SIDE QUESTS FOR COUPLES: 25 SMALL ADVENTURES FOR TWO

Why quests beat date nights

A date night is an event. A side quest is a story. Events are nice; stories are what you tell people at weddings.

The bar is low on purpose. Ten quid, two hours, no booking. The weirder and smaller, the better it works.

The list

Take a bus to the end of the line and walk back.

Cook a meal from a country neither of you has visited.

Visit the museum in your own city you have both never been to.

Swap phones for one hour each and plan the other person's evening.

Find the highest point within five miles and watch the sun go down.

Write each other a letter and read them out loud over dinner.

Do a charity shop challenge: ten pounds each, best outfit wins.

Walk a full bus route, one stop at a time, over a weekend.

Recreate your first date, badly, at home.

Take a disposable camera out and finish the roll in one day.

Learn one card game properly and play for chores.

Swim outside before breakfast.

Visit the oldest pub in your postcode and ask about its history.

Build a meal entirely from a corner shop.

Go to a gig by a band neither of you has heard of.

Draw each other's portrait without lifting the pen. Frame the results.

Plan a 24-hour trip with a budget under fifty pounds.

Spend an evening with no electricity after sunset. Candles only.

Interview each other like journalists and write up the profile.

Find a footpath you have never walked and follow it to the end.

Cook breakfast for dinner, in formalwear, for no reason.

Visit a car boot sale at opening time. Buy one thing each under two pounds.

Read the same short story and argue about it over wine.

Make a one-page zine about your relationship. Print two copies.

Sit on a bench somewhere new and split a portion of chips.

The only rules

Phones stay in pockets except for the photo. No researching reviews first - part of the quest is not knowing. And whoever suggests the quest, the other one cannot say no.

One a week is plenty. A year of that is fifty-two stories.