Grand Breaks for grandparents and children

Grand Breaks is a new family-run travel business – based in Eastbourne, East Sussex – specialising in one, two or three day breaks in the UK, exclusively for grandparents and grandchildren. Many grandparents would like to take their grandchildren away for a short holiday together, but deciding where to go, where to stay and importantly, what to do, can be a bit daunting.

Grand Breaks aims to take the angst away, having identified activities and attractions that can be enjoyed equally by both generations. Often grandparents sacrifice their pleasure for the sake of their grandchildren, but after 18 months of research and planning, we have created a range of packaged breaks that we genuinely believe can be enjoyed equally by grandparents and grandchildren together.

Grand Breaks (grandbreaks.com) has been created by Charles Grimaldi, a former FTSE 100 Corporate Affairs Director who has a personal interest in intergenerational family holidays, and his son Tim.

The inspiration for this exciting new venture has come from Charles’ great-grandfather Sir Henry Thornhill who wrote the world’s largest collection (according to Sotheby’s in 1988, and subsequently widely featured in the media – including BBC 1’s Blue Peter) of beautifully illustrated letters to his grand-daughter, Charles’ mother, and his other grandchildren, in an unique expression of a grandparent’s love to his grandchildren.

Discovered lying forgotten in the dark recess of an old wardrobe, these enchanting letters depict wildlife, scenery, wacky inventions and imaginary animal characters as well as poignantly depicting imaginary outings that Charles’ great grandfather wanted to take with his grandchildren, but couldn’t because they lived thousands of miles away. So Charles decided to make his great grandfather’s dream a reality, by creating the sort of breaks that he wanted to take so much with his grandchildren, but rarely could.

“Our research indicated that we needed to offer several types of break for different interests and fitness levels etc, so there are Classic, Active, Discovery and Bespoke Grand Breaks in Warwickshire, Hampshire, London, Surrey, London and Sussex, with more destinations planned. The carefully selected hotels and attractions are welcoming and fun for all ages,” explained Charles.

“Grand Breaks books and takes care of everything – whether it’s a specially tailored bespoke break or one of the themed packages – so that grandparents and their grandchildren can just enjoy having a great time together and create a gift of memories that will last for lifetimes.”