Nothing quite beats getting off a transatlantic flight, ripping your clothes off and plunging straight into the sea. That first moment of feeling the warm, damp Caribbean air on your face, and the water washing away the cramped endlessness

by the Great Barrier Reef, the marine life is astonishing and all of the islands boast glorious weather, brilliant white beaches and azure waters. On Hamilton Island, children can snorkel in the shallows at high tide, explore rock pools when the tide goes out

. The Kempinini Kid’s Club offers a host of activities for four- to 12-year-olds, including clay workshops, cookie baking and water activities. There’s also a choice of three swimming pools set amid subtropical gardens, as well as tennis courts, beach volleyball

soothing colour scheme of pinks,mauves and greens adorned with local art. Nobody minds if your childrenleave sandy footprints.The water, too, is the colour of the Caribbean and there’s plenty to do here, fromboat trips to rock-pooling and fishing. Gentle

, and I mean a serious amount of food.Our vegetable garden was about a one-and-a-half acres. Actually, my father did very little. The children did all the work – moving stones, preparing the earth, churning it out, watering the plants, and then of course

crumbs from people’s hands. And after an hour at the Centre Pompidou, we spent a further hour watching the street entertainers blow giant bubbles and a dog paddle among the crazy Dali-esque water sculptures of giant red lips and mermaids. We also visited

.amertonfarm.co.uk- Over Farm Market Meet water buffalo, donkeys, pot-bellied pigs, dogs and chickens before taking an Over Farm trailer ride or stopping to pick your own strawberries or raspberries. Over, Gloucester, GL2 8DB. Tel: 01452 521014; www

sizzled, we moved onto our next culinary challenge of making Orecchiette, starting from scratch this time with a polenta mountain into which we poured water then mixed into a dough, rolled into long sausages then cut into slices before the tricky finale

on the development of outdoors attire. Ever the entrepreneur, in 1880, Burberry invented gabardine, a breathable fabric that’s also hard-wearing and water-resistant – functional qualities that made it perfect for outerwear. So much so, that in 1914, Burberry

grey horseshoe cliff is a large grass area, a big water slide, a toddlers’ pool and an absurdly inexpensive restaurant. There are several parks in Prague, the most popular of which is Petrin Park, reached by funicular railway. Half way up is Nebozizek