Having to take seven days holiday during the winter months can be a bit of a pain, as the weather is not always kind and is always unreliable. Unfortunately we both have different work patterns meaning I always get more days holiday, as I have to work bank holidays and I don’t get every weekend off.
I don’t tend to do anything special as I’m on my own, so these days are normally spent gardening, cleaning or tidying or just sitting around watching television.
Last Monday was fairly pleasant, so while my wife worked from home, I decided to get out into the garden. I had two new pots to plant up and plenty of pruning and cutting back to do and I even managed to cut most of the lawns, though it was well saturated in places.
When we lived in Silver End, I had plenty of creative ideas and drive, but now we have moved to a house near Braintree that doesn’t as yet have a boundary fence, the drive has wained a little, so I just stick to cutting the lawn and planting in pots.
On Tuesday there was very little sunshine, so I spent most of the day indoors. I watched two episodes of Inspector Morse first, then got to work, tidying up in the house, sorting the laundry before heading upstairs to decorate the bathroom.
Living in an old house, it’s fairly cold and it does suffer from damp in certain parts of certain rooms. In the bathroom above the window for example, there always seems to be condensation and it had gone, slightly discoloured.
We had some anti mould paint in the cupboard and this seems to have done the trick, although we are now thinking about changing the colour scheme,too.
Wednesday, was a restful day, it began early watching “A Picture of Britain” narrated by David Dimbleby.
Afterwards I felt a need to go out, so I grabbed my camera donned some clothes and headed out looking for daffodils.
I hadn’t got far when I saw some near the village hall, I ventured on going around 5 miles in a round trip that encompassed Blackmores End, Beazley End and Bocking before returning home and shooting some daffodils. Back to work tomorrow, just for two days then we’re off to the Isle of Wight for three.
Why am I a naturist, why do I like living without clothes ? : It’s a question that’s pretty simple to answer, it’s the comfort, liberating feel and the total freedom which can be enjoyed during the summer and all the year round.
Given that we do live in England the weather is not always sunny and warm so it is not possible to be naked 24/7 365 days straight, especially in winter time. It is possible though to enjoy quality clothes free time during those months, just for shorter periods.
I’ve been naturist for over 30 years but it’s only been the last 13 that we (my darling wife and I) have been able to enjoy it regularly together and with others.
I have though enjoyed being naked for nearly 50 years and have slept naked for almost as long, I suppose being naked is second nature to me a practice that infact must be inbread in human, but suppressed by society, as something that is wrong and something should be forbidden. To be honest doesn’t everyone like being naked ?
The first time I enjoyed being clothes free outdoors was probably swimming in the Mediterranean while on holiday in the 1970s with my parents.
Discreetly slipping of my swimming trunks for a short while, enjoying the freedom of skinny dipping for a short while, before returning to the beach, trunks back in place. Didn’t we all do this at some point ?
The next time was probably at home in daytime or in the evening, when everyone else had gone out, during the late 1970’s / early 1980’s. I seriously began to think about clothes free living and the enjoyment of it, while reading about the care free times of the late 1960s and in particular the Woodstock Festival in 1969.
With its origins may be traced to social movements in the 19th and early 20th century some of the hippie ethos resonated with me from an early age.
Non violent and peace loving with an influence of spirituality and with its fundamental ethos including harmony with nature, it is something that I still believe in, even to this day.
From those days in the early 1980s I just couldn’t understand and still don’t just what was and still is peoples hang up with the human body in its natural form.
Over the past decade we’ve (my darling wife and I) have attended naturist conferences, been to naturist gatherings inside and outside, visited beaches and campsite, gone hiking, as well as visited and stayed at several naturist clubs.
We also own a cabin “Cabinchaletshed” at another naturist club in Essex. In recent years we’ve been on naturist holidays abroad and during the years surrounding and including the “Covid Pandemic Years” enjoyed quality naked time tending to our garden at home.
As I grow older I realise what things are important and what things aren’t and what should be discarded, physical things as well as mental baggage. Naturism helps me to do this and is something that is ‘non sexual’ and ‘pure’ when enjoyed in nature, it’s enjoyable too all the year round.
