CONNECT FOUR

Two single mothers and their children, plus one picturesque Devon cabin in a secluded cove, equals an ideal fake nuclear family holiday.

- Sophie Heawood

They eff you up, your mum and dad—by giving you such nice holidays that it can be a challenge to recreate them. I grew up in the picture-postcard version of a nuclear family, with a mum, a dad, a brother, and me all loaded into an old Alfa Romeo for Devon, on the south west coast of England, every summer. “I can see the sea. The beautiful blue-green sea,” we would sing as the car made its fateful last turn, the water finally in sight.

Now that I’m the single mother of a single child, it can feel impossible to give my daughter what my parents gave me. Which is why I decided to join forces with my friend, Emma, who’s in exactly the same position, and give our girls a taste of a nuclear family holiday. Two parents, two kids, and a cottage on the Devon coast—what could go wrong? Although neither of us drive or have any typical “dad” skills to offer, and our offspring are such wretched Londoners that they look aghast when we mention long walks and on the brink of a humanitarian crisis when we arrive at a corner shop that has run out of crisps.