ESSENTIALS

Charlotte was a guest of Hilton Seychelles Labriz Resort & Spa (hiltonseychelles labriz.com), the only resort located on Silhouette Island, 40 minutes by boat or 15 minutes by helicopter from the main island of Mahé. Prices start from €335 per night in a Garden Villa per night on a B&B basis.

learn about life at the hotel. Each child is given a passport on arrival to help them find out more about the island, and they have a mission to collect stamps from all the areas, with a reward at the end. They discover what it’s like to be a chef, with pizza and cookie-making classes, learn how to make “towel art”, fashioning a swan or an elephant just like they find in their room each day. The kids’ club was a hit with Ella-Rose, with a miniature train trip around the resort, as well as fish feeding, hair braiding and T-shirt painting.

There are also some special experiences you can share with your child. We had a beach picnic (including a very welcome bottle of bubbly). There was also a “mummy and me” spa treatment, which was heaven for Ella-Rose. I have never seen her so quiet as she lay there, happy to be massaged before having her fingernails painted. Another memorable experience was our creole cookery lesson at the Grann Kaz restaurant with Mama. She’s been there for a decade, and is famous for her octopus curry. She’s happy to share her recipes with you, and taught us how to make a smoked marlin salad as a starter, as well as ladob banan with the all-important addition of a good slug of rum for the adult version.

Ella-Rose was transfixed, and then loved being able to try some of the food we’d cooked. (We’d have never got her to try octopus curry otherwise.) Grann Kaz is the former home of the Dauban family, who used to own the island and created plantations there back in the mid-19th century. It’s now also a museum where you can look around and discover more about the history of the island, with copies of ancient maps and early navigation logs.

There is a good selection of restaurants at the resort, with the usual themed nights at the buffet restaurant, plus a bistro, fine-dining Mediterranean, Japanese fusion and a teppanyaki live show kitchen. However, for me it was the seafood that proved the most appetising. The tuna I had at Grann Kaz was the best I’ve ever eaten. And the grilled fish and giant prawns at the 4th Degree beach bar were divine. There is nothing like eating fresh, locally caught seafood just metres from the sea where it came from, with your toes in the sand and a glass of chilled white wine in your hand.

When we visited, in October half term, there was some rain to contend with, but that was the payoff for being surrounded by such verdant foliage. Even in bad weather, however, there are lots of activities available – from diving to dance classes, to films to watch in the cinema area. And of course good old-fashioned board games.

Nature is at the heart here, and there is nothing like waking up to the sound of waves, opening your curtains, and seeing the sea stretch out before you. Being able to fling open the villa doors and walk a few feet down to your own stretch of beach is magical: a superb tonic for the soul.

Charlotte Hawkins is a television and radio presenter for ITV and Classic FM