News

We love a bit of foraging here at The Carter Company, and nothing quite beats blackberry season, which is fast approaching! We tend to think the first week of September is the best time for harvesting, when the hedgerows in the countryside are simply brimming with shiny, deep purple, sumptuous berries ripe for picking. However, if you live near a city, the blackberries might come into season a little earlier - the best thing is simply to take lots of walks around this time of year, keep your eyes peeled and always take a basket or small container with you so you can pick some if they're ready.

What do you use your blackberries for? Well, there's a multitude of options... you can of course eat them fresh, with a drop of cream and a dusting of brown sugar, or you can make a pie and crumble (see below!), or even turn them into jam or chutney.

We're big fans of the mighty crumble (surely there are few things better in life than a good ol' crumble topped with thick, vanilla custard?!), so we're sharing our own recipe below. This is a real family favourite, so we hope you enjoy it too.

• First, heat the oven to 180 degrees
• Next, mix 500g of blackberries with a couple of tablespoons of demerara sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)
• To make the crumble, sieve 200g of flour into 175g of caster sugar. Add 100g of rolled oats, and then 100g of unsalted butter. Mix together with your fingers
• Put the blackberries into the bottom of an ovenproof dish, and spoon the crumble mixture on top
• Bake for around 30-40 minutes until it's golden brown
• Serve with freshly made custard or cream (we vote custard!)

If you fancy feasting off the natural fruits of the land, you need to get yourself out into the Great British countryside and spend some time in amongst the hedgerows. We recommend a bicycle trip around The Chilterns or a walking holiday down the Thames for some prime blackberry picking. Let us know how you get on!

"Invention, my dear friends, is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation and 2% butterscotch ripple" - Willy Wonka

If your imagination was captured by the pure inventiveness of Roald Dahl's writing (and who hasn't been captivated by those wonderful books at some point in their lives?), then you'll be delighted to hear that this year is the 50th anniversary of one of his most well-known and widely loved stories, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. To date, the book has sold more than 20 million copies around the world and has been translated into 55 languages. There have also been 2 film adaptions, an opera and a musical, which is still running in the West End.

To celebrate the occasion, we've collaborated with one of the finest artisan chocolateries in Britain to design a special family weekend package of cycling and chocolate making, all topped off with a visit to the fantastic Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Great Missenden. You'll be learning chocolate skills from the very best, as Rumsey's supplies hand-made chocolates exclusively to the Oxford University colleges. Trust us, we've tasted their original chocolates and they are some of the best you'll ever pop into your mouth!

The tour is based in Thame, and includes two nights in a charming boutique hotel, a chocolate making lesson at Rumsey's, entry to the Roald Dahl museum and a day of gentle cycling in the Chilterns, which almost entirely traffic-free (so great for kids) and full of variety, from woodland paths to sweeping views and sleepy hamlets.

If you haven't done a family day out yet to the museum, we couldn't recommend it more. Located in the village where Roald Dahl himself lived for 36 years, it features 3 (genuinely) interactive galleries aimed at 6-12 year olds and has own numerous awards. They also put on a packed programme of live storytelling, craft making and fun themed workshops at weekends and during the school holidays, so it's worth checking their website to see what's on and booking some spots in advance if you see something that appeals.

We aren't the only ones marking this important anniversary. There are lots of celebrations planned nationwide to mark 50 scrumdiddlyumptious years of the book, check roalddahl.com for a calendar of monthly events!

Here at The Carter Company, we're all about a little bit of indulgence. Most of our cycling holidays and walking tours in Britain offer a choice of 'classic quality' or 'luxury' accommodation, and we'd always recommend choosing the latter! There are some pretty special places to stay on our trips, including historical Paradores on our 'Land of the Spanish Conquistadors' cycling holiday in Spain and 5* hotels with Michelin rated restaurants like Raymond Blanc's Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons on many of our Oxford bicycle vacations.

But our taste for the finer things in life extends beyond our hand-picked hotel selection. As gentle cyclists designing cycling holidays for softies (rather than the Lycra-wearing road racers), we also appreciate a good quality saddle. Craftsmanship is enjoying a moment in the spotlight again, and this means there are some wonderful choices when it comes to artisan bike saddles. We say support the movement and get yourself a luxury saddle (which you can use on one of our bike trips around the UK or in Europe!)

Here are 3 of our favourites:

1. Brooks saddles (pictured above)
   This has to the the crème de la crème of leather saddles. A real heritage brand that offers hand-crafted, beautifully designed saddles. In their own words: 'We believe, and are convinced that all riders will agree, that a comfortable saddle is one of the greatest, if not the greatest asset to real pleasure cycling'. Check out their limited edition range.

2. Spa Cycles' Aire leather saddles
   Rated highly by cycling experts, and retailing at a fraction of the price of a Brooks saddle. They are meant to be really comfortable and of course they look absolutely stunning, being very similar in design to the Brooks 'Swallow' model. A good choice if you want to try a leather saddle without having to remortgage the house on a Brooks saddle.

