Children at Bruern Holiday Cottages

Bruern Holiday Cottages are a children's paradise. Old hands who've come here before are tearing through the walled garden to the play cabin, the climbing frame and the Wendy house before their parents have even got the luggage out of the boot of the car.

The Wendy house is every child's dream. It has two storeys, with a canopied bed upstairs and a dresser, table, chairs and all the wherewithal for doll's tea downstairs. There are window boxes, curtains and a cushion on the window seat - the best perch for visiting adults.

The play cabin next door is even more popular with parents. It is large, heated and has a comfortable sofa where they can read while their offspring investigate the dressing-up box (choice of nurse, soldier, fairy, witch, cowboy, Dalmatian etc.), doll's house, Brio railway, books, garage, farm toys and Noah's Ark or do some creative crayoning on the easel. It's a perfect spot to while away an afternoon when it's raining. Otherwise they can rush around playing football, or using any of the pedal tractors, dumper trucks or push cars. There are also child-sized croquet sets, cricket sets and tennis racquets.

All year round, there's the heated indoor swimming pool approached via spa@the stables, conveniently situated next to the children's playground. We take safety very seriosuly so children under 16 are only allowed in with an adult and to make sure no small child wanders in on its own, access to the spa, pool and gym is via a coded panel which only a parent can reach and operate.

There's the tennis court too, winter as well as summer, and older children particularly like the table football, ping-pong, pool table and absence of their younger siblings in the Games Room.

In all the holiday cottages, there are children's books for all ages, cards and board games, as well as videos from our huge collection if television begins to pall.

Bruern is an ideal base for excursions. All ages enjoy the Cotswold Wildlife Park, the Cogges Farm Museum (the Oxfordshire Family Attraction of the Year, an illustration of rural life in Victorian times), and the variety of things to do in Bourton-on-the-Water - as long as you get there early enough to beat the crowds: Birdland, the Cotswold Motor Museum and Toy Collection, the Model Village, the Dragonfly Maze and Folly Farm Waterfowl.

Historically minded children would enjoy Snowshill Manor, Blenheim Palace and the Oxford Story, one of Europe's longest dark rides, with cars designed as desks taking you through a lively, well researched re-creation of university history. (They might also like to explore Oxford itself and go on a punt on the Cherwell.) Sports lovers have riding and golf nearby.

Because we also want parents to have a good time, we've lined up some local baby-sitters, and have put together a Parents' Peace of Mind Kit, with all the essentials one is guaranteed to forget - baby alarms, electrical socket safety covers, door wedges, bed guards, safety locks for cupboards, a plastic tablecloth, beaker, bowl, dish and cutlery etc in addition to the cot, cot linen, high chair and stairgate we have always provided.

Our ambition is to give children a holiday they will remember as adults, and adults an interlude they will remember forever.