Want to master a new craft this summer? Here are some of the best classes and courses coming up across Ireland

As the summer months stretch ahead, you may find yourself with some spare time on your hands, and getting back in touch with your creative side is a great way to fill it.

Whether life got in the way of a once beloved hobby, or it’s something you’ve always wanted to try, but never found the right time, why not seize the day this summer and afford yourself the luxury of some you-time while honing a new skill and broadening your mind.

From one-day courses right through to week-long immersions into the realm of a new craft, here are some excellent options currently open to enrolment…

Galway Pottery Classes

Located on Merchants Road in Galway, between Spanish Arch and The Docks, Galway Pottery Classes have been in the teaching business for the past 40 years, and are dab hands at passing on their expertise.

Their course offering includes a one-day introduction to wheel throwing, weekend summer courses, and four-week intermediate classes. From throwing and shaping to moulding and designing, you’re bound to get a feel for the art of pottery at Galway Pottery Classes.

Ballymaloe Cookery School

A cookery school that needs no introduction, Ballymaloe’s five-week summer course is modelled on their hugely popular 12-week certificate course, condensed to less than half the time. An all-round immersion in the Irish food industry, this one’s for the real foodies.

Providing a grounding in cooking and baking, the course covers a range of subjects, styles and techniques, leaving you with an extensive repertoire with everything from the traditional classics to the current hottest trends.

Irish Writers Centre

If you’ve always believed you had a story inside you, enrolling in a writing course could just be the best thing you ever do. Ireland’s flagship resource organisation for Irish literature, Irish Writers Centre is striving to keep our country’s strong tradition of storytelling alive, and they’ve got plenty of courses coming up this summer.

Offering both online and in-person classes ranging in length and scope, covering everything from writing historical fiction and playwriting to writing radio dramas and developing drafts of your next great novel.

Schoolhouse for Art

A facility for studying and exploring the visual arts, Schoolhouse for Art hosts national and international artists to teach a variety of art classes and workshops across multiple disciplines, for artists of all levels. From art tours to master classes, their summer offering is sure to excite.

From two-day workshops in expressive charcoal portrait drawing to lessons in watercolour, pastels, and acrylics, there are even days devoted to sketching in Powerscourt Gardens and exclusive tours of the National Gallery of Ireland.