Our Mark Warner Holiday to San Lucianu, Corsica.

In all the many times I have been fortunate enough to travel with Mark Warner, never before have I been quite so taken with one of their resorts.

Although the majority of these trips were taken prior to having my boys, it is their family holidays that they are best known for.  Along with the provision of qualified childcare and tuition for any age and level for water sports and tennis or skiing - all of which are included in the price - there is also the friendly and professional nature of the management and staff, which, in the intimate environment of the San Lucianu Hotel in Corsica, noticably came to the fore.

The eldest wasn't very impressed when we first arrived though.  He said he wanted to go back to Lemnos, where we stayed last year, exploring a Mark Warner holiday as a single parent family and he took a bit of persuading to keep an open mind!

This is one of their smaller centres, with around only 160 guests staying when we were there (and a maximum capacity for 250), but I liked the feel of it.  It was quite cosy - yet not intrusively so - and the children could roam more freely than usual, because it was possible to still keep a keen eye on them.  They soon got to grips with that and, together with being able to sign himself in and out of his Kids Club, now he's old enough to be in the next group up from last time, the eldest began to like his extra independence, mercilessly milked it over the next few days and was quite quickly won round after all!

But how could he not be?  Here is the sight that greeted us from our (Superior) room.  We would learn that this pool is for proper swimming as it's unattended and that there are two others for proper playing - one for tots that's supervised by a lifeguard all day and an adjoining one that was central to our stay.  These are blessed with the beautiful mountain backdrop that some of the other bedrooms overlook.

The pool for proper swimming.

The pools for proper playing.

We were very lucky to be with these lovely other bloggers on an official press trip and it was interesting to see how differently we interpreted what was available.  Most of us did our own thing.

L-R - Jen, the Manager, Carissa, Alice, me, Julie, Lisa, Charly, Emma and Amanda.

Carissa and her Little Likely Lads, loved trying out new sports, Alice and Emma have five children between them, two of whom have special needs, so they were exploring that angle.  Julie (five of her own) enjoyed keeping up a fitness routine that has seen her lose 55lbs in the last six months, Charly (famous for her photography) took advantage of lots of tennis coaching with her husband and Lisa (famous for her videos) liked being out to sea, while Amanda and Kate (not pictured), when not focusing on their new collaborative project, relaxed and checked out some of the spa treatments.  Well, someone had to...   

Karen, who has been travel blogging since before it became fashionable is also, sadly, not present in this group shot.  She worked on her websites and supported her fellow Scot whilst watching Wimbledon and, additionally, Monika was temporarily missing in action as she’d hired a car and gone out to explore Corsica with her kids, covering six hundred kilometres in three days!  

Others only made it to Moriani, the local town, which is just a short walk (or kayak!) away, but better than that was a (free) organized outing to a local waterfall and a few of us spent a special afternoon there, swimming and standing under it, feeling spiritually cleansed and fortified.  Apart from the bit when the eldest decided to climb up and throw himself off a rock from half way up (see the video below).  That kind of had the opposite effect.  

This was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life!

But we were all glad we’d done it.  The freezing water is welcome after a hot and, sometimes, tricky trek.  It’s good to be guided there and, although they advise it for children over age 14 only, mine managed it easily enough.  It’s currently put on weekly, but directions can be given should you prefer to go it alone.   

On other days, we took up a recommendation of a (50 Euro return in a taxi) visit to Cervione, a village in the mountain we'd heard about, but, generally speaking, it’s tough to tear yourself away from the facilities on site.  Most of the children were taken care of for parts or all of the day and if you’re not satisfied with your biggest decisions being beach / pool, sun / shade and beer / cocktail when they're not around, there's plenty of stuff to do.  It's not only the  youngsters who can be improving their water-sport and tennis skills courtesy of this company - it's what they do!  

Learning to sail, a kayak safari to Moriani for Italian ice cream (10 Euros) and a wind-surfing lesson.

Plus, there’s (all also included) guided mountain biking (adults only) – or again, you can go out independently and there are frames suitable for bigger children if they fancy joining you.  There’s a volleyball match every day, a small football pitch, a badminton court and table tennis as well as water polo, aqua aerobics and copious other exercise classes.  

The beach is all white sand and huge and there are loads of loungers.  Towels are for hire - although they rather risk annoying aficionados of Mark Warner as they're normally supplied as standard and some of us consciously won't have packed any - but there is my new favourite place in the world to sit around and watch it go by after all that exertion - their brand new beach bar.  It. Has. Sofas.  But, please be warned, you may get much too comfortable listening to George Ezra and the like and have your heart completely captured by Corsica - or 'Fritaly,' as my kids call it!