Hot tub dipping is enjoyable, just as cold water dipping is as well, hot air environments, such as saunas and steam rooms are cleansing and soothing, and ice cold air blasts outside during the cold month’s can refresh you just as much.
I can think clearly about life now, enjoy the natural things in the world, take from it so much more, than I can from things like alcohol and just enjoy life as it is supposed to be enjoyed naturally.
Naturism advocates a lifestyle and philosophy of living, in harmony with nature, emphasizing self-acceptance and respect for others through being free from clothing related societal norms and it is something that I agree with. Exploring naturism, nature and meditation provides peaceful wellbeing and good karma too .
Why Not ! : Why not try naturism for yourself, join a club, international or national organisation, go to a beach, go for a countryside ramble or just try it at home. Once you get over that first hurdle the hesitation dissappears and you won’t look back.
Fellow naturists will tell you the longer you practice naturism, the more frequent you do it, the happier you will be, the less you will worry and the more content life will become.
Barefoot – Being naturists we evolved for it: walking in nature stimulates our senses in a lot of ways and doing so without footwear, just makes it a lot more intensive. What does our body good, feels good.
The sense of touch in our feet is highly sensitive, but that is not just for enjoyment when walking in nature. It helps us keep balance, which is very important for walking and climbing up slopes. We also notice immediately when there is something wrong, such as a little thorn stuck in the sole that we should take better care and remove it before going on.
Barefoot and Naked – If walking barefoot stimulates the body imagine what walking barefoot and naked does for the soul. Your feet get you in contact with the soil and the earth and being naked too, gives you direct contact with the air, the warmth from the sun, the cold if its winter and water if there’s rain in the air.
A better question is why people aren’t all “naturists” to the point that there wouldn’t even be a label for it, given that we’re all born happy to be what we are, while being fine with what other people look like too.
Instead, we’re persistently and perversely conditioned by our parents and by our culture to have to cover and hide ourselves from each other almost every waking moment (often to the point of not even allowing ourselves the comfort and freedom of sleeping uncovered).
Natural Bodies – In no time, this causes people to feel ashamed and embarrassed to be simply what they are, and it causes them to be intolerant of what other people simply look like.
To enforce the taboo, the culture associates simple nudity with sexuality. Don’t get me started on that subject… Either way, the human race has become very very screwed up, about what we are.
Even so, one by one, people hang out for a while after bathing before they get dressed. They start sleeping naked. They find themselves in a remote enough place to skinny dip.
Maybe even lay out in the sun for a while that way. They might even stumble on other people enjoying themselves uncovered at a remote beach, hot spring, or wilderness area. They’ve heard that people do that. But why?
Sun, Wind and Water – More a case of why not? Some give it a try and discover how wonderful it is to not only feel the sun, wind, and water unbroken across their bare skin, but to be able to experience it without any shame or embarrassment with people who are fine with it and are fine with you. All for the low low price of accepting them, simply as they are.
All those wasted years. All that bad conditioning, gone in an instant ! It’s a tribute to how bad the conditioning is, that it’s so easily broken. “Wrapping up”: One doesn’t so much become a naturist, as they stop not being one as they become more fully human. Meanwhile, ask yourself why you’re still so screwed up about it.
During our November holiday in Charco Del Palo it’s was wonderful to be able to go out and walk along the rocky coastline totally naked. In total we walked around 10 miles in and around Charco taking in the baron volcanic scenery. We also visited one of three swimming holes which at times were also frequented by clothed people who had hiked along the coast.
Watching the sunrise was one of the nicest aspects of our holiday being able to get out of bed and just walk out to watch the sunrise without having to put any clothes on. We saw the sunrise twice and both times it was a sight to behold.
We did put our clothes a few times to go out in our hire car we visited the Timanfaya National Park Visitor centre as well as going into Costa Teguise a couple of times. The best visit we had was to the Jardin De Cactus.
