Hobbies
Learning & intellectual
Pursuits whose substance is a body of knowledge.
Astronomy
HobbyObserving the night sky, from naked-eye constellations to telescopic deep-sky objects.
£100–£300 to startOutdoorsSedentary
Orienteering
SportHobbyNavigating between control points on a detailed map, at whatever speed suits you, against the clock.
Under £25 to startOutdoorsDemanding
Journaling
HobbyCraftWriting regularly for yourself — as a record, a thinking tool, or a creative practice.
Under £25 to startIndoorsSedentary
Astrophotography
HobbyPhotographing the night sky, from a camera on a tripod to hours of accumulated exposure through a tracked telescope.
£300–£1,000 to startOutdoorsGentle
Dog training
HobbyTeaching a dog to live well with people — a genuine skill with a contested literature and a surprising amount of law attached.
£25–£100 to startIndoors or outdoorsModerate effort
Mycology
HobbyFinding, identifying and recording fungi as a subject in its own right — a field science that amateurs still genuinely advance.
£100–£300 to startOutdoorsGentle
Also in this category
Classified but not yet written up.
119 activities in the catalogue, 6 written up so far.
Air quality monitoring
HobbyRunning a low-cost particulate sensor and contributing to open networks of local air data.
£100–£300 to startIndoors or outdoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Amateur cryptography
HobbyLearning ciphers and codebreaking as a puzzle and historical discipline.
Under £25 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Amateur geology
HobbyReading landscape and rock, and understanding how a place was made.
£25–£100 to startOutdoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Amateur microscopy
HobbyExamining pond life, sections and minerals, with a society tradition going back centuries.
£300–£1,000 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Amateur radio
HobbyLicensed two-way radio — contacts, contests, antennas and propagation.
£300–£1,000 to startIndoors or outdoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Amateur seismology
HobbyRunning a home seismometer and identifying distant earthquakes from the traces it records.
£300–£1,000 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Ancient Greek
HobbyLearning classical Greek to read the literature in the original.
£25–£100 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Archive transcription
HobbyTranscribing handwritten records for archives and research projects, from home, at your own pace.
Free or near-free to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Astronomy outreach
HobbyShowing the sky to the public at star parties, which is a distinct skill from observing.
£300–£1,000 to startOutdoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Bat roost monitoring
HobbyChecking and recording bat boxes and roosts under licence, with a training route through local groups.
£25–£100 to startOutdoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Book clubs
HobbyReading the same book as other people and then arguing about it.
Under £25 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Breeding bird surveying
HobbyWalking a fixed transect and recording every bird, feeding a long-running national dataset.
£100–£300 to startOutdoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Bryology
HobbyIdentifying mosses and liverworts, best done in winter when everything else has stopped.
£100–£300 to startOutdoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Capture the flag security puzzles
HobbySolving deliberately vulnerable systems as timed puzzles, on platforms built for the purpose.
Free or near-free to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Cave surveying
HobbyMeasuring and drawing cave passage to a grade standard, which is how new systems get recorded at all.
£300–£1,000 to startOutdoorsDemanding
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Celestial navigation
HobbyFixing position by sextant sight and almanac, still taught as the backup when electronics fail.
£300–£1,000 to startIndoors or outdoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Citizen river monitoring
HobbyTesting and recording water quality on a local river to a shared protocol.
£100–£300 to startOutdoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Citizen science
HobbyContributing structured observations to real research projects.
Free or near-free to startIndoors or outdoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Coastal navigation
HobbyChartwork, tidal heights and streams, and pilotage in sight of land — a certificated skill in its own right.
£100–£300 to startIndoors or outdoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Commonplace books
HobbyKeeping a book of gathered quotations, notes and observations over years.
Under £25 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Competitive programming
HobbySolving algorithmic problems against a clock, individually or in teams, on judged platforms.
Free or near-free to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Constructed languages
HobbyInventing languages with consistent grammar and phonology, for worlds or for their own sake.
Under £25 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Creative writing
HobbyCraftWriting fiction and narrative non-fiction, and learning to revise it.
Free or near-free to startIndoors or outdoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Crosswords
HobbySolving word grids, from quick puzzles to full cryptics.
Free or near-free to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Crystal growing
HobbyGrowing crystals from solution, which is chemistry that produces something to keep.
Under £25 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Debating
HobbyArguing a case to a format and a clock, judged on the argument.
Under £25 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Dialect recording
HobbyRecording and transcribing regional speech, vocabulary and pronunciation before the speakers are gone.
£100–£300 to startIndoors or outdoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Diatom arranging
CraftArranging microscopic algae into patterns on slides, a Victorian micro-craft.
£300–£1,000 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Digital mapping
HobbyContributing to open map data by surveying and editing the places you already know.
Under £25 to startIndoors or outdoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Dragonfly recording
HobbyIdentifying and submitting records of dragonflies and damselflies, an approachable insect group to start on.
£100–£300 to startOutdoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Entomology
HobbyStudying, recording and sometimes collecting insects, under strict ethical limits.
