Keen to discover how my mum and kids would fair with a 3G holiday, we packed up the car and headed up the M4 to Wales. With three children and a grandparent in tow – each with very different interests and needs – I was slightly nervous. Would this be a trip for everyone or would I (or my mum) end up carrying the load, worrying about whether or not everyone was having a good time?

Reading the menu of activities on offer started to ease my nerves, because everyone seemed excited by something – zip wires and laser tag for the older kids, Merschool (mermaid school!) for the 7 year-old and cross-generational activities like bowling, spa sessions and kayaking for the rest of us.

The Bluestone manifesto includes “bringing nature and adventure within the reach of children” and with this in mind many of the activities are outdoors. After arriving late, we woke early the next day and headed straight out to get stuck into our first family game: woodland laser tag. Granny sat this one out in place of a relaxing start reading in the lodge sunroom (more on that later), but the rest of us got stuck in by playing capture the flag and hide and seek in the woodlands of the steep ravine, a stunning area flanked by an ancient forest. It was in the magic of these woods that I unglued my children from their devices for the entire day, and we remembered how fun it was to reconnect and play. And it wasn’t just laser tag, which the kids unanimously chose as their favourite activity. We flew over the tree tops on 100ft ft high zip wires, toasted marshmallows over a fire and hunted out a secret fairy village. It was magical.

In praise of the 3G holiday – why taking the grandparents on holiday is the answer to travelling with kids