Delphina Hotels, Sardinia

At the beginning of last summer I was helping to compile a piece about hotels with great kids’ clubs for The Telegraph, and my trip to Sardinia was part of that.

Costa Navarino with Scott Dunn

I just realised that I have TOTALLY neglected my blog over  the summer despite many fab trips and thought it was about time I updated it.

Our first trip of the summer was to Greece try out Scott Dunn‘s new clubs for teenagers. It was madly luxurious – our rooms had private infinity pools, there was a hawk at breakfast to keep the little birds off the table – there was even an England football staying.

Club Med, Da Balaia, Portugal

Ever since we visited Mark Warner in Corsica, I’ve been really keen to try out Club Med too. I assumed that the two would be pretty much the same – they’re both very family-friendly with kids clubs for all ages and resorts by the sea as well as in ski resorts. And while it turned out that there were some similarities (mainly the excellent provision for children), in many ways, they’re also very different.

La Mongie

A couple of weekends ago Toby, Livi and I went to La Mongie, which is part of the Grand Toumalet ski area just below Pic du Midi.

Les Gets

This Christmas we went to explore the French Alpine resort of Les Gets.

Crystal’s ski app

I’m a bit of a late-adopter smartphone-wise, having only got rid of my faithful BlackBerry earlier this year and reluctantly switching to Android – so in many ways I’m still getting used to the idea of using apps beyond the obvious ones.

Futuroscope

I totally love theme parks. However, I’d be the first to admit that to a degree, it can be true that if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. Some rollercoasters, a few gentle rides for the kids, over-sized cartoon characters and some indifferent food stands, and you’re pretty much there. But Futuroscope in Poitiers-Charentes is a bit different.

Loir Valley

Week three this summer was in the Loir Valley – about 40 km away from the better-known Loire Valley. I didn’t know much about the area before we went but as it turned out, it was a bit like where we live – very quiet – but flatter.

Soulac-sur-Mer

Our second week away this summer was at Soulac-sur-Mer in the Gironde. We often go to the Atlantic Coast over the Med – the kids like the waves, the beaches tend to be less crowded and it’s not so HOT. This was a new area for us as we hadn’t been as far up the coast as this before, but I think we’ll definitely go back.

Andorra in summer

So, we’re back from our four weeks away this summer.

Our first trip was to Andorra. We’ve been several times in winter to ski but even though it’s only down the road from us really, we’d never been in summer before. The main reason for finally getting round to it was that for the past three years, Andorra have been putting on FREE shows by Cirque du Soleil, so I booked tickets online.