What do you do holiday in the UK?

[Antiqueanniesmagiclanternshow]

With it looking unlikely that we will get a holiday abroad this year, i was wondering about whether to try and book something in the UK despite the prices being horrendous.
However, looking out of the window as the rain lashes down , i am wondering what do you actually DO on holiday in the uk?
We don't have small children so the attractions that you would take them to are out, I'm sick of going for walks, you can't do museums every day.
If the weather is like this, do you just stay indoors and read a book or watch tv? So like being home but more expensive?

Abroad, you can go the beach or the pool and just enjoy being warm to your bones or take a boat out etc on days you don't want to go sight seeing etc

Single mum, one 16 year old. Off to the Isle of Wight

day in Portsmouth to visit the Historic Dockyards ( been twice already and still not seen everything)
chill day out in Shanklin, bit of food shopping, might actually read the Sunday papers on Sunday, crazy golf, muck around on the beach, Shanklin Chine.
walk along coastal path to Sandown, pier, bowling alley, Wildlife reserve
trip out to the Needles - chair lift, boat trip, Alum sands
trip on steam railway, visit to falconry
last day chill out round Shanklin

loads more to do if we had time, Carisbrooke Castle, Osbourne House, open top bus tour round the island,

also week in caravan in north Wales
Castle, boat trip and ice cream shop
Zip world for my son
Llechweld Slate Caverns
Portmerion
Snowden railway
Electric Mountain
more castles and steam railways if they are your thing.
plenty to do if you look

Tbh I just like a change of scenery. We do similar things on holiday to what we do at home...but we are walking in different places, seeing different views, going to different pubs, seeing different towns/villages. It's more of a holiday to me because when I'm at home I always feel like I should be doing something useful - on holiday I don't do any housework or laundry, very little cooking, and I have an afternoon nap most days! Last summer we fit in 3 uk holidays, and had glorious sunny weather for all of them.

Although I like beautiful countryside and the beach, in the UK I like to be in reach of a city or at least some attractions to do if when it's raining.

If away for a week I will usually have book or at least semi plan 2 or 3 days out and then we will a a few moochier days maybe wandering around a city.

We try to eat out at night, but take board games & DVDs /downloads for rainy evenings & get fish & chips.

Me and DP are very keen hikers/scramblers so there’s always plenty for us to do.
U.K. beach days are fun.
My horse is an absolute knob to hack so hacking a well behaved cob from a riding centre is a joy

We had a holiday in Yorkshire and did a steam train, a sculpture park and a canal boat ride through a tunnel. If you research every area has loads to do. If we have heavy rain we stay in our cottage and wait for it to brighten up. We belong to both the NT and EH so there is always somewhere to visit. At the weekends we find car boot sales and antique warehouses.

Drive to the beach with a picnic. Eat it in the car because it's pissing with rain. Walk along the beach. Ger back in the car and find a pub where you can kill some time with a shandy and a crossword, waiting until it's socially acceptable to go back to the holiday home and put the TV on...

When it's raining walking through the woods is lovely.

Reset your mind.
Book it.
Plan it.

I love my UK holidays more than any holiday abroad. We go to Whitby. We have wet weather plans and dry weather plans but there's so much around that area that you can tailor it to what you like.

We always swim in the sea (not for everyone it's fecking freezing).
99 steps
Fossil beach (spend hours looking for fossils)
Scarborough swimming pool
Botham's bakery (daily)
Fish and chips (also daily)
Arcade
Visit other places (Saltburn, Robin Hoods Bay, Staithes)

God I love it so much. I might just start a thread about things to do in and around Whitby so I can talk about it more!!

Also it's comparatively cheap up there compared to other places in UK. I recommend Ingrid Flute for booking. If you want any recommendations on accommodation, I am here for you!

@SummerHouse we've just got back from there! Had a fab week (and tbh the weather was sunny most days, if a little cold)

We do the same type of things if we are abroad or in the UK.

So, last trip abroad in 2019, week long European city break with a 7, 10 and 11 yo. First day we walked around the city centre and looked at the sights and had lunch in a nice cafe. Second day we took the train to another town, looked at a few churches, had lunch at a nice cafe and went for a bike ride, third day we looked at a famous church in the rain and went to a market and had pizza, fourth day we went to an art gallery and had a meal out in the evening at a nice restaurant recommended by the owner of our airbnb, fifth day we went to another art gallery and had lunch in a nice cafe and got rained on, sixth day we went to a famous park and had a picnic.

Last UK holiday we went to a roman fort, a stately home where we had pizza in the grounds, three EH castles, the beach where we ate fish and chips from a cafe, an RSPB reserve, a pretty town where we lunched at a nice cafe by the river then went rowing, a garden and a GoApe. More picnics than when we were abroad but otherwise not much difference.

In all my time holidaying in the UK, there’s only been one time where it rained solidly for the whole week and that was crap but all other times it’s either been really nice weather or a mix of dry and wet days! If it’s just a bit drizzly we would do bike rides or hill walking or crabbing etc Heavy rain, things like indoor water parks, cave trips, museums, theatre visits.

If anyone is holidaying in Northumberland this year I have compiled a list of things to do and places to visit:

Towns
Morpeth, Alnwick, Hexham, Corbridge, Berwick upon Tweed, Rothbury, Warkworth

Castles
Alnwick Castle and gardens, Aydon Castle, Chillingham, Warkworth, Belsay, Bamburgh, Dunstanburgh, Lindisfarne

Stately homes
Cragside, Wallington, Seaton Delaval

Other Attractions
Holy Island, Hadrian's Wall - Housesteads, Vindolanda and Chesters, Corbridge Roman Town, Howick gardens, Woodhorn museum, Farne Islands, Grace Darling museum, Brinkburn Priory, Warkworth hermitage, Hauxley nature reserve, Kielder, Ingram Valley, Coquet Island, Coquet Valley, Ford and Etal

Beaches
Druridge bay, Alnmouth, Embleton, Seahouses, Bamburgh, Newbiggin, Cresswell, Holy Island, Cocklawburn, Beadnell, Low Newton, Longhoughton, Boulmer, Warkworth, Seaton Sluice

Children
Whitehouse farm centre, Kirkley hall zoological gardens, Heatherslaw light railway, Eshott Heugh animal park, Northumberlandia

I defy anyone going to Northumberland saying that there is nothing to do. And this list is by no means complete.

