You don't need to live right on the water's edge to have fun at the beach! The Beach Book is all about finding wild places at the seaside, as well as by lakes and rivers and making the most of opportunities to explore and enjoy all these places have to offer. You can have fun:
- Discovering beach wildlife (eg. rock pooling, crabbing and fishing or making a rock-pool viewer) and exploring sand dunes and beach combing.
- Making the most of lakes and rivers by foraging, damming and diverting streams and boat racing.
- Using natural resources to play and invent new games (e.g., stone Jenga and skittles, ball runs and boules or funny face games.
- Being creative (e.g., making driftwood monsters, marram grass dolls and creating sand paintings).
Fiona Danks did a degree in Ecology at Edinburgh University followed by a PGCE in Rural and Environmental Science at Bath College of Higher Education. She worked in environmental education for a number of years, first for the Shropshire Wildlife Trust and then for the Berkshire Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust, organizing training for teachers and taking groups of children out to nature reserves and other wild sites. She then went on to write books about the Chiltern Hills and the Cotswold Hills while working part-time running activities in a pre-school nursery. She currently runs the Trust for Oxfordshire's Environment, a non-profit making company providing grants for a wide range of community and environmental projects across Oxfordshire. Fiona lives in Watlington in Oxfordshire.
Jo Schofield gained a degree in psychology from Exeter University and began her career working for an educational psychologist in London. After getting involved in the production of a film, she went on to work in the creative department of a TV advertising agency where she began taking still photographs. This led on to her becoming a commercial photographer in Australia and then London. She worked mainly for national editorial magazines such as Country Living. When her children were small she worked in Watlington Primary School and the Dragon school in Oxford, applying her creative knowledge to the classroom with children aged 6-9 years. More recently she has been focusing on writing and photographing for a series of books with co-author Fiona Danks. Jo lives near Watlington in Oxfordshire.
"a very welcome addition to our holiday packing list"
– Mr. Fox Magazine
"whether you're by the sea, lake or river The Beach Book has ideas for every adventure."
– Smallish
"something to keep even the most reluctant beach visitor entertained."
– The Sunday Post
"Get some inspiration for more action-packed days out with this fab book full of ideas, from rock-pooling and skimming stones to making driftwood monsters and sand mermaids."
– Gurgle
"Now I've read this book my next trip to the seaside might be slightly more imaginative."
– BBC Wildlife magazine