THIS IS the deal. You can a) tearfully admit to your nearest and dearest that no, you haven’t booked the summer holiday yet, and wait for the divorce papers to drop onto the mat. Or you can b) quietly book a cracker from our selection of the best of what’s left (there’s some good stuff around, even a few bargains creeping in), pretend you’d planned it as a surprise all along, and earn their everlasting gratitude and admiration. Leave it with you.

UK: family-friendly farm holidays tend to go fast, but Premier Cottages (www.premiercottages.com) still has the week from July 27 at Holwell Farm Cottages, four beautifully converted barns hidden away on Dartmoor: five-star luxury for parents, chickens, sheep, pigs and donkeys for the kids to fuss over. Not cheap, though: a cottage sleeping six is £1,450.

Half the price, but masses to do: the activities specialist PGL (0870 050 7507, www.pgl.co.uk ) is offering a special reduction for Sunday Times readers on its raft-building, rope-sliding, rock-climbing, quad-biking family challenge weeks at Barton Hall, Devon. Each adult can bring two kids free – so a week in a family room for mum, dad and two kids, from July 21 or August 11, will cost £700. Quote SFAM7.

Spain: Exodus (0870 950 0029, www.exodus.co.uk ) is running yoga-themed trips to Andalusia. Beginners and intermediates can get to grips with their locust, eagle and tree positions at the company’s base, a pretty little hotel in olive-grove-strewn hills near Ronda; and, when your chakras are neatly aligned, there are escorted trips to Seville, Cordoba and the “white villages“. Leaving on July 28 or August 4, a week costs £780pp, half-board, including flights.

For sheer value, this is hard to beat: Venue Holidays (01233 629950, www.venueholidays.co.uk ) has knocked £264 off a 13-night break at Camping Playa Brava, on the Costa Brava. The price for a family of six in a fully equipped tent from August 19 is now just £490, including Channel crossings. Not the Ritz, but it has a pool, beach, windsurfing and three water parks nearby – the kids should love it.

Italy: good stuff is thin on the ground, but you can bag a 10th-century Umbrian fortress. Okay, not the whole place – La Rocca has been split into eight apartments – but you get a pool, tennis courts and a good restaurant, which the original inhabitants didn’t have. La Colombaia is roomy, sleeps six and costs £873 for the week from July 28 with Real Holidays (020 7359 3938, www.realholidays.co.uk ), which can arrange flights and car hire.

There’s also a bargain in Sorrento. Citalia (0870 909 7554, www.citalia.com ) has knocked more than £300 off the price of a week at the Imperial Tramontano hotel, on the Bay of Naples; it’s now £499pp, B&B, from July 20, including flights. Shelley, Byron and Keats liked it here, and they didn’t get anything like that sort of deal.

Croatia: the best of Croatia’s crinkly coastline is accessible only by sea, and paddling your own canoe is the most satisfying way to reach it. Hidden Croatia (0800 021 7771, www.hiddencroatia.com ) has a week of sea-kayaking around the Elafiti islands, suitable for eight-year-olds and up (beginners welcome). Most dates in July and August are available; prices start at £449pp, staying half-board at local homestays, including kit and an instructor, but not flights – make for Dubrovnik with Flybe (0871 522 6100, www.flybe.com ) or Thomsonfly (0870 190 0737, www.thomsonfly.com ).

Greece: serious money, this one, but it’s a spectacular place. Villa Pyrgos is an old winery and mill complex, high on Santorini, with views across to the rim of the caldera and 14 surrounding islands. Inside, it’s all polished stone, Turkish rugs and power showers, a neat blend of modern and trad. Sleeping eight, it costs £5,915 for a week in July or August with The Villa Book (0845 500 2000, www.thevillabook.com ), including car, but not flights: jet to Santorini with Excel (www.xl.com ) or Thomsonfly (0870 190 0737, www.thomsonfly.com ).

No, I couldn’t afford that either. But Vintage Travel (0845 344 0420, www.vintagetravel.co.uk ) has knocked £400 off Villa Agrapidia, on Ithaca (plenty of epic history to delve into). It’s smart, simple and modern, sleeps six, has a pool and is a mile from the beach. That’ll do the job. A week from July 22, July 29 or August 5 costs £1,695, excluding flights: fly to Cephalonia with Thomsonfly or Excel (as above).

If you want something more active than a villa flop – but not by much – Explore (0870 333 4001, www.explore.co.uk ) has space on an Aegean cruise on a 16-berth wooden caïque. Land-based sightseeing for those who want it; swimming, snorkelling and sunbathing for those who don’t. Leaving on July 21, a week costs £665pp (£615 per child), B&B, with flights.

Turkey: how come living alone is fine, but going on holiday alone is sometimes seen as sad? A guaranteed talking point at the Villa Aurora hotel in Oludeniz, taken over for the season by the singles specialist Friendship Travel (0870 850 0344, www.friendshiptravel. com ). There’s space on the weeks from July 23 and July 30; prices start at £579, half-board, including flights and (hallelujah) a twin room to yourself.

Morocco: in high summer? Are you mad? Nope – Families Worldwide (0845 051 4567, www.familiesworldwide.co.uk ) will even take children to walk the High Atlas mountains in July, where the cooling breezes at 8,000ft mean a comfortable stroll (or mule ride for little ones). Eight days, leaving on July 21 or 28, cost £689pp (£569 per child), including flights, guides and most meals.

Egypt: now Sharm el Sheikh really is baking at this time of year – but that’s ideal when you’re going to spend a lot of time underwater. Explorers (0845 094 3367, www.explorers.co.uk ) has space on its family learn-to-dive weeks, leaving on August 9, 16 or 23; from £399pp, B&B, including flights and a two-day Padi course for adults and children aged 10 or up. Extra diving days cost £40.

Iceland: warm water? Pah – that’s for wimps. The summer’s most intriguing short break is a dive in a crystal-clear lake between two tectonic plates – a sheer drop to the very spot where the earth’s crust is being formed. Prices start at £999pp for four days, including flights, dive and three nights at the hip Hotel 101 in Reykjavik, with Black Tomato (020 7610 9008, www.blacktomato.co.uk ).

All holidays were available at the time of going to press

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