Just returned from The Retreat and had the most fabulous holiday! The Retreat's location is perfect, away from any hustle or bustle and with spectacular views. Sivota is a short walk away and is a charming fishing village with great restaurants and bars. This holiday is great for anyone with a family who wants a balance between 'you' time and 'family' time. You get both and everyone has an excellent time. For you, there's a choice of either taking part in the numerous 'free' activities, eg.tennis, fitness classes, waterskiing etc or simply 'chilling' out on the beach, by the pool or on the jetty. For the kids, there's the clubs which were great. My youngest, who is 11 months, went to the 'Starfish' club where there is a ratio of 2:1, fab! I must admit she and some of the other babies took a while to settle but at this age I think that's to be expected. They were quick to give her a dummy when normally she only has it to go to sleep, but I would never leave my kids if I wasn't happy with the childcare. My oldest, who is just over 2, went to the 'Sea Urchins' club and this was just brilliant! He went swimming, went on a speedboat, went windsurfing (yes a 2 year old!), baked cakes, had his face painted every other day, basically he just had a 'ball'! As for the accomondation/resort and facilities these were near to perfect. We were in interconnecting rooms which actually meant two rooms with an entrance porch between them which was lockable but this actually gave us loads of romm to store cases, buggies etc, as well as space for the kids to wander. They were simply furnished although they did have a tv, hairdryer etc and very clean with a maid coming in every day to clean and replace towels. The resort is set onto a hillside so obviuosly there's a lot of steps which might seem as if it's not ideal for small children but we managed without any problems with an 11 month old and 2 year old. To get to the beach you have to go down steps then wade over a shallow stretch of water but again we managed without too much trouble. The only negative thing I've got to say about the resort is that pools are not heated and therefore, the kids often found them too cold. Whether this is different mid-season I don't know but there's always the sea! Facilities are second to none. The activities are superb both in terms of what's on offer and the staff who lead them. Other facilities include baby change equipment in EVERY toliet, a baby room with microwaves, bottle warmers, a fridge as well as the normal baby change equipment, walkie-talkies are provided free of charge as baby listening devices, off-road buggies to use and there's even a mosquito repellant device in every room. The company who set this up obviously had experience of going on holiday with kids, we didn't want for anything! The only advice I would give as in what to take is enough nappies and baby wipes as these are expensive in the local shops. A truly superb holiday, we've already booked to go to one of their other resorts next year, two weeks this time!

Lesley Dougty, Oct 2005