Cloud-watching is among the countryside attractions on offer in Tessa Wardley's new guide The Countryside Book. She gives us a quick look at types of clouds and where to watch them
Lie back on a bed of grass and watch the clouds scoot by changing shape as they go. Take a camera and send your pictures to the Cloud Appreciation Society.
CUMULUS
![countryside cumulus.jpg countryside cumulus.jpg](https://www.essentialsurrey.co.uk/downloads/3580/download/countryside%20cumulus.jpg?cb=c8f33dba832db8433b05a977d3eb2555&w={width}&h={height})
Fluffy sheep and fair-weather clouds; they don’t bring rain, but accentuate a good day.
STRATUS
![countryside stratus.jpg countryside stratus.jpg](https://www.essentialsurrey.co.uk/downloads/3581/download/countryside%20stratus.jpg?cb=48bda0a34b0def46b71b5b78f42c41c5&w={width}&h={height})
Low-lying sheets of thin, grey, misty, featureless cloud; the mother and father of drizzle.
CIRRUS
![countryside cirrus.jpg countryside cirrus.jpg](https://www.essentialsurrey.co.uk/downloads/3582/download/countryside%20cirrus.jpg?cb=8b989c7b5c6b1779806726d3ee8f5338&w={width}&h={height})
The highest of clouds, they look like streaks of hair and are often known as mares’ tail. They are the harbingers of bad weather to come.
CUMULONIMBUS
![countryside cumulus.jpg countryside cumulus.jpg](https://www.essentialsurrey.co.uk/downloads/3583/download/countryside%20cumulus.jpg?cb=524663896816ee89f515d636e4c8622c&w={width}&h={height})
Towering, violent thunderclouds that shed their rain in short outbursts, exhausting themselves rapidly.
Try cloud spotting at: Box Hill, Barnes Common and Winey Hill
Read an excerpt of The Countryside Book