We’re now well and truly into ☀️ summer, so I ought to have shared these springtime 🌼 photos sooner, but I am guilty of constantly taking pictures 📸 and then letting them languish in my phone storage where no one will ever look at them again… at least not for a long time. This is partly because I don’t always have the energy to interact fully on social media due to CFS, and also because posting online is not usually my objective when I record these moments. Nowadays, I tend to do it for the sake of posterity rather than clicks. 🖱️ Dementia kind of runs in my family so I am preparing for that eventuality.

However, these images combine a couple of my favourite things — craft 🖌️ and 🌱 nature rambles — plus they help support a charity, which is why I’m making a feature of it. If you’ve never come across any Kindness Rocks, they’re basically pebbles, with positive messages or pictures painted on, that are left somewhere for people to find and then re-hide. The idea is to brighten up 🤩 someone’s day, or to spread awareness of a cause. 🎗️

There are some things you need to bear in mind with this endeavour. Firstly, if you haven’t already got any smooth rocks/pebbles in your garden, you can’t just collect them from a beach (where they are naturally abundant) as that is technically illegal in the UK. ❌ This law has previously been enforced so proceed with caution if you decide to take the risk. The best way to get rocks would be from a garden centre or buying them online. Secondly, some well-known locations have banned Kindness Rocks for environmental reasons. 😢 Admittedly, it seems to be mainly US venues with this rule, but still worth checking beforehand. Another way around this is to ensure you use eco-friendly paints 🎨 and finishes on your pebbles. Lastly, safety first! Please don’t leave rocks lying around where they could pose a hazard to someone elderly or disabled. 🦽 And NEVER stick anything to these stones, whether it’s googly eyes or shiny gems etc, since they could be a danger to wildlife.

We celebrated our wedding anniversary 💍 a few months ago and spent an enjoyable afternoon at the Fairy Glen in Parbold, a Lancashire Biological Heritage Site. It’s only little, but you can easily see how this area earned its name as soon as you get there. 🧚 The walk itself is on easy terrain and can be completed in under an hour, though this is the sort of setting in which you would want to linger. It was an enchanting place with babbling brooks, pretty waterfalls, and a dose of dreamy komorebi, exactly where you would expect to find a bit of magic ✨ and wonder. 😉

The Kindness Rock I “hid” was in aid of 🦸 Sam’s Superheroes, a local organisation that funds a variety of therapeutic activities for children, particularly those that are animal-assisted. Although I’ve always been a big Marvel fan, I decided on a Dr Who theme 🌌 as The Doctor is arguably the most famous UK superhero. Perhaps I should have picked a subject easier than the Tardis for my first rock, since I can’t manage straight lines any better than I can manipulate time and space! Oh well, all the more reason to practise and paint more pebbles. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I am not sure if anyone found my Dr Who rock, but there were a few people out and about in the Glen that day. This hidden gem probably gets quite busy during school holidays so you might want to avoid that time of year if you’re looking for a tranquil break 🧘 away from urban life. There aren’t many parking spaces 🚗 around here either, so take care when looking for somewhere to leave your vehicle.

Scenes like this above are worth the visit though… and you’re not far from other attractions such as the Parbold Hill Viewpoint.

In fact, the Hill Viewpoint is directly opposite a Miller & Carter 🍽️ which is just down the road from the Fairy Glen, so you could do what we did and round off your visit to this part of the world with a scrumptious 🥩 steak dinner… I recommend booking a table by the window. 👌

We did have plans to see the Parbold Bottle Monument at sunset but it was starting to get quite blustery 💨, and I was too tired by then so I guess we’ll have to make another trip back there, and this time with a few more Kindness Rocks! 👍