It's long been a desire of mine to visit the Scottish Highlands and now with recruitment of a Canal Environment & Heritage Officer for the Caledonian Canal underway, maybe I'll have just the excuse to go. Our work in Scotland is going from strength to strength, as well as extending our work to the Highlands our Scents & Sensitivities project at Auchinstarry Basin on the Forth & Clyde Canal is just a few weeks away from completion.

This has been a mamouth iniative - to transform a new canal basin into a resource which is valued, used and enjoyed by the local community and visitors to the area.

Working with the local community of Croy, we have helped to create a sensory garden and nature trail, new pathways and seating areas. Stunning sculptures provide wonderful focal points at the site. Local school children worked with artists to create artwork which now adorns litter bins, picnic benches and helps to interpret the site. Volunteers from The Coach House Trust also learnt valuable woodworking skills when they helped create the picnic benches.

This project is a great example of just how we are helping to enrich people's lives through waterways.

Sometimes it isn't easy for people to get out to see, explore or discover their local waterway due to age - too old, too young, mobility issues or simply a lack of interest. To help overcome some of these issues our Canal Community Liaison Officer in Scotland, Steven Cole, got together with the Open Museum at Glasgow Museum Resource centre to create a Glasgow Canal Kit.

The kit contains museum objects such as a model puffer boat, a kingfisher, butterflies, plant-life specimens, a horseshoe, a windlass, boat tickets and small samples of goods that were both transported on and made along the canals. There are also photographs, a map, suggested walks and a history of the canal.

Local community groups such as youth groups, nurseries, care homes, community centres can borrow the kit free of charge and help more people uncover the history of their area, the wildlife that make their homes along waterways or perhaps how of Glasgow has changed over the years.

This is just one of the ways that the Trust is helping to make the story, heritage and wildlife of our canals and rivers more accessible to the local community.

You can find out more about this kit by contacting the Open Museum.

I'm also trying to stick to my New Year's resolution of doing some kind of exercise each day and with Spring on its way, the office's location in Gloucester Docks leaves me with no excuse but to get out and pound that towpath on my lunch break. If you are able to get along to a canal or river, they can be fantastic places to set a new PB (personal best). A nice, flat route makes a marked difference to the hills of Herefordshire where I live!

Waterways Action Squad is going from strength to strength. More than 700 young people have take part in events and activities along our waterways since the project got under way in July 2009.

It is crucial that we help the next generation to build a connection with our canals and rivers so they are looked after and used for years to come.

Another project in Scotland which has helped several young people gain much needed work experience is nearing completion. Three Modern Apprentices have spent a year working on our environmental improvement project at Auchinstarry Basin on the Forth & Clyde Canal, Scents & Sensitivities. They have learned how to landscape, lay paths, plant hedgerows and build fences. Hopefully these new skills and practical work experience will help them get a job in the future. We'll be celebrating everything that has been achieved through the Scents and Sensitivities project in March.