MEET OUR CONTRIBUTORS

VALERIE BLUMENTHAL

is the author of eight critically acclaimed novels. She has also written short stories and taught creative writing in adult education, and at a high security men’s prison. Having developed PCA Alzheimer’s five years ago, Valerie explores how her beloved dog, Mozart, helped her cope with the diagnosis and its effects

What’s the best way to make your holiday mood last?

I look at photos of my puppy Elgar frolicking in the sea.

AMANDA OWEN

is a shepherdess, hill farmer, writer, photographer, public speaker and mother of nine. She lives with her husband Clive, their family and 1,000 sheep in one of the highest and most remote farms in the Yorkshire Dales. She shares the lessons she has learned from life on the farm

What’s the best way to make your holiday mood last?

We don’t go away on holiday – we love where we live! The children dig in the sand on our ‘beach’ by Whitsundale Beck, go snorkelling below the Jenny Whalley waterfall, ride horses bareback round the field, sleep in tents and cook over an open fire. And we all celebrate getting the harvest in.

MILLY JOHNSON,

aka the ‘Queen of Feel-Good Fiction’, is a bestselling author of 16 novels. A columnist for her local newspaper, and a TV and radio broadcaster, Milly has written an exclusive short story for w&h

What’s the best way to make your holiday mood last?

Switch off the mobile and the TV. Don’t get dragged into social media interactions. Use your coconut aftersun as post-shower moisturiser, pour yourself a piña colada and read a book, not a phone screen.