I tried to take a mortgage holiday a couple of years ago when I was going back into full-time education. With my mortgage provider I was told I could only have a mortgage holiday if I was pregnant - thought it was a bit drastic!
Ended up swtiching to an interest only mortgage for 12 months to bring my payments right down, then went back to original rate.
Not sure what your circumstances are but it worked for me.
The Minx