Floating motionless in the deep water of northern Italy’s exquisite Lago di Ledro in beating sun, I felt the contradictory sensation of simultaneous exertion and relaxation. My heart was thumping from the front crawl I’d just done, yet my mind basked in the beauty of this tree-lined valley and my brief, heavenly solitude.
I could pretend this was fortuitous, but in truth my dash to the centre of this little lake in the south of the Trentino region – at the exact midpoint of a three-week round trip from England to Italy by car – was premeditated. As a parent of two under-fives (at that moment happily distracted on shore), I had been visualising this for months: the revitalising lake swim alone was more or less justification for the 2,000-plus road miles. What I hadn’t pictured, however, were the swallows that would join me there, gracefully swooping within metres of my body, feeding out of reach from the hubbub at the lake’s circumference and – I like to think – out of earshot of their own young, chirruping in their nests.
My wife and I had brought our two boys – aged one and four – on holiday to the alpine foothills of Italy. We were spending a week in Trentino with her parents and, somewhat ambitiously, a week either side on the road. There were challenges aplenty but, whisper it, we actually had fun, too. So I’m about to make the case for what some might consider the unholy trinity of travel: long car journeys, young kids and … camping.
Why Valle di Ledro? Simply because this remarkably green, wildflower-speckled valley a few miles west of the top end of Lake Garda could be defined by the fundamentals that underpin all holidays with small children: exertion and relaxation interwoven. As abundant in recreation opportunities as in staggering natural beauty, Trentino is where you go having accepted that activity is an inescapable essential of parenting, at home or on holiday. And that the only way to secure the evening’s local pinot grigio is to ensure the day knackers the children into slumber. Nowhere does this better than Trentino. When its ski season melts away, the region’s flower-rich meadows, beech and fir woods, waterfalls, stunning mountains and placid waters are an outdoor pursuits playground.
Why drive? Well,…
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