mn best holiday ideas

[fancyhat]

hmmm getting a bit bored of farmhouses in France ...need some inspiration. We're very much a bit of everything family, love the outdoors and beautiful country-side, like a bit of culture and sight-seeing, like good food. dds 5 and 3. were moderately adventurous in days gone by, with only one dd went all over the place, am beginning to feel dd2 is old enough to venture away from the farmhouse and beach thing. (tho beach probably needs to feature at some stage)

Duinrell in Holand is fab for little ones. It is near to a beach (realise you don't want to do all beach things), and hour from Amsterdam and has a wonderful water park and theme park, which is excellent for smaller children. If you stay on site then you get 2 hours in the water park and all day in the theme park free. Going there for a week costs less than a wekend at centre parks. You can hire bikes, there is loads to see in the area. We have been now twice, and my kids alawys ask to go again.

Google and they have a website. We go with Canvas holidays, but you can also book a chalet

Not much good food tho!

Austria? We went there while I was in early pregnancy & thought what a fab place it'd be to go with kids - loads of out doors activities, great scenery, food & wine better than we expected . Not so sure about culture but the place we stayed (Kaprun) had a medieval festival while we were there with lots of kids activities, jousting etc.

Your post doesn't explain cost/ travelling distance (and type etc). LOoking for long haul flights or short or no flights at all? Time of year/climate etc etc.

short to medium haul flights. august sep this year. like the sun but not too hot. budget quite open. I'd wondered about the Alps but think it might be better to wait until dds are a bit older and can walk/cycle etc with us.

Oh the Alps are fun and you'd be surprised how far they might walk ! This area for example has lots of outdoorsy things to do with steam train rides, open air museum with animals, cheesemaking and old houses to explore, mountain/lakeside walks and so on, less than an hour to Lucern or Interlaken and a bit further perhaps to Berne. At Meiringen-Hasliberg there is a child-orientated walk with lots of fun activities along the way themed to a dwarf story (woodland houses complete with mini washing lines, swings, bridges etc)to keep their interest.

I had this brochure and I'm trying to persuade dh to go to either Austria or Switzerland, but he's not having any of it at the moment.

Their child care looks fab, costs but fab.

We're ski-ing with them next month - our first ever holiday abroad with dd. Really looking forward to it!

ailsa we actually saw the one in Saas Fee last summer (their first time there) and felt the childcare was unimpressive. Lots of babies and children being kept inside, even though the weather was ok outside and the room was tiny ! The pool and rooms are a lot smaller than they look too. They were moving across the road to a purposely converted hotel for this winter season but still show the Ambassador for the summer. We love Saas Fee itself though.

Have done Esprit in summer ourselves a few years back (Chamonix). Food was fine, childcare (dd went in the nursery for a couple of sessions and ds in cocoa club) average but accommodation very tired and basic. We were a week or so ahead of the main season so the entertainment and chidlcare programme was more limited.

Book your own holiday to Austria. I know you said you wanted to get away from the farm thing but they have fabulous accommodation. If you went to one on a lake just outside of Salzburg you could combine the activity, culture and beach theme.

Have a look at www.farmholidays.com and then at the specialist childrens farms which are great. For hotels look at www.kinderhotels.com, these all include childcare. For general tourist info look at www.tiscover.at.