How about a few days in London? Plenty to do if the weather is not great

UK holidays are utterly grim. Anyone who says otherwise is deluded or lying.

Yes, I am pissed off that it looks like I'm going to trapped on this cold, wet, miserable island for another year, as it happens.

Agree with you OP - I just want a glass of wine by a pool on a hot evening!

However we have decided that rather than a week in the sun we'll do a centerparcs weekend and a couple of 3 night city breaks in a nice hotel.

Maybe a thought? Or hire a boat on the Norfolk broads. Rainy evenings in a pub?!

Sitting inside all day due to wet weather on holiday is 10x better than sitting inside at home, because you don’t have a mound of laundry/ironing staring at you, or crumbs on the sofa or stains on the carpet!
If it’s raining and I’m sick of being in, I’ll explore a farm shop or try an interesting cafe/restaurant. It’s nice to find a good pub with great live entertainment.
Scenic steam railway journeys are good if it’s rainy, and only a smidgen less scenic than if it were sunny.
We took the dc to a Safari park in the rain, and the animals were just as (if not more) active than usual. We had a picnic in the car in the giraffe paddock.

I love my holidays abroad - both with friends which tend to consist of reading on the beach all day and meals and cocktails in the evening, or with DH which are more about hiring a car and driving round different places sightseeing, boat trips, hiking - still lots of meals out and cocktails/ beers in the evening though.

I do love to go away in the UK too though. We’ve got two UK breaks booked this year, a cottage and a caravan. I miss foreign travel but it was never going to be on the cards for us this year or last really as we’ve just had a baby and whilst I’m sure it’s possible to do I just didn’t fancy it.

Dorset is our favourite. We’ve been lucky with the weather most times. We even went in December for our honeymoon though so the weather was decidedly chilly although mostly dry.
Coastal walks. Brunch in a little cafe overlooking the huge waves whilst reading the paper. Picnic on the beach in good weather. DH likes to do a little mini ale trail of his own devising round local pubs. Visit different towns and villages just to see what they’re like and have a mooch about the shops - bookshops preferably, and galleries, try out different pubs and cafes. The cottage we tend to book has a gorgeous big bath so yeah in crap weather might stay in, send DH to the bakery for breakfast supplies and hot chocolates, have a long bath, sit in the bedroom window seat which has a lovely view of the sea, read my book, play card games etc.

If we go for a Uk city break we might go to the theatre or to a museum or gallery.

Going to be very different from now on now we have DD I really will miss my lazy pottering about type UK holidays but looking forward to doing more family oriented stuff.

UK holidays are utterly grim. Anyone who says otherwise is deluded or lying.

I'm deluded or lying? Well you're charming aren't you.

It’s just harder work though isn’t it? Traipsing around in the rain trying to entertain everyone.

When the weather is warm and sunny (abroad) and the kids can play in the sea/pool it’s so much easier. All meals outside. Bit of lazing about by the pool and reading. Glass of wine on the balcony. Sigh.

I don’t mind a U.K. holiday if I can get my hot fix abroad but I’m grumpy if that’s my only holiday.

Some of the things we've done over the last few years - adults/older teens:

Rockpooling & beachcombing
Seaside day, ending with fish and chips on the promenade
Local and unusual museums, lifeboat stations etc
Stroll round picturesque village with a pub lunch
Heritage railway train ride
Fossil hunting
Riverside walks
Nature reserves & birdwatching
Castles/cathedrals
Boat trips
Gift shops
Dartington glassworks tour
Cream teas
RHS gardens
Portmeirion
Clifftop walks
Funicular railway
Lounging about doing very little

@GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal

UK holidays are utterly grim. Anyone who says otherwise is deluded or lying.

Yes, I am pissed off that it looks like I'm going to trapped on this cold, wet, miserable island for another year, as it happens.

I’m neither deluded or lying.

I am lucky that I don’t rely on sunshine to be able to enjoy myself though!

I think it’s quite sad people can’t see the variety of things this country has got to offer

It wasn’t shit, it was ok. We had fun but didn’t relax. UK holidays are a long weekend or a week at the most, often with friends. A family holiday for us is a fortnight somewhere sunny. We do the odd day trip but also relax.
This year I want to lie in the sun watching DS swim. DS wants a warm pool to play in all day. We have reserved an apartment in Portugal for July. No money paid yet as it’s a timeshare type- just holiday points- and I will book the flights mid- end June when we know more.

If we had little ones, it would be easier to be enthusiastic i think.
I love a weekend city break so a couple of days in london with dh- fab. Wandering round, covent garden, national gallery, south bank, cocktails, posh hotel. Excellent.

Not a fan of the countryside really. It's a bit dull.

Like the coast but you need good weather.

It all boils down to weather really. It's bloody may and its freezing and pissing down. There is just no pleasure being out in it.

@DuesToTheDirt

UK holidays are utterly grim. Anyone who says otherwise is deluded or lying.

I'm deluded or lying? Well you're charming aren't you.

I actively prefer UK holidays, mainly because I am about as far from a sun worshipper as it is possible to get. I got full-on sunstroke once in Greece, it was a dreadful experience.

Pub?