How to | Have a Holiday Feeling Every Day

Blurring the lines between home time and holiday time is a wonderful way to feel more relaxed every day and to make the very most of your summer

Taking a little of your ‘normal life’ with you on holiday is a simple way to get more from a new destination and see life there as the locals do rather than as a tourist would. Spending your time on holiday more as you might spend a day off at home is a great way to do this, shopping, exercising and generally living as a local. And there are equal benefits to bringing some of your holiday habits back to your ‘normal’ life… helping you to see things with fresh eyes and make the most of the everyday. Here’s how to do both, and maximise that holiday feeling whether you’re home or away. 

Hobbies to take on holiday

Using your everyday hobbies can be a great way to discover another side to a new location, whether you’re in another part of the UK or a more far-flung location.

1. Go for a run

It’s the easiest way to get to know a new area. Many cities both here in the UK and abroad now have park runs, which are fun to join in with and then meet some locals afterwards with a coffee. But all you have to do is pack your trainers and you’re off exploring. 

2. Visit the cinema

See if there’s a nice picture house within striking distance of your holiday destination. You might just find you can catch a film in a lovely 1930s cinema, or an outdoor cinema, even, bringing a whole new perspective to your movie-watching. If you’re abroad, watching a film in another language is a great way to immerse yourself a bit more in the culture. 

3. Mooch around a book shop

A new book shop is always a delight, and going to one you don’t know throws up all sorts of treasures. You might find local interest books that will give you some new ideas for things to do while there, or perhaps will find a book by a local author to take home as a souvenir. A foreign language novel may get you fluent by the time you leave (or will at least make you look cool while sitting and reading in a cafe back home).

4. Have a swim

Take the chance to explore the scenery on a wild swim somewhere beautiful or simply find a nice pool and enjoy a few lengths with no job or chores to rush home to afterwards.

Habits to bring home 

Make yourself a promise to keep doing some of things that make you happy on holiday when you get home. 

1. Have evening drinks

It doesn’t have to be Negronis on the terrace every evening. Just sitting down with a glass of wine, or juice to enjoy the last of the daylight as you prep the veg for dinner is a lovely way to say ‘that’s the day done, now let’s relax’. 

2. Breakfast well, too

When you’re away, breakfasts are somehow more of an event. Eggs Benedict and fresh fruit salad every morning is lovely, but you can get that holiday feeling (and set yourself up well for the day) just with some decent coffee and a nice granola or sourdough toast, all enjoyed in a bit less of a hurry. Set your alarm 15 minutes earlier to do breakfast properly and you won’t regret it. 

3. A daily walk

On holiday, it feels so easy to fall in love with the local area. How often have you had a favourite promenade by the end of the week that you know you’ll miss when you leave? Why not find a ‘favourite walk’ at home, too, and make a few daily steps into a simple pleasure and a moment to reset?

4. Immerse yourself in the local culture

If you were on holiday in your hometown, what would you do? Well, do it at home, too! Visit your local museum, buy that local wine and read up on the history of the streets where you live and you’ll suddenly see it all in a new light. 

Our hobbies to take on holiday and habits to bring home were inspired by our feature Slow Summer in our July issue, which includes advice from Jo Mattock on blurring the boundaries between home and holiday, as well as other ideas from Rebecca Frank on taking your summer a little slower. 

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How To | Solve Crosswords

The world of crossword puzzles is a fascinating one, but if you’re coming to it as a new puzzler, it can feel like a bit of a closed shop, full of tricks and turns to catch out - or leave you defeated. Here are a few types of clues to look out for and hopefully help you on your way to some completed grids. 

Anagrams

Will include a definition of the word, the letters that form the new word, and an indicator that you’re looking for an anagram (it might say ‘out of sorts’ or ‘muddled’ or something else that suggests a rearrangement. 

Reversals

Similar to an anagram but here you’re looking for a word you simply turn backwards. So ‘Desserts turned hard’ would be ‘stressed’. Desserts is ‘stressed’ backwards and ‘hard’ indicates stress. The word ‘turned’ is a clue that you’re looking for a reversal. 

Containers

This is where the answer is hidden inside one or more word in a clue. So the answer to the clue ‘A trAGEDy to have become old’ might be ‘aged’. 

Double definitions

These clues use words that have more than one meaning and the clue references both. For example: ‘Carry a large grizzly mammal’ could be ‘bear’. 

Homophones

A clue that involves words that sound like each other but have different meanings. So a clue that reads: ‘Sounds like you’re at the tail end of the story’ might have the answer ‘tale’, meaning story but it sounds the same as ‘tail’. Indicators that you're dealing with a homophone clue are phrases such as ‘sounds like’ ‘one hears’, ‘it’s said’ and the like.

