Is 2026 the year you finally want to get yourself a side hustle? Fancy a new career all together? We might have just what you're looking for.
That's because holidaycottages.co.uk is on the hunt for one lucky individual for what could, quite frankly, be the dream job and is launching a nationwide search to find the UK’s first 'Joy Seeker' - a year-long content creator role offering £30,000 to explore the nation’s happiest destinations and share the joy along the way.
What exactly is a 'Joy Seeker' then? Well, the lucky applicant will become the face of the holiday cottage rental company's new Happy Place campaign, and will embark on a 12-month journey to the UK’s 10 happiest destinations as voted for in a recent survey.
This will include stays at properties in some of the country's most-popular holiday destinations like Cornwall, Pembrokeshire, and North Yorkshire.
The role requires the successful individual to share their adventures through photography, long and short-form social media content, and blog writing, all with the aim of 'showcasing the joy' of these places through 'authentic' storytelling.
From wandering the cobbled streets of Devon's coastal villages, to hiking hidden trails in Welsh national parks, the role is about uncovering local stories and the country's most unique charms.
All throughout 2026, the Joy Seeker’s content will be shared across holidaycottages.co.uk’s social media channels.
As part of the contract, the chosen candidate will receive a £30,000 content creator contract, get to stay for free in a minimum of 12 stunning holiday cottages, and have all travel expenses covered in the process.
The UK's 'happiest' job is recruiting and will pay you £30k to travel and review holiday cottages / Credit: Marie M (via Unsplash)
Thinking of applying? You'll need to be a confident and creative storyteller with a passion for travel, the outdoors, and celebrating local culture within the UK, and you'll also need to be experienced in creating engaging content across various formats.
"This is more than just a job," said Sarah Pring, who is the Digital PR Manager at holidaycottages.co.uk.
"It’s a chance to swap your 9-5 for a year of creativity, adventure, and real connection to people and places across the UK."
Channel 4 is back looking for more adult virgins to take part in the potential next series of its hit reality show Virgin Island.
If you’re unfamiliar with Virgin Island, it’s unlike anything ever seen on TV before.
First hitting screens back in 2024 and having run for two successful seasons now, Virgin Island follows the journey of a group of adult virgins who are whisked off to a Mediterranean island retreat to learn life-changing skills in the art of intimacy.
Working with leading international therapists, the aim is to help the young people overcome their fears and insecurities when it comes to intimacy and sex.
Channel 4 said it chose to commission the show after a recent study into intimacy found out that one in eight British 26-year-olds is, apparently, still a virgin.
A casting call for the new series on the Channel 4 website reads: “Are you a virgin and do you need help and guidance with your fears and insecurities around intimacy and sex? Double Act Productions is casting adults for a potential second series of Virgin Island.”
You just need to be over 21 years of age to take part in the show.
Fancy it then? Or know someone who may be up for the ride? Applications for the potential next series of Virgin Island are now open, and there’s still plenty of time left to put your name down.
You can find out more and register your interest here.
Fossilised 320-million-year-old fish found in Leeds’ Roundhay Park
Clementine Hall
A prehistoric fish fossil has been unearthed at Roundhay Park in Leeds.
The fascinating prehistoric skull bone of a coelacanth fish was discovered by a geologist at Roundhay Park earlier this year.
It is thought the creature was frozen in time aeons ago, during an era when the park was submerged under a vast tropical lagoon.
The remarkable discovery has now been kindly donated to Leeds Museums and Galleries and added to the natural sciences collection at Leeds Discovery Centre.
Image: Leeds City Council
The Leeds fossil was found by Ru Smith of the Yorkshire Geological Society during a reconnaissance walk he was carrying out ahead of a planned field excursion in the north Leeds park.
Describing the moment he made the discovery, Ru said: “There’s a layer of rock in the park which dates from around 320 million years ago, from a time before the breakup of the continents, when what is now the park would have been situated close the Equator and under the warm waters of a tropical lagoon. West Central Africa would be a good place to find similar environments in the present.
“There’s a bed of freshwater mussels called Carbonicola at one level in the rock, and opening a piece of shale from this bed in my hands I saw something unusual – a distinctive skull bone of a large fish. I knew straight away this was something different and very rare."
The bone was verified byexperts as belonging to a coelacanth older than those found elsewhere in Yorkshire, making it the oldest fossil coelacanth discovered in the region.
Ru added: “Coelacanths are pretty amazing fish and it’s just very cool to think that at one time, you could have been standing in Leeds and watching them swim around above a bed of mussels in Roundhay Park.
“That’s really the wonder of geology, looking at the rock and time travelling in the imagination to what was a very different world.”
Emily Sergeant -
22nd December 2025 