£25–£100 to startIndoors or outdoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Etymology
HobbyTracing word histories and sound changes, using dictionaries and corpora as primary tools.
Under £25 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Flag study
HobbyStudying and collecting flags, their design rules and their history.
£25–£100 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
French
HobbyLearning French, the language with the deepest supply of British classes, exchanges and material.
£25–£100 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Genealogy
HobbyResearching your own family history from records, and proving each link.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Genetic genealogy
HobbyUsing DNA test matches alongside documents to break through gaps in a family tree.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Geoguessing
HobbyIdentifying where a street-level photograph was taken from vegetation, kerbs, bollards and sun angle.
Free or near-free to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
German
HobbyLearning German, where the case system is the early wall and the compounding is the late pleasure.
£25–£100 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Glaze chemistry
CraftHobbyFormulating and testing your own glazes rather than buying them ready-mixed.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Great books reading
HobbyWorking through a long sequence of canonical texts, usually with a group and a schedule.
Under £25 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Heir hunting research
HobbyReconstructing family trees to trace living relatives, a research discipline.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Heraldry
HobbyThe study and design of armorial bearings, with a formal grammar and a live regulatory system.
£25–£100 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Herbarium making
HobbyCraftPressing, mounting and cataloguing plants to a scientific standard.
£25–£100 to startIndoors or outdoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
High-altitude ballooning
HobbySending instruments to the stratosphere on a weather balloon and recovering them.
£300–£1,000 to startOutdoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Historic building recording
HobbyMeasuring, drawing and describing buildings to an archive standard, usually through a local group.
£100–£300 to startIndoors or outdoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Home weather stations
HobbyRunning and maintaining a personal weather station, and feeding its data to a public network.
£300–£1,000 to startOutdoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
House history research
HobbyTracing who built and lived in a particular building, using deeds, census and map evidence.
£25–£100 to startIndoors or outdoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Industrial archaeology
HobbyRecording mills, mines, canals and railways before they disappear entirely.
£25–£100 to startOutdoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Italian
HobbyLearning Italian, often taken up for music, food or a place rather than for work.
£25–£100 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Japanese
HobbyLearning Japanese, where the grammar is regular and the three writing systems are the long work.
£25–£100 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Jazz improvisation
HobbyLearning to solo over changes — a studied discipline with its own literature, not a matter of instinct.
Under £25 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Language learning
HobbyLearning to use another language, deliberately and over years.
Under £25 to startIndoors or outdoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Latin
HobbyLearning Latin to read original texts, with a large amateur reading-group culture.
£25–£100 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Lichen recording
HobbyIdentifying and recording lichens, which are excellent air-quality indicators and everywhere.
£25–£100 to startOutdoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Light pollution monitoring
HobbyMeasuring night sky brightness by meter or naked-eye star count and submitting it to national surveys.
£100–£300 to startOutdoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Literary translation
HobbyCraftTranslating poetry and prose for its own sake, which is writing more than it is language.
Under £25 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Local history
HobbyResearching one place in depth — its buildings, people and records.
Under £25 to startIndoors or outdoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Lunar observing
HobbyObserving and sketching the Moon, the one target light pollution cannot spoil.
£100–£300 to startOutdoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Mandarin Chinese
HobbyLearning Mandarin, with simple grammar, four tones and several thousand characters to recognise.
£25–£100 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Map and compass navigation
HobbyLand navigation as a taught skill — bearings, pacing, contour interpretation and relocation.
£25–£100 to startOutdoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Mathematical origami
HobbyCraftFolding as geometry, including constructions impossible with compass and rule.
Under £25 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Memory sport
HobbyCompetitive memorisation of cards, numbers and names using loci and encoding systems.
Under £25 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Mental calculation
HobbyTraining fast arithmetic by method rather than by memory, with its own competitive circuit.
Free or near-free to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Meteor observing
HobbyCounting and recording meteors, which needs no equipment and produces usable data.
Free or near-free to startOutdoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Meteorite collecting
HobbyCollecting and identifying meteorites, a small field where authentication and provenance dominate.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Military ancestry research
HobbyTracing service records, medal rolls and unit war diaries, a distinct set of archives with its own conventions.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Model United Nations
HobbySimulated diplomatic committees debating to procedure, with adult and alumni circuits as well as student ones.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Morse code operating
HobbyWorking stations by hand-sent Morse, which gets through when voice cannot and is learned by sound.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Moth trapping
HobbyRunning a light trap overnight and identifying and releasing what comes.
£100–£300 to startOutdoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Music transcription
HobbyWorking out recorded music by ear and writing it down, which is how most players actually learn to hear.
Free or near-free to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Naked-eye stargazing
HobbyLearning the sky without equipment — constellations, planets and the year’s motion.
Free or near-free to startOutdoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Nest box monitoring
HobbyRecording breeding birds under licence for national monitoring schemes.
