Could you survive a skip-gen break?
It’s the new trend for baby boomers — taking the grandkids on holiday without their parents. ANGELA NEUSTATTER nervously packs her bucket and spade...
WELL, it was a good beginning. At our first glimpse of The Glasshouse, a threebedroom home with huge windows, balconies and a garden, in Bude, Cornwall, where we would be staying, Nina, seven, and Si, four, shrieked with excitement.
And once inside, they were delighted by the sun-filled sitting room with its plump sofas, the big bowl of fruit and Cornish biscuits, and a shiny modern kitchen where Nina immediately planned a cooking session.
Leaving Olly and me, their septuagenarian grandparents standing, they scampered upstairs and we heard the shrieks of pleasure as they found a teddy bear to welcome them on each of their beds, along with a colouring book and pencils.
Within half an hour Nina and Si had discovered a playground where we could see them from The Glasshouse, which, along with the 18 other lodges, as the residences are called, sits in 45 acres of woods, fields and an orchard. A boon if you have energetic grandchildren who benefit from letting off steam while you can keep an eye and accompany them at a more leisurely pace.
We had arrived early afternoon and everyone was hungry so ‘let’s go to a restaurant by the sea’ the chant went up. Nice idea, pity about the reality.
This was early spring, and absolutely all the restaurants and cafes had closed notices firmly turned towards us. Or they only opened evenings.
Hurrah then for a traditional Cornish pub with pictures of boats on the wall and a large menu they were happy to serve. We all ordered fish and chips, which had the effect of putting petrol into cars that had been chugging on almost empty.
So here we were, newcomers to the rapidly growing fashion for ‘ skip- gen’ ( skipa-generation) breaks, designed for grandparents to take their grandchildren away for a fun time.
With 40 per cent of the nation’s grandparents providing regular care for grandchildren, according to Age UK, it’s no surprise that skip-gen breaks are a rapidly growing travel trend for 2019.
Armathwaite Hall Hotel and Spa in the Lake District, one of a growing number of British hotels catering for skip- gen holidaymakers, says it allows grandparents to celebrate anniversaries, birthdays and achievements to create memories with their grandchildren that may not otherwise have been possible.
Or it may be, as in our case, to give parents a much-needed break and together time, or because parents have to work over half-term — as this was — or the looming Easter holidays.
Olly and I were, frankly, a tad nervous. Nina and Si live with our son and his wife in the apartment below ours in London, which means we see plenty of them in a free-flowing up and down way, yet always with a watchful parental eye nearby.
But they had never spent a night away from their parents before, and we had never taken charge of them for more than a few hours. How was being in loco parentis for four days, with travel, and three nights going to work out?
We had a list of dos and don’ts from our son and daughter-inlaw and strict instructions not to let them sit up half the night watching TV or eating sweets and ice creams in excess.
And happy as everyone was right now, we knew we needed to have a plan for giving Nina and Si a fun experience, perfect our rusty parenting skills, not least to pull them apart when sibling wars broke out, and design a programme that would make sure boredom and homesickness did not set in.
Which is where the expertise of Luxury Lodges, which launched its skip-gen holiday division earlier this year, comes in handy.
A programme was devised with arts and crafts sessions laid on in the main building every week, allowing children to mix and make friends.
Our two pounced on the wooden owls, which opened, like Russian dolls, to reveal several smaller creatures and set to painting them with the pots of colour supplied.
They ended up with vivid creations and no small amount of paint on faces and hands. Other children were cutting patterns from coloured paper, creating pictures and making models.
The swimming pool is open from morning until evening and we spent at least an hour there each day watching Nina demonstrate her butterfly stroke and crawl, while Si who does not yet swim, stayed in the shallow end with Olly, flapping feet like fish tails. The staff, who are always on call and well-versed in chatting with children, can reel off a list of suggestions for things to do in the area, and help with organising when necessary.
For instance, you can go on the two- hour ferry ride from Bideford across to the tiny traffic-free island of Lundy or to nearby Bude Castle.
Some fellow grandparents had chosen the canal walk that goes from the lodges to a cafe with cream teas and crazy golf.
Next door to the lodges is a stable offering horse riding. As the centre only serves pizza meals in the early evening, local pubs like the one we found offering meals and Sunday lunches are welcome. And, of course, there’s always the opportunity of cooking meals together in the lodge kitchens.
At the end of our first busy day, we were faced with the prospect of putting the grandchildren to bed. My anxiety levels rose at this point.
How would Si be when he realised he couldn’t have his Mummy and Daddy kissing him goodnight? How could we comfort a little boy knowing I couldn’t get him home or even promise I would do so the next day? I needn’t have worried. The novelty of the Glasshouse bedroom, a quick phone call from his parents in London so that he could tell all his adventures, and his new bear did the trick.
He was happy as could be snuggling down and chatting to Nina until they both fell asleep.
So that was that. Olly and I opened a bottle of wine, and congratulated ourselves on surviving day one of our skip-gen holiday.
The next day we met some fellow grandparents-in- charge, who admitted they were ‘more than grateful’ to learn about the existence of skip-gen breaks. VIVIAN
LONG had brought Serena, her nine- year- old granddaughter, to Bude for the half-term week. Her daughter is a single mother and had to work.
Vivian and her husband know, she says, that ‘it is hard for her mother if she has to worry about putting together a schedule for looking after Serena during the half-term days at home’.
On Sunday morning, Nina used an insane number of plates, bowls and pots to present us with a breakfast of scones spread with mashed banana, along with butter, jam, cereal and bread
that had been left in the Glasshouse for us.
Close by are several awardwinning beaches and that afternoon Nina and Si were clamouring to go to one.
The sky, which had been dark with rain clouds earlier, had cleared to a pearly grey blue with the sun shimmering through, so off we went.
A RNLI shop was open selling buckets and spades so we bought a blue one for Nina; red for Si. A sandy beach was spread out before us and the serious business of building sandcastles began. The sea was a mass of tiny white horses on waves rushing towards the shore, but it seemed far enough away.
Then Si screamed that the water was coming — and so it was, rushing up and soaking us up to the knees.
We shouted and laughed, but decided to get home and take a dip in the large hot tub on the deck of the Glasshouse — each of the 19 lodges has one — where deliciously hot water covered us to the neck.
The day ended with us all flopped out on the big soft sofa, watching a documentary about wildlife in Africa on TV before, summoning our best authoritarian grandparent approach, Olly and I cajoled Nina and Si off to bed.
Then it was Monday, our last day. But we were not going to miss the morning activity session when the pool is filled with giant inflatables — a fluorescent daubed unicorn, a toy car, rings, balls and playthings.
The day we were there, plenty of children were ducking, diving, floating, swimming and roughhousing as the grandparents watched and chatted by the water’s edge.
The skip- gen holidays are about offering entertainment, not doing the childcare for you — grandparents are expected to be around when their charges take part in activities.
But what the staff do see happening, says manager Debbie Smith, ‘is some very pleasing reconnecting and grandparents having the chance to chat with grandchildren and getting to know them in a way that may not be possible back at home’.
As we left, Nina and Si rang their parents and then we were off back to London. Olly and I were exhausted and wondered how we had ever managed 365 days a year of parenting.
But we thoroughly enjoyed spending the time with Nina and Si, bonding in a way that is much harder when busy school and home life take over.
And they asked if we could do it again sometime.
We can’t wait.
Luxury Lodges have skip-gen holiday homes in Wales, Cornwall and the Lake District. For a weekend (Friday to Monday) prices start from £549 for four nights out of high season (luxurylodges.com).