How to broaden your kids’ cultural horizons on holiday without them realising it

Last year, we opted for a fly-and-flop holiday on a beautiful Greek island – and the booking process was as chilled as the holiday. I clicked through the resort’s website and halfway through my morning coffee the holiday was totally sorted. Rooms, tick; activities, all included; restaurants, five on site. I didn’t have to give it another thought.

The holiday was gorgeous, but not an experience that broadened my kids’ horizons, so this year we decided to plan something slightly more cultural – a road trip from Vaucluse in Provence to Forte dei Marmi in Tuscany. Don’t get me wrong, the route is planned around beautiful poolside views and fabulous beaches, but there’s the opportunity for some cultural absorption along the way.

I say absorption because experience has taught me that nuggets of culture are best delivered to my children in the most subtle of ways. I know if I mention the word “gallery”, or – G-d forbid – “museum’, I’ll get three grumpy faces staring back at me. Like all good mothers needing to make themselves feel better about the hours their kids spend slumped in front of a screen, I have been known to take the “tough, you’ll thank me one day” approach. While forcing your kids to traipse around an architectural wonder can fill the soul with a marvellous sense of smugness (and if you manage to blur the frowns, make perfect pictures to send home to the grandparents), sometimes it’s just not worth the harrumphing that gets thrown back at you. But on this particular Franco-Italian escapade, the modus operandi will be to cleverly disguise mind-expanding opportunities as “fun”.

An e-bike ride through the hills of Provence. That’ll be a “yes thank you very much” from all three kids. Selfies in lavender fields for the girls. Something mildly motorised for the boy. (Not gender stereotyping here, of course, merely reflecting my own children’s coincidentally gender-normative preferences.) ]