In our habitually last-minute fashion my husband and I book our summer holidays 5 days in advance. After hours of scanning the multitude of possibilities on Last Minute, Thomas Cook, basically all those OMG-Find-me-a-good-deal-now-I-need-a-holiday sites we had a sudden change of mind.
We decided on a surf camp.
Surf Camp
Star Surf, nestled among the hills of Cantabria’s national park, promised a week of surfing, yoga, SUP & beach Volley. Bell Tents became our bedrooms, swinging hammocks replaced sofas in our tree-shaded open living room with the rolling hills and beautiful beaches our new playground.
We were sold.
The Surf
As a serious surf novice with a slight fear of the sea… I was excited but also a little apprehensive. But the lessons were awesome, the instructors full of energy, advice and passion.
One amazing thing about surfing is that everyone else is in the same boat, as Andrew Goodman put it – everyone is equal when they are learning something new, there is no space for ego. He couldn’t have been more spot on.
As an FYI anyone was thinking about taking up surfing then I couldn’t recommend enough Andrew’s book – if you aren’t lucky enough to find him in your camp or can’t fly him out to coach you then this book is the next best thing, literally.
The Activities
Morning and Evening yoga was lead by the magical Molly on a platform looking out over
the mountains in the distance – literally one of the best ways to wake up in the morning and unwind pre-dinner in the evening.
During the day when you weren’t surfing or getting some shut eye in the hammocks there was Beach Volley ball, Frisbee and Paddle Boarding along the coastline, there was literally something for everyone, whatever mood they were in.
Community
The first night as we sat down to eat at the collection of benches on a wooden platform 
under the stars, we began to chat to the other guests. We began to realise that this wasn’t just a camp – rather it was more like a little cosmos of humanity from families through to couples and solo travellers – gathered together for a short period of time, sharing their life experiences, individual perspectives and laugher together.
From blurry eyed mornings, the walks down to the beach with our boards and surf lessons through to the evenings of live music, walking along the Camino di Santigo to watch the sunset or hay bale jumping.
Although everyone was on very different paths of life, we all just levelled together.
Expand Your Circles
So often in life we tend to surround ourselves with those we meet at work or those we 
have grown up with from our communities. Mind-sets and perspectives are grown familiar with, that tend to resonate with us, or we resonate to. Our circles literally turn in the world within which we live.
But sat at our table were men, women, mothers, fathers, students, Directors, Corporate Management Consultants, Authors, Teachers and Property Developers from Jamaica, Spain, Portugal, France, England, South Africa and Australia.
My husband and I left not only with the obligatory holiday tan, improved surfing skills (I can now stand up!!! ;D) but also with our minds metaphorically opened to the myriad of different perspectives we were blest to meet.
Lifestyle Architect 