Alternating letters

The answer is found taking alternate letters from words in the clue. The Guardian gives this as an example: ‘Young person regularly reading The Beano’. The answer is ‘teen’, a young person, taking alternate letters from The Beano. Look for words that hint at ‘alternating’ such as ‘regular’, ‘periodically’, ‘odd’ or ‘even’. 

Spoonerisms

You may have heard Spoonerisms before, where the first letters of two words are switched. The Financial Times offers this example: ‘There’s a hole in the front door; Spooner wants improved Security’. The answer would be ‘letterbox’ (a hole in the front door) and a Spoonerism of ‘better locks’. These sorts of clues are easy to spot as they will almost always reference The Rev WA Spooner, after whom they are named. 

Initial letters

As you might expect, you’re looking for an acronym here. ‘Initially, furniture can’t have all its refurbishments’ would be ‘chair’. The word ‘furniture’ gives you a clue to the word and the initial letters of the rest of the clue spell out ‘chair’. Often you’ll get a hint that it’s an acronym with the word ‘initially’ or ‘firstly’. 

Deletions

Here, a letter is removed to give the answer so ‘Chicken liver starter, dish left out’ would be ‘paté’. A plate is a dish, and left out indicates a letter has been removed. Chicken liver gives a clue as to the answer. 

&Lit

An &Lit clue is shorthand for ‘& literally so’. It’s a very crosswordy thing where different types of clue are employed but also the answer is the whole clue. Here’s an example from The Times: ‘This means getting excited about start of undertaking’. The answer is ‘enthusiasm’, as described by the whole clue, but you get there by putting the words ‘this means’ around the letter ‘u’, the start of undertaking. 

In our July issue, we took a look at some of the women who made crosswords a phenomenon. You can read more about it (and try your hand at a few puzzles, too) from page 52. 

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Tipple | Rose, Chia & Almond Sherbati

This celebratory rose-flavoured milkshake from Zanzibar is just the thing for balmy
summer days

Serves 5–6

Ingredients

1ltr almond milk
75g caster sugar
150ml rose syrup
Seeds scraped from ½ vanilla pod (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
Ice cubes
2 tsp chia seeds (or basil seeds)
75g pistachios, finely chopped

To make

1 Combine the almond milk, sugar, rose syrup and vanilla in a blender.

2 Add 4 or 5 ice cubes and blend until smooth. Pour in the chia seeds and leave to bloom for at least 5 mins, or until they’ve become jelly-like.

3 Pour over ice, then garnish with a sprinkling of pistachios in each glass.

Server’s note: Sherbati is made during Muharram – the first month of the Islamic new year, which this year begins on 7 July. Traditionally, a big batch is made, bottled up, and donated to children in Zanzibar. It’s a sweeter version as it’s made with condensed milk and basil seeds, which bloom and become gelatinous, like chia seeds. Best enjoyed ice cold.

Taken from Bahari: Recipes From An Omani Kitchen And Beyond by Dina Macki (DK Books). Photography by Patricia Niven

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Recipe | Gooseberry, Thyme & Almond Galette

Photography by Kirstie Young

There’s something so free and easy about a galette. Effortless, generous and welcoming of almost any fruit. Once you’ve tried this version with gooseberries, try rhubarb, plums, apples, apricots, blackberries, cherries and so on. The quantities below are enough for two pastry bases, so freeze half the batch for your next fruit glut.

Serves 6

Ingredients

For the pastry:
325g plain flour
100g icing sugar
175g salted butter, cold and cubed
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp cold milk

For the Filling:
1 tbsp thyme leaves
3 tbsp caster sugar
300g gooseberries
1 egg, white and yolk separated
2 tbsp semolina
1 tbsp demerara sugar

To make

1 Start by making the pastry. Mix the flour, icing sugar and butter in a food processor until sandy. Add the egg yolk and milk and whizz until just combined. Shape into two discs and wrap. Freeze one for next time and chill the other for at least 30 mins.

2 Preheat the oven to 200C/Fan 180C/Gas 6 and place a baking sheet in the oven to get hot (which will prevent the notorious soggy bottom).

3 Next, for the filling. Put the thyme leaves and caster sugar in a pestle and mortar and give it a good bash. Mix this sugar with the gooseberries so that each one is coated.

4 Take the chilled pastry disc and roll it out into a round, about 3mm thick. I do this between two sheets of baking paper to avoid sticking.

5 Place the rolled pastry on a sheet of baking paper (if it isn’t already on one), and brush the middle of the pastry with the egg yolk leaving a 3-4cm border of un-egged pastry at the edge. Sprinkle the semolina over the eggy middle. Now pile the sugared gooseberries on top and fold the border of un-egged pastry up around the sides. Don’t fret if it creases, cracks, or looks messy – it’s all part of the charm.

6 Brush the folded pastry with the egg white and sprinkle with demerara sugar. Transfer to the preheated baking sheet and bake for 40 mins. Leave to rest for 15 mins before serving so the pastry can firm up, then drown in custard or cream… or both!

