we need to get away.. in April, ds is 13mo, need some sunshine and rest.. please help!

[Spink]

I'm afraid I'm being a bit crap and can't seem to work out where to go and what to do, and need assistance from lovely mnetters.. I've just had a miscarriage and desperately want to get away for a couple of weeks. A friend has a villa in Kefalonia that we could use, and I've looked at flights - but in April it seems really expensive to fly (Gatwick would be ideal dep airport for us, we're only 30 mins away) unless you're prepared to have a 10 hour journey with lots of stops. with little ds, that might be a bit much.
then I started looking on travelsupermarket for alternatives, holiday packages - and just got a bit overwhelmed by it all. I'd really like some help.

Our budget is around £1000 for all 3 of us.
A bit of sunshine would be lovely. We also need room to play for ds, a garden outside would be fab as we live in a flat. And being in a small town would be good so we can do some exploring.. what else. Think we'd be best self catering.. and don't want a massive journey.

If you have any ideas, give them! thank you.

bump

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Sorry to hear that and sorry can't be of help. Clicked on this post as am looking for exactly the same thing for no other reason than I havent been away since was 3 months preg & dd is now 15 months. want somewhere 2-3 hours flight from manchester.

It is soooo overwhelming. Would also like to be IN a town or village but often you have to get so far with looking at somewhere to then discover 5-10km from resort/amenities. Would really like somewhere that can supply cot and agree that self catering appartment probably best. At 15+ months she needs own room even if this means we use sofa bed if we are going to be able to watch tv or sit on patio/balcony/whatever have a glass of wine. We dont really sunbathe. Would just like to see some sunshine and not have to wrap dd in hat, gloves etc all the time. No need for pool & we dont play golf.

hello nct73, sounds like we have really similar requirements! I found a couple of really lovely websites, but I think might be a bit pricey for us..
here they are in case you're interested -

babyfriendlyboltholes.co.uk

www.takethefamily.com/family_favourites/infants_toddlers.php

let me know how you get on

If it is of any help, our 3 bed garden apt in turkey is fully equipped for babies (we have a mobile 10 month old) and close to beach, town, public transport. flight 3hrs 40 from LGW, private transfer 1hr 30. Haven't rented it out so far, but would be happy to help. Have checked flight prices and with a nominal rent could do flights, transfers, 12 days car hire for less than £1K.
Good luck. it is difficult, which is why I bought somewhere instead of a pension. my e is [email protected].

JuliaL - thank you!, that is a lovely lovely and really generous offer. dh is checking out some more affordable ways of getting to Kefalonia, but if that falls through, I will definitely be getting in touch with you. Thank you again. I really appreciate it.
x

Thanks. A bit posh for us too. Our budget same as you. Also I dont want a pool as I would be stressed about DD falling in all the time. I have been looking at a couple of places in the Algarve suggested on this thread as there are cheap flights to Faro from Manchester which take 2-3 hrs. I have found www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/ very good site for finding potential places to rent as great search options including "children welcome" as well as area, price, rooms, garden...

if you must go abroad, then I'm little help, though before I had 3 kids I found the independent villa owners sites - like www.ownersdirect.co.uk (I think) and www.holiday-rentals.co.uk useful.

But if you're happy to brave the rain, you could get a few days at Bedruthan Steps hotel in Cornwall for that amount.

Is fantastic, lovely beach views, built for child- and parent-friendlyness (nannies, childcare, 2 pools, toys, kid-friendly meals...) AND it has a spa (drool...)

I don't work for them, honest, but I've been twice and would love to go again.

This house is only £350 a week and sounds as if it has all you need.

You can find cheap flights easily using Martin Lewis's Flightchecker - looks like you could get returns for under £100 each, (well under on some dates) plus whatever they'd charge for DS - best if you could book midweek flights, obv.

Costa del Sol normally has lovely weather in April (last year they didn't but that was a freak!) We had a fortnight there between approx 12th-26th a few years ago and had 1 wet day, the rest was glorious.

Not sure about flights Spink,but pil's have a flat (nice 2 bed with a/c) in Paphos. We went 2 yrs ago and the weather was great,not too hot for lo's.

If you were interested i could get details for you?

We flew to Nice using a cheap airline and stayed in a lovely apartment booked through www.cheznous.com. The apartments and villas are generally very cheap outside school holiday times and weather in April would probably be pretty good.

Most of April is school holidays though, rm

(21st onwards is clear however)

goodness, you lot are lovely. Thank you so much
dh and i are looking through the options, I am letting him be the organiser, normally I do this sort of thing but this time I am hoping he will take control! Apparently his friend's place is OPPOSITE kefalonia, not on kefalonia so should be much easier to get to than we thought. I'm not sure how isolated it will be though, I don't want to be in the middle of nowhere, though I am sure it would be idyllic and beautiful, it also needs to be baby friendly! I didn't realise holidays would become so much more complicated with a small one. So, thanks again for you ideas and offers. We might well take one of you up on them!

Monkeybird, I love holidaying in the uk, but have a really strong yearning for some sun to warm my bones at the moment. I'm not much of a sunbather, but I love the feeling of freedom when I am just wearing a t shirt and shorts and flip flops, not huddled up against gales and lashing rain....

Hi

My dad has some town houses in Murcia

£250 a week

Polaris World's la Torre Golf Resort
-18 hole Jack Nicklaus designed golf course
-Play areas, swimming pools, tennis courts, day care centre, restaurants
-supermarket does deliveries, hospital and English school on the site
-free shuttle bus to other Polaris World resorts
-15 mins beach
-10 mins Murcia airport
-2 bed, 2 bath dining patio and 2 solariums. Sleeps 5.
-Fully secure private outlook overlooking golf course
He has more than one if you want to go with friends or family and he is trying to make a pension fund with them after the pension crash a few years ago so the support would be appreciated!
Contact Larry Larry's House on Facebook

hello, just an update really. Looks like our plans have fallen through. Mainly because work can't give me time off in April after all, and we don't know when we will be able to go (i'm hoping for May, but dh is self employed so depends if he has any projects coming up then)

Secondly, I fell out with dh a bit over where we might go. He was really set on his friend's flat in Greece, mainly cos it would have been free, and because he would've felt bad saying no once his mate had offered.. but actually it really wasn't baby friendly (no outside area to play, really remote village, nowhere to go for walks locally (we've got a maclaren - not good for off-road!), and we would've had to drive every day to do stuff, and take all our baby gear over there.)
Anyway. He made out that I didn't want to go there because I wanted somewhere luxurious "where we can get babysitters" and that all my baby reasons for not going to his mate's were just a smokescreen for that
So. we're on hold at the moment.
ARGH