Annual leave is absolutely crucial.

It's so important to step away and take a decent break from work. Having said that, it can be tricky to know when the best time to take annual leave is. Do you divvy it up equally throughout the year so that you've got plenty of short breaks to look forward to? Or, do you opt to take longer breaks, albeit less frequently? Many choose to plan their annual leave strategically with the aim of maximising your holiday so that it includes weekends as well as bank holidays. In this way, three days of annual leave can potentially stretch into a period of 10 days if you play your cards right. If you're looking to plan your holiday leave strategically, here's how it's done. For the purpose of this article, we're assuming you have 20 days of annual leave. The key dates to book in for annual leave next year, will be around Christmas. That's when you can really max it out. By taking just three days off (28, 29 and 30 December) you get a total of 10 blissful days to watch telly and feast on leftovers. Before December however, there are a few key dates to take off around various bank holidays. It's up to you to choose which of the dates below work the best for you. Starting in January for instance, you can take off the 4th to the 7th, which, factoring in weekends and the bank holiday gives you a whopper nine days off for the price of four. The next bank holiday, Paddy's Day, lands on Thursday 17 March, so again you can be strategic here. By taking the 14th, 15th, 16th and 18th, four days of annual leave translates into nine lovely days to relax and unwind. Next up, we have the delightful month of April. Working on the basis that you'll only have the Easter Monday Bank Holiday, you're going to want to take off the 19th-23rd. This leaves you with nine days (10, if your employer gives you Good Friday off) to enjoy your collection of Easter eggs. You can ensure your summer gets off to a good start with some strategic annual leave planning around May Day. By taking the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th off, you'll once again cash in on nine lovely early days of summer. If you'd rather wait until June for some relaxing summer days, then place a request in for the 7th-11th, which will give you nine days off again. There's another opportunity for maximising your annual leave come August, and if you take the 2nd-5th off, you'll get nine days of late summer to indulge in. If you plan on doing the most to embrace spooky season, then you should take the 1st-4th of November off, just after the Halloween bank holiday. That's nine whole days to feast on leftover sweets while watching horror classics. Now, here comes the tricky bit. You need to decide which months to take off. The week just after Christmas is a no-brainer (10 days off for the price of 3), but then you should pick three of the months mentioned above. This then leaves you with one extra day of annual leave to take whenever you like - though planning it around a Bank Holiday Monday would give you a nice four days off in a row. You're welcome.