Hobby Holidays

The Formula Ford 1600 glitters in the sun as Nigel De Wallena tightens his helmet and lowers himself into the fiberglass bucket seat. He idles the engine to get the feel of the powerful motor before rearing on to England's Silverstone Circuit, one of the fastest in Europe.

A dozen plucked geese are spread out on a kitchen table in the Query region of south-west France. With several deft cuts of a razor-sharp knife, Caudine Kahla begins to prepare them according to ancient recipes for two classics of the French kitchen, confit d'one and foie gras .

In an Austrian village south of Salzburg, Madeleine von K Kerckerinck unfolds her easel and lays out her paint brushes. Working quickly with with watercolors, she sets about recreating the lovely Alpine panorama before her.

Nigel Claudine and Madeleine are not professional car racers, cooks or painters, however , They are among a growing number of Europeans who have discovered that their holidays can be put to use in more interesting and satisfying ways than lolling on a beach or being herded through crowded tourist traps. " More and more people are not just going somewhere '., Notes former French Minister of Tourism Michel Crepeau. "They're going somewhere to do something "'

Crerative Enthusiasm.

" As people learn that they can use holiday time to pick p a Hobby or perfect a skill, the old 'sea, sun, sand' routine seems boring" observes Englishman Maurice Wein as he relaxes at a pub in the south of England. Along with ten other history and nature buffs, Maurice has just finished an 18-kilometer hike along the South Downs Way with its many relics from ancient times

One attraction of these new active holidays is the chance they offer to release pent-up creatine energy that is often smothered in humdrum routines. Michele Caustier, a French woman who opened a hobby grafts center who opened a hobby crafts center on her farm in the southwest of France in 1982, continues to be amazed by her student's enthusiasm. " Some don't leave their looms and paint pots until the wee hours," she says.

" It's as if they are proving to themselves that they haven't lost the creative touch ".

All over, thousands of people are discovering that no matter how unusual their dream hobby may be, there is probably some place to pursue it in a holiday setting. You can learn computer settings. You can learn computer programming in a luxurious villa on the French Riviera, hang gliding at a tiny village in southern Germany, and the medieval sport of jousting in Surrey, England. It's possible to bon up on practical skills like plumbing or car maintenance or to master the finer points of gingerbread making or beer brewing.

One of the first sites to open its doors to hobby holidayers was the 800-year-old Geras Monstery in Austria located about ten kilometers from the Czechoslovakian border. Largely through the efforts of its director and abbot Joachim Angerer, the monastery welcomed its first guests in 1970. Now some 3500 enthusiasts a year flock to this cultural centre amidst baroque castles and churches.

The first hobby course at the monastery was taught by an old artisan who was one of the few to practice an all-but-lost. Austrian folk art, painting behind glass.

Sharing Interests. For visitors like Renate Spiel, a 32-year-old computer instructor from Vienna, a visit to Geras is fulfilling. "Now I know that I have some talent, " says Renate, who comes to learn landscape painting.

Many discover that sharing common interests is the quickest way of making friend , and such bonds are often one of the best surprises of a hobby holiday.

Even hotels have jumped on the active-holiday bandwagon. Perhaps the most cosmopolitan hobby is the summer courses in mosaics subsidized by the Italian city of Ravenne, which has attracted students from 45 countries during the 30 years of its existence.

Navin Banthia

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