'My honeymoon had gate-crashers... and this Greek hotel was perfect'

There was no way my husband and I weren’t going to take our children on honeymoon with us (in our defence they were pre-schoolers when we got married). But that presented us with a challenge – where could we go that would welcome children, but also feel special and relaxing for us?

After one too many recommendations to ignore, we went with Ikos Resorts, and with the help of a Kuoni honeymoon gift list, our budget stretched to a week at Ikos Olivia in Halkidiki.

CATERING FOR ALL TASTES

For our offspring, it was utopia. They loved the swimming pools – which included a splash pad, a shallower pool and a lagoon-style one, getting daily ice cream from the gelateria, borrowing bikes to cruise around the gardens and watching sing-along, dance-along entertainment shows aimed squarely at the CocoMelon generation.

But what about me and my husband, did it work for us? While it wasn’t a typical honeymoon with candlelit dinners and rose-petal baths, it had plenty of cherishable moments.

Spared our usual household chores, mealtimes were a luxury. Every restaurant, from the buffet to the speciality venues, had toddler-friendly tableware and menus. Our children feasted on Weetabix, bananas, chicken nuggets and pasta, while we savoured more sophisticated dishes, spanning a delicious range of Greek, Italian, Asian and French cuisines. Abundant staff and an extensive wine and cocktail list meant it was easy (too easy!) to order drinks, which were covered by the all-inclusive offer.