OASIS OF CALM

Kim Wiltshire found holidays with her neurodiverse family stressful - until she found tranquillity in Ria Formosa

- Kim Wiltshire

In 2017, we drove home from a nightmarish camping trip in Somerset with our children, thinking we would never go on holiday again. We were miserable and a bit beaten, battered by the meltdowns and the stress.

That night, we reminisced about the holidays we'd had when we were just a couple, such as the fortnight in a whitewashed cottage on Culatra, a Portuguese island in the Ria Formosa lagoon. As we looked at each other, I slowly began to wonder if it would be possible to return as a family.

New places can be anxiety-inducing for anyone, but for neurodivergent kids, the prospect can be truly hellish. My son Thomas has autism spectrum disorder (ASD), dyspraxia and learning needs, while his brother, Harry, has ADHD.

We had never entertained the idea of venturing abroad as a family. Dealing with security queues, coach transfers, different time zones, no space around the pool and cramped apartments had always seemed like too much of a challenge.

But the Ria Formosa islands - which include Baretta, Fuseta, Armona, Culatra and Farol are special, and we thought it might, just about, be possible to visit together.

Crucially, they are car-free, and commercialisation is minimal. In 1987, the Portuguese government designated the tidal lagoon a national park to protect its unique biodiversity. This means that human intervention is slight: while people have reportedly lived on the remote peninsula for thousands of years, development has been limited.