I am on holiday with my husband, a week in a cottage in Horncastle on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds. Although a UK holiday in October might not be our first choice usually, it does feel like a holiday. So what makes a holiday a holiday, if it isn’t the sunshine? I suspect the answer differs depending both on personality and circumstances.
The highlights for me have been:
- being out of doors and enjoying the autumn colours
- cycling along the Viking Way and Spa Trail looking out for sculptures
- discovering family connections – my father did his RAF national service here
- learning about the history of the area – Bolingbroke castle where Henry IV was born, the Civil War Battle of Winceby, the aerodrome at Woodhall linked to the dambuster raids, the many hamlets with names ending in -by, a sign of Viking settlement
- seeing the geography and wildlife – the vast salt marshes and mudflats of the Wash, the curlew and shelduck, the red chalk in the hilly Wolds, the buzzards and kestrels
- the miles and miles of flat fields filled with cabbages, caulis, leeks, kale, broccoli – now being harvested to bring food to our shops
- not hurrying anywhere, not having a “to-do” list.
The pleasure of the week has a lot to do with physically exploring the area and learning new things and I realise that I could do many of the things in this list from home – being outside, exploring the area where I live and learning more about it.
As we enter another phase of rolling #lockdowns perhaps the way to get through these dark days is to do some of the things that give you pleasure on holiday, but do them at home.
For more self-care tips linked to personality, see this article by Susan Storm
For more tips on how to be resilient: