Fancy something a little more challenging on your family summer holiday this year? This family activity holiday Tuscany has two departures in August and offers a great mix of activities set in the wonderful Tuscany countryside. Try rock climbing, cave and cascade adventure, canyoning and cycling. There will be opportunities to join in the pizza making night and wine tasting for the adults.
The price is from £570 to £845 for 8 days excluding flights. Children aged 14 and under cost from just £470. The price includes 7 nights apartment accommodation, welcome pack, plus all activities, tuition and equipment. Departs 3rd and 17 August 2014.
Accommodation is in a renovated 14th century farmhouse with independent apartments complete with fully equipped kitchen, living room with satellite tv and phone. There is also an outdoor swimming pool. Florence and Pisa are both about an hour’s drive away and can be visited during your free time on this family activity holiday.
The Mountain Adventure Company offers bespoke family adventure holidays in the French Alps – expect a mix of adrenaline activities combined with the opportunity to participate in French lessons. The Camp is based in the traffic free village of Tania on the edge of the Vanoise National Park.
Choose between a 4 or 7 day family adventure. Typical activities on the four day adventure include white water rafting, a trip to an adventure park with Tarzan swings and a 130m zip line and 4 hours of mountain biking. On the 7 day adventure you will experience the above plus a half day skiing or snowboarding on a glacier, a 3 hour mountain hike with overnight camp and an afternoon of via ferrata. Interactive French lessons run in the mornings.
There are spaces remaining on both the 4 day and 7 day late August break. The 4 day break runs from Friday 23 August to Monday 26 August and costs £219. The 7 night break starts on Saturday 24 August through to Saturday 31 August and costs £499. Accommodation is in a purpose built chalet lodge in a private wooded location. Nearest airport is Geneva.
“Mumma, can I stay all summer” requests my six year old as we near the end of our PGL Family Active holiday. “And mumma, all the instructors here are cool and I want to teach the zip wire when I’m bigger”. If someone had told me before the holiday that that was how my daughter was going to feel about our 4 night multi-activity holiday I wouldn’t have believed them. I had started the holiday with some intrepidation as I was not sure it would be suited to both my children.
PGL Barton Hall, South Devon
In the late eighties as a young teenager I was desperate to go on a PGL summer camp – I could see myself on the climbing walls, messing around in a canoe and enjoying some freedom but it never happened. Fast forward twenty five years and suddenly I find myself invited to review with my two children Jonny (7) and Gaia (6) a PGL family holiday in South Devon.
Target practice
Barton Hall in Torbay, Devon is PGL’s largest family-friendly centre and is set in 46 acres of the English Riviera with a huge, outdoor heated swimming pool (impossible to keep my children out of in-between activities), dry ski slope and lake for canoeing and rafting activities. On arrival we were met by a team of friendly PGL reps, shown to our accommodation, given a hand with our bags and sat down to run through our personalised itinerary for the next four days to check that we were happy with the activities planned. My heart skipped a beat or two when I read ‘vertical challenge’ and ‘survivor’ however, this was something I couldn’t show in front of the children.
Quad bikes
We spent the next four days trying 14 different types of activities or ‘challenges’ including zip wire, quad biking, a vertical challenge, open canoeing, crate challenge, archery, a challenge course, raft building, abseiling, survivor, aeroball, orienteering, climbing and problem solving. The zip wire was Gaia’s favourite activity and for Jonny it was ‘survivor’ – a combination of fire-making and shelter building. Mine turned out unexpectedly to be the ‘climbing wall’. My children liked the timetabled 2 activities in the morning, 2 activities in the afternoon with meals, ice-creams and swims in-between. The children were always encouraged if they were slightly daunted by an activity but never made to do anything they didn’t want to.
Happy children
Jonny and Gaia never seemed to tire and after dinner we found ourselves joining in the evening activities. Early evening games being outdoors based (think scavanger hunt, team challenges, human bingo and dance routines) and mid evening games being based in the bar area. This was a great way to socialise with the other families we had been grouped with over a relaxing drink. Plus the bar offered milkshakes, hot chocolate and fresh popcorn so always a winner with the children, plus they got to play with their new friends.
Getting ready for the zip wire
PGL has been refining its activity offer since 1957 and from our experience at Barton Hall I reckon they’ve pretty much got it right. The range of activities on offer, the beautiful site, the friendliness and competence of the young PGL instructors could not be faulted. The accommodation at Barton Hall is a little dated but the room itself was clean and comfortable, with a lawned area in front where the kids could run free and play in the trees. The kids loved the bunk beds too. The holiday also taught me never to make assumptions about what your children can and can’t do. Both Jonny and Gaia amazed me with their ‘give it a go’ attitude. PGL we will be back!
