A family-friendly holiday home in Normandy

The bunk room is theirs: bunk beds and a mezzanine bed, enough for a set of siblings or cousins of similar ages. The top bunk usually goes to the oldest, and it is often the first negotiation of the stay. The dormitory, a large room with several beds, takes the rest of the troop when there are lots of children, or teenagers who would rather sleep among themselves.

For babies, 2 travel cots are provided. You set them up wherever you like, usually in the parents' room for the first few nights. With a newborn, the Master Bedroom has an advantage: it is on the ground floor, with its own shower room, on the same level as the kitchen. The 3 am bottle is made without going up or down the stairs. Capacity works like this: 11 people, plus 2 children or babies. Beyond 11 people, the 2 extra places are therefore for children or babies only.

This layout works well when two or three families share the house: the children sleep together, the parents get their own rooms, and everyone keeps a little calm in the evening once the little ones are in bed. Our page on a holiday home for two families explains how households organise themselves.

At the house you will find 2 travel cots, 1 high chair and toys. Only the cot bedding needs to come with you: sheets that fit travel cots, and your child's usual sleeping bag. All other linen, sheets and towels, is provided for everyone, children included.

The kitchen covers little ones' needs with no effort: a microwave and a kettle for bottles, a freezer for purées made in advance, crockery for 12. At mealtimes, the adults sit round the large table for 10, the bar that extends it gives the children a few more places, and the high chair slides in at the end. Upstairs, the bathroom has a bath, handy at bedtime, and the laundry room has a washing machine and a tumble dryer for sandy clothes.

An honest note: the equipment list mentions neither a stair gate nor a baby monitor. If you need them, bring your own or ask the Idylliq concierge service before you arrive, rather than finding out on the first evening.

Outdoors, the children have a swing set and, above all, over a hectare of enclosed, tree-filled grounds where they can run without meeting a road. You come in through an electric gate, and cars park inside the property: when the boot is being unloaded, nobody ends up at the roadside. There is no swimming pool, so no pool to watch. Teenagers get something out of it too: the grounds give them room to get away from their parents without leaving the property, and fibre Wi-Fi covers every room in the house, with QR codes on the ground floor so nobody has to read out the password to each new arrival.

Enclosed does not mean unsupervised. A wooded hectare is large, and a three-year-old can quickly slip out of sight behind a tree. Keep the youngest away from the fire pit during barbecues too. For everything about the grounds themselves, how they are used and the terrace, read our page on a holiday home with a large enclosed garden.

The upstairs bedrooms have blackout curtains, and the ground floor has electric roller shutters. The 2 pm nap happens in the dark, even in high summer, and summer bedtimes no longer have to fight the evening light. The house also has a rule that suits parents: no noise outdoors after 10 pm.

On rainy days, the sitting room and its 7 or 8 seats around the wood stove become the playroom. The house toys, the Smart TV and the fibre Wi-Fi take over for an afternoon of cartoons. When the urge to go out returns, our guide to things to do on the Alabaster Coast with kids sorts ideas by age and by weather.

For a family-friendly holiday home in Normandy, the summer holiday weeks get booked early, and the house is then let for 7 nights minimum. Outside high season, 2 nights are enough for a first stay with young children, long enough to see how they sleep away from home. Check your dates with the Idylliq concierge service.

What is provided, what to bring, and what will make the stay easier with children.