My new favourite place in the world. A beach bar with sofas!

This is the place where gentle evening entertainment takes place. It normally starts at 10pm (not forgetting the complimentary Kids Clubs go on until 11pm) with a variety of quizzes, although at the outset of the week and scheduled much earlier, are orientation and a wine tasting.  

The table wine with meals is not included as gratis here - but, again, it usually is.  However, who can complain when we get to try out a variety of ones from within the vicinity of San Lucianu - so we can be confident when ordering them?

Wine is the biggest produce of the island, but it's rarely exported because it's so good the locals like to consume it all!  And it's customary for restaurants to serve only those from their area, so you can drink different ones depending on where you're dining around it.  (Now there's a holiday idea if ever there were one!).  The reds and roses I 'researched' were fresh, full bodied and moreish and it's offered by the bottle which can be kept with your name on, if it lasts that long (*winks at Amanda*) and this, way, it works out less expensive than purchasing it by the glass, if you prefer.    

Another difference from the larger resorts is the slightly more sophisticated a la carte arrangement for dinner, where individual wines will be recommended for each meal selection.  There are meat, fish, vegetarian and gluten free choices, all presented prettily and, seeing as it's all fairly informal, we found this adds to its charm.    

Breakfasts and lunches are buffets comprising food still sourced, as always, as locally as possible - fantastic fresh fruit and pastries, meats and cheeses.  There is an egg cooking cum (excellent) pizza station, lots of seafood, pasta, salads and baguettes as well as a Dish of the Day.  It's not always the Tuscan fayre Wikipedia promises, but it will certainly please most palates.  Do look out for the Tapenade - it's terrific!

Bookings for half board are taken with the option of upgrading to full board - at £35 per child and £49 per adult (paid in advance) for the whole week.  Fresh water is served everywhere, but some squash put on for the kids wouldn't go amiss so they don't sting us for so many 'mocktails.'  Paninis and chips are available in the beach bar (5 and 3 Euros), again, if you prefer, but you'd be missing out on some seriously lush French desserts.  Those on full board can request to have a packed lunch prepared for them if they're going out for the day.

Conclusions.

In the end, the eldest said it was 'Epic because of the choice of activities.'  The youngest had a ball with everything and particularly enjoyed being in the childrens' show on the last night.  I managed to do some decent swimming, alongside a little mix of work, rest and fun and found the place perfect considering I was travelling as a lone parent.  All in all, we loved it.

This is a 3*** rated resort - and priced as such, but we think it's better than that.  Our holiday would have come in at around £900 each at full price, yet a last minute substantial discount can often be found and bring it down to around half that.  (Drinks and any private lessons are extra.  Group stuff and independent hire of their equipment - for those who are confident enough - are included.  For those who aren't yet, a parent and child sail with an instructor can be paid for).

Mark Warner Corsica is compact without being quaint and strikes a brilliant balance between being as quiet or lively as you want it to be, depending on your mood of the moment.  Their format is tried and tested and it works for everyone - to the extent they recently won 'Best Family tour Operator' in the Sunday Times travel magazine.

All their resorts, reliably, have heaps to offer and the video at the very end of this post - made mainly to capture the marvellous memories - gives you an opportunity to check out San Lucianu more thoroughly, see the kind of things we got up to and decide whether you want to or can be be taken by it (or elsewhere) too.

Lively and fun, San Lucianu, Corsica.

Our video -

Disclosure - We were invited on our holiday for the purposes of this review.  All words, opinions and pics are our own or kindly shared by the other bloggers.  

My Most Perfect #Parenting Moment Ever.

We're quite lucky with our local leisure centre - they lay on all sorts of stuff for the kids throughout the holidays for just a couple of quid at a time because they're non-profit making.  Unheard of as this is, it doesn't mean we wouldn't take advantage of it, does it?

The boys have been learning to rollerskate / 'Blade' and, among other things, to play table tennis which might not sound too glamorous, but there are tables dotted all over Brighton for free playing on them and this will have saved no end of arguments over the rights and wrongs between us all, bringing about a great deal more joy than strife from now on!

But by far the best thing to come out of them thoroughly exhausting me this lovely break was something we did quite independently and is something on which my heart has been set for some years.

One of my greatest sources of shame as a single parent (and there aren't many!) has been not being able to teach the boys to swim properly, because coaching them individually has been out of the question with two such young children.

