Do you find that when you’re wanting a summer holiday, you often look for water? You might have mountains, vineyards, beautiful towns, and still find there’s a day you want to be near the sea. I currently write this as I overlook the Tuscan hills, in front of me a beautiful outdoor pool, and surrounding me woodlands and miles of vineyards.

Then you’re about to be overjoyed because August is all about this feeling. This month we’re giving ourselves over to water completely, all the forms it takes when we travel, and all the reasons we keep going back.

There may be more to that pull than a mood. We’ve spent this month reading into blue zones – the few corners of the world where people seem to live longest and best – and asking what it is about a life lived beside water that adds the years. The effects of living by the sea turn out to be real and measurable, which is either reassuring or a very good excuse, depending on how you look at it.

But it’s rarely just one thing, is it? At one end there’s the family beach day, which (if you want to know my views on raising children by the sand and water, read on here) I’ve mastered like a small military operation: the tote bag with its seventeen essential items, the buckets and spades, the SPF spray top-ups to a child who will not stand still (or is independent enough to spray an entire bottle but not to bathe themself). At the other end is a quiet but scene-y terrace overlooking the crashing waves with friends, a chilled glass of your choice of apero, live music. While water is present in all of these situations, the latter end is having a moment. In our wellness pages we look at what’s new this season, and at how cruising – of all things – has reinvented itself around wellbeing: less midnight buffet, more cold plunge, breathwork and proper sleep at sea.

Which brings me to an argument I often question. Mediterranean vs Caribbean? I’ve laid out my reasons for both, and which one wins, here; I urge you to take a look and share your own opinion over on Instagram, where I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

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A few of my favourites from this past month, water-adjacent and otherwise: exploring Rajasthan with the children (how unexpected and how incredible it is, for them and for adults), a proper deep dive into mushrooms, the best of the Elizabeth line and where to hop off along it, our bumper family guide to everything to do in London this summer, and – because it’s August – the best summer beach reads, the flip-flops, the beach towels and more.

So: pack the buckets. This issue is all of it. The toys and the tides, the boats and the beaches, every stretch of blue we can’t stop thinking about.

See you by the water,

Sheena