Florida lets a dream is a villa that can hold up to 8 people. It has a child’s bedroom which has 3 beds, 1 single and one bunk bed. It is extremely comfortable and has a TV and on the wall and a wardrobe in the corner. It is a very spacious closet that comes with coat-hangers. The room has plenty of space for children to play and drawers to store your cloths.

There are two other bedrooms and one of those is the master bedroom that also has a walk in bathroom which contains

A shower/bath, a toilet and another walk in closet. The bedroom, by the pool, has a large set of drawers with a mirror on top is next to the huge TV on the wall. The bed is very comfy and has a bath towel on ready for your visit. There is also a cupboard which is a bit bigger than the others.

The dining room is a lovely relaxing area and has a lot of beautiful flowers whilst eating a delicious American dinner. The kitchen is right next to the dining area. The kitchen contains a cooker, an oven, a microwave and a dishwasher. There is obviously the things a kitchen would normally have. The fridge has a water machine so you can get a delicious drink in the hot weather.

The living room is very luxurious as the settees are so relaxing and there is a massive TV for your family to watch. There are broachers that we have left for you to read there and coupons which you can use to get cheaper meals.

In the garage there is a pool table for you to enjoy and a football table for the little ones to play. There are also 3 closets. One holds the important things like the brush and vacuum cleaner. The one in the middle is the owner’s cupboard which we forbid you to touch as it as our private things in. and the last one just contains the boiler and the stuff for the beach which you may use.

And finally the pool which is the biggest part of the house as it is not just a pool it is also a pool area which is a place for the whole family to sit and talk. So your kids could be in the pool and you could be relaxing but watching at the same time. You must supervise your children whilst in the pool as if any thing was too happen it would be your fault. And you have a view of fields that go far back.

We stayed in a hotel room which had no fridge and had to keep his milk in an ice bucket we were constantly topping up; we put him to bed at 7pm and sat in the dark and silence until we thought he was asleep and it was safe to put the TV on (with subtitles, because we couldn’t risk any volume), and we worried ourselves sick about how we were to find healthy child-friendly meals for him while having to eat out every single meal.

What saved our sanity was discovering the huge benefits of renting (and more recently owning) our very own villa.

The standard of villas for rent in Orlando, Florida is truly outstanding. The villas at Cumbrian Lakes are all equipped to a higher standard than our own home. The kitchens include every appliance you could need, meaning as parents we can shop at the local supermarkets and prepare and store exactly the meals that we know our toddler will eat. Villas range from three bedrooms to six (or even more) so no matter how large your family, the children can go off to a comfortable bed at their usual time, leaving you to enjoy a really relaxed evening, watching a movie, savouring an al fresco barbecue or even lapping up a soak in the spa.

In addition, the vast majority of villas have their own private pools, with child guards and child-proof alarms on the external doors, meaning you have the perfect on-site activity for all the family to enjoy. Many villas include a games room, which is ideal for older children, as well as a collection of DVDs, books and board games.

Cumbrian Lakes has its own children’s play area, three lakes which are home to baby alligators, turtles and numerous sea birds, and nature walks and bike tracks – all within a secure gated community.

There are people out there who probably balk at the idea of a holiday where you do your own cooking and washing up, but having discovered the freedom, flexibility and the standard of accommodation this style of holiday affords, we will never go back to hotels – not even after the kids leave home!

We went out for a 3 week holiday and didn’t have the slightest idea where to begin and having 2 young children with us didn’t help so we came home and a couple of years later happened to see an advert for a Florida property show in York. That was near enough so off we went, we came back armed with lots of information and later that year arranged to fly out without the kids to have a proper look.

We stayed on the Manors North at Westridge and ended up buying the identical house off-plan on the Manors south which at that time was all sand! The location was ideal for us, close to the shops and not too far from Disney world, of course there is a lot more along the US27 now.

We realised that we wanted a home with a west or south facing pool, not overlooked and not adjacent to the highway and because we bought off plan we were able to choose our lot, albeit at a premium but it was worth it.

Then came a whirlwind round of choosing carpets, tiles, furniture, shape of the pool, colour of appliances and what seemed like a thousand choices to make in that one short week. We also chose to have a 2nd en-suite bathroom instead of a utility room and patio doors in the master bedroom.

Then came a fairly stressful few months waiting for the house to be finished and taking a few tentative bookings on the strength of a completion date. We finally completed in September 2000 and nothing can compare to the feeling of owning your own, spanking brand new home in the Sunshine state.

It’s not all been plain sailing and everytime we go we replenish, re-stock, replace, to keep the house in mint condition. All in all it’s worth it and we still get that same great feeling as we walk in through our own front door.

Surrounding the villa is conservation woodland and “Poohshouse” backs onto it. From the pool area you can see the beautiful butterflies and numerous red admiral birds feed from the bird feeder. Buzzards fly high over the area and an owl or two has been seen on the branches of the trees by the pool area as well as the small eagles. it is so relaxing to get up early morning and sit with your coffee and listen to the birds and the wild life.

In October, the houses are decorated in the Halloween theme and we have to make sure that we have plenty of sweets ready as the whole estate gets involved and whole families come dressed up, knocking at the door to “Trick or treat”. So far we have been lucky not to have had a trick played on us. (Thank heavens for Wall Marts endless supply of sweets, dressing up masks and witches hats, which I might add is open 24hrs of the day).

In December the whole estate comes to life again with all the villas decorated with twinkling Christmas lights over bushes and candy stick lights in the ground, there are blow-up snowmen, and even reindeers on the roof. Each year there seems to be competition to see who can get the brightest of displays and all friends and neighbours get involved in decorating the houses.

On New Years Eve we all head off to Disney for the New Years Eve firework display. AMAZING NIGHT although very packed it is nice to see the firework display and the excitement for both adults and children.