Rafting games
PGL offer a range of great value family activity holidays both in the UK and in France for children aged six and over. If you have a younger family member they can come too but will be unable to join in the planned activities. http://www.pgl.co.uk/PglWeb/families/default
The weather is perfect for an unforgettable adventure in a beautifully restored campervan from the 1970s. Pack the kids and set off on a roadtrip with the freedom and flexibility that campervan holidays offer. All three campers – Tulip, Lily and Blossom – all sleep 4.
Prices vary on length of hire. Typical prices for August are £400-£450 for weekend hire (Fri 6pm to Mon 6pm); mid-week £300-£350 (Tues 2pm to Thurs 4pm) and a full week £625-£750 (Sat 2pm to Fri 3pm).
Dependent on hire type the price includes a welcome pack, fully comprehensive insurance, breakdown cover, double duvet & linen, sleeping bags, cooking equipment, tea/coffee/sugar and washing up essentials. Contact Kent Campervan Hire for dates and prices.
Close to London and Brighton Eco-camp UK offers woodland camping at their two sites set in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Sussex. At Beech Estate Woodland Campsite you can pitch a tent or hire a bell tent. Wild Boar Wood Campsite is bell tent camping only. Both sites allow camp fires. Discover beautiful woodlands, countryside, streams and paths,
Both camp sites have some availability for the school holidays, mid-week, selected weekends and in September. Campsites are off-grid with no electricity. Tent Pitches are £15 for an adult & £7 a child per night. The bell tents which sleep 2 adult and up to three small children are from £90 a night – children under 2 stay for free.
PGL’s final summer sale is now on with a raft of great offers on summer camp and adventure holidays for 7 to 17 year olds. With Centres across the UK and France and with a wide range of activities to try from rafting to climbing to pony riding these holidays will not disappoint. Holidays must be booked by the 8 August.
Current offers:
Up to 60% off on selected 7 night UK Multi Activity holidays, including First Timer holidays for new customers. Plus, we also have three for two on selected two night Taster Holidays for new customers! Offer code HOL33X.
Book one, get one FREE! Book one child and a second child goes FREE on selected 7, 4 and 3 night UK Multi Activity holidays. Offer code MAT33X.
Just one child? Save 30% off* when you book one child on any of the 7, 4 and 3 night UK Multi Activity holidays shown in offer two. Offer code FREE33X.
Up to 40% off selected 7 night Specialist Holidays. Offer code SHS33X.
Up to 40% off selected French holidays. Offer code OSA33X.
This Exodus active summer family adventure holiday departs on the 28 July for eight days and with just a few places remaining you need to book fast. The holiday combines easy canoe trips down both the Vezere and Dordogne rivers, cycling past pretty villages and alongside riverside tracks and exploring stunning castles. Free time is factored in with optional activities including horse riding and a visit to the Grand Roc Caves. The canoeing is on slow moving water and each day you will canoe back to your campsite.
Adult price is £599 and child £569 with your own travel arrangements to the joining point in Les Eyzies. Only three spaces remaining.
From £124 a family of four can stay near the Legoland Resort Windsor on selected dates during September and October 2013. This price includes Legoland tickets, the hotel and a second day in the Park for free.
There are brand new attractions this year including the 4D film adventure Lego Legends of Chima, the Lego Star Wars Miniland Model Display has 12 new characters and there is the new Duplo Valley home to the biggest outdoor water play structure in the UK Drench Towers, Duplo Spalsh Safari and play village Brickville.
Terms and conditions apply on this Legoland special offer.
Stable Cottage is available this Saturday at a special offer price of £525 (from £656) for a 7 night break. Stable Cottage is part of Courtmoor Farm Holiday Cottages set in 17 acres of East Devon countryside in an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The cottage sleeps 5 with two double bedrooms (that can be twin or doubles) plus a folding bed in one of the bedrooms.
With free use of their coarse fishing, gym, sauna and children’s play area this is a great base for your family holiday. They also o have their own woodland walks accessed from the driveway with an abundance of wildlife, flora and fauna with buzzards, sparrow hawks and kestrels to spot.
Based in the Vercors National Park, Velo Vercors is a small, specialist cycling centre catering for infants, children, teenagers & adults with all levels of fitness. Great choice of routes combining child friendly activities and places of interest to visit en route. In addition to the region being great for family cycling holidays, the Rhone-Alps also offers other activities for the whole family including acrobatic parks, canyoning, horseriding, swimming, caving, fishing, canoeing and mountain climbing.
There are 3 newly renovated self catering gites with private terraces to rent until the end of the season in October. Based on a family of 4 for 1 week with children aged under 12 the cost of this family cycling holiday France is £1040 (current exchange rate for Euro at the time of the booking). This price includes gite rental for 7 nights, bike hire and helmets, a library of well detailed cycling routes, hire of towels and bed linen, local knowledge and advice of the region and places to visit and cycling/training advice.
Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence 2013 winner.
