Holidays

As I write this, Storm Amy is sweeping through the UK, announcing that summer is truly over. Rain lashes against the windows (much needed after such a dry summer), while the wind howls and scatters the first autumn leaves across the garden.

Just a few days ago, Mike and I were sitting in a seafront restaurant in southern Greece, basking in 25-degree heat, sipping a chilled glass of wine as a turtle glided through the bay. It was our last day of a week-long family celebration — a wedding filled with laughter, sunshine, and indulgence. A wonderful week, yet as a woman of routine, I was glad to return home. I feel I have squeezed every last drop from summer and am now ready to embrace the shift into Autumn. The last of our summer clothes are drying (slowly), ready to be tucked away until next year, while a pot of butternut squash and lentil soup bubbles on the hob in preparation for lunch.

Holidays are such an important part of our health and wellbeing: a time to pause, reflect, and reset. I always know I’m truly relaxed when the idea of doing anything more than lounging by a pool or lingering in a local taverna feels far too strenuous. Reading a couple of books in a week, losing all sense of time, eating when I’m hungry (and sometimes just because the food looks too good not to), and being surrounded by family and friends — it’s a nourishing combination, and one that has left us with treasured memories of a very special time.

Whether you’ve soaked up a very British summer (what’s not to love this year?) or escaped abroad, I hope it has restored you too, because without mentioning the C word, it really isn’t that far away!