You want a restful holiday in the UK this summer. You want to be with your family. which just happens to include children as well as adults. The problem is that the UK has never been noted for its child-friendly hotels.

So where can you relax, knowing that you won't spend the whole time tensing up as fellow-guests glare at your children every time they speak above a whisper?

Here's our selection of child-friendly hotels across the UK with plenty of activities for children and genuinely friendly staff.

SOUTH

1. The Seaview Hotel in the Isle of Wight is a seaside hotel on an island with hundreds of rock pools to explore, and near to a sports club with swimming pool, gym and tennis. Young children have high tea at 5pm. Fresh orange juice, porridge and kippers are on offer at breakfast: 17 rooms, doubles from £120, B&B.

2. If your children are sporty and full of energy, try Foxhills in Ottershaw, Surrey, which has tennis and golf lessons as well as a crèche and a Cub Club for 4-11s. A beauty salon has treatments for exhausted parents, and the restaurants offer with-or-without-the-kids dining. Online Business Travel Editor Mark Frary also reviews the hotel from a suit's perspective. Two-night breaks, half-board, from £160 per adult; children sharing with parents pay £30 a night.

3. For parental glam and style, go to Chandler's Cross in Herts where The Grove has a spa, several restaurants and a golf course, while your children are looked after in a suite of rooms with a crèche and nursery. An outdoor play area has a treehouse. Doubles from £250 a night, B&B, under-13s can have an adjoining room for 50 per cent.

WEST

4. Reviewer Michael Harvey and family check into Woolley Grange in Wiltshire, which has a staffed creche and was the first “country house hotel of its kind to openly welcome children." Rooms from £240 including dinner, B&B - no charge for children sharing.

5. Do you want to try a place that's a bit quirky but doesn't pall for the children when the novelty wears off? The Evesham Hotel in Worcs has an Alice in Wonderland suite. But it also has slides, trampoline, indoor swimming pool, games room, croquet and a junior à la carte menu. A family suite costs from £170, with kids charged £2 per year of their life.

6. The Priory Inn in Tetbury, Gloucs has highchairs, toys, cots, changing facilities and special menus help families feel at home in this market-town hotel on the River Avon at Tetbury. Doubles from £99.

7. Currently AA Hotel of the Year, Calcot Manor in Gloucestershire is especially popular with families: there is a Playzone for children from newborn to 16 years-old packed with toys and computer games. The Conservatory restaurant provides healthy, well-balanced organic meals, while gastro-pub The Gumstool serves high-tea for children. The spa also caters for children, writes Alice Miles. A former English farmhouse, Calcot is surrounded by beautiful gardens and its own 220 acre-estate. From £195 per room per night.

Times recommends

• Croatia: the flashing blades of Korkcula
• The best stopovers en route to Australia
• Chernobyl offers a holiday in hell