MOST of us enjoy a dip in the sea at the height of summer, whether it's a gentle paddle or a full on swim.

But what about diving in in the middle of winter?

That's exactly what Amanda Golding does.

The data-analyst from Shirley barely went swimming just over a year ago.

But last July she decided that she wanted to swap her gym visits for exercise that got her closer to nature and, along with a friend, decided to give swimming in the sea a go.

"I thought it might be something I did every now and then," says the 38-year-old.

"But I became totally hooked. It's so relaxing and magical. Wet suits are really buoyant, so you can lay back and float, while you look at the clouds and feel the water gently bobbing you, between the swimming.

"We have been every weekend since!"

Amanda had barely swum since her school days, but had recently been on a cruise which had helped put the idea of wild swimming into her head.

"Right before I tried it, I went on a cruise. I remember looking at the sea and thinking it would be so nice to swim in it," she says.

"I had been going to the gym but really wanted to get my exercise outdoors, in nature, and thought I'd try wild swimming and see how it went."

While Amanda and her friend find themselves sharing the sea with plenty of other people in the summer, in the winter, they often had it to themselves, and found they got quite a lot of attention from people on the shore.

"People assumed that we must be in training for an endurance event or something," she says.

"It blew their minds that we were just doing it for exercise. That's what it is for us, exercise and a chance to natter and be in nature. It's so therapeutic. We don't do anything like try to beat our time from last week."

The pair are often in the sea for more than two hours over summer, reducing that to around an hour in the winter, as it can just get too cold.

"We often go in the evening, which is magical," says Amanda.

"It's great to swim as the sun goes down. You get such dramatic changes in light, as they sky goes pink and then yellow, and the water changes colour too. We like to swim right until it's almost dark."

Of course, wild swimming can be dangerous, and Amanda and her friend take sensible precautions.

"We check the sea state and forecast beforehand," says Amanda.

"I have an Apple watch with a sim card in it so I could use it as a phone if we needed to call for help. We also use waterproof bags with floats that have our phones in and I have gps. I ping my partner when we start so she can track me and if we got into trouble she'd be able to say what our coordinates were.

"We were more cautious in the winter, and often swam in the morning to avoid it getting too dark on us."

Amanda says that they have only had one worrying experience so far, when a group of young men on jet skis started circling them and giving them menacing looks.

"It was terrifying because they had the power to hurt us," she says.

"I don't know why they did it. We share the water with lots of other people, wind surfers, paddle boarders, etc, and people normally give a wave and look out for each other."

Amanda has invested in summer and winter wet suits, as well as gloves and boots for winter, and a kind of coat/towel/changing room that she gets changed under.

"It's more expensive than the gym so far," she says.

"I've spent about £600 on kit, but that should last a long time. I also feel a lot better about exercising outdoors than I did going to the gym."

Amanda feels much fitter now. She has lost weight and has noticed an improvement in a lower back problem.

"We've been swimming at Durdle Door and that's amazing, with the Jurassic Coast," she adds.

"In the summer we are sometimes in the water for two and a half hours. We break up swimming with floating and having a chat. And sometimes we have chips on the way back. We deserve it!"