Countryside Management Service

We have a number of leafleted walks that are aimed at beginners or those walking specifically to improve their health. Find one in your area and give it a go.

The Countryside Management Service (CMS) has been working with communities in Hertfordshire for 30 years, helping them to care for and enjoy the environment.

Health walkers take the next step

Walkers from award-winning health walk schemes in Dacorum and Watford & Three Rivers stepped up to the challenge of leading their own walks last Saturday by attending health walk leader training.

A welcome number of volunteers came along to the free, nationally certified training, which was organised in response to the increasing popularity of the walks.

Isabel Crozier, Assistant Manager at the West and Southern Countryside Management Service, who co-ordinate the schemes, explained the importance of the training:

"With numbers on our walks growing all the time, we are always in need of walkers willing to train to lead groups safely; the support these volunteers lend to the schemes by undertaking the training is invaluable".

The Walking the Way to Health Initiative training guides people through the main elements of leading successful health walks, teaching them about the benefits of walking and also giving them confidence to take the lead.

One newly qualified leader, who joined the walk scheme as a walker initially in order to get more exercise, said of the training:

"I decided to become a walk leader as I wanted to encourage others to take part in the health walks and enjoy the sense of well being and fun that can be got from them."

With demand for health walks growing, these popular schemes will soon need another group of willing walkers to follow in the footsteps of the new leaders.