Shoreham blogger shares best local walks to inspire families

Juliet Evans, who lives in Old Fort Road, Shoreham Beach, hopes the routes will inspire families to spend quality time together for free.

The 47-year-old started her blog just over a year ago and said she has been ‘amazed’ by the positive feedback so far.

The blog, called My Family Home, covers topics from parenting and vegetarian cooking to fashion and lifestyle – and will now feature a different walking route each week too.

Juliet said: “It’s a really nice thing to do, being in nature.

“I want to promote what’s on our doorstep and get families out there appreciating it.

“You don’t have to spend lots of money to keep kids entertained.”

Juliet said her children Alice, eight, and Alexander, five, love den building and getting covered in mud when they go out for walks together, along with their sausage dog Fizzles.

“There’s so much out there, so much potential,” Juliet said.

Her blog focuses on ways families can ‘relax and have fun’ together – something her own experiences of parenting have taught her the importance of.

Juliet brought up her first daughter Sophie, now 23, as a single, working mother.

She said: “When my eldest was growing up, I didn’t have social media.

“You weren’t constantly comparing yourself to other parents, you just got on and did it the best way you thought.”

She went on to have two more children with her husband Morris, a computer programmer, and after the birth of her third child decided not to return to her office job doing legal work for West Sussex County Council.

She said: “Parenting has changed quite a bit.

“There is less freedom for children.

“There’s a lot more fear and a lot of pressure on parenting.”

Having discovered writing to be ‘a real passion’, she hopes her blog will entertain and inform readers – and take some of the pressure off parents.

She said: “I want to say to women, step back and enjoy your kids.

“They are only small for a short time.”

Read Juliet’s first walk recommendation, a route from Shoreham beach to Shoreham Fort, on her blog here