Bugger... All the holidays have sold!

[Indecisivelurcher]

First experience of school hols so I don't know if this is normal or because covid... Have been pottering online trying to find a self catering stay near a beach in August, and they're all gone

This happened last year. Ended up with nowhere to go and even all the local activities were booked up. We had the worst school summer holidays ever.

Determined not to do it this year. We are booked for 2 weeks in July in the UK and I've already been hassling local children's activities about when they are opening and I want to book.

Get sorting your summer stuff ASAP.

Have a look at Park Dean in Westbay, Dorset. Lots of august availability in caravans or lodges. Not your typical caravan park, lovely & quiet. Beach a 2 minute walk, lovely pubs etc & Lyme Regis is a few minutes drive. You can do boat tours round to Lyme Regis from nearby too. It’s also not far from museums, historic towns & monkey world is a fairly short drive too.

Thank you! We need to go mid Aug to escape a month of building works.

We are also now looking at Norfolk, if anyone has any recommendations!

You can book caravans independently too. I've used ukcaravans4hire.com before.

[quote Daisy829]@wanderlove any tips on nice places to explore in Northumberland? We are going in June but we’ve not been before.[/quote]
Northumberland - Coast and Castles!

I'd base myself in Alnwick (nearest station Alnmouth, 3m, where there is a lovely beach). Alnwick has a fantastic Castle (Harry Potter films) and beautiful Gardens attraction (maze poison garden massive waterfall, events through the summer). Apart from that it is a pretty and nice sleepy market town with modern pool, good shops / cafes.

Nearby is Lindisfarne / Holy Island - very beautiful. Bamburgh Castle. Miles and miles of empty golden sands. Seahouses for an old fashioned fish n chips / crazy golf, boat trips to see the seals day.
Go inland for Hadrian's Wall and the largest manmade lake in Europe at Keilder - water sports, Forest runs, cycling.

You can get to Newcastle and Edinburgh in less than an hour by train for day trips, if you can bear to leave. It is clean empty and friendly. BUT... we have had folk all through lockdown and it will be busy this summer (but not as busy as the SW). I feel like the Tourist Board now!

If you want Lyme Regis you could try Seaton or Axminster way. I don't think there are many sandy beaches that way though. You might need to head to Weymouth to the east or Exmouth to the west.
Charmouth is good for fossil hunting. They do a lovely family walk, book through the heritage centre.

North Norfolk was rammed last summer so I dread to think what it'll be like this year. And it's normally busy anyway.

We went last summer, and other than the main tourist spots like Cromer, thought it was very quiet! Which I think is a good point for holidays, and holiday booking in general - pick something slightly off the beaten track.

On a similar vein, I'm surprised to see Dorset (other than Bournemouth) being described as "much quieter". My parents live in Weymouth. In years when we can actually visit them, we do so in school holidays and spend a large proportion of the holiday sat in very slow moving traffic. It can easily take 30 minutes to get the 3 miles from their house to nearest sandy beach.

Guess it's all down to what people want and their expectations :)

Oh and Cragside as a place to explore in Northumberland. One of the best NT properties I've ever been to. There's loads to do in the grounds as well if houses aren't open in the summer.

We went to a cottage with Sykes a couple of years ago - I checked a couple of days ago and it's still available in August. Incidentally, the cost for same week that we went before has all but doubled. It's in a lovely village called Branscombe in Devon, not far from Seaton, and 10 mins walk from a pebbly beach. The roads down to the village are very narrow though.

I know there are lots of problems with refunds and Sykes which is why I left it this long before looking. I can't get anything for £1k this year so I'm looking at alternatives...don't want to go camping unless I really have to - getting too old for it now!

Dorset is gorgeous:
www.holidaycottages.co.uk/cottage/24703-maiden-cottage?n=7&period=10&year=2021&pd=1&sd=06082021

www.holidaycottages.co.uk/cottage/74564-well-cottage--beaminster?n=7&period=10&year=2021&pd=1&sd=13082021

I have literally just booked a week in Lowestoft with Hoseasons. They had loads of availability.

I can recommend Deal as a holiday destination. Nice little town, pebble beach, loads to do in the area eg Dover Castle. We went last summer and it wasn't crowded.

I love Brixham! My favourite place ever 😍

If you can go at short notice, choose a week then look at LastMinute.com a week or two before. People cancel.

www.yorkshireholidaycottages.co.uk/whitby/whitby-cottages/collie-cottage?fromdate=2021-08-21&nights=7&sleeps=%3E4&guests=4

This is quite nice and they have a few cottages left in August. Whitby does get busy , but like a lot of seaside places, really quietens down in an evening, depends on how old your children are ? There are some good fossil hunting beaches locally too.

If you're thinking of booking haven (anyone) I would move fast. I was looking to book for April since my March one will be cancelled and they were selling out quickly. I booked a new one rather than waiting for the first one to be rearranged but obv haven are working on rearranging other peoples holidays to later on in the year currently so I would book ASAP.

Lyme Regis is one of the busiest places on that part of the coast, avoid like the plague (we live nearby and almost never visit in the summer months). We’ve just booked a place way inland this year, found a lovely rural place with lots to do nearby, just no beaches. Much cheaper, too.

I live near the popular east Suffolk coastal holiday locations, they get booked up months in advance in a normal year. Have you looked at Airbnb? I’ve booked a lovely family home in Weymouth for the first week of the school hols. Full refund up to 5 days before in case anything goes wrong...

I've not booked anything because I don't want to miss out on my vaccine.

The kids are 3 & 6. I think to be honest sitting in a traffic jam to get to beach would push us over the edge. And pebble beaches could disappoint them. I seem to be getting more confused about where to go now, as well as the struggle to find somewhere!

This year was always going to be sold quickly and be more expensive. Lots of people have carried over last year’s bookings and more people will be staying in the country this year.

Anyone know Cromer way?

With Airbnb in Wales the holidays are not showing yet, many have been removed temporarily, so keep looking

Thanks for heads up on Sykes, had no idea. Have booked with them before and no problem but worrying to read as would always try them first.

Guess it depends how far you have cast your search! The UK - including Scotland- has lots of coastline :-)