It's damp and miserable, but if you're properly togged up, there's still great beauty to be found in the countryside.

And you might just bump into the girls from Muddy Matches while you're out there

IT'S that time of year when the damp, the wind and the darkness get to me. Gardens always look sorry for themselves; the excesses of festive season still hang heavily on the body, and the credit card payments roll in thick and fast.

The aconites and snowdrops try and cheer me up, but real spring still seems months away. This is why, before Christmas, I make sure to clear a few days towards the end of January, and book a break away in the countryside. Usually this means a trip over to the Lake District.

Being just that bit further west, and consequently a couple of degrees warmer than us, the growing season is slightly further ahead. Unfortunately, being further west also means a couple more inches of precipitation than we get.

Luckily, over the years I have amassed a good wardrobe of waterproof garments.

You can be outside all day if you do not get wet and cold, so the proper clothes really do make a difference.

Despite being one of those days when the clouds just cling to the ground all day, and the rain seems to hang around your face (and more annoyingly, your glasses), there was a freshness and beauty to be found in the great outdoors. The tart yellow petals were starting to stand out against the dull green spines of the dark green gorse. It would only be a matter of a few sunny days before the sweet coconut fragrance would begin to waft on the wind.

A purple haze has taken hold of the birch woodlands, indicating they too are thinking about coming alive, but it is the dogwoods that are stealing the show with their rustic, passionate, fiery displays.

It is not just me who has been appreciating the slow awakening of the countryside.

I have met all kinds of people from all walks of life this week. Each one of them has been searching for something different from their encounter with the outside. Some just want to watch and look; some want to drive through it, others want to be part of it and walk it all, then there are those that want to interact, taste, drink and rejoice with it.

This reminded me of a couple of mad (nicely though) women that I came into contact with a few months ago. They had set up a company called Muddy Matches which is an online community for country-minded people. Last year they hit the road in a motorhome asking anyone in Great Britain who is country minded to get involved and suggest what country things there were to write home about in their region.

The sisters, Emma and Lucy Reeves, embarked on their two-month Muddy Marathon on October and returned, "just in time for some turkey", on December 22. In their "rather unusual"

motorhome, they visited nine regions across Great Britain, spending six days in each, putting on events and immersing themselves in all things muddy', from the traditional to the completely bonkers.

"We wanted to get out there and find out what makes other country people in Great Britain tick", says Lucy. "Everyone experiences the countryside in different ways and we really wanted to embrace that diversity and showcase both its wonderful and wacky sides.

In fact, it was their understanding that "the countryside" and being "country- minded" means different things to different people that led Emma and Lucy to develop their concept of muddiness in the first place. "We had to figure out the one underlying thing that unites country-minded people from all walks of life", says Lucy, "and the answer was obvious: mud. It doesn't matter whether you like walking or shooting, whether you grew up in the countryside, are just hoping to move there, whether you actually live in the countryside or just like to spend time there; if you think you're country-minded, the only thing you can't have is an aversion to mud."

They invited people to suggest things that had to be seen or done in each area, such as the best local country pub (real ale, soggy dogs, open fire). They looked for "different" events happening in the regions, searched for the most wacky farm diversification project in each area, and hunted out any "muddy" characters that were a feature of each locality.

Basically they just wanted to find out how people spend their time in the countryside, and what sort of people they were. They filmed their journey and documented it all in their Muddy Marathon blog, which will soon be found on their website www.muddymatches.

co.uk/muddy-marathon.

As for me, it is the whole package of appreciating nature that draws me to the outdoors. It's a complete sensory recharge. By next week I will be calmed and restored and unfazed by mischievous students or lost tools or the regimented demands from the finance department or overheating greenhouse boilers... Perhaps I ought to extend my stay by a week or two, or three, or four?

■ Brigid presents the BBC Tees Gardening show every Sunday from 1- 2pm. Questions can be answered on the day by emailing brigidpress@bbc.co.uk anytime during the week, or texting 07786-200995 and phoning 01642-225511 during the show. Written queries can be addressed to Brigid at East Durham & Houghall College, Houghall, Durham, DH1 3SG.

JONS THIS WEEK

■ THE buddleia, one of the prettiest garden thugs will have put on a good few metres of growth over the last year. If you want to keep it under control, and guarantee (as far as you can with mother nature) a good display of flowers next summer, then you really do have to be brave and give the bush a really good haircut.

Save the long straight branches as they can be used in place of canes to support other flowers in the border.

Pencil-thin cuttings will take easily if pushed into a quiet, damp piece of ground.

Other trimmings can be bound into bundles and hung in the shrub as insect hotels.

■ CHECK the ties and stakes on any trees in the garden. The wind may have worked some of them loose or pulled others out of the ground. Slacken or remove and replace any ties that are too tight or cutting into the bark of the tree.

■ CARROTS may be sown in a sheltered spot in the garden, unheated greenhouse or polytunnel.

If you can build a raised bed and cover it with fleece then you not only increase the chance of raising a decent early crop, but you will also confuse any root fly.