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Best summer reads - win £400 of brilliant books

(239 Posts)
CariGransnet (GNHQ) Tue 13-Jun-17 16:17:13

What is summer without a good book? And when it comes to good books, we have many excellent suggestions.

Here is a round-up of some of the best new reads for the summer holidays. One very (very!) lucky person can win the lot. All the details right here

To enter simply tell us about your best summer. It can be in as many (or few) words as you like. Prize draw will be made at midday on Weds 19 July.

My best summer... Now it's over to you

inishowen Wed 21-Jun-17 12:12:13

Probably the summer we got married in 1973. I'd had a bad car accident in the March and didn't know if I'd be able to walk down the aisle. I also had facial injuries. By the time June came round I was up and about and looked fine in my wedding dress. The best bit was our honeymoon in sunny Torquay. We had a marvelous time and I was able to put the accident behind me.

lolarabbit Wed 21-Jun-17 12:46:44

Summer of 1989 - set of on a road trip around Ireland with new man I had only known for about a month. An amazing couple of weeks in a tiny tent (and then lovely B&B 's when the air mattresses gave up the ghost), seeing so many beautiful places by day and enjoying Guinness and folk music each evening. Oh, and I didn't mention, he proposed on second day of the trip, we had a quick, simple wedding a few months later and we are still happily married 28 years on!

ValC Wed 21-Jun-17 13:07:37

I find all summers hold special memories, from the time I was young and carefree, to the times when my children were growing up, and now with my grandchildren. They have all been special and I would find it hard to choose a favourite.

Tizliz Wed 21-Jun-17 13:51:41

last summer at school, exams finished, boyfriend (now husband) not working. Used to walk in front door of school, sign in and walk out back gate then we went out for the day. Seemed to be sunny every day. Bought a picnic and walked in the hills. Days of doing nothing. Don't seemed to have had such leisure since. Stolen days are always better than planned holidays.

lindarumsey Wed 21-Jun-17 14:57:17

I loved the summers when my children were small and we played in the paddling pool in the garden, ate ice-creams and then watched a film. Happy days!

gran1 Wed 21-Jun-17 15:04:46

The summer of 1967 when I finished teacher training in Hereford and had 2 months before starting a new job in London. It was the most carefree time ever.

Doreen5 Wed 21-Jun-17 15:10:40

My best summer was spent camping on the south-west coast of France. Our daughter (now 37 years old with her own children) has never forgotten how daddy made up bed time stories about 'Brownie' her pet rabbit who had travelled all the way through France from home, on his own, to be with her on holiday. She loved the adventures he had on the way!

jammy388 Wed 21-Jun-17 16:54:15

My best summer was in 1995 - we got married in August (on a lovely sunny day) followed by a honeymoon in Austria.

grannysmith953 Wed 21-Jun-17 17:27:09

How can I choose? Caravan holidays when I was a child, spending all summer at Camber Sands - vast stretches of empty sand that my sister and I used to comb for loose change, Tizer bottles (3d back on the empties) and other treasures. Later camping in the South of France, swimming in the Mediterranean, a bit warmer than the Channel. Then holidays with my children, now holidays with my grandchildren, every summer something else to look forward to.

Annamaria0 Wed 21-Jun-17 18:37:27

Last summer, my husband and I went to an eco-resort in Mexico. The place was teaming with wildlife and we had the most amazing time. And it was all free - my husband's company paid for it, as a reward for his hard work. A holiday is great, a free holiday is even better.

cathisherwood Wed 21-Jun-17 20:50:29

I always look forward to the summer hoping it will be even better than the last one. I grow a lot of fruit, flowers and veg on an allotment and never know what is going thrive or fail. I enjoy finding lots of new recipes too to use up all the goodies and sharing with family and neighbours

tinysidsmum Wed 21-Jun-17 21:41:36

my best summer was last year as both my son and my daughter were married (not to each other lol ). So we had two lovely family weddings x

Annie29 Wed 21-Jun-17 21:53:12

My best summer was 1975,the year i got married.

Soniah Wed 21-Jun-17 22:59:34

This summer traveling in Canada with my husband and daughter who is living there this year, spending time with her and seeing porcupines, a marten, red squirrels, amazing views, sketching with her and meeting her partner's family, bliss

HannahLI Wed 21-Jun-17 23:43:16

The best summer was the one where I had a holiday with my grandparents full of fun in Norfolk then with my parents. It was fantastic being so close to the sea for so long, and it felt like forever

suester74 Thu 22-Jun-17 01:01:58

The summer when I left my abusive marriage after 16 years. It was terribly hard in many ways, but was definitely my best summer ever as I found freedom, independance and a new lease of life. It was the start of a new chapter in my life and I have so many fantastic memories of that summer.

wallers5 Thu 22-Jun-17 06:27:26

A hot summer in Salcombe we were out in our little boat exploring the coastline. We decided to anchor off a hidden bay & swim in
with our floating picnic box. We had a lovely time looking out, walking& enjoying our picnic,when a boat with divers appeared & dropped anchor. We ha d to wait until they were underwater diving to swim back to our boat!

Jalima1108 Thu 22-Jun-17 14:41:10

One summer we went to the Isle of Wight - it was an enjoyable holiday but more memorable for the very mixed weather. As we wandered around we kept noticing that a spot on the mainland always seemed to be sunny and said we'd visit there the following year.

