Holiday time at home

My kitchen is the busiest and often the most stressful room in the house. The endless “to do” list lives there, along with the pile of letters and bills that need sorting. It’s where the cooking, washing, ironing and tea-making is done.

It’s also where I put some of my most precious holiday treasures because it’s where I appreciate them most. My collection of fossils is on the window ledge by the sink and when I look at them I remember exactly where I was when I found them – wonderful family holidays on the Jurassic coasts of Whitby and Dorset.

The decorative tile from Barcelona is propped upon a shelf, along with a miniature sailing boat from Skiathos. Elsewhere, a few shells from the beach in Northumberland are arranged on a plate in the bedroom. On the pinboard in the office, I have postcards and pictures.

These holiday souvenirs and keepsakes are all inexpensive items that bring back happy memories and they all help make a house a home. So, if you are about to go on holiday, don’t forget to bring something back.

Here are some ideas on what to buy and collect and how to display:

*Create a holiday picture wall. Print off a few of your favourite photographs, frame them and group them together. You can find inexpensive frames at Ikea and Wilko. This arrangement looks good on the stairs, the landing and in corridors/hallways. These are all thoroughfares so you will see them and smile more often.

*Paintings of your favourite holiday locations are a great investment but if you can’t afford the real McCoy, you can buy a greetings card and frame it, or pin it up. Many artists now print their pictures on a card or postcard and are grateful for the £2 to £3 you pay for them.

*Shells. These look good in a glass bowl or oversized dish. TK Maxx/Home Sense have some great ones. You could also create a miniature beach scene in a Kilner jar with some sand, shells and pebbles. Tie a brown luggage label round the rim and write the location and date as a reminder of when you were there.

*Collect tiny souvenirs, anything from shells, pebbles, pine cones and kitsch ornaments, and display them in a printers’ tray or thimble display case. You can fine these on eBay from £25.

*Start a themed collection. Decorative plates would work well, especially grouped together on a wall or on a plate rack.

*Shadow boxes – those deep picture frames – are the perfect place for a souvenir or two with a background of plane/train tickets, postcards and photos.

*Take some holiday video clips on your phone and play them when you need a bit of cheering up.

*Most of us store our photographs on our phones and laptops and forget about them. Resolve to print your favourite pictures after each holiday and put them in an album, along with postcards and tickets. Digital storage is useful but nothing beats leafing through a photograph album. Have it on a handy shelf or table where you can pick it up and look at it often. You can also create photo books by sending your digital pictures to a company such as Photo Box. They start from about £25.