NO CLUBBING, NO LEERING AT HOT MEN IN SPEEDOS BY THE POOL AND DEFINITELY NO INVITING HUNKY WAITERS BACK TO THE ROOM. BUT BEING A GAY UNCLE HAS ITS REWARDS, AS MATT CAIN DISCOVERED ON A TRIP TO THE ALGARVE WITH HIS NEPHEWS

MATT CAIN

LUXURIOUS: The Anantara Vilamoura Hotel

SUNSHINE AND SELFIES: Matt Cain with nephews Finlan, right, and Freddy

One question gay people were never asked when I was growing up was “Do you want kids?” So, when thefirst of my nephews was born 20 years ago, I threw myself into the role of uncle, thinking this was as close as I’d get to parenthood.

Now there are various ways in which gay people can have children of their own. But I’m happy with my brother and sister’s children – my ive nephews and one niece.

I’ve spent as much time with them as possible and since the start of unclehood I’ve set aside a week each year to look after each set of kids. As they have now grown older, I often taken them away on holiday.

This summer I spent a week in Portugal with my sister’s two younger sons – Finlan, who’s 13, and nine-yearold Freddy.

For thefirst half of the week we stayed at the Tivoli Carvoeiro Hotel, about a 15-minute walk from Carvoeiro itself, which has a lovely sandy beach but is a pretty uninteresting, downmarket resort on the Algarve.

The hotel, on the other hand, has just been upgraded from a three to ive-star venue and is anything but downmarket. Its trump card is without doubt its location; the Tivoli Carvoeiro is set in a small cove on the edge of some dramatic cliffs, with a little beach and cave and a truly breathtaking view out to sea. There’s what looks like a beautiful walkway along the coastline leading off in either direction but the proximity to the cliff edge means I didn’t even dare think about doing it with the kids.