Where to rent a cottage for you and the kids

I don’t know whether it is just a coincidence, but the room at Celtic Haven, Pembrokeshire, where I am about to have my Thalgo Pregnancy Pamper Treatment, looks exactly like a delivery suite, with rather too much plastic sheeting for my liking. But I soon find myself drifting off while my swollen limbs are first exfoliated and then glossed with an array of relaxation-inducing gunk.

When it is finished, I decide to have my eyelashes tinted, too, before rejoining my husband David at the pool next door with our daughter Peggy, 4, and friends Fiona and Ade and their three children, Sebastian, 12, Gillespie, 5, and baby Alice. Peggy wants me to come in, but there is no way I am going to risk my eyelashes running. Instead we dash back to our holiday home through driving Welsh rain for huge plates of spaghetti plus apple strudel and custard, ballast for a brisk afternoon walk.

Tomorrow, the weather having changed — as it seems to do every five minutes in West Wales — we will mess about on Tenby beach with its rock pools and wide shortbread sands before adjourning to the nearest grockle shop (there are many) to buy Tenby fudge and steer the children away from the novelty candy genitalia that makes them giggle.

But today we are heading for Manorbier beach, where a formidable old fortress stands guard over the deserted bay. The waves, whipped into a frenzy by strong winds, are snatching angrily at the shore. One almost gets Alice so, after letting the older ones do battle with the elements, we haul them in and head for home and Wales v All Blacks in the on-site Marquee restaurant .

It is all unexpected bliss — and quite unlike any of our previous holiday cottage experiences which, to my mind, have meant nothing more than shifting childcare, cooking and washing up somewhere more cramped, less convenient, and rainier than home. But a new breed of complexes such as Celtic Haven seems to be changing that.

Typically, the complexes are a group of converted outbuildings or labourers’ cottages on an old farm or estate (Celtic Haven was, rather unromantically, a turkey farm) built around a centre with rather grand hotel-style facilities such as an indoor pool, business centre, gym, spa and restaurant. And we’re not talking Butlins here — the cottages are usually nicely decorated (if rather chintzily, in the case of Celtic Haven); some with the sort of contemporary style that would not embarrass Tyler Brûl? (see The Valley, far right).

All this makes it possible to create a real break out of a cottage stay — even for mothers who, with facilities on tap, need not spend the entire trip chained to the sink or poring over a local guide and Ordnance Survey map coming up with ideas of things to do. It also opens up the way for year-round visits because there is enough to keep everyone occupied when it rains.

NEED TO KNOW

Chlo? Bryan-Brown and family stayed at Celtic Haven - three nights in a two-bedroom cottage sleeping four costs from £383. The Thalgo Pregnancy Pamper Treatment is £40.

Classic Cottages has several cottages on the Maenporth Estate near Falmouth in Cornwall, with use of tennis courts, sauna, gym and heated indoor pool. Three nights at Woodland View cottage (sleeps four) is £276 (March price).

Heart of the Lakes has 25 cottages sleeping two to eight on the lower slopes of Skiddaw Fell, near Keswick, offering use of health spa with indoor heated pool and bistro. Prices from £500 to £1,490 a week.

Helpful Holidays has a selection of contemporary apartments, sleeping four to seven, with a leisure club and bar/restaurant on the mainland side of the sandy causeway from Burgh Island at Bigbury on Sea. From £369 to £1,574 for a week’s stay.

Rural Retreats has Long Barn Cottages in Devon, four cottages sleeping two to eight, near Dartmoor and the South Hams beaches Three nights in a cottage for two costs from £236.


SELF-CATERING PLUS

Beacon Hill Farm, Northumberland: 14ha (35 acre) farm with beech woods and views of the Cheviot Hills and Northumberland coast. It has an indoor pool, spa with steam room, sauna and laconium (therapy room with heated beds). Three nights from £360.

Vere Lodge, Norfolk:14 cottages in 3ha of woodland; beaches are a short drive away. Leisure centre with pool, sauna, solarium and games room. Children are encouraged to help to feed the hens, goats, rabbits and donkey. Three nights from £189 to £363.