If the summer holidays are already looking interminably long, then it’s time to investigate some holiday options to restore your sanity.

Whether you want to pack the children off on a summer activity holiday on their own, or book a holiday which will keep the whole family busy, these are the pick of the summer breaks that will burn off the energy of even the most hyperactive child.

PGL holidays

PGL offer high octane breaks for both individual children and families and they have some great summer specials at the minute. For less than €300, you can book children aged 10-13 for a week at Boreatten Park in Shropshire, England, where the list of activities is dizzyingly long, but includes abseiling, canoeing, zip wire, trapeze, fencing and archery.

Your children will also be whisked off to two white knuckle theme parks without you having to go green on the roller coasters yourself. In the meantime, you can swan round the rolling, green countryside of Shropshire.

If you prefer to race the children up the climbing wall yourself, family holidays are also available. Currently, PGL are running ‘kids go free’ offers if you book an adult at a prices between €400 and €460 each depending on the location; considering that the holidays will include tuition for all the free activities, this is good value for money.

PGL has centres in the UK and France. All summer sale offers end on August 25, so get booking at www.pgl.co.uk.

Northwestern Sicily

The Acquapark Monreale in Sicily is a fabulous place to bring the children; you can relax on a sun lounger while they hurl themselves down a variety of top notch slides at high speed. You’ll only see them when they are hungry.

The park is just a few kilometres from Palermo, so for comfortable access from Malta via either Catania or Pozzallo, you might want to spread the trip over a couple of days and base yourself at nearby Scopello. This lovely village will keep everyone happy; it has a beautiful harbour to explore and a beach that might have been createdspecifically for beach games and swimming.

The nearby Zingaro Nature Reserve is 7km long and is perfect for horse-riding and walking; persuade your reluctant offspring to tag along with the lure of ice-cream at San Vito lo Capo. Your reward will be the amazing flora and fauna on the way.

Safari in South Africa

If you really want to push the boat out and wow the children, it’s hard to beat a safari. South Africa is a good bet because they have several malaria-free parks in the south.

Sediba is a private game lodge which welcomes children, and their expert rangers will help yours to spot everything from warthog to white rhino. Children are totally spellbound by seeing the animals from picture books in the flesh and they’ll be talking about a safari trip for years to come.

For a slightly cheaper option, the Ant Collection is just three hours north of Johannesburg. Accommodation is in a bush camp with a heated pool and there’s the chance to go on a horse-riding safaris for beginners. Children are welcomed with play areas, ranger-led identification walks and game-drives in fun open 4x4 jeeps.

Visit www.sediba.com and www.waterberg.net for details.

Scuba diving

If your children are aged 10 or over, they can take a PADI diving course (an internationally recognised qualification). Malta is actually one of the best places to do this, due to the lack of tides, warm, clear water and great underwater scenery.

If want to get them out from under your feet and they love the water, book them a course for around €240 to €340.

Shop around for the best prices as many schools offer special prices for locals.

Caveman experience

Little more than an hour outside Paris, Eurocamp’s La Croix Du Vieux Pont centre offers the chance for your offspring to get back to nature.

The Woodcraft School runs a ‘bushcraft’ course here, where the children will learn to forage for wild plants, track animals and light a fire by rubbing two sticks together (a useful skill if ever there was one).

Accommodation on site is in mobile homes or pre-erected tents and there are even some tree house pitches. Your children will be utterly exhausted every night, with lots of activities such as a climbing wall, swimming, archery, zip wire and abseiling.

Disneyland Paris is just an hour-and-a-half bus ride away, so once they’ve mastered the arts of the Flintstones, they can immerse themselves in a much more 21st century kind of environment, courtesy of Mickey Mouse. If you can tear them away from the pool, you really should visit the centre of Paris too, if only to go up theEiffel Tower.

Five nights in a tent in August costs from €500 per family.

Visit www.eurocamp.com.

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