Miss Christian is the ballet teacher at Queenswood and has enjoyed teaching and entering girls for ISTD Cecchetti ballet examinations for many years. She is also a Vocational Level ISTD Cecchetti ballet faculty examiner and is looking forward to examining overseas again when travel restrictions ease. Favourite destinations thus far, have been Norway and Malta, but Cecchetti ballet is also taught further afield in countries such as Japan and Malaysia, so her fingers are crossed for an invitation there some day to examine!

Travel also features heavily in any spare time that Miss Christian has; Porto in Portugal was a new discovery at half term – it is a charming city with the chilled ‘porto blanco’ making an excellent aperitif!

Regular theatre trips are always in the diary too. Miss Christian enjoyed seeing the ‘bad boy of ballet’, Sergei Polunin a few weeks ago at the London Palladium. Girls may know him from the Youtube ‘Take me to church’ by Hozier footage. He saved this dance until the end of the show and the audience erupted! It was so good to enjoy live theatre again!

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier.

I am a book worm and loved re-visiting ‘My Cousin Rachel’ by Daphne du Maurier over the half-term break – I ploughed through it one day!

Published in 1951, it has echoes of her earlier novel ‘Rebecca’ and is also largely set in Cornwall where du Maurier lived.

The mystery-romance storyline also takes us to Italy and the descriptions of both countries are beautifully evocative. I especially like that the main protagonist, the widow Rachel, holds the power in the novel rather than its male characters!

Throughout the book, du Maurier keeps us interested and wanting to turn the pages to find out whether Rachel is innocent or guilty... A great holiday read!

If you enjoy reading du Maurier's novel you may wish to watch the 2017 screen adaptation of My Cousin Rachel. Available on Prime Video here and starring Rachel Weisz, the film is recommended for 13+ viewers.