Would you spend £600+ for a week in a 2 b.r. cottage in The Lake District, or...

[LittenTree]

..do you think that's rather a lot of money??!

We went to Suffolk, same week last year, being the last week of the school summer hols and took a lovely, 3 bedroomed, 'authentic' cottage in the countryside for £400 odd.

Many of the 'cottages' I'm looking at (2 bedroom as we are one less this year) appear to emanate from the 'Birmingham council house' vernacular, as well- and they're £600-650!

Am I missing something?!

[BrianCoxhasSmellySox]

You are paying for the area - Lake District = big bucks! Same if you wanted to go camping, for example, the prices there are ridiculous in comparison to other parts of the country.

Have you thought about staying on the edge of the Lake District? You may get cheaper accommodation (with the downside is having to travel to get into the thick of it all). I'm sure you could get a better deal but it's all depending on where you are looking.

[PorkyandBess]

I think it sounds reasonable.

I am just looking at a small 2 bed to rent for one week - almost £800 and that's with 20% off.

[LittenTree]

an example
or this one

as examples of the 'characterlessness' of the 'cottages' on offer!

DH favours this £660??! For a log cabin?!

A 'staycation' is looking good!

[Northernlurker]

You can get things for less than that in Scotland. We will be paying £475 for a 2 bed that sleeps 5 per week in August.

[FloraFinching]

the lakes, along with the west country, are prohibitively expensive IMVHO, when compared with other bits of the UK.
we've had lovely, great value cottages in North and South Wales, the North York Moors, and the Yorkshire Dales. In fact, you can drive to The Lakes really quick from parts of the Dales, so I'd probably do that.

[MarySA]

It seems a lot. But that's the going rate. The lakes have always been notoriously expensive.

[DilysPrice]

The Lakes are so crowded as well. Have you considered Snowdonia or Pembrokeshire instead?

[Northernlurker]

this is cute enough, near Loch Lomond and is only £575 in the summer holidays!

this is beautiful and £550 max.

[LittenTree]

TBH I think a major reservation on my part is the sure knowledge that the weather will be shite!!

I readily concede it is also destined to be holiday number 3, one being Iceland (3 weeks ago, fab), 2 being a nice private villa in Mallorca (1st week of the summer hols)... I am more than happy to go to the LD as the DSs have proved via climbing Snowden, that they can handle serious walking but I'm not entirely sure I am ready to pay that much cash for a non-descript, characterless little box 10 miles outside Keswick!

So I shall leave the cottages available to you, porky!

No, it just struck me as rather expensive, especially considering 6 weeks out from booking the Mallorcan villa, we're already into 'price reduction' territory, even though we were 'scraping the barrel' to find the lucky find we did! We might wait til a fortnight out and see what's left as there are dozens still available in the LD right now for that last week.

[FloraFinching]

£420pw peak season in snowdonia

[BikeRunSki]

We have a 2 bed cottage in Staveley booked for first week Sept for £400. Staveley is on v SE edge of Lakes. May not actually be in National Park, but as good as. Once you start looking for Keswick, Ambleside, Windermere addresses prices go bonkers.

[ProperLush]

Butflora- but that's the point in the OP: you get a nice cottage in Snowdonia for £420. Something similar (but with the blandest furnishings ever!) in the LD costs £650! Had a similar problem myself!

[PorkyandBess]

LittenTree, we are also renting a house in Florida for 2 weeks this summer, where for the princely sum of £900 we are getting a very large 3 bed with a pool and outdoor hot tub!

Americans must reel in shock when they see what their dollar buys them over here.

[ProperLush]

I'm thinking that we are all being 'done over' if 2 weeks in Florida is a glorious villa is costing you £900 and you're thinking £800 for a 'small 2 br' in the LD is 'reasonable'

Someone was seen coming somewhere!

[ProperLush]

(However, tbf, my work colleagues booked 2 weeks in Florida for 'a song' but found it hot as hell and it cost them over a thousand pounds to fly in the end, so they reckoned 'swings and roundabouts'. Hope your flights were a bargain, too, porky)

[LittenTree]

Our Mallorcan modern, Pollensa based villa, huge, 3 bedroom, with pool and hot tub and hire car is costing £1500, plus flights (£550, for the record, very late booking! ).

That might compare with a small, characterless box in the LD costing £650 but not with a 3 bedroom period cottage in Suffolk costing £400, maybe!

[DilysPrice]

Well Florida is a lot bigger than the Lakes, (most of which you are prevented from building new houses on cos it's a National Park) and the houses are a lot cheaper. It's a combination of supply and demand and return on capital.

OTOH the Lakes rarely have hurricanes.

[PorkyandBess]

No. flights were a hideous non-bargain, due to me being too useless to book them early enough.

I don't think English rental is reasonable in the great scheme, but the going rate here is extortionate and the standards of accommodation so poor - you need to spend a bit not to get a complete dive.

[hellhasnofurylikeahungrywoman]

Look on places like lastminute.com for better prices.

[BackforGood]

The Snowdonia one doesn't have an indoor pool on site though - which has always been a must for us when booking cottages in UK, as you can fill 2 - 3 hours a day there when if the weather isn't great. It's not really comparing like with like.

[GnomeDePlume]

As others have said, if it is what you want then you will pay it. Personally I would rather poke myself in the eye than holiday in the Lake District but each to their own.

BTW I am paying £1000/week for a 3 bed chalet in the South of France. With 3 DCs to accomodate I like standard. Character IME means dodgy plumbing and inconvenient bedrooms!

[HarriettJones]

Try & look outside the national park. You're going to be driving round anyway where ever you are. What do you want to be near?

[rookiemater]

Actually that seems reasonably cheap for a week in the Lake District in the school holidays.

I love the lakes and would happily go every holiday and btw I think it is worth paying to stay reasonably close to somewhere like Bowness ( our favourite) or Ambleside so you can enjoy all the attractions without driving.

[LittenTree]

OK, DH went to bed not really speaking to me last night when I sort of put my foot down about not wanting to spend that much £ on what will be our third 'big' holiday in 4 months! I pointed out that the DSs, 11 and 13, couldn't care less if we were in a cosy cott in an AONB (and that 'cosy cott' was rather bland and featureless and almost certainly sans wifi!); they are capable but not necessarily keen hikers; it's a 6 hour drive away; I pointed out that the likelihood of rain was almost guaranteed, possibly continuous (hence the Mallorca villa in the first week of the hols); that £650 would go a good way towards furnishing the garage renovation we're seriously considering....

So we have decided to last-minute it (the cottages concerned go to half price 2 weeks out). That way we'll have a fair idea about weather trends, and, seeing as we're not 100% committed to where we go, we can see what's still available by then.

He's happier this morning having assimilated those thoughts!

Thank you everyone for their input.

Small point re the cost of cottages/villas and flights: I think there is a grand 'conspiracy' about the 'match' between the two, What I mean is that Mallorcan villa owners know that their UK clientele arrive on Ryanair and may have only paid £200 for the family to fly there, thus can bump up their prices; Florida villa owners who know there is no automatic 'cheap' way to fly there have to compensate by keeping their prices competitively low. At the end of the day, the Mallorcan villa holiday'er and the Floridan one are probably paying the same for their holiday. But it strikes me that 'balance' isn't there in The Lakes. But of course it must be a 'supply and demand' market, otherwise far more of you would be similarly surprised at what some are prepared to pay for a small, bland little house in the LD!