The Jardín de Cactus is a cactus garden on the island of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. It is situated in the village of Guatiza, in a former quarry.
There volcanic sand lapilli (volcanic pyroclast, locally called “picón” or “rofe”) was extracted to spread on cultivated areas to retain moisture. The cactus garden was created in 1991, the last project of César Manrique.
The botanist Estanislao González Ferrer was responsible for the selection and planting of the specimens. The garden now has 4,500 examples of 450 species of cactus and. succulents from North and South America, Madagascar, and other desert and arid areas.
The garden is in the shape of a large amphitheatre, with the plants arranged in terraces. A restored windmill, once used in the production of gofio, stands at the highest point.
Most of the time though we deicided to stay naked in Charco and sunbathed for days on end mainly on our terrace before going out to eat in the evening.
In Charco Del Palo you can be naked 24 hours a day if you want to, the only exception being the supermarket and the four restaurants that are in the village.
As we’d arrive late on the Saturday night we didn’t have any provisions so early on Sunday morning we headed out naked to the supermarket, with our minimal clothes tucked into our shopping bag.
Once we’d done our shopping, we removed our clothes and walked back along the streets and back to our apartment on Calle Orion.
As we didn’t have a car we spent the first two days relaxing, sunbathing, reading, listening to music and cooling off in the pool (salt water and freezing) before going out to the restaurants for drinks and a meal in the evening.
Lillie’s bar was our venue on the first evening the only bar in the village which serves tasty basic food and has a good supply of wines, beers and spirits.
The first two evening were so relaxing and it was so nice not have to worry about work, the weather, getting up early and wearing clothes.
I took two books with me on the holiday both autobiographies Bruce Dickinsons “Which button do I press” and Joan Baez’s “and a voice to sing with” which I bought after our last foreign naturist holiday to Esquinzo in Fuertaventura in 2019.
Bruce Dickinsons was an excellent read, recalling his younger days at various schools, fencing, early bands including Samson and of course his career as Iron Maidens lead singer.
It also goes into depth about his flying exploits and his solo career. It’s definitely worth a read and I was listening to Maiden albums at the same time.
Charco del Palo is located near the villages of Mala and Guatiza, both about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) away.
The village is built on pale sandy soil, but the coast is rocky, with no beaches. However, three sheltered coves have been developed for safe bathing. There are many stone circular enclosures (just as in Fuertaventura) on top of the cliffs which are excellent for sunbathing.
After two days we took a taxi to Costa Teguise to pick up our hire car. It was a Skoda and it served us well during the holiday although we only ventured out two or three times.
It was strange going from right hand drive automatics to a manual left hand drive and driving on the right instead of the left, but apart from trying to change gear with my left hand everything ran smoothly.
What’s is the perfect naturist dream ? A time where no work has to be done, a place that’s warm, dry and sunny and a place where clothes aren’t required morning, noon and night.
With this in mind we set about the task of finding somewhere to spend a holiday free from the inclement British weather and spend sometime together wonderfully clothes free.
Due to constraints at work and personal commitments the only time that suited both of us to go away for a fortnight, was late October, early November.
Looking around at places within our budget many places in the northern hemisphere, were either too expensive or too cold, leaving only the Canary Islands as the only possible location.
We looked around at the islands and naturist locations and having been to Fuertaventura we fancied somewhere different. We looked at some very nice villas and destinations but unfortunately most were not quite what we wanted, situated within textile areas.
In the end the place that stood out the most and fitted our brief was Charco Del Palo on the island of Lanzarote.
We noted that prices had increased dramatically especially the cost of the flights, so we shopped around and found the cheapest flights being with easyJet leaving from Gatwick on the Saturday 28th.
We got to the airport early and checked our baggage in, had a meal and did some shopping, before boarding our flight at around 5pm.
We saw the sun dissappear en route and arrived at César Manrique airport at around 9. After getting our luggage we headed out to pick up our pre booked hire car.
Unfortunately for us, the hire car agent didn’t appear and we were forced to take a taxi the 17 miles to our resort. We arrived met the agent and were shown to our apartment for our entire stay by 11.
