School holidays far from being family fun can often tug and strain at the whole family fabric. If you’re not able to jet off to sunnier climbs together, the thought of several days spent en famille can send your usual equilibrium into a nose dive. The school friends come to call and suddenly your pied a terre feels teensy. Quality time becomes a farce when in reality the two of you as parents are at opposite ends of the house, both trying to keep abreast of your emails and find a quiet space to call the office. Meanwhile the kids are marauding around the rest of your hapless home, free from timetables and bursting with feral fun.
 
Take my tip and take off to another’s home, away from your house cum office. Find one with a huge, roaring log fire to welcome you with plenty of fresh, new, wide open spaces for the offspring to explore. Best of all invite your friends to come too, by sharing the rent you’ve not only found a luxurious home from home for the price of a B&B, you can also take turns at the babysitting in the evenings, or all just hang out together over a bottle of chilled Chablis. I've found a great travel company who specialise in these types of properties.
 
Ready to Travel Ltd, have two websites with over 150 spectacular holiday properties for you to choose from www.bighouseholidays.co.uk and www.suffolkcottageholidays.com
Here’s just three which caught my eye, each property has magnificent open fires, is family friendly and all three are based along the beautiful East Anglian Heritage Coast.  Let’s begin with Linnell End in the town of Aldeburgh, Suffolk is just minutes from the popular high street with its chic boutiques so no problems with parking. It’s extended and totally refurbished accommodation sleeps 8 comfortably. Aldeburgh with its time-honoured beach and legendary fish & chips landed freshly each morning is traditionally a haunt for writers and artists. Less than a mile along the coast from Aldeburgh is the fascinating ‘Arts & Crafts’ seaside village of Thorpeness, if you’re in need of room for 10 or 12 guests then take a closer look at 10 The Whinlands with its stripped wood floors and a dining table for 10, super king sized bed and roll top bath. Finally Sandy Lodge with bedrooms for 12 has a garden with a huge fire pit ideal for beach bar-be-cues and step through a small wooden gate straight onto the pebble beach itself.  Inside you’ll find plenty of room for entertaining, spectacular sea views and the log burner keeps the whole house warm and toasty. 
 
For more details and a sneak preview of the five star accommodation on offer log onto their websites they've got glorious colour photos of each room or give the Ready to Travel Ltd team a call on 01394 412305.