THE MALLORCAN village of Deià is a Mediterranean jewel which over the past 100 years has attracted artists and writers, most famously British poet and novelist Robert Graves. Nowadays v isitors are as likely to be such A -list celebrities as Michael Douglas or Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Deià is 40 minutes' drive from the capital Palma and I travelled there with my wife Ameera and our children Allegra, eight, and Tiger, three.
We split the holiday between two exceptional hotels and a rented holiday villa.

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LA RESIDENCIA
Even though it may feel as though La Residencia is reserved for the international glitterati, as long as you are here you are made to feel like stars of this jet-set family.
Nestled in the Tramuntana Mountains and with a stunning panorama of the Mediterranean and cliffs below, this hotel weaves its dreamy spell.
Having spent a lifetime in hotels on film locations, "La Res" is my favourite home away from home.
Once owned by Richard Branson and now by Orient-Express Hotels, it has an individual flair and ambience hard to beat.

Travelling with children you become acutely aware of child-friendly nationalities. The hotel staff treated our two little girls as if they were their own.
During school holidays the hotel relaxes its no children under the age of 10 policy and allows families to enjoy the pool which sits like an amphitheatre in the sun-drenched mountains. For those wanting to opt for tranquility, there is a child-free pool on another level of the terrace.
There is also the award-winning spa in which to relax and unwind, a gym and tennis courts.

I loved nothing more than taking the hotel's mountain bike out in the early evening light before returning to La Residencia's candle-lit terrace for a glass of crisp cava.
La Residencia (0845 077 2222/ hotel-laresidencia.com) offers double rooms from £409 per night (two sharing), B&B.

SA PEDRISSA
A charming Deià getaway, this eight-room, 17th-century manor house overlooking the town is a sanctuary of serenity. Sa Pedrissa is one of those lovely hotels you want to keep a secret because it really is a gem and you don't want anyone else to know about it.

We had breakfast, lunch and dinner in the hotel's open-air restaurant and by the pool I peacefully devoured my Graves biographies.
With the balance of attentive service that was never invasive it was easy to slip into holiday mode.

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It didn't take long before the hypnotic lull of crickets would send me to sleep on the sunlounger only to be cruelly woken by my children using me as a human trampoline.
Most of all I adored the Saturday evening barbecue. As the lanterns blew leisurely in the branches of the vines above us, we sat down to a delicious feast under the stars, enough to calm all the stresses of the previous week in London.

Sa Pedrissa (dialling from the UK: 0034 971 639 111/sapedrissa.com) offers double rooms from £149 per room, per night (two sharing), B&B. Thomson Airways (0871 231 3235/thomson.co.uk/flights) offers return flights from Gatwick to Mallorca from £169pp.

VILLA SA CALA
Nearby is the beautiful fishermen's cove of Cala Deià and just 200m away is a stone, two-storey beachside villa that for a week became Casa Mac.
There is something soothing about being able to chill out in the shade with the children on a hammock and the freedom to be as noisy as you like.
The four-bedroom villa could easily accommodate two families.

If you were really lazy and feeling extravagant you could arrange for a cook to come to the villa to prepare meals and a wine-tasting evening could be organised at the house.

I was happy to devour the local ham and cheese for lunch and in the evenings my appetite stretched to homemade tapas and poolside barbecue.
Sa Cala's French windows are sheltered by bougainvillea and open on to a balconied terrace and swimming pool that looks down on the cove below. There were long evenings spent beside the pool listening to music and sipping fine cava that would rival any champagne.

Dining al fresco with the children playing about our feet gave me the productive time doing exactly nothing: that essential ingredient for happy families.
It was magical and such holiday moments make memories that last a lifetime.

Owners Direct (01372 734 555/ ownersdirect.co.uk) offers seven nights at the Villa Sa Cala, with pool, from £5,045 (sleeps eight).
Owners Direct also offers seven nights at a four-bedroomed villa (sleeps seven) in Deià, with pool, from £1,033.
Spanish Tourist Office: 020 7486 8077/spain.info