NEW HORIZONS

BRING HOME MORE THAN A TAN ON THESE 10 LEARNING HOLIDAYS

Choose a learning holiday and bring home more than just a tan…

2 TAKE A DEEP DIVE

One of the best places to learn how to scuba dive in Europe is Malta, due to its calm seas, year-round sunshine and excellent value. On a PADI course, based in the village of St Paul’s Bay, you’ll learn how to safely descend into the open water to spot colourful parrot fish, amberjacks and grouper. You’ll also get to explore underwater swim-throughs and caverns. From £925pp for seven nights, self-catering in the Sands Apartments (with a wet room for storing gear), including a full PADI Open Water course, flights and transfers; available April to October with Dive Worldwide. VISIT DIVEWORLDWIDE.COM

1 SPEAK FRENCH

It’s easier to learn any language if you immerse yourself in it in the country itself. Not In The Guidebooks offers French courses, all run by qualified native speakers, in different locations from Paris to Provence. Six nights in Lyon (with five days teaching), starting on 4th October, 25th October or 6th December this year costs £432pp including B&B with a local family; travel is extra. Spanish, German and Italian courses are also available in the respective countries. VISIT NOTINTHEGUIDEBOOKS.COM

4 SET SAIL

If you think that sheets belong on beds, that heads are the flipside of tails and that a painter is the guy who still needs to finish top-coating the kitchen, you probably need a crash-course in sailing terminology. And the best place you’ll get that is with Sailing Holidays, which offers trips for complete novices in the sun-soaked Greek islands. Competent Crew courses take place aboard a yacht, with a Royal Yachting Association-qualified skipper, from April until the end of October, and cost from £945pp, including most meals and flights to Corfu. VISIT SAILINGHOLIDAYS.COM

MASTER TENNIS

Perfect your backhand while enjoying some Mediterranean sun at the newly opened Rafa Nadal Tennis Centre at the five-star Sani Club resort in Halkidiki, Greece. Their expert coaches are trained at the tennis champion’s own academy in Mallorca and everyone is welcome, from beginners to intermediates – you’ll be assigned an appropriate level of training. One week half-board with Destinology, including the five-day/10-hour Total Tennis programme, costs £1,665pp in early June.

VISIT DESTINOLOGY.CO.UK

5 SADDLE UP

‘Learn to ride in a week’ is the promise offered by In The Saddle on this riding holiday in São Miguel, the largest island in the Azores. The 10 hours of lessons, either in the riding arena or out on the trails, plus theory sessions, culminates in a full day’s ride to the spectacular, lake-filled volcanic crater at Sete Cidades. Available year-round from around £1,253pp full-board with wine, including riding and instruction (flights are extra). VISIT INTHESADDLE.COM

6 TASTE SPAIN

Spend a week in Andalucía and enjoy three days learning how to prepare classic local dishes, as well as those from nearby Morocco. Based in the pretty ‘white town’ of Vejer de la Frontera, Annie B’s Spanish Kitchen also offers trips to wine and sherry makers, food markets, farm estates and restaurants, and you’ll get to tuck in to a gourmet tour of Cádiz. Prices start from £1,645 this autumn, from 12th to 19th October, including most meals, classes (with wine!) and excursions (flights and transfers extra).

VISIT ANNIEBSPAIN.COM

7 SNAP PERFECT PICTURES

If you’re looking to hone your photography skills (and not just for social media), the Lake District, England’s largest National Park, makes an inspiring location. HF Holidays offers a variety of special-interest breaks, including photography holidays in both the north and south Lake District as well as other parts of the UK. On this five-day trip, an expert will guide you (on foot, by minivan and boat), along selected routes designed to capture images of the most striking landscapes. Based at Derwent Bank, a country house set on the shores of Derwent Water, four nights from

30th August to 3rd September this year cost from £579pp full-board, including excursions.

VISIT HFHOLIDAYS.CO.UK

8 LEARN TO PAINT

Fancy refining your brush strokes and painting a masterpiece (or at the very least something to hang on your wall), on a beautiful break in Tuscany? The Watermill at Posara runs regular courses in watercolours, oils, pastels, acrylics and other media, with internationally renowned tutors. You’ll be based in the Lunigiana, a traditional pocket of Tuscany sandwiched between the peaks of the Apennines and the Apuan Alps (where Michelangelo sourced his marble), where you can find inspiration in the idyllic Tuscan landscape. A one-week course from 28th August to 4th September with English watercolour painter Mike Willdridge costs from £1,725pp (based on two sharing), including full-board, drinks, transfers and an excursion to either Lucca or the Cinque Terre; flights to Pisa extra. VISIT WATERMILL.NET

9 BECOME A YOGI

Want to perfect your Downward Dog on a peaceful retreat with a world-class teacher? Destination Yoga has curated an exceptional selection of blissful yoga holidays for all levels, and even beginners will find the positive effects of yoga run far deeper when practised in the sunshine, surrounded by nature. One week at the La Rosa dei 4 Venti, an elegantly restored 16th-century masseria in Puglia, Italy, costs from £1,095pp (two sharing) in August with twice daily classes with either Laura Gate Eastley from Triyoga in London (14th to 21st August), or Zoe Knott, a tutor at the British Wheel of Yoga (21st to 28th August). VISIT DESTINATIONYOGA.CO.UK

10 WRITE A NOVEL

The Writers’ Lab on Skyros, Greece, offers you the opportunity to learn creative writing from guest tutors – past authors include Hanif Kureishi, Sue Townsend, Marina Warner and Margaret Drabble. Booker and Pulitzer Prize winners, including Hilary Mantel, James Kelman and Alison Lurie, have also visited this beautiful retreat, which is as far as can be from the demands of everyday life. Courses are open to anyone with a passion for writing and will resume on Skyros in 2022. This year, you can join the courses in Atsitsa Bay on the pine-forested Aegean coast, with prices from £695pp for seven nights (June and September) or £815pp for a fiction course taught by the award-winning writer Lisa O’donnell (1st to 8th August). VISIT SKYROS.COM