About Look Near First

The heart of the Look Near First vision is that near is not second best. By moving slower, looking closer, and finding joy in what is near us, we can find greater connection and contentment in our lives, and help to look after the planet that we share.

We believe that travel doesn’t always have to mean boarding a plane or travelling across continents by car or train. With an open mind, adventure, rest and discovery can be found close by, with. Our mission is to inspire more people to look near first by bringing together inspirational stories and ideas from those who have already found awesomeness in a lighter tread.

Rather than being less adventurous, looking near first might help us to see the world as a more bigger, richer, more wonderful place. High-speed travel has shrunk the planet - we can fly to the other side of it in a day, but how much do you miss on the way, and how much do you really see and feel when you follow the whistle-stop tours? It's time to rethink how we see the world.

We’re here to:

• Share inspiration for local trips and hidden gems.
• Highlight the joy in moving slower: that might mean trains and buses instead of air travel, but could even walking sometimes be too fast?!
• Celebrate the businesses, makers, and communities that make our local areas unique.

What does success look like? It would be lovely, one day, to hear from somebody who, due to this project, decided not to fly on their holiday, meaning that we had helped to prevent a bit more carbon from entering the atmosphere. But even better would be to hear somebody saying we inspired them to look near first, and they found riches there beyond their imagination.