holidays

[kez]

Anyone have experience of taking a child around 6 on a holiday with Aspergers that does not end up with parents totaly frazzled?! Looking for somewhere in the uk. Tried caravans, hotels and b+bs the problem is the never ending energy totally worn out by evening. Looking at places with kids clubs anyone recommend anywhere?

 

Thanks very much <'>

[nellie]

A warm welcome to the forum kez.

 

My sons are now adults but we have always found Center Parcs hits the spot in lots of ways, although it can be expensive. I've copied a few links to the NAS and previous topics on the forum, hope they prove useful.

 

Holiday help: a guide

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=1064&a=3338

 

Holiday guidelines

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=1064&a=7246

 

Autism London Holiday Factsheet.

http://www.autismlondon.org.uk/pdf-files/f...day_Centres.pdf

 

Holidays, advice needed

http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/index.ph...mp;#entry115976

 

holidays, tips and ways to have fun and survive them

http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/index.ph...mp;#entry111085

 

Nellie xx

Edited January 2, 2007 by nellie

[loulou]

Hi Kez,

 

Welcome to the forum. I don't know about your child, but i've tried holidays with kids clubs before and my son won't join in (he has AS and ADHD).

 

What sort of thing does your little one like to do?

 

We go to Wales every year and stay in a holiday cottage, right on a huge sandy beach which is very quiet. He can run around/dig/splash to his hearts' content. He is also into trains in a big way, so I end up going on lots of steam trains (lucky me!).

 

Loulou xx

[butterfingersbimbo]

thanks for the links nellie! i am hoping to take el away this year, we went to a haven site a couple of years ago and it was a nightmare!!!

[mossgrove]

We have been to CenterParcs at least once a year for the last few years.

 

We always get a cabin in the same site in the same location and do more or less the same things. We have 4 children 9 ( Boy, Aspergers), 7 (Boy, ASD), 5 (Girl, NT) and 3 (Boy, NT). The advantages for us are it's only 4 nights as we are not sure they would cope with 7, it's a safe car-free environment, they love riding bikes which they don't often get the chance to do at home (You hire them there), and it is very familiar to them so they settle in almost immediately.

 

As Nellie says it is quite expensive. We take our kids in term-time partly for cost reasons and partly because it is quieter. Fortunately the boys special school and the younger childrens primary school are very understanding and this has not caused us any problems so far.

 

 

Simon

[Kathrynh]

Center Parcs is the only place I have found the courage to go to and it went very well although I was very tired when we got home. THe long weekend was just long enough. Plenty of time to do everything we wanted to. I managed a few activities with B and the staff were very friendly and understanding. It was a safe place to let B run around and I loved the way the wildlife came to the patio door and tried to share breakfast with us. I do plan to do it again sometime. But yes it is expensive.

[nellie]

It's worth checking with Center Parcs before making a booking, they can make special arrangements for children and adults with disabilities.

 

We were allowed to enter the park early and leave late, (miss the rush - huge bonus) they also allowed us a choice of chalet at no extra cost, we chose to be near the dome although it can be busier there. We booked by telephone so we could ask for these things to be put in place.

 

Like Simon, we always went during term time. Unfortunately some schools no longer allow this. I do wish allowances were made for families with disabled children to take their holidays when it suits them, reasonable adjustments and all that!

 

Nellie xx

Edited January 2, 2007 by nellie

[Jill]

We've always done an internet search for holiday cottages in an area we fancy going to. We've had some brilliant holidays in Cornwall, Devon and Dorset as a result. The Dorset one was especially good as it came with its own private indoor pool! Excellent if you got home tea time (ish) and didn't know what to do for that awkward coupla hours - go to the pool house, lock the door & have fun!

 

We've avoided Centre Parcs / holiday villages cos you are paying for the facilities & we never use them. Cottages give us the freedom to have days out & eat together in an evening & not worry about any little "foibles".

