About this episode

Bethany Handley shares her inspiring journey of overcoming disability to enjoy the outdoors and advocate for better access to nature.

Bethany Handley was always an outdoorsy kid. Climbing mountains, crossing rivers or surfing in the sea near her home in South Wales, she lived and worked in the wild, with a job as an outdoor activity instructor. All that changed in the matter of a few months as illness left her in a wheelchair. Instead of being out and about, she found herself in a rural home where all the paths she once walked were blocked off to her by stiles whose existence she'd once barely noticed. Yet she has been determined not to let that stop her enjoying nature, doing everything she can to get out in the great outdoors — from surfing on a special board adapted for her by her brother, to getting her partner's help to climb ridges in the Black Mountains. We're absolutely delighted that Bethany joined James Fisher for this week's instalment of the Country Life Podcast. She tells her story with grace, honesty and humour — a story she's also shared in a new book , My Body is a Meadow: Finding Freedom in the Outdoors , published on May 7, 2026. Bethany talks about everything from the thoughts that ran through her head as she lay in her hospital bed to the efforts she makes today to campaign for…

People in this episode

Host: James Fisher

Guest: Bethany Handley

Topics covered

• nature access
• disability
• outdoor activities
• personal story
• advocacy
• mountaineering

Keywords

• outdoors
• wheelchair
• accessibility
• mountains
• surfing
• disability advocacy
• personal journey

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Rossiter

Books & works: My Body is a Meadow: Finding Freedom in the Outdoors

Places: South Wales, Black Mountains

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