Our youngest was two when we arrived in Barbados. We spent five weeks in a hotel, house-hunting. She was like a Labrador pup: on three occasions in our first couple of days we happened to be walking past the hotel pool and she just leapt in – and I leapt in after her. The third time her hat was floating on the surface and she was at the bottom of the deep end. After that her armbands became a part of her daily attire – she was not allowed to leave the hotel room without them on. My priority became swimming lessons, and she swam well before she was three.

We found a house called Xanadu.

=> Read more!