Maldives

• Go in the summer silly! - Indian Ocean
• Lovers in Luxury - Maldives
• Feet first into the Maldives - Maldives
• No news, No shoes - Maldives
• My wedding pact with David Walliams - Maldives
• Push the boat out - Seychelles
• Relaxation Addict - Seychelles
• Mauritius the Delicious - Mauritius
• Mr Perma-Tan in Paradise - Mauritius
• Never seen you looking so lovely - Mauritius
• Island Iffy No Longer - Sri Lanka
• Having a swell time! - Seychelles
• Perfect, even for the world’s pickiest guest! - Maldives
• Do not disturb - Mauritius
• My tantrum in paradise - Mauritius
• Calendar girl makes a date - Maldives
• Lipstick and high heels not required - Maldives
• The five-star survivor! - Mauritius
• Strictly Unwinding - Maldives
• Why should paradise be only for lovers? - Maldives
• Strictly recharging - Maldives

WHAT would the weather be like in Dubai? Warm, but would the evenings be a little chilly. With all the madness that surrounds the winding-up of a Strictly Come Dancing series, I didn’t have much time to hit the internet to study average highs and lows.

With five-year-old Phoebe and five-month-old Amber in tow, not to mention my husband Vernon, I decided not to take chances: we’d be fully prepared for anything.

We arrived in the early evening at Dubai’s very impressive airport. In the waiting area you can sit down, have a cup of coffee and put your feet up while you wait for your bags. As it happened, the baby buggy and Vern’s golf clubs were among the last to show up, so it was nice to wait in comfort.

By the time we got to the One & Only Royal Mirage hotel, it was about 10.30 at night but for us, because of the four-hour time difference, it was early evening and the kids were still up, ready to go.

We had a beautiful room that was all set up for Amber, with an excellent cot, lovely bed linen and special baby toiletries - even a steriliser, which I thought was incredibly thoughtful. It’s always the little things that make the difference. Next morning I tottered off for an amazing facial at the One & Only Spa while Vernon took the girls off to play. My intensive facial was designed to rehydrate and desensitise.

It’s the little things that make the difference

Each facial includes a scalp massage - I loved it. In the evening we had a fabulous dinner - sea bass for me - at the Beach Bar, which was beautifully transformed by a galaxy of fairy lights after dark. And there was no problem bringing children into the restaurant. The staff were brilliant and very relaxed.

Phoebe fell asleep in her buggy. To experience another hotel, we moved on to Atlantis The Palm on the extraordinary Palm Island. It’s big, with more than 1,500 rooms, but it ticked every box.

For families, it has the wow factor with a fantastic aquarium, the Aquaventure water park and Dolphin Bay. Another great feature is that there are 17 restaurants, which gives families so many options.

I love a good hotel breakfast - and the one at the Saffron restaurant was phenomenal. It has 20 showcase cooking stations where food is freshly prepared, making breakfast interactive theatre. At Atlantis there are also big name restaurants including Nobu (where the black cod was brilliant), and wonderful Italian food at Ronda Locatelli.

We also loved the French restaurant Rostang – the unbelievably scrumptious takeout patisseries are frighteningly calorific.

And if you’ve ever felt the need for a ‘99 cone in the middle of the night, you’ll be relieved to know that the hotel boasts a 24- hour ice-cream parlour. Phoebe adored her dolphin encounter at Dolphin Bay.

The resort was breathtakingly beautiful

She had three kisses from a friendly dolphin and it absolutely made her stay. She also adored the Aquaventure water park - and even I dared to slide through the glass tunnel in shark lagoon on a rubber ring.

Getting eye-to-eye with a shark was the most terrifying thing I’ve done since I had to go head-to-head with Terry Wogan in a Children In Need dance-off. We loved the fact there were lots of different pools.

We preferred the Zero Entry Pool, where you can splash and make noise. It’s called Zero Entry because it starts off very shallow but is quite deep in the centre. I enjoyed another amazing massage at the spa .

It was the ‘jet-lag recovery’ massage: a little bit of Thai, a little bit of Shiatsu. It was so good that it felt like an out-ofbody experience. Phoebe kept asking as we headed to the airport: ‘Please can we come back?’ Oh yes, we plan to.

From Dubai we took a four hour night flight to the Maldives. We got off the plane at Male and were taken to a check-in area for the seaplane that would take us to our island resort hotel of Kanuhura. During the 40-minute flight, I gazed down over gorgeous tropical islands. Phoebe loved the seaplane ride - she thought it was like some great Peter Pan adventure.

The resort was breathtakingly beautiful, utterly peaceful and with a superb spa. Nearby are some of the world’s best diving sites. Private dining is a speciality here, romantic dinners served either in your villa or at various locations on the island.

The villas are either on the island’s coral sand fringe or in a little village on stilts at the end of a wooden pier. We took a beach villa because they don’t recommend over-the-water ones if you have kids. It was absolutely gorgeous, with two bedrooms.

They had set up everything for Amber: there was a cot and a little teddy next to her pillow - so cute. You also have your own butler. The resort has a wonderful children’s club, with games, videos, and a library. The Kids’ Club staff were lovely: they served up a steady diet of art, magic tricks and movies.

Phoebe loved it all. One night we were sitting in a bar that stands on stilts over the lagoon, which teems with fish. We were just chilling out before the children went to bed. Then Amber threw her dummy into the sea. She loves her dummy and I panicked - but a local fisherman dived in to pluck it out of the water.

That’s what I call service! One highlight was a ‘Robinson Crusoe picnic’ on the resort’s own special island, five minutes away by boat. When we went paddling there we saw a baby shark. Vernon was worried there would be nothing to do. Golf is his main holiday interest, so what would he do here?

An unforgettable sunset cruise

But he admitted that he had underestimated the islands’ appeal and found that scuba-diving was a more than adequate substitute for golf.

Each evening after the kids were in bed, we used to wander on to our terrace and sit on the swing seat. We would get our dinner from room service and sit under a canopy of stars.

Another unforgettable experience was the sunset cruise. There was a magical moment when dolphins crowded around the boat. And as a live band played and waiters served canapes and sparkling wine (lemonade for Phoebe), we gazed open-mouthed at the most magnificent Maldivian sunset.

After a busy few months, it was the ultimate place for me to recharge, even with children. We enjoyed a gala dinner on our last night, served in front of our villa - course after course of the most gorgeous food: champagne, foie gras, steak, fish. It was a very decadent experience and the perfect end to the perfect holiday.