There is a delicate balance choosing how to raise money for a cause you believe in. Set the bar too high and you aim to end world poverty with a bake sale; aim too low and you end up asking people to sponsor you to eat at least one bar of Dairy Milk a day (something which I considered in great depth).

But after I got the call in February that my dad had fallen down a ravine and had suffered a life-changing spinal cord injury which has rendered him paralysed from the chest down, I thought I should probably do something.

My parents are still out in New Zealand where the accident happened, stuck in a lock-down separated from each other and from friends and family on the other side of the world. For the short time I was out there, we spent many hours in the hospital garden. This was the place where we scrolled through articles following as the virus spread across the world. It was where I gave my dad his first outdoor haircut, and it was where my parents cut the cake for their 30^th wedding anniversary. More than anything, it was where we sat for hours, idling away the time, talking to each other while my mum caught up on her yoga.

I learnt from this experience the importance of gardens and greenery and open space. Gardens are for everyone. They are the greatest refreshment for the human spirit, and when everything seems so infinitely changed, you can always just go outside, sit amongst the trees, and listen to the birds. This is why Horatio’s Garden, an organisation which builds and nurtures beautiful gardens in NHS spinal injury centres, is a charity which I believe deserves support.

How to raise the money was another issue. Those of you who know my dad know that he is not one to set the bar low. He is not the kind of person to sit at home and watch tv, or sleep in. My dad was a runner, a jumper, a sprinter, a swimmer. He ran half -marathons, then marathons, then when that wasn’t enough, he climbed mountains, completed iron mans and cycled across countries.

I, on the other hand, am not a runner. Nor am I a jogger, a jumper or a sprinter. I prefer the quiet life, where you can usually find me at home, lolloping around the house, nosing around the fridge. But when I realised that money should be raised for the brilliant charity that is Horatio’s Garden, I knew that I should do something that my dad would have done. So, possibly against my better judgement, I am going to run every single day until my parents get home. It doesn’t always have to be long, and it certainly won’t be fast, but at least I’ll be doing what we should all be doing – getting outside, being in nature, enjoying the trees and space around us.

I know it’s a very difficult time for many people financially, but if you can donate anything at all – with both my dad and this incredible charity in mind – it will be going to a great cause.