6 season-proof ways to make summer last forever

Published on www.marieclaire.co.uk I 09/13/2016 I Direct Link

Autumn schautumn. We're going to make summer '16 drag on and on and on - even if we catch hypothermia in the process.

Your Facebook feed is full of proud mums taking photos of their five-year-olds standing in front of the kitchen door in baggy school sweatshirts, your tan appears to have washed off in the shower. Meanwhile, your remaining holiday days have hit single figures, and it took you over a week to realise that you’d left your sunglasses on the bus. Yep, there’s no doubt about it – summer is over.

Unless…

Unless we managed to find eight activities taking place across the UK which are so summery, they’ll actually make you think it’s August all over again.

Yeah, we know. We’re just incredible like that.

BOOK A DAYCATION

Sure, so you can’t take another day off work until Christmas, and you can’t afford a weekend city break anyway. But you can afford a day in a hotel – making the most of their on-site spa facilities and ordering breakfast in bed. Enter Day Use. Pioneered on the continent (to considerable acclaim), this hotel-booking service gives you access to luxury accommodation up and down the country – from morning until night. Sure, you could just use it for its practical benefits (anyone who’s ever ended up with nine hours to kill before getting a flight home will know how useful it is to have somewhere to curl up and nap), but the decadence of spending a day in bed is hard to beat – especially when you know you don’t have to make it afterwards, too. Just grab the snuggly dressing gown, put on your slippers and tune out from reality for a few hours. Plus, room service, room service, room service. DayUse

HAVE A CAMPFIRE PARTY

If there’s one thing that we learned from The OC, it’s that people who live in Los Angeles have loads and loads of bonfires. And if there’s two things that we learned from The OC, it’s the bonfire thing – and the fact that it’s always summer there. Which is why London’s new ‘campfire club’ might be the most brilliant series of events we’ve come across this season. Held every two weeks in the south of the city, CC costs £10 and involves – yep, you guessed it, sitting around a giant campfire. There’s a bar on site and even a man (presumably dressed like a lumberjack) playing a guitar. In fact, the only things missing are Sandy Cohen’s eyebrows. And if you wait until the end of the evening, we reckon you could always persuade a stranger to draw some on with charcoal. Maybe. Campfire Club

SALUTE THE SUN

It might be too chilly to do yoga on a rooftop, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do yoga with a view (check out Yoga in the Shard for really high times) – or in 30 degree heat. If you’re in Edinburgh, we recommend checking out Yoga’s Got Hot. Based in Gorgie, classes are held at two temperatures – 30 degrees for beginners (that’s the equivalent of like, Cannes in June), and 40 degrees for those whose sweat glands get a lot of practise (think Dubai in July). Yoga’s Got Hot

SWIM OUTSIDE

To be honest, the British seas were too cold to swim in during the summer anyway – but if you’re missing the days of the Hampstead Heath Ladies Pond or Brockwell Lido, chill out. Or, more accurately, warm up – in one of the UK’s many heated outdoor pools. It doesn’t even matter if it’s raining – just grab your cossie and submerge yourself in warm water like a little rubber duck. If you’re in Bath, head to the rooftop roman baths for some steamy swimming, or those based near Derby can check out Hathersage Outdoor Pool.

READ A BOOK

If you’re anything like us, then the second you’re on holiday, you’ve got your nose stuck in a book and your Kindle on recharge. But the second you’re back at home, you’re back scrolling through Facebook – and the only reading you do is on the Sidebar Of Shame.

It’s all very well – but if you want to maintain that switched-off, tuned-out holiday relaxation feeling, then it’s time to channel your inner book worm and source an extended-summer read. If Emma Cline’s The Girls didn’t make your holiday hitlist, then check it out. Set in the summer of ’69, it’s a gripping page-turner that will transport you back a season (not to mention an extra 47 years).

FREEZE TIME

Whoever decided that ice cream was a summer food was sorely, sorely mistaken – not least because the new trend in frozen food is to turn up the heat. If you live near Margate, then head to Xiringuito immediately – their ice cream tacos are the perfect combination of hot and cold – while Ruby Violet’s in London is hosting Baked Alaska masterclasses throughout the autumn. Too far to travel? Don’t worry – you can just check out this recipe instead.