By ANDREW STRAUSS

Breathtaking: Andrew's clifftop hotel afforded views over the stunning Sorrento town


When you get a week off during the cricket season, it's great to get away from the pressure completely in a lovely hotel in a fabulous seaside location. And I'm convinced there is no better seaside place in the world than Sorrento.

Professional cricket for me is more or less a year-round activity, so finding time for a family holiday is always a bit of a challenge - we're lucky if we get one proper family holiday each year.

So my wife Ruth and I gleefully seized the chance to escape England's washout August with a trip to Italy during a break between the Bangladesh Test series and the one-day matches.

Sorrento is fairly easy to get to, compared to our frequent jaunts to places like South Africa and Australia. Ruth and I are great lovers of Italy - the food, the wine, the stunning scenery, especially Tuscany and Umbria. We flew to Naples and from there it was an easy 60-minute transfer to Sorrento.

It would be hard to imagine a more perfect place to stay in Sorrento than the Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria, which is in a breathtaking location very near the centre of town.

The hotel stands on the top of a cliff. A lift takes you down to sea level, while up above there is a grandstand view of the Mediterranean with myriad boats coming and going.


Calm before the storm: Before the Ashes, Andrew Strauss and his wife Ruth planned an escape to Italy


If you're looking to relax, a good swimming pool is important, and the Grand Hotel has a beauty: nice and big with lots of room around it to lie back on sun loungers.

There were always enthusiastic staff on hand, anxious to bring towels and drinks. Next to the pool was a great place to have lunch.

It seems no short break anywhere in the world can be considered complete without a visit to the spa. My wife was delighted by La Serra, the hotel's 'boutique' spa located in a converted greenhouse set in a garden of olive and orange trees.

So while Ruth was 'rebalancing' her energy channels, I was busy 'switching off' mine, and after a day on a sun lounger, those workaday cricketing anxieties melted away.

As Ruth and I were on our own, without the children, we had no reason to do anything except lie by the pool reading. This was just what I was looking for.

But we did stir ourselves to take one big excursion to Pompeii - the Roman city that was buried under 18ft of volcanic ash when Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. It lay undiscovered until the 17th Century.

The houses, baths and forum are amazingly well preserved and seeing the excavated buildings was astonishing. Most eerie are the plaster casts of doomed inhabitants, formed from spaces in the ash layer where human remains were found.

I'd been told it can be a bit of a madhouse for tourists, but the day we visited it was surprisingly quiet. We were lucky. We had a very good guide who conjured up for us what life was like there.


Aiming high: The famous Excelsior Vittoria Palace Hotel and its admirable view


While I travel a lot for cricket, sadly we don't really get much of a chance to see the nation we are visiting. We go from hotel to cricket ground to airport, glimpsing the country through bus windows as we go. Yet I'm pleased to say that I have seen a lot of Australia on other trips.

My wife is Australian - from Ballarat, outside Melbourne. And I know South Africa very well; it's an amazing country with so many different things to enjoy, from mountains to beaches and safaris.

Christmas will be very special this year. We'll be in Melbourne for the Fourth Test against Australia, which starts on Boxing Day. It will be hard to get into the Christmas spirit knowing we have a big game the next day. But it will be wonderful to be with the family.

With luck, the Ashes will be going so well by then that we will already have won the series and will be able to relax!

Travel Facts
The Cleveland Collection (0845 450 5732, www.clevelandcollection.co.uk) offers a three-night break at the Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria in Sorrento from £669 per person including return flights from Gatwick, transfers and breakfast.


source: dailymail