Liz Harper is a freelance journalist living in Shakespeare country, Stratford Upon Avon, with her husband Nick and their daughter Molly, aged 9. Over the last few years, the Harper family have been lucky enough to explore some pretty fabulous destinations. They’ve hiked in the High Atlas mountains, kayaked down the Amazon, spotted the big five in Tanzania’s Serengeti, and searched for Nemo in the clear blue waters off the Zanzibar coast. Closer to home, the family have built some pretty impressive sandcastles in Cornwall and learnt to dingy sail in the Lake District.
What’s your first family holiday memory?
Spending summers on the shore of Lake Garda in Italy: five children plus parents shoehorned into a 1960 split screen camper van (seriously snug – don’t try this at home). Perhaps these memories are with rose tinted memories (my parents only remember the breakdowns and 40mph maximum speed of the VW) but all I remember are warm sunny weeks, entire days spent in the water and a quantity of ice cream that was verging on illegal.
What’s your favourite holiday destination as a family?
Snow topped mountains, clear blue skies and fresh powder – it’s skiing every time for us.
It’s fab that Molly loves the mountains and enjoys hot chocolate on a sun drenched terrace as much as her dad and I do. It’s not so great that her technique, style, confidence and speed as she hurtles down the mountains leave me bringing up the rear these days… there’s a little humiliation when your child becomes a better skier than you.
What’s on your family holiday wish list?
There are so many places and so little time… Eco camping in Patagonia, snorkeling in the Maldives, exploring the backwaters and beaches of Kerala in Southern India, and a return trip to Lake Garda with my own family.