"Never look back" has become a family motto. However much we enjoy a holiday, we aren't tempted to return to the same place. Each year, we seek somewhere new.

So when we arrived at Kurland (kurland.co.za) a few days ago - a sprawling 12-room family hotel, set on a polo farm on South Africa's Garden Route - we found ourselves in strange company. Although Kurland only opened three years ago, almost half of the other families have stayed here before.

This isn't the first time we've been surrounded by old hands on our holidays. At Vila Kiki in Corfu (mytravel.com), our neighbours had booked the same villa for the same fortnight for five years.

Perhaps we should take a lesson from the returnees; I'm not sure novelty value is something a family ought to strive for. Surely, it would be far easier to go back to a familiar and knowingly friendly place? Why risk a fresh start, when I could be guaranteed a week of welcome at Kurland next year?

Firstly, I suppose, because my life - if not my children's - always feels a little bit brief, and I hope to see as many places as possible within it. And then, as the philosopher Heraclitus said (at least, I think it was him), you can never step into the same river twice. Even if the place remains the same (which it doesn't often), you don't. And certainly your children change; what is attractive to a 10 year old may be less so for the same child at 14. And a six-month-old baby has very different tastes to a toddler. The same could be said about the adults; sadly, I'm less likely now to want a hotel with nightlife than five years ago. We all grow up.

So - although we are very happy at the Kurland, probably couldn't be happier - will we come back?

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