What to do with a surprise week off?

Realising you have a week's worth of annual leave to use up before the end of the financial year can be a nice thing - but not that nice if time is only a month away and you're about as far away from payday as can be imagined.To book a week away, use our Online Holiday Search, for the best value deals!

What to do? It's all very well chilling out at home with a combination of Richard & Judy and Jo Whiley for company, but there's only so much ennui you can take and it's not all that different from sitting around in the office. It's all about getting out and about - perhaps exploring some of the lesser known gems of your local area, and preferably free ones at that!

It's worth stretching the imagination a little. If you're in London, take a trip to somewhere like Highgate Cemetery - burial place of Karl Marx among many other luminaries. Its bust of the founder of Communism is perhaps its most famous and inspiring sight, but the generally enchanting atmosphere of the place really is something to behold. Around every corner there seems to be a surprise, and the dense 37-acre site seems much bigger.

Taking a stroll round the various free art galleries and museums that London, and other towns and cities across the UK, have to offer is also a fine way to while away a day - although you might want to remember that you're just looking, not buying, if finances aren't especially flush. Particularly in the capital city, there are all kinds of hidden gems lying in wait if you're prepared to seek them out.

We all want to be Ferris Bueller, but going for a drive - provided it's in our own car! - is no bad idea. If you're based in London, a trip to an ancient site such as Stonehenge can provide you some ideal perspective away from the bustle of the city and prove a cheap, relaxing day out by car. In the north, exceptional walking opportunities aren't far away from cities such as Sheffield and Manchester and you can always break things up with a decent pub lunch if you're feeling slightly decadent.

If all this seems too much trouble then, well, a week in bed with the radio turned up and the pizza delivery man due any second it is. But if you've time to spare and little money to go round, it really is worth going beyond your usual environs and reminding yourself that there are some really enjoyable, cheap and simple pleasures which can take you mentally, if not physically, thousands of miles away from the daily wear and tear.