Independent families: 'Where can I send an independent-minded teenager?'

Q. Do you have any ideas about holidays for teenagers? We have a 15-year-old daughter who is too old for happy-family stuff and just wants to be with her friends. However, they're not really quite old enough to go off on their own, and they don't want to do any of those pony-trekking-outdoors-organised-type holidays that might be open to them.

Surfing in the summer would, however, be acceptable, but it would have to be in the UK. They want to be somewhere where they're independent; we want them to be somewhere where they're independent but slightly looked-after. If you have any ideas, which have to be economic as well, we'd be really keen to know.
Penny Fox

A. Teenagers vary enormously in terms of how much support they need on their first solo ventures. Fifteen shouldn't be too young to give them a taste of freedom, but only you know whether you're happy for your daughter to have unchaperoned independence, or would secretly prefer her to stay somewhere fairly regimented, so the following includes a range of options.

If your daughter is set on surfing, the British Surfing Association (01637 876474; www.britsurf.co.uk) holds a list of accredited schools in the UK that is worth checking out, but the vast majority provide only training, expecting you to book accommodation separately.

One honourable exception is Wavehunters (0870 242 2856; www.wave hunters uk.com), a surf school and residential lodge in Port Isaac on the north coast of Cornwall. It offers three- or seven-day courses, consisting of two two-and-a-half-hour lessons a day, interspersed with organised activities such as sea-fishing. The nine-bed lodge tends to be filled with a mixture of surf-mad families and younger people, which will make for a home-from-home atmosphere, and serves breakfast every day. It can also provide a packed lunch and cooked dinner, if required.

A seven-day course costs £510 per person throughout the summer, which includes accommodation, transport, equipment, three meals a day, lessons - and a laid-back introduction to independence, with the surf instructors keeping a semi-official eye on your offspring during daylight hours.

More go-it-alone is the option of booking a course with Surf South West (01271 890400; www.surfsouth west.com), based in Croyde Bay, north Devon. This is an excellent school, with the highest possible level of accreditation from the BSA, offering a range of courses from half a day to five days - plenty of time for beginners to start standing up.

Croyde Bay itself is a great sweeping arc of sand with excellent surf, but if conditions get too rough, the school has transport to ferry pupils to two alternative, quieter beaches nearby. A Monday-Friday course in July and August, including eight half-day lessons, wetsuits and equipment, lunch, teas and coffees, costs £159 per person.

You will have to find accommodation for the girls, however - and, for obvious reasons, few campsites, hotels or self-catering cottages are willing to take bookings for solo under-16s.

Friendlier B&Bs sometimes consider it, though: perhaps because they are smaller and owners are on-site, they often feel more confident about accommodating unaccompanied teens. Try Oamaru B&B (01271 890765), 400m from the beach at Croyde, which has doubles, singles, and - ideal for your purposes - a three-bedroom room with private bathroom across the corridor. Rates are £25 per person per night year round, there is wetsuit and board storage, and the owners are used to looking after teenage girls - one surf-mad pair have been coming to stay with them every summer since their GCSE year.

If you would prefer the girls to be closely monitored, try Morfa Bay Outdoor Centre on the border of Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire (01994 453588; www.morfabay.com). Its Surf Activity Weeks give beginner and intermediate teenagers the chance to hit the waves without their parents in tow, as participants are accompanied by teachers to various beaches around south and west Wales: Pendine Sands, the Gower Peninsula - home to some of the best surfing in Britain - and the stunning Pembrokeshire coast.

The week includes several other supervised sessions in an array of activi- ties such as coasteering or orienteering. Accommodation is in single-storey wooden bunkhouses, or, more privately, in double rooms with en-suite bathrooms, and there are staff on duty 24 hours a day - though, unlike some activity centres, the girls won't be forced to participate in potentially embarrassing, organised evening entertainments.

A five-day surfing package, including full-board, instruction, equipment and travel to the various locations, costs £265 in high season; you'll probably find it easier to drive the girls to the centre, but Tenby is the nearest rail link.

A good source for further reading is Footprint's new Surfing Britain guide (£14.99) by Chris Nelson and Demi Taylor, which lists surf schools, accommodation options and surf shops around the country.

Send your family travel questions to The Independent Parent, Travel Desk, The Independent, 191 Marsh Wall, London E14 9RS or e-mail crusoe@independent.co.uk