Bartlett's Ocean View Farm

There comes a time in most of our lives when we want to throw off our domestic shackles and travel the world! Of course, the assumed wisdom is that this can only really happen at either end of our professional lives: when we’re still students, or when we retire. In between these periods is the rest of our life, conventionally committed to all things permanent: career, mortgage and family. Like all conventions however, this isn’t necessarily the best path for everyone. Staying still and keeping stock for such a long period can seem like the only responsible route – but if you’ve got itchy feet, and you missed your gap-year gap when you were 20; or the thought of waiting ‘til your pension to travel depresses you, then taking a year off from your professional life could be a surprisingly viable answer.

One possibility that’s gaining in popularity all the time is to take a sabbatical. Traditionally a possibility reserved for lecturers and academics, the sabbatical (or ‘career-break’) is being offered within more and more companies. Of course, there are understandable contingencies for staff members wanting to take a sabbatical (usually a minimum of five years must have been spent at the company), but these are often met inadvertently, and are seldom a hindrance to someone who has arrived at the idea of a sabbatical. The most important thing to remember about sabbaticals – and the reason it’s attractive to many employers – is that it implies you only want a break from your career, and not that you want to quit it. Allowing their employees this opportunity means that employers will lose less staff in the long run: generally speaking, a sabbatical refreshes the career-drive and steels the work ethic; sating a desire that might otherwise have resulted in resignation. Even if your year off turns out to fill a gap between jobs, it is worth thinking of it as an experience that can enrich your working life back home, rather than something rash that you may regret.

Once you’ve decided to take a year off, and negotiated your career to fit, the rest is planning, and where you’re imagination and desires can run wild. A familiar dream is to simply travel around the world. This can be fulfilled in any number of ways, but an open-ended ticket is a very popular option, and it allows you to travel all over without the restraints of pre-booked flight dates and package itineraries.

A good place to look for these kinds of deals is gapyearforgrownups.co.uk, who offer a variety of links and ideas for tickets to far-flung destinations. The freedom to roam offered by such tickets complements the desire to explore without constraint, but does require a certain amount of familiarity with those most flexible of global lodgings, the humble hostel. HostelBookers.com offers a comprehensive guide to a vast number of the planets hostels – a perusal of which can be hugely illuminating. Go Travel also comes recommended, this time for low priced backpacker’s travel insurance.

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Mountains, lakes,forests, moors and miles of seaside: all lurking somewhere just north of Lancashire…

The Lake District National Park is one of the most beautiful areas of Europe – celebrated in the poetry of Wordsworth, immortalised in the landscapes of Ruskin, and well-traversed by generations of that distinctly English holiday-maker: the rambler. Remaining unspoilt for hundreds of years, The Lake District National Park (the dramatic epicentre of Lakeland) still plays host to a thriving tourist industry, comprised in the main of those drawn to the prospect of fell-walking and escaping to the traditional rural idyll. Nowadays however, alongside such timeless holidaying pursuits, there is a full complement of modern past-times, cultural venues and events to draw the prospective visitor.

The eponymous lakes themselves play host to a vast number of seasonal attractions, with the most famous, Lake Windermere, providing perhaps the largest number of outdoor pursuits. From windsurfing to steamboat rides; boat galas to theatrical performances, Windermere is the perfect starting point for the uninitiated. The largest natural lake in England, it is over ten miles long, just grazing the town of Ambleside at its northern shore. Just as the name suggests, Ambleside has long been a retreat of passing ramblers (or amblers), wandering one of the many walks that circulate the great lake. The town itself provides a perfect base for further excursions into the Lake District, home, as it is, to a well-stocked selection places to stay. A short drive or a longer walk north, is the town of Grasmere – a beautiful village that was described by Wordsworth as “the loveliest spot that man hath ever found. In August, the village plays host to the Grasmere Sports, a gala sports day including fell-running, hound trails, and the inimitable Cumberland wrestling!

Of course, a holiday in the Lake District wouldn’t be complete without some serious fell-walking (or hiking to you and me). England’s tallest peaks can be found here, including the ominously named Scafell Pike – worth the momentous trek for the magnificent panoramic views from the summit.

Planning a trip to the Lake District should be done with the spirit of the place in mind; and to that end, booking in to one or several of its many hostels is a particularly appropriate approach. You’ll find them peopled by a wonderful mix of walkers and outdoor-pursuitists, from the amateur to the serious professional: all seduced by the natural magic of the Lake District. And as one of the first tourist destinations to be revealed by the building of the railways all those years ago, Cumbria still enjoys a busy and regular train service, with direct services from London Euston to Carlisle and Penrith.

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