We identified the sunny place as Swanage so duly booked for 10 days in a flat - it was a bit downmarket but we didn't mind as it was all we could afford. DC3 was just toddling and all the children loved the beach and the shallow, clear sea.

The weather was superb for the whole 10 day holiday and I had saved 20 pences in a jar all year towards icecreams. At 20p for an icecream we had enough for a cornet each for all of us when we left the beach each day.

Not exotic, not expensive but the best beach holiday I can remember!

Isobelw Thu 22-Jun-17 22:38:39

As long as there is sunshine I'm happy any where in Summer

whitewave Thu 22-Jun-17 23:28:39

A lot of my summers have been a best one for all sorts of reasons, so i will simply describe my first best summer that i can remember.

About 1953 I was 6 years old.We lived in Pymouth. My parents for reasons i have never established sent me on my own by train to my Aunt in North Cornwall. I wore a brand new knitted cardigan with pom pom tie at the neck. I was the bees knees!!
The guard was in charge of me, I probably reminded him of the evacuees during the war, but i hope rather smarter.
The train went from Plymouth Central to Oakhampton. There i had to change to a little branch line train which eventually terminated at Padstow, although i got out rather earlier at a station at Delabole.
My abiding memory of that rail journey was the busy little train's smoke drifting past my window as i gazed out at green fields. The guard popped his head into my carriage after what seemed an age to tell me that my station was next. Aunt Chris was stood on the platform waving.
She was the sort of Aunt every child dreams of. Dolls clothes were knitted in a trice. Ginger bear bubbled in a large jar on the slate floored kitchen. Pasties were made early in the morning to take to the beach. She also had a piano in the best room where we would sit and sing whilst she played away.

My bed was a large feather mattress which laid on a net of wire springs. My hot water bottle was made of stone with a screw top which i still have. I could lay in bed and look out of my window and watch the little train puffing on its busy way.

That glorious summer was spent walking to the nearest beach through the fields and over slate stiles, eating blackberries, fishing with my net and building walls of sand to stop the sea.
I went out with my Uncle in his travelling shop visiting miriad farms and outlying houses. I helped pick his biggest marrow to show -it didnt win, but i do remember the eggs on show from deepest speckled brown to pure white.
These are only a few of my memories of that summer.
That summer, the laughter, the love, the smells and warmth has stayed with me for almost 70 years. It will stay with me until i die

Jeanie1 Fri 23-Jun-17 11:34:28

1976 - passed all my exams, got my frst 'proper' job, bought a car with money i'd saved from being a saturday girl in Woolworths and the bes 2 weeks holiday with the famly!!

maureenm48 Fri 23-Jun-17 15:14:38

1976 -new house,new baby,fabulous weather!

Noni Fri 23-Jun-17 21:34:50

I have memories of many wonderful summers over the years, but perhaps the most extraordinary one was around 1962. I had a very eccentric bachelor uncle and he asked my parents if he could take me away to Austria. I was horse mad, he had contacts with the Lipizzaner breeding and training programme and management in Austria, where they are bred. We went for only a few days but it felt like forever to me at the time. It was the most extraordinary experience. He and I sat in the vast expanse of the acres of mountainside where the young teenage horses, along with Haflinger ponies, where left to toughen up. We had a picnic in the grass. I remember the horses stampeding around us, the ponies play fighting, the rearing up of the horses. all too wonderful. It was actually very dangerous probably to be surrounded by a herd of these wild horses, but I, and my uncle, loved it. We were taken around the breeding grounds, saw new born foals, heard the neighing of the foals when they were weaned and separated from their mothers, saw the careful charts to make sure there was no in breeding. We also went to the training area where the young stallions were first started on their road to performance level. Finally we went to Vienna and saw the final performance of all this effort. None of this would be allowed today, especially to someone like me who is not involved in any way with the programme. It was magical and I do not remember one drop of rain the whole time. At the end my uncle bought me a book on the Lippizaner's; which I read and re read for many years. I was probably 15 at the time, and today, whoever I tell this story to, no one believes me! It was a magical summer and certainly a unique and never to be forgotten experience. My uncle lived on to a ripe old age and although he lived abroad, would always come back to visit, once turning up at my doorstep with a huge rocking horse for my young children, unannounced!

SuzC Sat 24-Jun-17 14:32:50

Staying in a caravan in the woods on a farm when I was about 6/7 - the farmer came and woke us up about 5am as he had a calf just about to be born. What an amazing thing for me to see, a little girl from a built up industrial northern town!

Lilylaundry Sat 24-Jun-17 15:27:38

My best ever summer was 1964. I worked in Switzerland and a colleague and myself saved our money and holiday allocation until we had enough to see us to Greece for eight weeks. I passed my driving test the day before we set off (my colleague didn't drive). The next day we drove out of Switzerland, through Italy, stopping at a friend's home in Rome for two nights, then on to Brindisi where we drove onto a ferry which took us to Corfu. We rented a cottage by the sea, lived on a lot of spaghetti, fruits picked from the surrounding trees, bottled water (our luxury) and lots of wine. We met so many people from all nations and just had a wonderful time. We arrived back in Switzerland smiley, rested, tanned and looking the picture of health. The best eight weeks of both our lives.