A family holiday can be a wonderful luxury in life - getting up at early hours of the morning, travelling to the airport and getting ready to board the plane. Sadly, for some people like me this experience is not quite as fun, in fact it is about as daunting as it gets.

Having a child with challenging behaviour and sensory processing difficulties means the thought of all this is terrifying; you can plan, plan and plan some more but ultimately you can't ensure you will make that trip. Of course, like any other child, my son loves the idea of going on holiday, doing activities, spending quality time with his family and diving in the pool but unfortunately for us it's just not that simple.

The truth is for me a holiday abroad requires a holiday itself. After many attempts resulting in crisis we had made peace with the fact a holiday wasn't ever on the cards for us...

Then one summer I was gifted a weekend away in a log cabin, just a short journey away, and decided to give it a go. All I can say is the few days we spent tucked away in the cabin, relaxing in the hot tub under the stars, was just incredible. My son was able to be himself, without fear of judgement or worry that we would upset other holiday makers was pure bliss.

Circles Network have discovered a way to enable children like mine to have this experience by purchasing a log cabin in Tallington Lakes, just 20 minutes from Peterborough. Somewhere for families to go or for facilitators to take the child/young person, allowing families that well deserved guilt free respite.

Children and young people with autism, poor mental health, learning difficulties and challenging behaviour struggle more than most and going on holiday is a big barrier for them. This log cabin is a chance to knock down that barrier and help families like mine create lasting beautiful memories that they will cherish for years.

Fay Jones

Parent whose child benefits from Circles Network