Close my eyes? Read a novel? Feel rested? No way. As a single parent, holidaying with my two children Lola and Liberty, now nine and seven, has always felt like a marathon. I’d come home needing a holiday.
I’d be lugging Bugaboo prams and bottles up and down to a beach and getting in and out of rental cars in the heat, also with my elderly dad in tow, and still never get the chance to relax on a sun longer by the pool, or sea, because of a terror of children drowning. But, still, I’d never liked the idea of those holidays with kid’s clubs that so often conjure up water slides and blue bubble gum ice cream on tap – against a backdrop of screaming. It seemed better to go it alone.
That’s until I found The Peligoni Club. Boom! Enter a new reality – a top end luxury family-run beach house with the Rolls Royce of children’s clubs run by TARKA, who also have branches in Notting Hill. It’s by the sea in the secluded north of Zakynthos, an island in Greece.
It’s a high-end members-only retreat – you pay a weekly membership to access to the club and its services (adult membership (13yrs+) from £375; child membership (4-12yrs inclusive) from £250, and then rent your villa, cottage, or suite in the hills, all booked through the Peligoni (accommodation ranges from £810 to £23,500 per week, depending on the property type and the time of year). You can then tailor your holiday by adding on créche spaces, for babies as young as four months old, and watersports upgrades.
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There are no waterslides here – for the kids, it’s all tie dying t-shirts, obstacle courses in the pretty pool and swimming out to the pontoon in the sea. The children even put on a Lion King production with Pineapple Dance Studio who are based in London’s Covent Garden. But I was apprehensive – what if I don’t see my children for a week and I’m lonely? I needn’t have worried; it all fell into place perfectly.
The clubhouse is nestled in the mountainous northern part of Zakynthos near to Agios Nikolaos Port. It’s a little holiday paradise bubble with everything you need at the club from bohemian-chic restaurants and bars to yoga and fitness classes, gym, tennis, a cycling and hiking. There’s a little spa tucked away behind the swimming pool. It’s relaxed, friendly and laid back with windsurfing, waterskiing, and sailing lessons whenever you want.
We stayed in villa Gaia – a four-bed premium property like something out of a Hollywood movie with its own private infinity pool costing from £3,800 per week (excluding club memberships). It’s just a short stroll from Peligoni and super luxurious overlooking pretty hillside cottages and the vast blue expanse of the Ionian Sea. If you can’t be bothered to shop, you can have groceries ready and waiting for you in your villa with the club’s shopping delivery service.
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The first morning, I woke up with Liberty in my bed. “Mummy look – can I take a photo?” she said as a big ball of orange rose out of the sea below us. The children were so excited that they were swimming in the villa pool by 6am – it was only two hours difference so that was hypothetically 4am for us. Slightly weary, we headed in our rental car two minutes down the road to the club. The first day I did a yoga class while the kids went off to TARKA kids club. We picked up breakfast in the club’s deli – a couple of croissants and yoghurt and granola.
Outside of TARKA, the world of watersports opened up for Lola – she really enjoyed the windsurfing lessons and learning to sail with an instructor. The place is heaving with affluent middle-class parents and is social. There are event nights three times a week to meet other guests where you all sit at long tables. But its couple orientated – and slightly intimidating as a single parent.
By the second day, however, I’d met a handsome single dad and his two daughters – and we all became inseparable when our children bonded. Like the school run, we’d drop our kids off at TARKA HQ every morning from 9:30 to midday, a short five-minute walk from the sea front, and wave them off – before heading to the sun decks for some peace and quiet. It gave me two-and-a-half hours of “me time” – and to miss them.
We’d all have lunch together in Tasi, one of the club’s onsite restaurants to eat wood cooked margherita pizzas or kid’s seabass fillet with broccoli – and me Greek salads. Then in the afternoon, the kids could do TARKA from 3pm to 5.30pm if they wanted.
Soon I realised he was a super dad that every child and woman dreams of. He took them out on an inflatable sofa or kayaking in the sea while I sunbathed. All the time our children were entertained – and I lazed around. I could switch off and for the first time in nearly a decade, and stare vacantly at the lapis lazuli sea and admire the fish swimming next to me.
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I was lucky to meet the only other single parent – and get on with him. So often, holidays as a single parent are spent living in one’s head unless you’re with a group of friends.
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Soon we were having breakfast, lunch and supper together – occasionally straying from the club for some seafood or a shopping trip in the port where the dad bought all the girls matching dresses and jewellery for the club’s famous Friday night party. When my daughter lost her Labubu he understood (luckily we found it hanging off the side of a cliff after the club’s quiz night). When his daughter lost her Butter Bear, I shared his pain as he retraced her steps to find it.
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I decided I’d take it a step further – and have a massage at the club’s spa. The eucalyptus oil smelt wondrous as I had a deep tissue massage in a cool stone room. I could hear the distant sound of my kids in the pool with TARKA. I knew they were happy and safe. The dad decided to stay an extra night – and we hosted a massive sleepover with them at our villa.The kids turned it in to a cat hotel for all the stray cats, making them toys out of the arts and crafts and feeding them cheese. The children finally fell asleep together in bed by midnight.
I’d call the club’s vibe a cross between White Lotus and Motherland. It’s fun – with a community spirit. I even met one of my West London neighbours there. The best bit is that it’s “dip in dip out” at the club – everyone has the freedom to do what suits them. That’s why it works; as a single parent, I got the restful holiday I craved and so did the kids – and unexpectedly ended up meeting the only other single parent at the club. It was nothing short of heaven – and for the first time as a single mum on holiday, I felt truly relaxed.
Charlotte travelled as a guest of Peligoni. Prices for a family of four start from £2,558 per week which included accommodation and club memberships in over 4’s.
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