Bath, 16 April 2015: As the countryside bursts into life,Alison Howell's Foot Trails is helping walkers to make the most of spring with a new dedicated guide filled with inspiration and advice for the season.

The Bath-based walking-holiday specialist is offering tips and ideas to whet the appetite of those keen to stroll among the bluebell drifts and watch lambs frolic in the fields on its new Refreshing Spring page. This helpful guide draws on the team's extensive knowledge of the South West and the expertise that underpins the tailor-made itineraries it creates for guests.

Refreshing Spring also highlights the independent tours in Foot Trails' collection of walks with a touch of luxury that best showcase the beauty of the countryside at this time of year. These include its new trek Devon – Far Side of Wessex, where guests follow coastal paths and cross sandy beaches, visit a lost village, call at Agatha Christie's former home, and even ride a ferry boat and a steam train. From £335 per person for three nights. Also featured is The Bluebell Trail – Wiltshire, which explores the area's best displays of these colourful wild flowers and includes the chance to call at the world-renowned gardens at Stourhead. From £320 per person for three nights.

“There are real health-giving benefits to stepping out in spring,” says Foot Trails' founder Alison Howell. “The sense of happiness walkers gain from seeing the earth burst into colour following its winter sleep, the sound of birdsong, and all that Vitamin D from the first rays of sunshine on your skin – a spring walk can be a real tonic.”

All Foot Trails holidays are priced per person, based on two sharing, and include B&B accommodation, one transport drop-off service to the trailhead, waterproof route notes and map, a Walk and Explore box containing local nature and history guides and stories – and a fortifying bag of sweets.

Foot Trails ­– which was recently named Best Local Low-Impact Tour Operator by Greentraveller – draws on expert knowledge gained by the team during more than 12 years spent tramping across the region to create inspiring, seasonally appropriate walks. The company specialises in designing walks for adults to suit individual tastes. Routes are plotted to avoid the crowded national trails, instead following local paths, with notes provided about local history and nature to immerse guests in the cultural landscape and put them back in touch with the natural environment. Country cafes, inns and small hotels are hand-picked for award-winning food and drink and stylish, comfortable accommodation, to add a touch of luxury and promote sustainable rural tourism.

To book, visit www.foottrails.co.uk or call 01747 820626.

Follow developments at Foot Trails on Twitter: @FootTrailsUK, Instagram: @foottrailsUK, and at www.facebook.com/foottrails. Blog: http://foottrails.co.uk/blog/ and Vimeo http://foottrails.co.uk/our-story/we-are-foot-trails/

To request images or further information, to enquire about press trips, and to arrange interviews with Alison Howell, please contact Little Black Book Creative: Simone Kane on 07811 161839 and simone@lbbcreative.co.uk, or Kate Simon on 07939 526109 and kate@lbbcreative.co.uk. 

Notes to editors:

Alison Howell's Foot Trails is an innovative and award-winning British travel company and the leading specialist provider of rural walking holidays in South West England, with more than 850 miles of trails in Somerset, Wiltshire, The Cotswolds and Dorset. The successful Foot Trails brand, established in 2002 by Alison Howell, has been built on a passion for rural England, an unwavering determination to provide unique walking-holiday experiences and a strong commitment to ensuring tourism is sustainable and impacts positively on the landscapes and economies of rural communities.

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