Getting the flavour of…

Sculpture safari in Kenya

The problem with safaris is all the downtime, says Lisa Hogan in The Sunday Times. Just what are you supposed to do with yourself between dawn and dusk game drives? Well, there’s lounging by the pool… “or you could spend the time trying to sculpt an elephant out of plasticine”. Borana Lodge, not far from Mount Kenya, has an artist who teaches classes in animal sculpture. Turns out it’s not as easy as it looks. You head out on horseback to look for inspiration in the wild – a giraffe, or a flamingo perhaps – then try to render it in plasticine. Immersing yourself “so deeply in the animals and the art” is rewarding, and you can take home a piece cast in bronze. You’ll never have another holiday souvenir like it.

The next Sculpting Safari in Kenya is in February, from £6,800pp, excluding flights (00 254 731 281593; scckenya.com).

Boating on the Petite Camargue The Petite Camargue in southern France is “perfect for a boating holiday”, says Mary Novakovich in The Guardian. Pootling along the waterways, you travel through a bucolic landscape of “marshes, lagoons, salt pans and phenomenal birdlife”. You don’t need any experience to captain your own ship: “a quick training session at Le Boat’s boatyard in Saint-gilles” and you’re off, chugging along to the sounds of “cowbells and frogs”; at sundown the crickets join in and fish leap from the water. The cabins are cosy and the views, of vast “pink salt marshes”, white Camargue horses and even flamingos, endlessly diverting. The food is an attraction, too: stop off at Aigues-mortes’ “lively” Sunday market to load up on saucisson, pungent cheeses and, of course, lashings of vin gris. Le Boat (023-9280 1370; leboat.co.uk) has five nights on a six-sleeper from £597.

Gin-making in the Highlands Those enjoying gin’s renaissance can now learn how to make it on a weekend course in the Cairngorms, says Lucy Grewcock in The Independent. Surrounded by hills, forests and waterfalls, Strathmashie House is “a magical place to spend” time in. Lessons begin with foraging, wicker basket in hand, for yarrow and bog myrtle, which are “ideal gin botanicals”. Back at the house’s distillery, with its “seven shiny copper stills” and wall of apothecary cabinets, you feel as though you’re in the “potions class at Hogwarts”. You choose your ingredients – chilli, say, for “extra punch” – and add them to beakers to infuse. Then you light the still… and wait. Within a couple of hours you have your own bottle, and a certificate declaring you a “gin distiller”.

Gin-making and foraging courses at Strathmashie (01528-544755; www. strathmashie.co.uk) start from £120pp.