£100–£300 to startOutdoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
One-name studies
HobbyResearching every occurrence of a surname worldwide rather than one line of descent.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
One-place studies
HobbyResearching every inhabitant of a single village or street over centuries, rather than one family line.
£25–£100 to startIndoors or outdoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
OpenStreetMap surveying
HobbySurveying and editing the open map of the world, from a phone or from a GPS trace.
Free or near-free to startIndoors or outdoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Oral history
HobbyRecording and archiving people’s memories, with a methodology and an ethics of its own.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Palaeography
HobbyLearning to read historical handwriting, which unlocks archives nobody has transcribed.
Under £25 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Permaculture
HobbyDesigning growing systems that work with ecology rather than against it.
£100–£300 to startOutdoorsDemanding
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Phenology recording
HobbyRecording first leaf, first flight and first song each year, feeding national datasets.
Under £25 to startOutdoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Philosophy reading groups
HobbyReading primary texts slowly with other people, which is the only way most of them work.
Under £25 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Place-name study
HobbyWorking out what place names mean and what they record about language and settlement.
£25–£100 to startIndoors or outdoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Plant identification
HobbyLearning to name wild plants using keys, features and habitat.
£25–£100 to startOutdoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Plant pressing and herbaria
HobbyCraftPressing, mounting and labelling plants to a standard that keeps them useful for a century.
Under £25 to startIndoors or outdoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Programming
HobbyWriting code for its own sake — tools, puzzles, side projects.
Free or near-free to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Public speaking
HobbyPractising speaking to an audience, usually in a structured club.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Quizzing
HobbyCompetitive general knowledge, from the pub league to national championships.
Under £25 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Radio astronomy
HobbyDetecting hydrogen line emission and solar activity with a home-built dish and software radio.
£300–£1,000 to startOutdoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Recreational mathematics
HobbyExploring mathematics for pleasure — tilings, number curiosities, paradoxes and constructions.
Under £25 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Reptile and amphibian surveying
HobbySurveying newts, frogs, lizards and snakes for local record centres.
£100–£300 to startOutdoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Rock & mineral collecting
HobbyCollecting and identifying minerals and crystals, often self-found.
£25–£100 to startIndoors or outdoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Scientific illustration
CraftDrawing specimens and structures for clarity and record rather than effect.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Scottish Gaelic
HobbyLearning Gaelic, with immersion courses, singing groups and a strong island learner tradition.
£25–£100 to startIndoors or outdoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Seal study
HobbyStudying wax seals and their impressions as historical documents.
£25–£100 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Shore surveying
HobbyRecording intertidal species to a national scheme, which turns a beach walk into science.
£25–£100 to startOutdoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Shorthand
HobbyLearning a phonetic writing system for speed, which is a genuine skill acquisition with a plateau.
Under £25 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Sign language
HobbyLearning a signed language as a language, with its own grammar and community.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Slide rule collecting
HobbyCollecting slide rules and mechanical calculators, and learning to use them, which is half the point.
£25–£100 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Small mammal surveying
HobbyLive-trapping and recording mice, voles and shrews under licence and protocol.
£300–£1,000 to startOutdoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Solar observing
HobbyWatching the Sun safely with dedicated filters or telescopes — the one daytime astronomy.
£300–£1,000 to startOutdoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Spanish
HobbyLearning Spanish, phonetically regular at the start and spoken across two continents.
£25–£100 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Spider recording
HobbyRecording spiders and harvestmen, a group where most identification needs a microscope and a key.
£100–£300 to startIndoors or outdoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
String figures
HobbyMaking figures from a loop of string, with a recorded international repertoire.
Under £25 to startIndoors or outdoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Sundial making
CraftHobbyDesigning and building sundials, which is applied astronomy and craft together.
£100–£300 to startIndoors or outdoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Telescope making
HobbyCraftGrinding and figuring your own mirror, which is how amateur astronomy began.
£300–£1,000 to startIndoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Tesla coils
HobbyCraftBuilding resonant transformers that produce visible discharge, a display and demonstration hobby.
£300–£1,000 to startIndoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Tree identification
HobbyLearning to name trees in every season, including the hard half of the year without leaves.
Under £25 to startOutdoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Variable star observing
HobbyMeasuring stars that change brightness and submitting the data, which professionals use.
£300–£1,000 to startOutdoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Weather observing
HobbyRecording weather at home with real instruments, and learning to forecast.
£100–£300 to startOutdoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Welsh
HobbyLearning Welsh, which has an unusually well-supported adult learner route and a live speaking community.
£25–£100 to startIndoors or outdoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Wikipedia editing
HobbyWriting and sourcing encyclopaedia articles, to a strict citation standard.
Free or near-free to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Wild orchid recording
HobbyFinding and recording native orchids, a small and much-followed group with tightly defined sites and seasons.
£25–£100 to startOutdoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Wildflower identification
HobbyLearning to name wild plants by key rather than by picture, which is a different and durable skill.
£25–£100 to startOutdoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Wine tasting
HobbyLearning to taste and describe wine systematically, often towards a qualification.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet