Can you get outside for one hour every day in November?

Farming or land manager readers among you will probably scoff at the title of this post but for many of the population being able to spend any considerable time in the outdoors seems to be a real struggle. Computer or desk based jobs are often blamed along with the age-old ‘I’ve got too much going on to make time for that’ excuse. From my point of view any amount of time spent outdoors is time well spent, but sometimes a bit of encouragement is required to get us out there, especially on cold, wet miserable days.

Blogger and Ordnance Survey GetOutside Champion Zoe Homes is providing that very thing by encouraging us all to get outside for an hour every day next month. It’s a brilliant idea for a challenge, similar to the Wildlife Trust’s 30 Days Wild campaign, and I wanted to support it by spreading the word.

Getting outdoors is good for both the body and the mind and can improve your productivity. It might seem more difficult in cold, dark November, but it’s still certainly worth it. You will feel all the better for it.

Zoe’s challenge is for us to spend at least one hour of each day doing something outdoors. That could be walking, running, cycling, sailing, sitting outdoors during your lunch break, stargazing, bird watching, gardening, volunteering for a conservation work party, camping, photography, geocaching, autumn picnicing…the possibilities are many. You will be able to see what other people are up to by searching the hashtag #OneHourOutside on social media.

The challenge might seem more difficult on some days than others, especially if it’s pouring with rain (something that north-east Essex hasn’t seen much of recently!), but it will still be worth it. I am sure that you will have plenty of ideas of things that you could do outdoors each day next month, but if you need some inspiration Zoe has provided a list of ‘50 things to do outside in November‘ (personally I think I’ll be avoiding the wild swim – even with a wet suit that’s going too far for me).

Good luck and if you do take part I’d love to hear about your experience in the message feed below this post.

You can read more about Zoe’s challenge as well as explore more of her blog posts here.