From mallards to massages

Stylish family travel website Babyfriendlyboltholes.co.uk has marked its first anniversary with a slick new design and some user-friendly new additions including a search function allowing users to filter accommodation using criteria as wide-ranging as spa treatments and friendly farm animals.

Other new additions to the core portfolio of small, stylish privately owned and run family holiday accommodation include a small collection of luxury resorts handpicked each season by Quo Vadis, the family travel specialist travel agency, and a new ‘Privileges’ section offering discounts on a range of useful family travel gear such as Hippychick’s Hipseat and the Trunki kids suitcase.

Highlights from the accommodation range include:

Best for Sleep-Deprived New Parents…
Luxury B&B Riverdale House combines stylish interiors, Molton Brown toiletries and flatscreen TVs with a brilliant babysitting service that includes the hours from 6.30 until 8.30 in the mornings, permitting sleep-deprived new parents with the nirvana of a lie-in and even breakfast in bed.

Best for Social Life-Deprived New Parents…
For those new parents without nearby extended family on call for babysitting, maintaining any kind of joint social life can be tricky but the ‘house party’ style breaks offered at Chateau Rigaud in Bordeaux are a great solution. They combine Elle Deco-worthy interiors, nightly kids’ suppers followed by wind-down movies in the cosy cinema and three-course meals, dinner-party style, for adults (baby monitors supplied). Also at: Villa Pia, Umbria

Best for Bringing Old MacDonald to Life for Toddlers…
There’s a tranquil magic to Pollaughan Farm Cottages on Cornwall’s scenic Roseland Peninsula. Like the Pied Piper, Farmer Tim leads little ones on daily egg-collecting and animal feeding expeditions whilst wife Valerie cooks up a storm on the Aga creating hearty ‘room service’ meals for cottage residents. Parents simply enjoy the architect-designed barn conversions with stylish furnishings and large private gardens overlooking the Farm’s award-winning wildlife lakes complete with ride-on tractor trikes for the kids.
Also at: North Bradbury Farm in North Devon.

For further information, visit Babyfriendlyboltholes.co.uk.