‘The sex was awful. it was a huge mistake’

SOPHIE, 35, HAS BEEN WITH HER PARTNER FOR TEN YEARS AND HAS A DAUGHTER

‘I think, under certain circumstances, that everyone is capable of cheating, but I’d never do it again. Picturing my partner’s face when I told him will always be enough to stop me.

‘It was a girls’ weekend. Four of us rented a static caravan – it was loud and very raucous. Two of us were married, one divorced and one a single mum and we’d never been away together before. When we arrived, we clocked some guys camping in the next plot. We were yelling insults – jokes about their tent pitching and their cooking skills. They invited us over for drinks. They were all surfers. It was like being a teenager again.

‘We spent the next day with them and, on the second night, I got very drunk and ended up on the beach with one. He was very cool – long hair, young – and all I can say is that it was a million years from my real life and I felt happy and free, this big rush. That was ‘before’ – the actual sex was awful, over in seconds and felt so seedy. I felt sick with dread, as though I’d thrown everything away.

‘I knew I’d have to tell my partner. It took weeks to work up the courage and he was absolutely devastated – we both cried. He went to stay with his brother for a few days but we’re back together and have had counselling.

‘I put it down to lots of things: we had stopped having fun, our routine was work, home, sleep. But I was happy and I wasn’t looking for anything else. It was just one night where everything came together and tested my willpower.’