The eldest had lessons but they became an ordeal when he had an 'incident' and lost his confidence, which we tried to push through but eventually gave up on, because I was pregnant with littlest, had kicked my husband out and neither of us needed any more sources of stress. 

Further lessons have been sporadic in line with finances, but we have enjoyed plenty of play sessions in pools nevertheless with the baby / toddler / pre-schooler who is fearless to the point of dangerous.  It became imperative he also learned to swim because, unaware that it was entirely down to his special floatie swimsuit, he thought he could and acted accordingly, so I booked him half a dozen aid-free lessons.

The small pool has served us all well which is where we stay, so the eldest rarely gets to practise lots of complete lengths, which would undoubtedly stand him in better stead for his friends' pool parties now he's at that age, but it's great he's itching to do it, considering his fear's been so long lasting - and that's where we were recently when my most perfect #parenting moment ever occurred.

Littlest hurled himself into the water towards his brother, never bothered to come up for air and swam underwater a good few feet all the way to him!  Just like that.  Two lessons was all it had taken for him to figure out what he was doing.  

So thrilled were we all that he repeatedly did this for the rest of our time there that day - only ever to his brother - his true inspiration.  

I *might* have laughed and cried with joy.  We *might* have a long way to go until we're all able to swim a 

decent distance together.  The youngest learning to breathe so he can keep going *might* be useful before we try.  But we've had a breakthrough.

And the best bit of all?  The brotherly love and devotion the eldest demonstrated as he encouraged him over and over again, oblivious to how this might give him what he wants and deserves - for us to be able to properly swim together.  

He knows I went with my dad when I was young, which would give me the 'nice, funny feeling' he said he had in his tummy on the one occasion when we have managed it (by dragging a friend along without any of their own kids to care for!).

He doesn't know it was the only night of the week we might have seen our dad and that he was training with his scuba diving club really, that he would actually only do a few token lengths with me and my sister before abandoning us altogether to do a load more on our own and then, in case we didn't get the message, which we didn't because we were just children, he'd leave us in the back of his Landrover in the pub car park afterwards, together with his new wife's children and a bottle of lemonade and a packet of crisps each for the rest of the evening!

But it's why my swimming is good and I want my boys to be able to enjoy theirs and when you look at my patchy teaching methods - basically persistence and patience - and how handsomely they've paid off, there really is nothing to feel ashamed of.  Being a single parent sometimes means being doubly proud.    

Just look at this little beast in all his glory!   

Swimming Wars.

Well it's been almost eight years since I've been swimming without any kids.  There's always one hanging off me.

Anyway, I've done it, broken the (rubber) duck. And nothing has changed.  It's still war in the fast lane.  Or the medium one.  There doesn't seem to be a slow lane anymore though - is that politically incorrect now?

If it's not a seventy year old man feeling up my thigh as he 'swims' past, it's a massive whale type with a tsunami wake trying to drown the rest of us!

What has happened to manners?  Oh that's right, there never were any.

No longer a member of a luxury Health Club, but finding the facilities of our local leisure centre perfectly adequate, that real sense of freedom that comes from swimming forty lengths has been calling me.

Obviously I had to start at twenty and work my way up again, but it only took a couple of times over a couple of weeks.  That was the easy part.

Realising a Toy Story towel is not ideal in the communal showers when your children are nowhere to be seen was worse.  As was being asked out on a kids' playdate by one of the local dads whilst both of us are stood next to each other in next to nothing.  Far too intimate.

The whole scenario is blighted by the other swimmers.  I don't care about the ladies who hog the shallow end for their idle chat or do their gentle bit of breast stroke up and down before another one, or the gentlemen who gallantly keep them and their still perfectly coiffured hair company - the swimming lanes are for people like me who want to be entirely unsociable, get the business over and done with and emerge afterwards feeling entitled to a large latte, or as it happens, like the other day, a hot ham and cheese croissant.

But the lanes is where social etiquette butterflies out of the window.  OK, so you're faster than me - you can pass me at the other end or overtake.  I have to do backstroke - I need a knee operation.  If you insist on putting your face so near my feet for so long you'll be amazed at how much splashing they can create just for it.  And if you insist on touching me that bit too often when we go in opposite directions it will make me want to insist on accidentally kicking you on the returns.

Don't take me on. I've got two children.  I'm here for the peace, not the war.  I get enough of that at home.
It's been eight years.  You will not win.

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