At the start of 2008 my friend, Emma, declared the coming twelve months a Year of Culture. She and a friend had decided that their lives were rather sorry in that area, so they planned to attend as many concerts, plays, ballets and operas as they had time and money for. Galleries, museums and historic houses all got a look in. Emma even managed a weekend in Rome.

I lighted on the idea with all the glee of a magpie finding the Crown Jewels. I love such schemes. And so I gaily concocted other ‘years’ that, in hindsight, would separate one twelve month period from another. ‘Ah,’ folk would say, ‘that happened during my Year of Tiddlywinks!’

Emma made up a scrapbook as the year wore on so that she would forever be able to leaf over memories of a year that stood out from the rest. The images above are taken from it.

So, whilst some of us are focusing on our word for the year and looking for meaningful progress or deep change in our lives, I’m offering a more frivolous adjunct or alternative. This is not so much about changing your life as enriching it. The permutations are endless and I could bore you for inches and inches with possibilities; but I’ll refrain and just give you four variations to kick you off. If the concept tickles your fancy, take your pick from these or come up with one of your own.

You don’t have to do everything in each list, of course. Just choose what appeals or what’s possible and add your own bright ideas into the mix. And let us know in the comments below what your ideal ‘year’ would be.

Make frequent detours to drive down roads you’ve never driven down before

Read up on local history

Patronise local events

Shop in your own neighbourhood

Visit all the places strangers would visit if they came to your neck-of-the-woods

Eat locally-grown food

Set up or join a community group of some kind

Become an avid reader of the local newspaper

Take photographs and compile a record of a year in your village/town/city

Sign up to your local Freecycle group

A Year of Nature

Create a wild garden

Learn to identify birdsong

Go on a wildflower walk

Keep hens

Eat wild greens, pick berries, bottle elderflower cordial or sloe gin

Feed the birds

Keep a nature journal to record your patch of earth at different times of the year

Learn to recognise local animal tracks and dwellings

Let nature inspire your current creative expression

Create a nature table in a corner of your home

An English Year (substitute the country in which you live or have an English year regardless of where you live on the globe!)

Take weekend trips to parts of the country you don’t know

Throw a garden party

Read English novels and poetry

Visit Wimbledon, Ascot or Henley

Take afternoon tea each day

Listen to lots of Elgar and William Walton

Learn the rules of cricket (tee hee)

Celebrate not just Bonfire Night but lesser-known dates and traditions

Go to a Prom concert

Book to see a pantomime at Christmas

Visit well-known gardens or spend time tending your own

Investigate English folk music

Remember St. George’s Day

Talk incessantly about the weather

Drink lots of tea!