3. Selle Anatomica
   Made out of premium American leather, the brand behind these saddles claim they make 'the world's most comfortable leather bicycle saddles'. There's certainly a lot of thought that goes in to the design of their saddles, which have many unique characteristics, including a patented slot design in their suspended leather design which provides perineal relief (!) but also allows the leather to move under your sit bones for a more comfortable riding experience. They also inject a bit of fun into proceedings... To celebrate the 4th of July, they produced their saddles in red and white colours.

Earlier this year, a study conducted at Stanford University found that walking can boost creative thinking. A lot of people, especially those in the creative industries, writers and philosophers, have had a hunch about this for a long time, but now it's official. A person's creative output is increased by an average of 60% when taking a walk and shortly after the walk. And interestingly, this could be walking in the fresh air in the park as well as walking on a treadmill! So Nietzsche was right: you have all your best ideas when walking.

Forward-thinking tech companies have already cottoned on to the concept. Steve Jobs apparently used to conduct 'walking meetings' and at Facebook HQ, a lot of meetings are held standing up.

There's more research to be done on why this is the case. The scientists conducting the experiment have speculated that it may be because walking improves your mood, or because it helps to distract the brain from rigid thought processes and 'allow it to break through some of its own hyper-rational filters'.

In any case, it's great news in that it will hopefully inspire more people to get up out of their office chair or their sofa at home and get walking! Of course, we strongly advocate the outdoor walking type rather than the treadmill version. There's so much to see and absorb when you step out into the fresh air - whether you're in a city or the countryside. Native species of flora, local culinary specialties, historical points of interest, awe-inspiring architecture, street art, breathtaking vistas, hidden waterfall plunge pools you can swim in, art galleries, rare birds of prey... The list is endless!

So now you've another perfect excuse to book a walking holiday... Perhaps you'll come up with a creative idea that will make you your millions! Here at The Carter Company we offer ready-made UK walking tours in The Cotswolds, along The Thames, in Oxford, London and The Chilterns. We also design numerous tailor-made walking holidays, so please get in touch if you've got something specific in mind or are simply in need of some inspiration! We'd be delighted to assist.

One reason why we love to pedal (yes, we love a pun too!) self-guided cycling holidays and walking tours is because they give you the opportunity to travel at your own pace and to make your own decisions.

So if you find yourself freewheeling past a charming Austrian cafe on the shores of a beautiful lake, you can make a spontaneous decision to do an about-turn, chain up your bike and settle at a table to enjoy a freshly-brewed coffee and a slice of the finest local Apfelstrudel (a favourite of The Carter Company team).

Equally, you may be meandering along the historical Thames on one of our self-guided English walking holidays and come across a special interest museum you fancy having a nose around. This you can do, because our tours are all designed with the thoughtful, 'slow traveler' in mind, so we've built in plenty of time each day for you to enjoy the local points of interest without having to hurry along because there are so many miles to cover there isn't time to stop and soak up your surroundings, or because the rest of the group aren't interested and the coach is about to leave, which so often seems to be the case when you take a guided group tour.

One of our all-time favourite things to stop and do en route on our walking holidays or bicycle vacations is wild swimming. It's something that's become increasingly popular in recent years, but this has always been an area of real expertise for the Carter family. There are more than a few individuals in the family who fancy themselves as open water swimmers and take pride in their ability to brave freezing cold fresh waters for an icy dip!

Top wild swimming spots in England

1. Rhaedr Dhu waterfall in Wales - it's quite a 'bush-wack' down to this remote and secluded little spot but once you arrive it's absolute heaven. The freshest, coldest water you could imagine and not a soul in sight. Completely wild and lush.

2. Respryn bridge in Cornwall - this is a wooded riverside walk in the National Trust estate of Lanhydrock House. It's great for a splash about as the water isn't too deep, and there's even a shingle beach at one point which you can lay your towel on and catch some rays. You can visit Respryn bridge on one of our cycling holidays in Devon and Corwnwall.

3. Clifton Hampden on the Thames - this charming bridge and pub is featured in Jerome K's "Three Men in a Boat". Sandy and shallow bays on the nearside and wild and unspoilt flower meadows lie on the farside. Truly idyllic.

4. Faerie pools, Bla Bheinn on the isle of Skye - a destination on our 'Highlands and Hebrides' cycling holiday, the isle of Skye is home to this amazing waterfall gorge and many smaller pools en route to Bla Bheinn. This is true wild swimming in an amazing location and the water is just crystal clear.

5. The Witch's Cauldron near Fort William, also on our Highlands and Hebrides cycling holiday. Very accessible as near the road, this is a series of 3 falls and 3 pools set amongst some beautiful rocks. Well worth a visit!

For more info on good wild swimming spots in the UK, check out this website we rate highly. There is also a book and even an app which lists some of the top places with detailed instructions on how to reach these hidden gems - a lot of them are pretty hard to find on your own (which is what makes them so great!)

Book a tailor-made UK cycling holiday or a ready-made walking holiday with us and you too could find yourself wild swimming in a beautiful remote lake in Wales or splashing about in the sea in Cornwall in no time.