This was the year of the dreaded GCSE’s for my 16 year old teenager, George.   After a stressful period of revisions and exams and an extended school summer break working as a waiter, we  squeezed a 12 day holiday in between receiving results to starting back at 6th form.

Our day of travel wasn’t quite as celebratory as I had hoped, but he had done enough (just) to get himself back to his beloved school.   Ivor and I managed to ‘clink’ plastic cups filled with Prosecco on our late evening flight to Palma whilst George and Mimi were plugged into Netflix on their phones for the duration.

We travelled to the chilled and relatively upmarket resort of Puerto Pollensa, staying in a fabulous 2-bedroomed apartment with a stunning roof terrace complete with obligatory wifi to keep everybody happy.

The apartment was situated just off the pretty pine-walk which runs along the beach to the left of the town for about 2 miles, with pine trees running along it.  The best time to walk along is in the early evening when the sun is setting across the bay and you can hear the sea slowly lapping against the sand on the beach.  There are some wonderful bars and restaurants along the way, some with seating out on jetties into the sea.

Fab things that we did as a family

1.  Hired a motor boat and spent chilled days out at sea with a picnic.  It was wonderful to see the amazing coastline from the sea and to enjoy the constant breeze, ahuge relief from the high August temperatures.   We had great fun pulling an inflatable ‘donut’ which was a massive hit with the kids.  Snorkling is wonderful with an abundance of marine life to view.

2.    Drove to the old town of Pollensa to visit the marvellous Sunday morning.  Visit the Café Giardino for coffee where you can visit the bakery around the corner and choose some delicious pastries to eat with your coffee whilst watching the world go by.  The market has some lovely artisan stalls, beautiful jewellery and leather goods as well as stalls selling the most amazing variety of olives, pricey but so good.  The teenagers particularly loved the haggling.

3.  A ‘must’ day out at Aqualand, the water park at El Arenal.  This represented good value as we all spent the whole day riding the large selection of high thrilled slides and rides.  You can take your own picnic and drinks which saves a fair bit.  We all particularly loved the Tsunami ride.

4.  Visited Restaurant Es Guix, hidden in the Serra de Tramuntana mountains near the Lluc Monestry. This is a stunning, hidden gem of a restaurant situated overlooking a natural rock pool.  A fantastic place for lunch and a swim afterwards.

5.  A fine dining experience at Ristorante Mare Nostrum, Sa Pabla.   This was a great chance to take the teenagers to a really fabulous restaurant but with fairly reasonable prices.  All diners sit at the same time to experience the superb tasting menu.

6. Dancing at the Sundown Sessions at Embat beach.   We loved nothing more than listening to the chilled out session at sunset on the Chiringuito Beach and even throwing a few shapes (much to the embarrassment of the teenagers, much I’m sure they loved it really).

7.  Obligatory stop at the Hard Rock Café Palma en-route to the airport for fabulous burgers and souvenir t-shirts.