One of the best holidays I've ever had with my family was a trip to Costa Rica. We saw a magnificently erupting volcano, a magical quetzal bird in the cloud forest, rainbow-billed toucans and a four-eyed opossum. But there was one black spot - a hotel that still sends shivers down my spine. It was a so-called eco lodge, three miles from the nearest road and even further from any town or village, and we were dropped off there for three days of outdoor adventure.

If I'd seen our room before our driver left us, I'd have leapt on the bonnet to stop him. A cheerless, cramped little box in the grounds, with just enough room for two double beds. One wall was composed entirely of flimsy, wafer-thin glass, held in place by a DIY-looking wooden frame - potentially lethal for two jack-in-the-box boys aged nine and 11. Things didn't get any better when we walked to the main hotel building where a dinner buffet was laid out on grubby tablecloths crawling with flies. The food looked as though it was left-overs from a party the night before, so we made do with some slices of stale bread and joined the entire hotel staff by the television (unsurprisingly there didn't seem to be any other resident guests) to watch Costa Rica play a World Cup football match. By half time the boys were nearly asleep so I took them back through the now lamplit grounds while my husband, beer and Costa Rica flag in hand, settled down for the second half. As we passed some bushes I heard a rustle and glanced down to see a large snake flex and whip across the path between me and the two boys - who were just a few yards ahead. In the dim light it looked horribly like a deadly Fer de Lance viper. The boys were oblivious, thank heavens, but that was only because they were preoccupied by the ferocious barking of a large dog - which seemed to be getting closer and closer... We were nearly back to our room and as the dog closed in, the boys began to run. I fumbled for the key as an enormous mastiff-cum-werewolf bounded towards us. The nine year old panicked and fell headlong, the 11 year-old yelled blue murder, I prepared to throw myself in front of the fangs and then - miraculously - a hotel security guard burst out of the darkness and grabbed the dog just as it was about to leap. Apologising profusely in Spanish, he clipped it to a thick chain and - with difficulty - dragged it away.