My best ever break as a single mum — in the Maldives

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The Crusoe villa at Soneva Secret


[Hadley Freeman](https://www.thetimes.com/profile/hadley-freeman)

Saturday September 12 2026, 5.00am BST, The Sunday Times

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Who goes to a private island? Billionaires. Bond villains. And now — in an extremely unexpected turn of events — me. “Welcome, I will show you the way to your villa,” says a cheerful young woman who introduces herself as Ruhushara to my three young children and me as we disembark from our 45-minute sea plane onto Haa Dhaalu, one of the most remote atolls in the Maldives. It looks, at first dazed glimpse, like a 1990s Bacardi advert, all white sand and barely existent paths and not another human being in sight. Previous February half-terms have been spent in overcrowded north London soft-play centres and rainy playgrounds. Toto, we’re not in a soft-play centre now.

Once a decent spa and an egg-shaped bathtub were enough for a hotel to call itself luxury. But the bar rises faster than the steam in your personal in-room sauna. The Old Etonian Sonu Shivdasani and his wife Eva have played a big part in lifting that bar, having created, first, the Six Senses international hotel chain, followed by the more boutique but no less fabulous Soneva resorts in the Maldives and [Thailand](https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/asia-travel/thailand). Six Senses (which Shivdasani sold in 2012) and Soneva took the starchy formality out of the high-end hotel business and replaced it with an unspoilt bohemian luxe vibe and personalised service. The Shivdasanis sold their majority stake in the Soneva Group last year to KSL Capital Partners, an American private equity firm. But the year before they left they took luxury one step further by opening Soneva Secret, which has 13 villas and offers the near-as-dammit private island experience to holidaymakers who are maybe in the 1 per cent rather than the 0.1 per cent.

Hadley’s three children in their villa pool

As Ruhushara walks us to our villa (beachfront, breathtakingly beautiful and about three times bigger than our actual home), she explains that she will be our “barefoot guardian”, a Soneva coinage which means she will be our personal concierge, providing one-on-one service. Another Soneva phrase is “no news, no shoes”, so Ruhushara — with an impressive lack of visible disgust — takes away the sweaty, horrible trainers we’ve been wearing for the past 15 hours on our journey here, and our shocked, newly liberated feet sink into the soft sand. She then offers to show us around the island on the bicycles that are waiting for us (another Soneva signature.) But the kids have spotted the pool at the back of our villa and are already stripping off and jumping in. “Would you like me to watch the children while you rest after the journey?” Ruhushara says, seeing my frantic, jet-lagged eyes trying to keep track of each child. At which point I come perilously close to weeping with happiness.

I became a single parent three years ago, when my twins were seven and my youngest was three. In the immediate wake of the separation, I wouldn’t say holidays were at the top of my list of concerns but I’d definitely put them in the top ten. How would I cope with long-haul flights with three children on my own? And how would I watch all of them around the pool? In the intervening years I have come up with various strategies — let them watch all the films they want on planes, try to go on holidays with friends — but it turns out there’s an even better option that until now had never entered my brain. Why not go to an insanely luxurious private island in the Maldives? Yes, Soneva Secret is definitely aimed at couples, with the emphasis being very much on romantic privacy, to the point that two of the villas are out in the sea, accessible only by boat, which is definitely not a child-friendly set-up. But, those villas aside, it turns out to be completely ideal for the harried single parent too.

- **Where is it?** Soneva Secret, on Haa Dhaalu, a remote atoll in the Maldives - **Who will love it?** Luxury lifestylers, privacy seekers - **Insider tip** Yes, it’s romantic, but it’s also brilliant for children and heaven for single parents - **How to do it** You can book Hadley’s exact itinerary with [Times Holidays](https://www.thetimes.com/holidays/packages/soneva-secret-makunudhoo-atoll-maldives/?utm_source=scott-dunn-andutm_medium=edition-andutm_campaign=my-ultimate-family-holiday-on-the-most-remote-atoll-in-the-maldives). Quote reference THOLJH013

To be fair, it’s hard to imagine anyone who Soneva Secret wouldn’t be perfect for, because it will be whatever you want it to be. That is what you’re paying for. So if you want to hide away in your villa the whole time — which most of the guests do, explaining why I barely see a single other human other than my children and Ruhushara during my time there — that’s no problem, and a private chef and yoga instructor will come straight to your door. On the other hand, if you want someone to help you with your children and keep them constantly entertained in the most idyllic setting in the world, then this is the place. It may well be the most expensive kind of childcare in the world but, wow, what childcare.

Inside one of the villas