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From Times Online

July 22, 2008

The perfect family holiday home?

Which websites helped Michael Harvey find the perfect UK holiday home - and where did he end up.....?

Michael Harvey

Here are the most important things that the Harvey family - mum, dad, two boys aged four and five - cannot do without when planning an apartment holiday.

There must be two bedrooms.

Sleeping in the same room as the children has always been a real cramp to the holiday, effectively ending the grown-ups' day at 8pm.

There must be floor space (in the bedroom or living area) for the boys to play.

There is nothing worse than being forced out into the rain/town/restaurant because you can't stand another minute cooped up on top of each other in the apartment.

There should be a swimming pool or a beach within easy walking distance.

There should be baby-sitting available.

There should be a well-supplied kitchen and a decent supermarket within easy driving distance.

These are the basics whether the apartment is in the Dordogne or Dorset. We have stayed in an apartment in the Sabine Hills near Rome where the only playing space was on the balcony. Great for the view, but really bad on the nerves.

A place in the Cotswolds had no baby-sitting but said that baby-listening devices worked in the restaurant. It sort of worked but straining to hear coughs or cries undercut the precious adult time of eating a meal together.

For our latest family outing we decided to apply these rules to Cornwall. We hadn't been down west in a long time and holidaying in the UK is, of course, all the rage now.

There are several websites that are our first port of call (apart from Times Online's family self-catering holidays editorial section). When the boys were small www.babygoes2.com was invaluable.

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I often book holiday homes direct, but have never heard of any of the websites in this article... Other better / bigger sites are www.ownersdirect.co.uk, www.holidaylettings.co.uk or actual owners sites created using www.holidaysitebuilder.com

Jane, Leatherhead, Surrey

We visited The Ship Inn at Mousehole on the 26th July 2008. In our experience the author was being somewhat complimentary when he describes the food as 'workmanlike'. It's not a case of overly high expectations unfulfilled, we simply wanted a pub lunch but the food was awful.

Allan, Edinburgh, UK

just stay at home, separate kids bedroom, baby sitting can be made available, the kichen is well stocked and there is a supermarket within easy driving distance and it is cheaper than paying out rageous prices of self- catering cottage lets. i dont want to be poorer so rich people get richer.

charlie, eastbourne,

Your last and biggest tip sounds excellent - but we tried it (driving from Hertfordshire to southern Scotland) when our daughter was 2 - and she chatted happily all the way to Cumbria before she dropped off!

Katie, Faringdon, UK