I Took a Night Off Parenting With a Solo Hotel Stay – It Was Stunning

Let’s be honest, the summer holidays are some kind of sick joke. Don’t get me wrong, I love my kids, and I am so grateful to be in the position to have three healthy, happy, beautiful children that, without a doubt, have been the best thing to ever happen to me. But those three children are all under the age of four, and while I really do try to treasure and enjoy every moment, I still can’t help but feel that whoever invented the six-week holidays really was taking the p*ss out of parents.

Whether you’re a working parent trying to sort childcare (eugh) or a stay-at-home mum/dad, the summer hols are equally as difficult for us all. Keeping a kid – in my case three of them, all with 10-second attention spans – occupied and happy for the best part of two months is hardcore. And when daily school-run life just returns, it can be hard to recover.

So it came as no surprise to me that, according to research conducted by IHG Hotels and Resorts, a whopping 70% of parents admitted to feeling exhausted after the summer holidays, with 68% even going as far to say that they’re in need of a solo break. A “break after the break”, so to speak. My saving grace was when I was offered the opportunity to try out IHG Hotels and Resorts’ new “Night On My Own” (NOMO) package, the hotel group’s solution to the post-summer exhaustion. The package is designed for parents needing a reset and involves 20% off rooms, food and drink to help you take the time you probably need. I’m lucky enough to be in the position to have help with childcare, so I didn’t ask, but TOLD my partner, that, for the sake of my own sanity, I’d be escaping to indulge in some much-needed time on my own. And as a journalist, it’s all in the name of “work” of course, so he couldn’t put up too much of a fight and it made things more guilt-free for me. Everyone’s a winner.

Admittedly, as a parent, you never switch off from your children – even when you’re not with them, you’re still wondering if they’re OK, if they have everything they need, and whether their (perfectly capable) dad can keep them alive for 24 hours. But being physically alone and away from the tantrums, constant demands and nappy changing for a day sounded like a dream.

I opted to stay at voco Oxford Thames, a beautiful IHG hotel nestled about 15 minutes away from Oxford’s city centre. It was a two-hour drive from my house, but I had never been to Oxford before and had heard great things. To travel a bit further afield to somewhere unfamiliar made the experience feel more like a break – and is it weird that I actually found the car journey a break in itself? I stuck on some tunes and went on my merry way straight after the school run, even finding time to sneak in a cheeky Costa stop en route. To my surprise, the traffic didn’t even bother me as I wasn’t in a constant state of panic that the three-year-old I usually have in the back would need to stop for an emergency wee.

On arrival, I checked in to my room and headed down to the spa rooms for a full body massage. The knots I heard popping in my back alone reaffirmed to me how in-need this break really was. Afterwards I had a bit of lunch in the hotel’s bar and sat alone, people-watching, with nowhere to be, and no one to answer to. It was bliss.

As the day got later, and as a person that so used to being on-the-go, I found myself getting a little antsy – so I decided to drive myself into town for a spot of uninterrupted, un-rushed and guilt-free retail therapy (for MYSELF for once!), followed by a solo dinner before driving back to the hotel, getting into bed and finishing off the Netflix series I had been too knackered to watch for weeks prior.

I woke up (after a magical full night’s sleep) to breakfast in bed (a full English) and got ready to leave – but not without taking full advantage of the late check-out that the NOMO package offers. Parents aren’t rushed here.

As an ex-beauty editor, I have experienced some pretty indulgent trips in my time. Some were so luxurious that it’s actually shameful to have ever called it work. But despite having been lucky enough to travel the world, visit numerous spas in several countries and stayed at some of the most prestigious hotels on the planet in the past, nothing had ever felt quite as stunning as the 24 hours of SILENCE that I experienced during my stay.

Time without a teething baby, without a four-year-old that just DOES NOT STOP TALKING (just as you think the sentence is ending… you get hit with another connective word), a three-year-old that outsmarts me with her sass on a daily basis, and two feral poodles that I, quite frankly, have no control over whatsoever. No Ms Rachel in the background, no dodgy Elsa toy that sings the same verse of Let it Go on repeat, and no having to bribe a toddler with a packet of Haribo if she JUST EATS ONE MORE FISH FINGER! But best of all? No hour-long tantrum from my daughter at bedtime, the likes of which would reduce even Mother Theresa to tears (not even exaggerating). Utter BLISS.

My advice? BOOK IT. You’ll come back revived, refreshed and with your patience fully restored.

You can read more about the IHG Hotels Night On My Own package here. The package is available to book until 4 October, and stays must take place before 25 October.