The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
HOW TO GET IT RIGHT
Best friends forever:
the group
When you’re young, holidays with friends – whether as singles or a ragtag mix – are invariably hilarious, wildly fun and eventful. What with excessive drinking, little sleep, and living in close quarters 24-7, they can also tip into conflict: things said that cannot be unsaid, people kissed who cannot be unkissed. And why do singles always seem to end up with the sofa bed? By day three, you will have realised there is one incredibly annoying person in the group. (If you don’t, then it’s you.) Yet by the end, you will have bonded more deeply than ever before. Even the disasters will seem, already, like stories to tell.
With age comes wisdom, and a preference for tea and rambling over tequila and raving, which leads to gentler, more harmonious holidays with friends in later life. When choosing a holiday house, the kitchen becomes the all-important hub, and should always be big enough for dancing – at any stage of life.
HOME
The new breed of luxury holiday village works brilliantly for big groups of friends, with accommodation to suit all types and sizes, and places to eat, drink, swim and play, together or alone. Soho Farmhouse was the pioneer, but there are an increasing number to choose from, depending on your budget and taste.
Norfolk’s folksy Fritton Lake suits wild swimmers and nature lovers; while the super-luxe houses of the Lakes by Yoo in the Cotswolds have superstar retreat writ large from jukebox to rooftop pool (Kate Moss, Elle McPherson and Jade Jagger have all designed houses on the estate), plus there’s a spa, pool, zipwire and climbing wall.
Fritton Lake (frittonlake.co.uk) offers three-bedroom cottages sleeping six from £980 for four nights. The Lakes by Yoo (thelakesbyyoo.com/stay) offers five-bedroom houses sleeping 14 from £12,000 per week.
AWAY
Island-hopping on a private charter has all the makings of Best. Holiday. Ever. That sense of utter freedom and privilege as you sail wherever the mood takes you, finding beach tavernas for lunch and dropping anchor to leap into empty blue bays. Red Savannah has yachts to charter in Turkey, Greece and Croatia and Montenegro; prices and luxury ranges enormously, starting from around £520pp for Kaya Guneri III, a traditional wooden gulet with eight cabins on the Turkish coast (sleeps 16, from £8,245 a week in May and October (redsavannah.com). If you want more structure, culture and an onboard historian, Peter Sommer offers expertled charters from about £25,000 a week for 10 people on a Turkish gulet (petersommer.com).
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Jacobean hunting lodge Huntlington House in Worcestershire has the feel of a rock star’s country retreat, yet is totally set up for families. Interiors are baroque’n’roll: gilt-framed portraits of Ozzy Osbourne, Led Zeppelin and David Bowie hang on oak-panelled walls, there’s a music room with full drum kit, grand piano and Sonos system; plus a colonnaded indoor pool, sauna, hot tub, gym, lake, topiary maze, children’s play area, tennis court and outdoor kitchen with barbecue and pizza oven. Fun times for all ages. Unique Homestays (01637 881183; uniquehomestays.com) offers a week at Huntlington House, sleeps 14 and two dogs, from £8,250.
AWAY
Every house in the Casalino portfolio is checked out personally by the founders, Amélie Fiat and Olivia Bartoli, who vet them for loveliness before adding to their immaculately curated French collection. Each property is a stunning example of local architecture: there are modernist architect-designed beach villas in Cap Ferret, traditional wooden chalets in the Alps, a shuttered village house on the Ile de Ré, a houseboat in Paris. Given the calibre, prices are delightful too – a medieval hilltop house in the Vaucluse, for example, sleeping 14 in seven bedrooms, with a pool and pétanque in the tiered gardens, starts from £2,271 a week (casalino-homes.com).