Desperately seeking.....safety

[ellemo]

All these resorts with 8 x supersize pools/lagoons/waterslides absolutely fill me with horror. I would like a shorthaul destination that has a lovely fun kids pool, in a really nice environment (top end restaurants, nice beach) - any ideas?

i wasn't brave enough to say - no chavs but seeing as someone else has said it - I may as well lay my cards on the table

does it have to be a hotel? Maybe look for a villa/apartment in a place with nice shops and restaurants.

hotel not a must - most important thing to me is pool safety...... i have 3 sons (8,6,5) can't bear to have that 'panic' losing sight of one of them....knowing there are 5 pools in complex grounds. Neurotic?....yes. Have refrained from foreign travel on this basis but feel i need to start making small steps...plus i need some sun x

just rent a villa and make sure that children don't go outside near the pool unless you are with them. Lots of houses will have the pool fenced off so the children can't get near them unless supervised. We never stay in hotels as I am antisocial and prefer to have the pool to ourselves! Places like mallorca, Ibiza all have lots of accomodation and depending on where you go there will also be nice beaches and good restaurants

Club med

thanx - problem with villas is i never know where to start & end up giving up due to organising flights/car hire/catering. there must be some quaint package deals? its finding one.

quiet,safe,nice beach, nice restaurants we had a great 2 weeks here

Thanks for that link - will look at that in a sec'. all suggestions welcome - i'll look at them all

anxiety going through the roof looking at all these pools.....

can't they wear swim vests??

yeh, i guess. find it all so scary......with good reason, that i won't go in to. think a villa might be best way for me to relax into a foreign hol - with pool not too close. you wouldn't think i'd been an air hostess for 10yrs!!!!!! Have all 3 DS in swimming lessons, got to find the faith one year!

Ellemo I am with you.
How about France? It's French law that pools have to be fenced / gated and alarmed.
You could do a gite cluster with a fenced pool.

Ps why do you think the fence changed their swimming pool laws? ! !

WMM - thanks for that. Any recommendations for Gite clusters? Never done France although speak good French....

Hi.. i completely understand your worries, and we found the solution to a perfect family holiday 2 years ago!!

We have 2 boys aged 8 and 5. I wanted to find somewhere quiet and relaxed but with a few other families for the children to find playmates.

We stayed at a gite cluster called Mirabelle Gites in Charente Maritime and it was fab. It is a five gite cluster with pool (now fenced), acres of land, trampoline, climbing frame, sandpit etc. My husband and I spent the days sitting by the pool whilst the children happily played around. It was the most relaxing holiday since having the boys.

The owners provide great food some evenings, so not having too cook every night was lovely.

I can happily recommend it, we are going back for 2 weeks in August.

You can find it on www.ownersdirect.co.uk prop ref FR2871
The owners also have their own website www.bestfrenchgites.co.uk

It does get booked up quick as loads of repeat bookings.

Enjoy whatever you do.

Just to point out, the French law does not say all pools have to be fenced. It stated that all pools must have a security system. One option is a fence, another is an alarm, a third is a locking cover of some kind.

The problem with the other methods (other than the fence that is) is that they do not fully protect. An alarm only goes off once a child has fallen in the pool, and if you are not close enough (eg you are on the loo) then it will be too late. Locking covers tend to come off in the morning and go back on again at night so again not great.

My advice is to check - and then double check, the security of any gite/villa you are booking. If you have children under 10 I would advise a pool with a locking gate.

Try this www.cantueso.net/wordpress/Cantueso
Small complex, self catering but also nice restaurant on site, beautiful views, fenced in pool, crazy golf and beaches about 20 mins away. We've been going for years. Family oriented.

www.cantueso.net/wordpress/

Hotel Kolocep, Kolocep island, Croatia - would meet all these criteria. The pool is next to the sea - the pool is overlooked by the restaurant (so people always around) enough people around to feel safe not overwhelmed. NO chavs. Nice hotel playground. Nice restaurant for parents. You can walk from one side of the island to the other in half an hour and go swimming in a shallow harbour. There are ferries to other islands where you can go swimming. Kolocep is a quiet island with only one v nice hotel on it and a few restaurants plus lots of day trippers. Have a look on their website. It was the best holiday I've had as it was so relaxed.

Surely a large pool is vastly less stressful than the sea.

At 5 DD2 would happily do the highest water chute or the deepest pool, but she hated anything, but the calmest sea.

Your holiday hell is my families idea of heaven and very hard to find (most large pools are a fair way from the beach) and very few hotels have decent slides.

Tragic accidents do happen, but I think you may be blowing the risks way out of proportion.

8 year olds can swim on their own in most public pools even in this very health and safety mad land.

Hiring a villa and arranging travel is not difficult. Find an area you like and check out flights. Then find a villa and contact the owner. Ask the owner to hold for you whilst you book flights. Book flights THEN book villa.

Car hire is easy to arrange; Use one of the big names (you can get cheaper but if you are unsure best to stick with the big companies) I favour Europcar; You can book the car hire on line, and they all do car seats these days.

If you want it to be even easier then book a villa in France and drive.

Do check the pool is fully fenced with a locking gate.

I can recommend Skiathos Princess we have just returned from two of the most relaxing weeks I have ever had with my DCs in terms of pools, other children etc. Lovely down to earth hotel, right on the beach (which is clean with calm waters). If you search around on the web there are plenty of deals to this hotel - I prefer to book direct with the hotel so I found best deal on web and then asked them to price match. I am not the type of person to enjoy AI or FB places - I would rather wander around a small town for dinner etc. However, the hotel restaurants are very chic yet totally child friendly and the food is easily some of the best I have had in Greece.

oh and when they say "Kids Club" - they have a lovely air conditioned room full of arts & crafts, games, toys etc plus a garden with swings etc. Very low key with some wonderful staff there.