This galette is from our ‘Tales From The Veg Patch’ feature in our July issue, which is bursting with ideas for cooking and eating seasonal fruit. The recipes are by Kathy Slack.

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Geography | Map Secrets

If you think you can trust a map, think again… Many contain twists and tricks that mean you could be navigating your way to something entirely unexpected.

1. Swisstopo Doodles

For decades, mapmakers for the Swiss Federal Office of Topography (Swisstopo) have been secretly hiding illustrations in official maps: a marmot crouched among the contour lines of the Swiss Alps, a fish nestling in the fringes of a marshy nature reserve for example. Once discovered, these humorous additions are removed, which is rather a shame, we think.

2. Maps as propaganda

Maps are political and cultural documents, distorted representations riddled with errors, propaganda and mischief. Some depict Greenland as larger than Africa, others include entirely made-up streets.

3. World War II Escape Maps

 MI9 British Military Intelligence Officer, Clayton Hutton (known as Clutty) invented silk escape and evasion maps during the Second World War. Based on pre-war Continental touring maps, these were printed on parachute silk (and later rayon) as it was durable, easy to conceal inside the lining of a uniform and didn’t make crinkly noises when sneaking around. 

4. Real Life Treasure Maps

 In 2023, the National Archives of the Netherlands released a trove of documents declassified after a 75-year confidentiality period. Among them was a hand-drawn treasure map, sketched by four retreating German soldiers who’d buried stolen gold coins and jewels beneath the roots of a poplar tree. To this day, the long-lost Nazi hoard, believed to be worth millions, has never been found.

5. Filling in the blanks

Sometimes what’s not on a map that proves to be just as compelling. Terra Australis (Antarctica) tempted explorers even before it was a big blank space on James Cook’s 1795 map of the southern continents labelled ‘terra incognita’ (Latin for unknown land). Centuries before anyone ever beheld the frozen continent, ancient astronomers and geographers were convinced it existed, with maps from Greco-Roman and Medieval times fuelling a geographical myth that persisted for centuries. 

6. Telling tales

 Medieval mappa mundi – ancient European maps of the world – blended knowledge with myth, spirituality and cautionary tales. Hereford Cathedral exhibits the largest surviving example. Measuring 5’2” by 4’4”, the map portrays the Garden of Eden at the top and Jerusalem in the centre, while the edges brim with wondrous people and beasts, inspired by early explorers’ tales.

7. Paper Towns

A long-standing problem for cartographers is how to prevent others from plagiarising years of research; the solution is to set a trap. Known as ‘paper towns’ or ‘trap streets’, the London A–Z is said to contain dozens. For a while, Haggerston in Hackney had a non-existent ski-slope next to the city farm.

Our map secrets are taken from our ‘Know A Thing Or Two pages on maps in our June issue by
Jo Tinsley. Read more from page 83.

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Make | A Chalk Board Serving Tray

Serve nibbles in style in the garden with this simple project

You’ll need:
A thin plank of stained and treated wood from a hardware store (around 200mm wide) cut to your desired length
Chalkbboard paint
Brush
Masking tape
T-bar cupboard handles (180mm) with fixings
Chalk pen

To make:
1. Give the plank a quick rub down and then, using masking tape, tape off a ‘frame’ around the edge of the plank.

2. Paint the middle area with two or three layers of the chalkboard paint and leave to dry thoroughly after each layer.

3. Peel off the masking tape and attach the handles to either end using a screwdriver.

4. Write the names of your cheeses, charcuterie or other snacks on the chalkboard area, next to the respective food items, as takes your fancy. Or simply have a doodle as you nibble.

This is just one of the ideas to mark the month from our ‘Almanac’ pages. Read more things to note and notice, plan and do in our July issue.

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Recipe | Cherry & Burrata Bruschetta

A very special lunch for when you need a treat. Simple to make, but unusual enough to make bread and cheese feel like an occasion.

Serves 1

150g cherries, stoned
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 slice sourdough bread
120g burrata
Small handful basil, leaves picked
Edible flowers, to serve

1 Tear the cherries in half. Mix the vinegar and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a small dish then add the cherries and muddle together. Set aside for 10 mins – although these can be left for up to 24 hours.

2 For the toast, set a griddle pan over a high heat. Drizzle the remaining oil over both sides of the bread and fry on each side until slightly charred.

3 To serve, top the toast with torn burrata and the drained cherries. Finish with basil, edible flowers, a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt.

Cook’s note: You could swap burrata for mozzarella, if you’d prefer.

This recipe is taken from our regular feature, Takes From the Veg Patch, by Kathy Slack with photography by Kirstie Young. This month’s recipes also include a Gooseberry, Thyme & Almond Galette, Rhubarb & Rosemary Fridge Jam.

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