The Guardian - Life & Style • Jan. 26, 2026, 5:13 p.m.

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The Guardian - Life & Style • Jan. 26, 2026, 5:13 p.m.

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The Guardian - Life & Style • Jan. 26, 2026, 5:13 p.m.

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The Guardian - Life & Style • Jan. 26, 2026, 5:13 p.m.

She had entered end-of-life care and I relied on my car to get to her, but it hadn’t returned the licence Our daughter, who has cancer, entered end-of-life care on Christmas Eve. I am a carer for her and her two young children.

We both live in rural villages with no public transport options, so I need a car to get to her at short notice, but last summer, out of the blue, the DVLA told me I could not drive until December and revoked my licence . Continue reading...

The Guardian - Life & Style • Jan. 26, 2026, 5:13 p.m.

The city’s architecture travels through time and continents, incorporating everything from slabs of the Italian Alps to meteorites that hit southern Africa 2bn years ago In the heart of London’s Square Mile, between the windows of a tapas restaurant, a 150m-year-old ammonite stares mutely at passersby. The fossil is embedded in a limestone wall on Plantation Lane, sitting alongside the remnants of ancient nautiloids and squid-like belemnites.

It’s a mineralised aquarium hiding in plain sight, a snapshot of deep time that few even glance at, a transtemporal space where patatas bravas meet prehistoric cephalopods. How often do you give thought to the stones that make up our towns and cities?

To the building blocks, paving slabs and machine-cut masonry that backdrop our lives?

The Guardian - Life & Style • Jan. 26, 2026, 5:13 p.m.

GeoKarst is a new EU-funded project highlighting a unique landscape of caves, gorges and medieval villages near Trieste Our guide turns out the lights and suddenly there is nothing. Just total darkness, the sound of gentle dripping and a creeping feeling of unease.

The switch is flicked back on and the shadowy world that lies deep beneath the Karst returns. I’m in Vilenica, thought to be the first cave in the world ever opened to tourists , with records of visitors dating back to 1633.

It’s a magical sight: a grand antechamber sculpted through erosion, filled with soaring stalagmites and plunging stalactites streaked in shades of red, terracotta and orange by iron oxide, and dotted with shimmering crystals. Vilenica is just one of a network of thousands of caves located in the Karst region of western Slovenia and eastern Italy, which is known for its porous, soluble limestone rock.

The Guardian - Life & Style • Jan. 26, 2026, 5:13 p.m.

From the jungles of Colombia to sailing in Croatia, our readers reflect on the life lessons travel has taught them • Send us a tip on a museum or gallery – the best wins a £200 holiday voucher I did a circuit of the Old Man of Coniston in the Lake District on a grey, drizzly weekday in October and it quietly rewired my head. I’d been running on always-on mode, and that climb forces you to slow down and breathe properly.

From the Coppermines valley up to the ridge, then along the rocky summit and back via Goat’s Water, it’s rugged without being showy. The weather kept the crowds away, and the low cloud made the tarn feel like a secret.

I came home muddy, soaked and weirdly calm, and started making space for long walks again. Brandon Kindell Continue reading...

The Guardian - Life & Style • Jan. 26, 2026, 5:13 p.m.

The process of learning to catch a wave is an all-consuming activity that can prove to be a powerful therapeutic tool I can’t remember when my terror of waves began in earnest. Maybe it was a singular incident that triggered it, like that monster wave in Biarritz, France, almost 20 years ago that body-slammed me on to the seabed, taking all the skin off my chin.

More likely is that my transition from fearless to frightened had been more of a slow creep, and a perfectly rational one when you consider the danger of riptides, hidden rocks, sharks and concussion. But for me, I feel it goes deeper.

Almost inevitably my job will have had something to do with this.

The Guardian - Life & Style • Jan. 26, 2026, 5:13 p.m.

Change your life – or just kick back and relax – by connecting with nature, trying a creative workshop, or taking a yoga course somewhere beautiful Playfulness is at the heart of the Art and Play holiday , based on a farm outside the Bay of Kotor. A family-friendly retreat designed to reignite joy and reconnect with the inner child, it’s one for solo travellers and couples as well as parents with kids.

There are creative sessions on everything from dance to painting, as well as time to enjoy the farm – feeding the animals, collecting eggs or helping harvest vegetables for farm-fresh meals. Excursions include hikes to hidden beaches, kayaking and trips to Kotor and Budva, but there’s time to chill by the pool too; evenings are for board games, music and campfires.

Accommodation ranges from camping and glamping to cabins, a treehouse and restored farmhouse.

The Guardian - Life & Style • Jan. 26, 2026, 5:13 p.m.

Share a tip on a romantic spot – whether city, hotel or mountain top – the best wins £200 towards a Coolstays break Valentine’s Day may be coming up, but we think romance should be year round! We want to hear about a favourite romantic place you’ve discovered on your travels in Europe (including the UK), whether it was a fairytale city, a remote mountain refuge, a beautiful hotel or a romantic restaurant.

The best tip of the week, chosen by Tom Hall of Lonely Planet wins a £200 voucher to stay at a Coolstays property – the company has more than 3,000 worldwide. The best tips will appear in the Guardian Travel section and website.

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