We then stripped off and unpacked the clothes we had to bring and turned in for the night. Sunday dawned bright and the day was warm and sunny around 24°C without the need for any clothes we headed outside to watch the sunrise.
Naturism is a lifestyle which promotes a deep felt respect for oneself, other people, animals and nature. It is a way of life that embraces the human body in its natural state, and encourages a positive body image outlook and mutual self-acceptance.
It is a belief and ideal that the human body is nothing to be ashamed of, and that the practice of being naked in every day life can be an incredibly liberating and freeing experience, not just for our bodies but our minds too.
The practice of naturism can be traced back to ancient civilizations, where it was common for people to bathe and exercise in the nude. Nudity in social contexts has also been practised in various forms by many cultures and in all time periods.
Today, naturism has become a popular movement, with numerous clubs, resorts, and beaches dedicated to the practice.
Naturism is rooted in a respect for the natural environment and a belief that the human body is the most natural form of human expression.
Naturists often enjoy sports and pastimes such as swimming, hiking, Yoga, various physical exercise and other outdoor activities in the nude. In this way we believe that being nude in nature we are able to connect with the environment on a deeper level.
Naturism also promotes positive body image and self-acceptance. It encourages people to explore their body in a non sexual way and to appreciate all peoples physicality without judgement.
All naturists believe that every body is beautiful, no matter what size, shape, or color. By embracing their own bodies, naturists can learn to accept and love their bodies just as they are.
Naturism is not just about being nude in nature. It is about living an ethical lifestyle, respecting the environment and the world that we live in.
Naturists believe that being nude in nature should never be done in a way that would make others uncomfortable. They also believe that the practice should be done in a way that does not harm the environment.
In conclusion, naturism is a lifestyle that celebrates and embraces the human body. While it may not be for everyone, it has proven to be a positive and empowering experience for many who practice it.
By promoting body positivity and self-acceptance, naturism has the potential to not only improve individuals’ lives but also foster a more inclusive and accepting society.
The British Weather, this is of course, the British people’s favourite topic of conversation, especially those with an interest in the clothes free outdoor lifestyle.
With still just over 3 months to go until our second naturist holiday in Charco Del Palo, Lanzarotte, time has been spent at home dodging the showers as well as going out for the odd country walk.
Unfortunately with July being the 6th wettest on record the plants in the garden really don’t know if they are coming or going so as a result, I’d have to say things outside apart from the weeds aren’t flourishing.
I’ve tried to get to grips with it but enthusiasm is hard to come by, when it’s damp and the temperatures are below the seasonal norm.
I’ve been for the odd countryside walk this year and taken the chance to be clothes free, but we’ve had little time to get to the club this year, which is a pity as I like to relax and enjoy the peaceful surroundings.
It seems to be the trend this year, with very few naturist stories hitting the headlines, apart from those in my last post and those originating from the national organisation for naturism in the UK, BN.
June’s heatwave brought temperatures in excess of 30°C and made it the UK’s warmest June on record. But as July arrived, so did the rain.
In a typical British summer, when temperatures are warmer and drier, the jet stream is to the north of the UK, where it pulls up hot air from the south across the country. In the winter it sits further south and brings wet and windier weather because low pressure areas come closer to the UK.
The jet stream, which sits at about 30,000ft, can also change shape, going from flat to amplified, and it’s the latter that can lead to huge thunderstorms developing very quickly.
So why has this summer been so bad ? Met Office experts and scientists have said it lies in the arrival of a series of low pressure systems above the UK which have been held in place by a ‘blocked weather pattern’.
As I sit here on the 2nd August with the rain lashing down, I just don’t know if the summer will actually continue or as the nights are drawing in autumn will arrive without any genuine nice hot weather.
Naturism has been in the news recently as people have begun to step away from their normal “hideaways” and endeavour to make it a lifestyle more mainstream than it has ever been before.
Apart from the obvious national organisations breaking naturist news stories, two couples and a naked cyclist have hit the headlines here in the UK and abroad.
