Yes, a lot of the best breaks have gone, but your lifeline is The Sunday
Times’s Don’t Panic column: throughout the summer, we’ll use our network of
travel spies to bring you the cream of what’s still on the market. Here’s
this week’s finest – but if you want ’em, you’d better move fast.
All holidays were available at the time of going to press
BRITAIN
You probably thought there wasn’t a decent cottage left in Britain. Well,
we’ve dug up Robins Nest, near Ashprington, south Devon, a detached barn
sleeping four, with use of an outdoor heated pool, hard and grass tennis
courts, a children’s play area and a games room. It’s available for a week
from July 20 for £807, with Helpful Holidays (01647 434063, www.helpfulholidays.com).
On the other side of the county, near Chittlehamholt, Simmons Farm Cottage is
a beamy old place on a child-friendly working farm, with a petting corner
for the little ones. It sleeps five (plus cot), and is available for a week
from July 21 for just £521, with Marsdens (01271 813777, www.marsdens.co.uk).
In Norfolk, we’ve found the Old Rectory, a 16th-century idyll in its own park
near North Tuddenham, with plenty of history, a gorgeous terrace for barbies
and all-weather tennis courts. Good for big parties (it sleeps 14), it costs
£3,001 for the week from July 28 with Rural Retreats (01386 701177, www.ruralretreats.co.uk).
In Wales, Golygfa Mor, in pretty Tresaith, looms over the sandy beach at
Cardigan Bay. It sleeps 12 and is available for a week from July 21 for
£1,811, with Coastal Cottages of Pembrokeshire (01437 772760, www.coastalcottages.co.uk).
Up in Selkirkshire, Mossbrae Cottage, in a beautiful little glen near
Ettrickbridge, sleeps six. A week from July 28 or August 11 costs £450, with
Unique Cottages (01835 822277, www.unique-cottages.co.uk).
SPAIN
A nice option from those health gurus at In:spa (0845 458 0723, www.inspa.co.uk)
– a retreat week of yoga, massages, natural therapies and gourmet detox food
at Trasierra, a gorgeous 16th-century hotel in the remote sierras, an hour
north of Seville. Prices start at £1,950pp for a week from August 15 or 23,
full-board, including transfers, but not flights; try Ryanair (0871 246
0000, www.ryanair.com) or Clickair (www.clickair.com).
Most good villas have gone, but PCI (01305 835835, www.pci-holidays.com),
has just taken a bunch on. Casa Lizeta, between medieval Pals and a long,
sandy beach on the Costa Brava, has three bedrooms and a gated pool with
slide. There are a few free weeks; from £1,468, excluding flights. Girona, a
30-minute drive away, is served by Ryanair (0871 246 0000, www.ryanair.com).
Otherwise, there’s still space on camp sites: Camping Life (0870 192 1158,
www. campinglife.co.uk) has room on the Costa Brava.
FRANCE
Gîte Tocquet, a picture-postcard thatched two-bedroom cottage overlooking the
Aven estuary – the gardens run down to the water’s edge – can be had for a
week from July 21 for £970, including Channel crossings, with Just France
(020 8780 4480, www.justfrance.co.uk).
Thinking bigger? Château Dumas, towering over the Quercy countryside, sleeps
26: it’s a wonderfully secluded neoclassical pile, stylishly decorated, with
a huge terrace, a 12-metre pool, 22 acres of grounds, the lot. A week from
August 21 costs £2,500 with The Big Domain (www.thebigdomain.com).
Fly to Toulouse with British Airways (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com)
or Flybe (0871 522 6100, www.flybe.com).
In Corsica, Coastline (0844 557 1020, www.coastline.co.uk)
has the aptly named Villa Bella Marina – the sea views are jaw-dropping – on
a hilltop overlooking Porto-Vecchio. Total for eightguests: £5,598 from July
22, including flights and car hire.
ITALY
Tuscany’s full, surely? Think again. In the heart of Chiantishire, Hamlet
Montefiorile consists of 14 traditionally built villas on a hillside, with a
shared pool, terrific views and decent availability. Melograno, a
two-bedroom cottage, costs £675 for a week from July 28, with To Tuscany (www.
to-tuscany.com); fly to Pisa with EasyJet (www.easyjet.co.uk)
or Ryanair (0871 246 0000, www.ryanair.com).
