Arabella Western Cape Hotel and Spa, Hermanus, South Africa

We'd been to Cape Town before and stayed in a rented house and wanted to go back and have a hotel holiday. This was a last minute booking and we flew out on New Year's Eve. The flight to SA is great if you don't mind overnighting. 10 hours overnight and hardly any jet lag, which worked well for us - though be warned if you travel on New year's Eve you just get the children to sleep and then at midnight everyone starts popping Champagne and shouting Happy New Year (and even proposing marriage over the intercom)... but I digress

The hotel is about 10 minutes outside Hermanus and about 90km from Cape Town. It looks like a sort of modern take on a Scottish shooting lodge, and the rooms are lovely. There's plenty to do with a fun kids' club with bouncy castle and games, and nice staff which was open long hours. The Main pool was icy, but there was a smaller indoor/outdoor pool which was jacuzzi temperature and led to the spa. There was crazy golf and tennis, free ice tea in the afternoons which my kids enjoyed and as much golf as you can manage if that's what you fancy.

The hotel food was good, though the service wasn't always great, in fact it was often unbelievably slow, especially at lunchtime. The evening meals were usually buffet style, but you could also arrange to be taken to nearby Hermanus for fab seafood. Also near the hotel is a penguin colony and we had a fantastic wander along a path at the top of the shore amongst literally hundreds of penguins - enchanting.

The scenery is spectacular - it's like Scotland with good weather - and you can hire a car and head into the local wine area (Known as Heaven on Earth) or head off to Stellenbosch and Franschhoek about an hour and a half away. I'd also recommend going to Spier - a wildlife/farm/traditional goods kind of place with good food and the chance to get up close and personal with a cheetah. If you make it to Franschhoek go to the Chamonix winery and enjoy lovely food and wine while the kids play in the outdoor play area.

The hotel spa was amazing but book early in peak times as it gets very full up. Overall a great holiday. Gripes were a lack of beds (and shade) around the pool at peak times and the fact that my children's sandals all disappeared from round the pool and were never returned. My friends also had jewellery stolen from their suitcase on the flight home, but that wasn't the hotel's fault.

Positives - easy flight and time difference means you can go for a week and still feel you've had a break. Amazing scenery, food, wine and weather and a beautiful hotel.And once you get there it's not too expensive.