Here are the most important things that the Harvey family - mum, dad, two boys aged four and five - cannot do without when planning an apartment holiday.

There must be two bedrooms.

Sleeping in the same room as the children has always been a real cramp to the holiday, effectively ending the grown-ups' day at 8pm.

There must be floor space (in the bedroom or living area) for the boys to play.

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There is nothing worse than being forced out into the rain/town/restaurant because you can't stand another minute cooped up on top of each other in the apartment.

There should be a swimming pool or a beach within easy walking distance.

There should be baby-sitting available.

There should be a well-supplied kitchen and a decent supermarket within easy driving distance.

These are the basics whether the apartment is in the Dordogne or Dorset. We have stayed in an apartment in the Sabine Hills near Rome where the only playing space was on the balcony. Great for the view, but really bad on the nerves.

A place in the Cotswolds had no baby-sitting but said that baby-listening devices worked in the restaurant. It sort of worked but straining to hear coughs or cries undercut the precious adult time of eating a meal together.

For our latest family outing we decided to apply these rules to Cornwall. We hadn't been down west in a long time and holidaying in the UK is, of course, all the rage now.

There are several websites that are our first port of call (apart from Times Online's family self-catering holidays editorial section). When the boys were small www.babygoes2.com was invaluable.

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