Katy Holland: Put your little couch potatoes on a health kick – take them on holiday
Are we there yet? There are more activities than ever for children to try out
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Your support makes all the difference.It's official: holidays make kids healthier. A survey carried out by Eurocamp and Netmums has found that, on average, children exercise twice as much on holiday as at home.
Which isn't really surprising, considering the most active they get when they're on their own territory is using the remote control for the telly. Simply remove the TV and, hey presto, your little couch potatoes become jumping beans.
Of course, taking them on holiday is a rather expensive way of getting the kids fit. But there are low-cost options out there. Family specialists Eurocamp (0844 4060402; eurocamp.co.uk) and Canvas Holidays (0845 2680827; canvasholidays.co.uk) have dropped many of their prices and increased the activities on offer. Book a break at Eurocamp La Croix du Vieux Pont near Paris for the last week of July, for example, and you'll pay £788 for a family of four in a mobile home. There are more activities than ever for children to try out, including watersports, basketball, cycling and tennis courses.
And all price-conscious parents have to go on at least one PGL holiday. One of its best venues is Hameau-les-Ages, a former farming hamlet in the Dordogne (0844 371 0101; pgl.co.uk), which has been restored to create a self-contained adventure centre. Physical activities include sailing, windsurfing, mountain biking and raft building. Book before 25 June and you'll save 20 per cent on summer prices: seven nights during August costs £399 per adult and £319 per child. Look out for the half-price deals for kids, too.
A little five-star activity can be found at La Manga Resort in Murcia (00 34 968 331 234; lamangaclub .com), which has some good deals this summer, starting at less than £1,400 per week for a family of four. There's a summer sports academy, designed by Olympians such as Daley Thompson, to keep kids busy. They can learn football, golf, and tennis, and enter athletics competitions.
Just reading the list is enough exercise for me. I'm off to lie down in front of the telly for a while.
k.holland@independent.co.uk
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