It was the summer of 2023, and Katie Piercefield-Holmes from Suffolk travelled to the Greek island of Rhodes with her husband and two children for a 10-day holiday.
They'd booked a room with air conditioning at a resort, intending to spend the time relaxing in the swimming pool and sightseeing – but this wasn't possible because of the searing heat. "Even after breakfast, a five-minute walk would be unbearable," she recalls.
Then came the wildfires, which swept across the island. "With the heat from the wildfires, it felt over 40C," she adds.
In all, some 19,000 people were evacuated from their homes or holiday accommodation in Rhodes that July. Pictures of tourists fleeing the island were splashed across newspaper front pages and one newlywed couple from Glasgow described it as like "being thrown into a disaster film". Katie's family was advised to evacuate their villa, but chose to stay, believing it would be safer.
The experience has, she says, changed the way she and her family have holidayed for good.