Neil Cox and Danielle Quiggan had already enjoyed a cold drink naked in Bristol and that nobody there, had kicked up a fuss at all. The next day the naturist pals visited the Somerset pub and had plenty of eyeballs on them when they walked through the door. The headlines read:
“Diners left ‘outraged’ and ‘appalled’ after naked couple stroll into pub to enjoy meal” the headlines read
As regards to the law in the UK, Naturism is not a criminal offence, with Crown Prosecution Service guidance explaining: “In the case of naturism a balance needs to be struck between the naturist’s right to freedom of expression and the right of the wider public to be protected from harassment, alarm and distress.
Whilst Cox and Quiggan were having their meal, other “alarmed patrons took to TripAdvisor to leave complaints against the pub, with many claiming they had been left ‘speechless’.
This is a typical response from those who still discriminate against Naturists. Comments were left saying : “We expected the bar man to refuse to serve them. There were several families with children in the pub, including ourselves, therefore it was not appropriate for them to be served.”
As well as : “We decided to leave the pub and find somewhere else for dinner in town. Unfortunately another family were not able to as they had already ordered food. “If you advertise as a family pub you should maintain these values.
So this is ok then, if you descriminate against naturists ?
On Tuesday last week Helen Berriman appeared on Good Morning Britain. Naturist Helen joined presenters Ed Balls and Charlotte Hawkins on the programme in a discussion over whether naked sunbathing should be made illegal and appeared on the panel in the nude.
Helen, who is a member of the Naturist Foundation, argued that people should be able to sunbathe naked in public, while Brand and Culture expert Nick Ede said it was a “selfish” thing to do.
“With all the things that are going on in the world at the moment, are we really that bothered about a nude body sunbathing in a quiet corner of a park?” asked Helen. “There’s so much else going on that we could be concerned about.”
Nick Ede disagreed profusely almost child like, arguing that some members of the public might be offended by nudity. “I have issues with it because I think it’s a very selfish thing,” he said. “It’s about you and your empowerment and I completely understand body positivity, which I think is fantastic. But you’re not taking into consideration the other people within that environment, who might be a little bit triggered or find it offensive.” I watched this myself and at time he sounded almost child like, while Helen sounded calm and reasonable.
While some threw in negative comments other viewers, however, applauded Helen for addressing the issue on national television. One person tweeted: “Well done Helen. You did an amazing job presenting your case and I’m sure many more will give naturism a try given how confident you were on national TV,” while another tweeted the naturist, writing: “Congrats and thanks for your outstanding continued support for naturism !”
Both Helen and husband Simon campaign tirelessly for positive changes with regards to naturism, just like the final person I’ll mention Naked Cyclist Stuart Gilmour.
Stuart was seen cycling, as well as filling up his car at a service station, which got reported in the UK press as well as on television in the USA. Stuart said : I’m just a naturist who loves to be able to experience everyday life without the restrictions of clothing he said, promoting body positivity. Embracing the individuality that is our bodies and showing people it’s ok to be different whether that be size, shape or colour and the general wellbeing it can give you.
“Most of all it’s meeting so many new people and making new friends while cycling. If I was clothed no one bothers you, you just ride past, but when in the buff people are just genuinely intrigued and want to know more.
Stuart is a down to earth character, who just like the two couples/friends and most other naturists, myself included just want to go about their Iives unhindered by the constraints of clothes and the frenzy that the world press, try to whip up. The actions of these people and others can only be applauded, as we all endeavour to make the unclothed natural human body something to be accepted as normal and not for naturists /nudists to be branded as some kind of freaks.
For me it’s the freedom to be naked, the cooling breeze, the warm sunshine and the total calmness I feel when I’m in the nude, especially barefoot too, it’s a wonderful feeling. It’s like the burden of life has been lifted from your shoulders and you haven’t a care in the world. It should be for everyone to enjoy freely and lauded openly not hidden away, like it shouldn’t be allowed or is wrong.
It's Only Natural 