I want my children to learn about the world outside our little west London neighbourhood—to experience different cultures, cuisines, languages, and lifestyles—but travelling with children can be enervating. After schlepping them to the sights all day, not letting them touch the paintings in the museum, stopping them from testing their echoes in a cathedral, we then expect them to sit politely through a restaurant dinner? And to do it again in the morning for breakfast out? Not to mention cramming the four of us back into a charming but diminutive hotel room each night. That’s not the kind of family togetherness I’m after on holiday.
So it was not long into our travelling-with-children years that we turned to holiday homes. Flats, cottages, houses, bungalows—all are a far superior way to visit a new place with the kids. The benefits are myriad: save both money and stress by being able to eat at the holiday flat, stay in a lovely neighbourhood rather than the tatty tourist district, have loads more room to relax, maybe even let the kids roam free if you get a place with a garden. On the down side, not all holiday rentals are family friendly: on one particularly awkward occasion, as my husband and I were shown around our Bruges apartment for Christmas week, the owner raced to remove breakable baubles from the reach of my toddler, tut-tutting all the while.
A new company called Kid & Coe has found a fix: they provide a curated list of homes worldwide that cater specifically to families. From Bristol to Berkeley and pretty much everywhere in between, Kid & Coe are changing the way families travel. With prices very comparable to hotels, if not cheaper — this not only is an easier way to travel but more cost effective.
Scroll through their properties and you’ll find, say, a cottage in Cornwall with a high chair and baby bath; an apartment in Copenhagen crammed with toys of delightful Danish design; a house in Thailand that comes with a kid-friendly cook to make non-spicy meals for the younger set (see above); a casa in Mexico with pool toys and board games. Kid and Coe also offer their “City Scout”—on online guidebook and map put together with the help of the local hosts, ensuring you get the inside scoop on nearby parks, child-friendly restaurants, and cool kid activities.
Plus Kid and Coe want you to make a profit. If you have a child friendly house, you can list your home with them and earn money while you’re away. It’s the vacation that pays for itself! You can find out more here. When the cost of raising kids has reportedly increased by 58 percent in the last decade, it’s nice to have a chance to earn a bit of that money back. They’ve got tips for being a good host (“perhaps leave a bottle of wine and some cookies to soothe the nerves of frazzled travelling parents”)—a thoughtful touch you may benefit from when it’s your turn to be the guest.
And by the way, Kid and Coe’s homes don’t just cater to families–they’re only for families. So take your inquisitive toddler with no fear of tut-tuts.
Check out some home-away-from-homes at kidandcoe.com
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