We set off from Visby with the kids in the back and the sat nav confidently promising a straight shot to our Tofta cottage. Ten minutes later we were parked on a gravel track, staring at a field of sheep and wondering where the house had gone. A quick U-turn and a wrong turning into someone's driveway later, we pulled up outside the right place, cheeks a bit pink but laughing all the same.

The cottage sat back from the quiet road, white walls catching the afternoon light and a small wooden porch already promising evening cups of tea. Inside it felt instantly homely, the sort of place where you kick off your shoes without thinking twice. The living room had a big, slightly saggy sofa and a low table that looked ready for board games, while the kitchen cupboards held everything we needed for simple breakfasts and pasta dinners.

We wandered out to the garden and found a picnic table tucked under a birch tree, perfect for the children's endless supply of snacks. Beyond the fence the landscape opened into open fields and a sandy path that led straight towards the sea. The children raced ahead while my partner and I followed at a slower pace, breathing in the scent of pine and salt.

Back at the cottage we unpacked without any great plan. The bedrooms were small but cosy, each bed made up with crisp linen that made you want an early night. I stood for a moment in the doorway of the children's room, watching them arrange their toys on the windowsill, and felt that familiar tug of realising how little they actually need to be happy.

That first evening we grilled sausages outside as the light lingered. The children chased moths around the porch light while we sat with glasses of wine, listening to nothing much except the occasional car on the distant road. Later we walked down to the beach in the half-dark, shoes in hand, the sand still warm from the day. The sea stretched out flat and silver, and for a while none of us said anything.

It struck me then how easy it is to forget that the best bits of a holiday often arrive before you've done anything special at all. We had only just arrived, yet already the cottage felt like ours.