THE Abergavenny Chronicle's gardening columnist, Lynne Allbutt has been swapping her steel-toe capped boots for bare feet lately as she trains for a charity barefoot 5K in Battersea Park next week. Lynne will also be taking part in a Guinness World Record attempt for the biggest group of barefoot runners.

We caught up with Lynne whilst she trained on Llangattock mountain, "I was just looking for something different to do for charity when I found this, it made perfect sense at the time." she laughs.

"I started the year by spending as much time as I could barefoot which, although freezing cold, wasn't too bad. Then as the spring arrived, work got busier and it became obvious that whilst running barefoot is hardy, working barefoot was fool-hardy!

" I'd managed to toughen my feet up a lot then but now it's been more difficult now for some reason. And yes, running on tarmac is a bit painful on times; and yes, I get lots of funny looks," she adds!

Lynne will be meeting up with BBC TV's gardener Chris Collins, in London, "he has offered to buy lunch but I can't persuade him to do the run! We have also got a few plans in the pipeline but I can't say more just yet."

No stranger to raising funds for charity, Lynne has raised over £30,000 for a variety of good causes and puts it all down to the generosity of her supporters. "People are incredibly supportive and generous," she says, "this time I am just asking that if anyone feels that they want to contribute that they donate to their own chosen Charity."

You can read Lynne's Unshodden Blogs at http://www.lynneallbutt.com">www.lynneallbutt.com