I Calanchi is an airy country hotel set on an old farming estate, with a pool,
views over vineyards and olive groves, and homemade pasta with truffles in
the restaurant. Prices start at £726pp, half-board, for a week, departing on
July 28, including flights to Ancona and car hire, with Real Holidays (020
7359 3938, www.realholidays.co.uk).
There’s a cracking trullo left in Puglia. With great views over the Valle
d’Itria (a Unesco World Heritage Site), Trullo Mimma has just been renovated
and sleeps six; it’s 15 minutes to good sandy beaches in the car (hire’s
included in the price). It’s available for a week from August 18 (£990) and
25 (£920), with Long Travel (01694 722193, www.long-travel.co.uk).
Fly to Bari or Brindisi with Ryanair.
GREECE
At the top of the market, the posh Danai Beach resort is more of a couples’
place than a family resort, and so still has good availability in the school
hols. There might be a tad too much marble for some tastes, but it’s in a
gorgeous spot on the coast of Sithonia, in Halkidiki, and there’s plenty of
historical interest. A junior suite costs £1,720pp for a week throughout
summer, with Carrier (0161 491 7650, www.carrier.co.uk).
Some good villas are still left, too. On Paxos, Spirit of Greece (01372
749579, www.spiritof greece.co.uk)
has Anguletta, a three-bedroom villa with a private pool in a hillside olive
grove near quiet Loggos; £1,620 for a week from August 27. Fly to Corfu
(there’s a ferry over to Paxos) with Thomsonfly (0870 190 0737, www.thomsonfly.com)
or Excel (0870 320 7777, www.xl.com). And on
Corfu itself, Sunisle (0871 855 1556, www.sunisle.co.uk)
has Villa Eleni, again three-bedroomed, again with private pool, high above
pretty Agios Stephanos; from £2,114 for various weeks in July and August.
Sunisle will book your flights for £237pp.
TURKEY
Kleo cottages are a group of six sweet little villas in a mountain village
above the coast at Kalkan, with a shared adult pool and another for the kids
(plenty of opportunity to make friends).
Good beaches are nearby, as well as plenty of culture. A family of four in a
two-bedroom place pay £2,950 for a fortnight from July 21, including flights
and a car for a week, with Exclusive Escapes (020 8605 3500, www.exclusiveescapes.co.uk).
There are still spaces on an exhilarating eight-day trip on horseback, for
confident riders, through the striking countryside of Cappadocia, past
troglodyte villages and rock-hewn frescoed churches. It costs £850pp, with
Equine Adventures (0845 130 6981, www.equineadventures.co.uk),
departing on July 22 and August 6 and 19, with flights, transfers,
accommodation (hotels at either end, camping on the trail), most meals,
horse and tack, plus expert guiding.
ICELAND
All that beach relaxation a bit too predictable? Walks Worldwide (01524
242000, www.walksworldwide.com)
has space on a hut-to-hut trek across the vast geothermal zone of the
Landmannalaugar valley, past lake-filled craters, lava plains, Ice Age
mountains and dazzling glaciers. Not a sun lounger in sight. Departing on
August 2, 10 days cost £1,795pp, including flights and most meals.
ACTIVITIES ON THE MED
If what you want is a holiday village with lots to do and good childcare, it
doesn’t much matter which country you’re in. Sunsail (0870 112 8487, www.sunsail.co.uk)
still has space at its beautifully located Club Marverde (Turkey, if you’re
interested), an active family’s dream, with great kids’ facilities, top
sailing kit and buckets of stuff to do, from sailing to circus skills to
mountain-biking. Departing on July 28, a week costs £949pp (under12s, £859),
half-board, including flights.
Mark Warner (0871 208 5117, www.markwarner.co.uk)
offers the same sort of thing in Paleros, Greece. The water’s calm, so good
for beginner sailors and windsurfers – and for Sunday Times readers, the
rate is £845pp (£100 off brochure price), or £655 for children sharing a
room, including flights and all meals, with wine (the food’s usually
excellent). Quote Sunday Times when booking.
With fewer activities but more intensive sailing, Wildwind Holidays (0844 499
2909, www.wildwind.co.uk) has a week
from July 22 at its beachfront hotel on Vassiliki Bay, Greece, from £874pp
(children £749), room-only. The price includes flights and a Royal Yachting
Association course.