 

TBH tho, we've always found holidays to be so exhausting. This sounds awful, but at home we normally put The Boy a DVD on in the back room around 8 ish - he watches that for an hour and a half then goes up to bed. This means we have that little bit of "kick back" time. The trouble is that on holiday we've not been able to replicate this - he wont watch the small screen that comes with the DVD except in the car, so we end up either watching the DVD with him (and there's only so many times you can stand Monsters Inc) or being entertainments committee all evening (sooooo tiring when you've been out all day). The disruption always leads him to go to bed a LOT later too.

 

This culminates in us entertaining him from around 6 am until 11 / 12pm & I come back off the "holiday" totally drained.

 

So, this year, we've decided to holiday at home. It's the first time we've done this & not sure how successful it will be, but we're going to try having a week off together & going out and about for days out. All things that he can enjoy, followed by returning home and normal evening routine so we get a break too. I'm hoping he enjoys it - we're rarely all together as a family like that (we both work full time) so it does mean he gets quality time with mum n dad. That's the theory anyway!

[loupin]

Hi and welcome!

We do the same holidays each year! This is year 3 of the same areas! Our son is quickly relaxed(well as well as one would expect!!)as I can do a lot of preparation with him as I know what is coming up!! We have a caravan and so pack all favourite and emergency things! It means that we can be a bit flexible in where we go he has the continuity of the caravan and we get to see different views!! We also rent an apartment in the south of france with my parents each year the first year was awful but last year was a breeze as he remembered everything even the resturants we go to! We also go skiing with the boys. We go with a small family run company www.familyski.co.uk that are based in a small quiet rural village on the portes du soleil. Again year 1 was really hard he even bit the ski school helper! but they were fantastic. In year 2 he actually was confident enough in his surrondings to go to ski school!!! The kids attend ski school in the morning and then snow play and lunch etc in the chalet all afternoon. I never thought that I would have a good holiday again after year 1 but he is now asking when we are going skiing and to the french beach holiday!!!! The child care with family ski is exceptional and we have always been honest about his diagnosis and the fact he bit some one one year!! We get a break everyday and then have lovely evenings with them and boy they are tired!! We did offer to spend more time with them as guilt slightly overcame us the more relaxed we got but they all said NO WAY!!!! they were building an igloo and having tobogan races!!!

[jlp]

The skiing sounds fantastic! I might have a look later although dp has always been reluctant to try skiing.

 

We are Centre Parcs regulars too but have sickened dp (I love it there) so hired our own cottage this year in Yorkshire and went for days out from there - it was lovely and exhausted the boys (well G wasn't actually but he was less of a bedtime nightmare!)

[lorryw]

Loulou,

We also rent a cottage in Wales right on the beach, its brilliant. No one within earshot, empty blue flag beach. Our plans for this year have been upset though the cottage is being renovated so we have had to find somewhere else. Fingers crossed our son accepts it.

Lorainex

[barefoot wend]

Kez

 

Welcome! Have to agree with many others here - we do the same main holiday each year, in the same house, on the same beach. Good thing is that we've made lots of friends who do the same thing with their children.

 

We do try other things sometimes - first ski trip booked for Feb - fingers crossed!

 

We also try to stick to as many home routines as is possible.

 

Barefoot

[Bagpuss]

Welcome Kez

 

We've tried different sorts of holidays, always in the UK. Caravans were great because our youngest dd loved them, and would be more than happy to stay in them all day, so settled quickly. We always chose ones thru Hoseasons, and we found having a pool, play areas etc really worthwhile. But we found there were drawbacks.....our dd's were totally uninterested in the entertainment or bar of an evening, so one of us would end up back in the van with them, while either me or DH took our ds out. I also found I felt I didn't feel I'd had a "break" being in a caravan, because we had no privacy etc, and I felt quite stressed after a few days, and DH and I struggled to find any time for us. We've also used holiday cottages in the past. Again, pro's and con's. I found cottages a more peaceful holiday, with DH and I being able to have some time together, once the kids were in bed. It was nice having a garden and space etc. Drawbacks were we had no pool or play areas, so spent far more money on days out than usual, and also had to plan more, trying to fill the days etc. We also chose holidays in term times, usually June. Our ds and eldest dd's school are more than happy to oblige, but our youngest dd's school has a huge problem with attendance, and tend to frown upon our dd being taken out during term time for a week's hols. We did try a weeks break in the summer hols last year, big disaster, very busy, lots of meltdowns, traffic jams, so much so we ended up coming home after a couple of nights....never again! With regards a kids club, we have had opportunties to enrol our three in those, but none of them were happy about it, so never tried them. Centre Parks sounds great, may look into that abit more! Good luck with your search and take care

