A COUPLE from Bradford on Avon are lacing up their walking shoes after being named champions of a new Ordnance Survey project.

Jen and Sim Benson, of Priory Close, are part of a group of 30 champions for the GetOutside project, encouraging more people to get out and explore. The authors, who have two children aged five and two, have been given maps and clothing from OS and will be exploring the country for inspiration for their new writing projects.

Mrs Benson, 37, said: “We've always enjoyed being outside, whether we're camping, rock climbing, running or wildlife spotting. We love exploring with the kids and seeing things anew through their eyes."

Mr Benson, 33, said: “We have a couple of book projects on the go that require us to research various parts of the UK. There's so much to see for a relatively small country and, even though we've travelled around it a lot it feels like there's still so much left to discover. We're trying our new ways of travelling too, aiming to be less reliant on fossil fuels and instead promote more sustainable ways to have adventures.”

The couple's book, Wild Running, came out in 2014.

Mrs Benson said: “Wild Running was a culmination of many years' experience of running all over the country, but we spent about 18 months specifically researching, photographing and writing it. It was a big project for us as we'd never written a book before and had to learn to take photographs too, as well as looking after our daughter and with a new baby on the way."