| Luxury living is child 's play The great thing about the Azia Beach Hotel in Cyprus is that it 's five-star but not formal . So take the baby and relax , says Lena Corner Published : 23 July 2006 It 's often easier to stay at home than drag a child of an awkward age away on holiday . Fifteen-month-old Ronnie is at that in-between stage where he 's just learnt to walk and is terribly excited by his new skill but also frighteningly unsteady . A younger baby is more portable because it will sit in its pram and a toddler you can leave to run off steam . Ronnie does n't quite do either . So when our taxi finally swept into the forecourt of the Azia Beach Hotel and Spa , after a fairly fraught four-hour flight , the relief was immense . We checked into our room and popped Ronnie in his cot just in time to crack open a couple of ice-cold Keo beers and catch a blistering red sunset over the Mediterranean from the comfort of the hot tub on our balcony . The great thing about the Azia is that it does five-star without being formal or turgid . Its brochure is emblazoned with that old " barefoot glamour " cliché , but here it really works . This is the kind of place where a noisy baby at the dinner table gets serenaded by a musician rather than banished to its room . Although it 's a fairly average resort set-up , with a pool complex at the centre , a couple of restaurants , gym , tennis courts etc , last year a facelift - the addition of a luxurious Elemis spa along with plenty of muted earthy tones and contemporary styling - shifted it up-market . Ronnie made himself at home immediately . In the mornings he ate under a canopy of trees in the outdoor restaurant , before taking to the shallowest waters of the pool . When the sun got too high he checked into the kids ' club where Sophie and any other passing Azia staff drooled all over him as he tried to play . After a long siesta he would go for a leisurely jaunt to the nearby beach and in the evening a selection of jolly Russian baby sitters could be called upon to sing him to sleep . This left plenty of time for us to laze by the pool , or , in the evening , catch a taxi into Paphos ( a 10-minute drive away ) , where we indulged in , or rather gorged on , a 30-course fish mezze . The spa facilities were also put to good use - and it 's not just a couple of treatment rooms masquerading as a spa , it really is the full works ( voted by Grazia magazine as one of the world 's 10 best new spas ) . In the adjoining yoga centre I had one of the most vigorous yoga sessions I 've ever had . Fifteen years ago , all this was nothing but a patchwork of fields covered mainly with banana trees . Antis Economides , the owner , had the foresight to buy one . Then , when he had raised a bit more money , he bought another , until he had five on which the Azia now stands . The only drawback , if it is one , is that we were so firmly ensconced in the comfort of the Azia that our sense of wanderlust was completely dampened . The west coast of Cyprus does not have the big sandy beaches of the other side ; instead it has rocks and plenty of tiny , sandy coves . One hot morning , feeling unusually energetic , we caught the number 10 bus to Coral Bay . Lovely for an hour or so , but trying to pin a hot , sticky child down to the prickly seat on the way back was n't relaxing . The more adventurous could hire a Jeep and head on a little further to Cape Lara , a long sweep of unspoilt sand , and see where the green turtles come in to nest . Or , better still , get off the tourist trail and head inland to the villages at the foot of the magnificent Troodos Mountains . But , as soon as you venture out , there is the Brits-abroad reality check to contend with . Take the road along the coast either to the east or west and you will come across O'Solomon 's Irish bar , the Zik Zak club , Sid 's pub and any number of other Identikit tourist traps trying to lure you in with offers of beer at knockdown prices . And , as for the number of property companies vying for foreign trade , it will be a wonder if there are any Cypriots left on the island in five years . Not that any of this bothers Economides . His passion is not so much in the business of running a hotel - he leaves that to his wife and two daughters - but in the workings of his beloved plantation just outside Paphos . There , he cultivates the incredible array of plant-life that covers the Azia 's gardens and also grows around 80 per cent of the fruit used by the hotel - impressive , when you consider there are 250 rooms and 15 bungalows . So as well as the striking 50ft cerise bougainvillaea that grows up the stark white frontage of the Azia , there are palm trees of a type you will never have seen before and huge bushes of lavender , which gets used in the spa . And it is these luscious gardens , which slope down to the cliff edge , that sets the Azia apart from the rest . Economides really has created a luscious oasis in a hot , rocky corner of Cyprus . Even Ronnie , as he raced from the pool to the kids ' club , stopped for a split second to show his appreciation for one of the more Jurassic-looking protuberances by beating it repeatedly with his plastic spade . Argo Holidays ( 0870 066 7070 ; argoholidays . c om ) is offering seven nights at the Azia Club & Spa , Paphos , in an inland room , from £ 895 per adult , based on two sharing , and £ 269 per child aged two to 12 years sharing their parents ' room , including return flights from Gatwick , transfers and b&b |