This time last year I was a seriously unhappy bunny and no amount of meditation or positive thinking was going to help! I was stuck with the in-laws in quite possibly the most remote house in Scotland, with nowhere to go and only 2 out of 10 people who would actually speak to me (well my little boy made a bit of an effort too but da da, ma ma offers slightly limited conversation)
In a moment of madness I had agreed to go on a family holiday organised by my not so 'dear' brother in law. It was a disaster! The house was a death-trap for toddlers with windowsills to be fallen off, stairs to be fallen down and in-laws to be fallen out with. In the manner of Scarlett O'Hara I vowed to myself "As God is my witness, I will never go away anywhere that I have not meticulously researched again"....And I didn't.
This year I spent alot of time looking up child friendly places and happened upon a website called childfriendlycottages.com This was exactly what I needed, it shows a selection of cottages in the UK and abroad with child friendly features such as stairgates, toyboxes, highchairs. cots etc.
From this site we selected Court Farm Holiday near Bude in Cornwall. I was not disappointed with my choice and the whole holiday was a child friendly dream. As soon as we walked through the door of our cottage I felt instantly at home (the Cornish biscuits left for us certainly helped). Instead of trying to corral 2 children to safety as usually happens I simply put on the stairgate, found the bucket of toys under the stairs and for the first time in 4 years unpacked in peace. Court Farm seemed to have thought of everything parents of young children need. We had a cot for our 2 year old, a booster seat and there were even plastic plates and cutlery available.
Children could get a real taste of country life. Walking along to say hello to the friendly pigs and alpacas, and collecting fresh eggs for breakfast in the morning were the highlights of our holiday. There was also a brilliant play area and heated indoor pool where you could book swimming lessons with the lovely Rosie.
Adults are not forgotten either - parents matter too and there are some fantastic treatments on offer for body and soul from Vicky Barnes who has a therapy room on site. I had the hot stone massage which was 55 minutes of bliss and my mum had the reflexology which left her relaxed and recharged. Next time I'm going to try the Hawaiian Lomi-Lomi massage which sounds amazing. Book with Vicky at www.vickybarnes.co.uk
Cornwall is a really spiritual county and home to many myths and legends. It really seems to attract free thinkers and people looking for a more meditative way of life . I can't wait to go back!
Great post! You should contact the holiday company with a link to your post on twitter and ask them to retweet you to help you get more followers!
ReplyDeleteThanks Pret-A-Mummy. I've sent it to the holiday company - hope they like it!
ReplyDeleteNice to know! We stayed in a cottage in Windermere earlier in the year, but it wasn't very child-friendly. May very well try that company for our next UK holiday.
ReplyDeleteI recommend it - a child friendly holiday seems to make things alot easier! Much more relaxing for the adults too (if you can call running around after a 2 and 4 year old relaxing!)
ReplyDeleteWow, this sounds great! I truly love Cornwall, even in the rain, it's a great place to be...if the sun shone once in a while though, it would be even nicer! Thanks for linking up :) PS Where was this 'remote' place in Scotland? My parents have a house in the hebrides, if it was anything like that, it must have been a nightmare!
ReplyDeleteHi Suzanne - we were lucky that it was quite sunny when we were in Cornwall so managed to get to the beach.
DeleteWe stayed in a house about 10 miles outside of Fort William. Foolishly I had agreed to go on holiday thinking we would be staying in a lovely Balamory style village - oh how wrong I was!! I couldn't even drive at the time so no escape!
Sounds as if the people who rented out the holiday home were really thoughtful. Cornwall is stunning.
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