Calling all Picassos...

Lockdown made many of us want to acquire new skills – now we seek holidays with added challenge, says Emma Love

In the absence of far-flung snaps of pristine beaches and smart hotels, lockdown Instagram feeds were full of hands-on, home-made achievements, from the perfect sourdough loaf to first-time knitting projects. Everyone, it appeared, had mastered a creative skill. So it makes sense that even as life shifts up a gear, we want to develop these further by booking a learning holiday. Conversely, choosing a trip like this also gives those who were far too busy juggling working/ home-schooling/caring for family (delete as appropriate) a chance to try their hand at new hobbies too.

“After lockdown, the jump was immense; our bookings trebled,” says Julie Cooper, managing director of Edinburgh-based Flavours Holidays, which has been specialising in skillsoriented trips for more than 20 years. “At first the bookings were for 2021 but then at the end of June we saw a real change, with everyone wanting to get away this year.”

Flavours Holidays’ (flavoursholidays.co.uk) destinations are Italy, Spain and Scotland: cooking is proving most popular but they also offer pilates, painting, photography and learning Italian.

More options include a two-week creative writing retreat at Casa Ana (casa-ana.com) in Spain led by novelist Amanda Saint in November (courses run four times a year, each taught by a resident mentor) and a six-night October stay at the Arniano Painting School (arnianopaintingschool.com) in Italy, which is run by friends Amber Guinness and artist William Roper-Curzon, and suitable for beginners and more experienced artists.

Nearby in Tuscany is Villa Lena (villa-lena.it), an agriturismo where guests can take part in all kinds of creative workshops, from pasta making to line drawing classes with current artist in residence (and former art director of Burberry) Lisa Fluegelfeld. Next month, Berlin-based contemporary artist Katy Kirbach will take her place, exploring Josef Albers’ colour exercises through collage.

Then there’s buzzed-about new-gen country house hotel and members club Birch (birchcommunity.com), which has just opened in Hertfordshire. As well as the co-working space and wellness centre, a large part of the appeal is swapping the city hustle for simple, back-to-basics activities – spoon carving with woodworker JoJo Wood, say, or Bauhaus plate painting with Rhonda Drakeford, founder of design brand Darkroom – and it all adds up to a permanent festival feel.

In Scotland, there’s an equally festival-led vibe at Camp Glen Dye (glendyecabinsandcottages.com), a series of intimate, four-night craft and wild food-themed camps hosted by Charlie and Caroline Gladstone, where guests bed down in cabins and cottages and spend days learning.

For those who would rather sign up for one-off workshops, Hampshire’s Heckfield Place (heckfieldplace.com) has watercolour and tree painting classes on its programme, while at Casa Mae (casa-mae.com) in the Algarve, staff can arrange hand-moulding classes with ceramicist Ricardo Lopes.

Whatever creative activity you like the sound of, it seems like there has never been a better time to learn.