It is very early in the morning, a beautiful summer morning on the 17th June 2012 and I am deep in the Wiltshire countryside with the Impala Land Rover Discovery TD5 checking some of the routes that I have put together for a week of off road driving through this part of England.

The air is still and full of the song of skylarks. The bubbling sound fills the space around me and it is impossible to know how many sing as the songs flow into one another. Occasionally one of the skylarks descends to sit on the wooden posts of the fence beside the track.

This time of the morning the natural world does not expect to see many of us wandering about and because of that, they stay a little longer, letting you get a little closer, before reluctantly moving off. A magnificent roe deer did just that as only feet in front of our Discovery.

The Discovery is beginning to look more like an off road prepared example every time I take it out as an Impala Support car. Because we have had a lot of rain this month I have added a snorkel, just in case we come across some deep water, especially at Tarr Steps in Exmoor.