Top tips for your summer holiday

With foreign travel likely off the cards this year, we’re rediscovering the forgotten holiday destinations that our grandparents might once have visited. England’s got an incredible variety of places to visit - from the Essex coast to the Hebridean Isles to the North Yorkshire moors, a day’s travel can get you into very different climes indeed. So whether you’re exploring Margate, Penzance or Inverness, we’ve put together a list of the Madre’s holiday essentials.

1. Bring the Madre

As far as we’re concerned, no holiday’s complete without a fresh, cool case of Agua de Madre along for the ride. A refreshing pick-me-up after a long coastal hike, Agua de Madre’s also great for clearing the cobwebs away the morning after a couple of glasses of wine. Holidays can get boozy, so Agua’s the perfect celebratory companion when you want an evening off the drink.

And remember, if you’re staying in mainland Britain, you can get Agua delivered straight to your door, wherever you are. 

2. Anna Jones’ One

For us, this is a kind of Bible. We take it everywhere we go. Food’s always such a big part of our holiday experience so it helps to have found such an excellent culinary guide in Anna Jones. A collection of over 200 simple recipes, One is, as the name suggests, packed with one-pan recipes, perfect for adventures in the caravan when you’ve only one pot to your name. 

Some of our favourites include the baked dahl with tamarind-glazed sweet potato (good if you’re renting a cottage with an oven), and the Persian noodle stew, which can be cooked in one large, warming pot. 

You can buy One from independent bookshop Pages of Hackney here.

3. Get your summer library together

Living busy lives, we rarely get the chance to sit down and read a book. Holidays offer us the opportunity to do just that: turn off our phones and retreat to a quiet corner, book in hand. Precious moments indeed. 

This year we’re reading No One Is Talking About This by the very brilliant Patricia Lockwood, described by the New Statesman as ‘the first great internet novel’. Lockwood is an excellent poet, essayist and writer - if you haven’t already, read her latest essays in the London Review of Books for a hilarious glimpse inside the mind of one of the sharpest, most perceptive critics of our age. 

Also high up on our list is Luster by Raven Leilani, The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris, and Kazuo Ishuguro’s latest offering, Klara and the Sun. 

4. Remedio Naturale’s a saviour

When cooking at a holiday house, we’re at the mercy of the kitchen. We’ve all been to that place that only has one pan. Remedio Naturale’s an essential, great for making complex dishes with limited ingredients and utensils. 

Fresh, fiery and complex, Remedio Naturale makes for a delicious salad dressing or BBQ marinade. It’s a great shortcut – your food will always taste like far more energy and effort has gone into it than is actually the case. You can pick up some Remedio here.