[carrieq]

We Center Parc alot!! Use the ones on the continent too as the chalets are the same set up and it looks the same, same feel etc so ds feels at home even if it is a different village!! They have all the same things but usually the pools are much bigger.

 

The big downside is the travelling so go by over night ferry and the villages are usually no more than a couple of hours from the port.

 

Being able to go abroad makes it feel like you have bbe able to "go" on holiday. Not tried package holidays since ds was under a year but he has trouble with strong sunlight and very hot weather so won't be putting on a bikini for a few years!!

 

Carrie

[jlp]

So we all go to Centre Parcs!

 

Maybe we should book it especially for us sometime and have a very asd friendly week (dreaming!)?

[lisa]

We do Center Parcs a lot too. We always book the same villa number and take their duvet and pillows with us to make it more familiar. My son is obsessed with the rapids and goes around and around and around..... Much easier now he's 12 because he doesn't need me to keep going with him!!! They all get so whacked out with all the bike riding and swimming we have no trouble getting them to sleep in the evenings! Bliss.

 

Lisa

[Canopus]

I have never been to Center Parcs so can't really comment on it. During the early 1990s my family used a number of holiday parks in Devon. They were quite crowded and I wasn't too keen on the activities and facilities they offered. Most days were spent visiting places in the area. Lots of kids gave me rather hostile looks. They could tell there was something different about me in a way that didn't impress them.

[stressedmumto2]

I really wanna do centre parks and there's one which is only about anhour and half away from us too. It is quite expensive but they do offer sometimes up to 30% off if you sign up onto their website. I think they have set dates when you can get it off though which may also end up being much busier.

 

<'>

[jlp]

We often go in November and January.

 

However surprisingly the once we went in June was quieter - don't know if that was a fluke!

[LizK]

Centerparcs fan's here too. We've been several times. It suits Adam well, lots of outdoor space to run around, play areas indoor and out, bikes, swimming. We went just before Christmas and the restaurants we ate at were very accomodating regarding his diet (can't have dairy) and got the chef to come out to chat to me about what he could have. Sweet shop sells lollipops with natural non-bonkers making! additives so we stock up on them too

 

Last summer we also hired a cottage on a farm near Newquay and the boys both had a great time. We were blessed with great weather so were out a lot or on the beach. Lappa Valley railway was a big hit!

 

Lx

[Stephanie]

We go to Centerparcs a lot, it's brilliant. I think it is expensive but worth it and you can reduce costs by not doing any of the additional activities (swimming is still free etc). Also, you can hire babysitters in the evenings - woo hoo! The restaurants are good too!

 

It is worth checking out their website from time to time to check on offers and they do some good reductions around Easter time for families with kids under 5. I don't know if they have a mailing list but it would be worth getting on it.

 

There are special villas for disabled people or you can pay extra to be near to the amenities (otherwise you might have a long walk/bike ride ahead of you) .... and people who don't like hills ... avoid the Longleat one!

 

Our holidays there have been really stress free.

 

Can I just add, being rather curvy - to say the least (ha ha!) that I was worried about going the first time because I thought the place would be full of shiney faced fitness freaks in lycra eating tofu topped rice cakes ... it is nothing like that at all ... and you don't have to ride a bike ..... and nobody really cares about what you look like as they are too busy enjoying their holiday.

[Genna]

We do Center parcs too-the boys love it. (in fact the youngest was just asking this week when we could go again!)

 

We also rent a cottage in the summer-last year we went to a really remote one in Wales miles from anywhere. In fact you had to borrow the owners off-road vehicle to get to it as there was no proper road! The boys all loved it there too, so we have booked for this year. Find it best to go back to familiar places if possible, as others have said!