For most travellers, the ideal holiday home would feature sweeping views of the coastline, an onsite pool and the kind of five-star opulence that few could enjoy in their ordinary lives.
While this may be the holiday home dream for the average adult holidaymaker, younger travellers have something distinctly more creative in mind.
A survey of 1,000 children aged six to 12 by holidaylettings.co.uk found that luxury was the last thing on youngsters’ minds when dreaming up their perfect holiday home. In contrast, a fully kitted-out fun house was more the order of the day, complete with trampolines and a real-size pirate ship.
The Top 10 requests identified in the survey included a “kids only” room (39 per cent) a series of slides to replace stairs (37 per cent) and a trampoline room with a very high ceiling (34 per cent).
A camping room complete with hammocks and tents was also top of the list for 26 per cent of children, while 25 per cent wouldn’t feel at home without a pink princess castle for girls, or a real-size pirate ship for boys.
While switching off may be the key holiday objective for most adult travellers, nearly a quarter of the children surveyed were keen to keep up with the best of modern technology. This includes creating a games room with PS3, laptop, iPod and a widescreen TV.
“Children may not book the actual holidays but these days they take an active part in the decision-making, so we thought it would be useful for our holiday home owners to understand what it is that they look for,” said Kate Stinchcombe-Gillies, from holidaylettings.co.uk.
Other ideas that made the top 10 list include a ball pool room you can dive into (23 per cent), secret hiding dens and passages throughout the house (21 per cent), flavoured wallpaper you can lick (22 per cent) and white board walls for scribbles and doodles (14 per cent).
Below are some of the original designs for the ideal holiday home, with an explanation from the budding young architects:
Anna Louisa, 12: “My dream holiday home is a giant stereo with an iPod dock playing all my favourite songs.”
Clotilde, 9: “My dream holiday home has a pool made of glass with fish, security eyes, a slide and a garden full of sweets.”
Jacopo, 7: “My ideal holiday home can go in the water and has a tank with lobsters in it!”
Sophie, 9: “My dream holiday home is a mushroom made of chocolate with a slide leading to a chocolate swimming pool.”
