Here’s how to get 18 days off work in a row in 2017 by only using 9 days holiday

It sounds like the kind of bargain deal that must come with a catch.

If someone told you that you could have 18 days off work through booking just nine days holiday, you’d probably tell them to pull your other leg.

But, remarkably, that proposition is a reality next year because of the way bank holidays fall in Britain.

MORE: Uber now tracks where you are after you’ve been dropped off
MORE: Dog causes £1,000 worth of damage after chewing through door — and getting head stuck

A bank holiday treble in spring means you could be getting double your days off – if you book it off in time.

Good Friday on April 14 is only the second bank holiday of 2017, but is swiftly followed by Easter Monday on April 17 and May Day on May 1.

It all means that if you leave the office on Thursday, April 13 then return on Tuesday, May 2, you would have 18 days of holiday for the price of nine work days.

The other nine days of the 18 are made up of three bank holiday days and six weekend days.

And the fun doesn’t stop there.

There is also the opportunity of a bumper Christmas holiday at the end of 2017.

This is because Christmas Day falls on a Monday, and is then followed by Boxing Day on Tuesday, December 26 – and both are bank holidays.

There are only three working days between these dates and the weekend of December 30 and 31, which are then followed by a bank holiday on New Year’s Day.

So if you leave work on Friday, December 22, 2017, and return on Tuesday, January 2, 2018, you will have ten days off for the price of just three working days.

Time to start booking those 2017 holidays then…