Relaxing and away from it all

I was whisked away by the family to celebrate an important birthday milestone of mine over the weekend. We booked into a Moshav guest house, Hofetz Haim. The accommodation was rather like a wooden Swiss style chalet with an en suite bedroom for ourselves, including jaccuzzi. In addition to another bedroom suitable for sleeping 4 children, there was a gallery ostensibly for a children’s “overflow” sleeping area.

This gallery became quite an attraction and we found ourselves “hosting” 6 granddaughters after they had moved mattresses from the bedroom and up to the gallery.

The moshav is in the south of the country and because it is situated in an enclosed area, children are free to run around without getting lost, thus relieving the parents of quite a lot of responsibility.

The food was plentiful, the company of all the children, grandchildren and in laws was great and the computerized presentation of my life, prepared by the children was quite a surprise.

Such a weekend is available at so many kibbutzim and moshavim and it makes a great place to take the family at reasonable cost. With small children, a hotel can be a daunting affair since they cannot run around without disturbing other guests. The atmosphere in country style accommodation is quite unique. There are the views, the close proximity to the residents of the kibbutz or moshav and also the opportunity to see how they finance their community other than through tourism, often by maintaining dairy cattle or light industry or agriculture.

It isn’t always necessary to fly off to distant parts for a period of relaxing. There are some great places close to home.