshire Moors: wild, treeless country covered with heather; in places stretching as far as the old fishing villages on the North Sea coast.

Northumberland: empty, rolling country with many historic castles; fine, sandy beaches. It is possible to walk for miles along the top of Hadrian's Wall, built by the Romans in 122 A.D. The Cheviots are the loneliest and wildest hills in England; mainly sheep country, but new forests have been planted.

The Cotswolds (Gloucestershire): hills with ancient, carefully preserved villages built in the local, golden stone.

East Anglia: Richest farmland in Britain, very flat in places, rather like Holland. Some houses show Dutch influence; many unspoilt villages and towns; a coastline of salt marshes and sandhills. A group of small lakes, called "The Broads", connected by narrow waterways, is very popular for boating holidays.

The Southern Counties: a network of little roads and clearly marked footpaths; farms, bare hills and thick woodland; attractive villages, most of them with pubs. There are hotels and bed and breakfast places in all small towns.

The River Thames: historic, interesting, and often beautiful river from mouth to source. A river trip from London to Oxford takes two days.

The coast: South coast is spoilt except for a few miles of chalk cliffs in Kent, Sussex and Dorset; parts of Devon, Cornish and Somerset coasts are unspoilt - high cliffs, beautiful beaches, old-world villages and towns. Many miles of footpath run along cliff tops.

Wales

Snowdonia (North Wales): very crowded and popular in summer; rocky mountains, lakes, waterfalls, grassy hillsides.

Central Wales: not grand scenery, but pleasant; very lonely, under-populated area; sheep farms and newly planted forests.

South Wales: rounded mountains and river valleys (Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons, The Towy Valley); unspoilt, although near mining towns.

The coast: Pembrokeshire: fine, mauve-coloured cliffs and sandy beaches; the Gower Peninsula: very near Swansea, but preserved; the island of Anglesey is very flat, but has some attractive beaches.