A new adventure holiday company has been formed to cater for single parent families who want to spend their precious time together bonding through active leisure pursuits. The Kids and Me -thekidsandme.co.uk- offers a range of adventure holidays in the UK and abroad, that combine fun adventure activities with high quality food and comfortable lodge accommodation for single parents and their children, aged 10 years+.
According to figures from single parent family charity Gingerbread and the Fatherhood Institute there are 1.7m single mums and 200,000 single dads in the UK living with their children. That means some 1.7m non resident dads and 200,000 non resident mums are separated from their offspring.
"Single parent travel firms usually provide holidays to a hotel with a kids club, and adventure travel companies have adventure travel, but what is unique about The Kids and Me is that we are offering a full package of adventure activities that parent and children can do together," explained founder Richard Gould.
Gould, a successful Kent-based businessman, is also a divorced dad of three children. He set up the company primarily to help single parent families have quality time with their kids.
He continued, "As a single dad, I found that most adventure holiday companies were aimed really at young singles, while existing single parent holidays were about going to a comfortable hotel in the sunshine and spending time apart. I wanted to make the most of the time together with my children, and I've found that a great way of doing this is through holidays with plenty of adventure activities. You do things together and at the end of the day you are tired, smiling and have reconnected with each other. We've stayed in Berber tents in the Atlas, log cabins in Sweden, been coasteering, canoeing and camping. That was where I got the idea for the company.
"Post divorce, the traditional family-type holidays were no longer possible due to my changed financial circumstances. So I thought it must be possible to put together great ski chalet-style food in a mountain lodge, throw in a mix of fun activities that allow parents to do stuff together with their kids and build shared memories of special times - exactly what The Kids and Me sets out to achieve and we're looking forward to helping single parents and their children reconnect with each other."
The focus for The Kids and Me initially is on a range of holidays for parents and children in the 10 year + range, including activities that boys and girls will enjoy. These include some of the following:
- Coasteering around the dramatic Pembrokeshire coastline
- mountain biking on wild trails on Arran
- forest woodcraft skills in northern sweden
- rock climbing on dramatic sea cliffs
- white water rafting in the pyrenees
- canoeing expeditions, and wild camping
Locations have been chosen to offer a mix of valu.e and adventure - from Pembrokeshire, Wales- with its stunning seacliffs, to the wild beauty of Arran, from the lakes and forests of Northern Sweden, above the Arctic Circle, to the edges of the Atlas Mountains.