5 Hobbies to try that you'd probably never thought of

Next time someone asks you what you’re doing after work, surprise them.

1. Learn Portuguese Many businesses are looking for Portuguese speakers and Brazil itself has the strongest economy in South America. Fancy a change in Rio? Languagecoursesuk.co.uk has listings for classes or try online tutorials like babbel.com.

2. Taxidermy for beginners The centuries-old skill of taxidermy is on the resurgence. The art of preparing, stuffing and mounting animal skins is a precise, delicate business and the results are impressive. Classes range from working with (ethically sourced) rats, mice and squirrels to birds and butterflies. Curiousmenagerie.co.uk and londontaxidermyacademy.com run courses.

3. Make like Taylor and co with a banjo Mumford & Sons’ Winston Marshall has become the banjo’s poster boy and he, plus the likes of Taylor Swift, make the string instrument look a lot of fun to play. Learning to nail the distinctive twang could be your first step to folk band stardom. Musicteachers.co.uk has listings of teachers or try youtube for online tutorials.

4. Embroider your life stylish Forget twee little ‘home sweet home’ samplers, once you’ve mastered basic hand and machine embroidery techniques, you can really go to town. We love the idea of stitching an on-trend statement necklace or a unique cushion to jazz up the sofa. See hotcourses.com for some great video tutorials.

5. Anyone for dodgeball? Dodgeball basically involves mixed teams trying to get out their opponents by hitting them with rubber-covered foam balls (they don’t hurt - honest). It’s a lot of fun and mega sociable - often teams play just as hard off the court as on. Dodgeballuk.com has lists of leagues and teams, while ukdba.org has details on the sport in the the UK.

Ready, set, go!