If there is one thing the past year has taught us, it is to appreciate nature.

And now there is a book available to help people to engage with nature, both indoors and out – and it’s free although supplies are limited.

‘Seasons of Stories: Spring’ is available courtesy of the Stepping into Nature project which helps connect adults in Dorset with their local landscape.

The organisation’s project officer Steph Aburrow said: “Our previous ‘Seasons of Stories Autumn’ book received amazing feedback. People were impressed by the quality, design, beautiful imagery and thought-provoking text. As many of our usual group activities have to be put on hold we were fortunate that we were able to fund the creation of another book using our National Lottery Community Funding. This book is another corker.”

The book has been created by the original core team of Martin Maudsley, (storyteller), Sarah Acton (poet), Julie Hammon and Steph Aburrow, (Stepping into Nature project team) and Spike Goulding, (designer) along with thoughts from the local community.

Professional storyteller, Martin Maudsley said: “We love coming up with the content for this book but this time we wanted to share the voice of others too. When creating the book, we invited people to comment on what spring means to them, personally. We received many lovely replies that are now threaded throughout the book and have been key to creating ‘Seasons of Stories: Spring’.”

To receive a book, please provide your name and address via stepin2nature@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk or call the Stepping into Nature team on 01305 224788 (Steph) or 01305 224785 (Jules) so the book can be posted to you for free. They would love to know why you want a book so include a short sentence or two to let them know. Books will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

To help them to create more books in the future they are welcoming donations online. Log on to www.gov.uk/payments/stepping-into-nature/donate-to-seasons-of-stories