How many times have we heard that a walk in the woods is a beautiful experience that will lift our spirits and may help us to get a little fitter? In Norfolk and Suffolk, we are lucky enough to have many public footpaths that wind their way through beautiful woodland.

Whether they are called book festivals or literary festivals, there are quite a few events of this type that are held in Suffolk and Norfolk through the year. A selection of authors is invited to a venue such as a hall or hotel, to talk about their books, and to sometimes lead workshops. Some festivals have a mixture of genres, like the Felixstowe Book Festival (held each June) or Aldeburgh Literary Festival (March).

Once upon a time a draughty caravan or a tumble-down cottage with rejected furniture and mismatched cups, would have satisfied most self-catering holiday-makers. Now most people expect a holiday home that is of a standard that is at least as good as their own homes, and possibly even better.

One Aldeburgh house, that we rented for a short break, inspired us to landscape our courtyard garden to match the one we admired there – and to update our kitchen. That proved to be an expensive holiday!

I often think that the annual pantomime at the New Wolsey Theatre, in Ipswich, should come with a warning: Once experienced, this show will spoil every other pantomime for you! Once you have seen one of the Rock 'n' Roll Panto's, a fast-moving riot of colour, laughter and pop, everything else will seem a little, well, old-fashioned. Peter Rowe and his team take a traditional story but bring it bang up to date with talented actor-musicians who are each on stage almost all the time.