There was a wave machine, a mountain of ice-cream and a man the wrong side of 50 dressed as a pirate at the kids’ disco.

A weekend at the Sunparks resort near De Haan on the Flanders coast it was, then.

We could have explored the beaches, checked out the Art Deco architecture of the nearby town, or sampled some of the local haute cuisine.

But Maya and Olivia [pictured above] were actually quite happy to stay on site, dance to Europop kids’ anthems and splash around in the Aquafun Centre.

It was Eurovision meets CBeebies and, as the tag-along dad, I was happy to just go with it.

Look out for a full report in a forthcoming issue of National Geographic Traveller (Family).

Meanwhile, see a Flickr album of images and check out a couple of Vimeo videos (kids’ disco) and (wave machine) from the trip.

What was your experience of Sunparks? Post your comments below.

And, if you liked this, try also Family Cycling in Holland