UK holidays are hard work

[ChocolateRiver]

We’re on holiday on the north Devon/Cornwall border. Staying in a converted barn on a farm. It’s lovely, the kids are having a great time but it’s such bloody hard work. Getting up early to get a parking space at the beach, making up picnics, putting sandy beach clothes/towels in washing machine, sorting out food, cooking etc, driving everywhere, hoovering up after beach days, tidying up - feel like I’m constantly on the go! And it’s so expensive, can’t afford to have all lunches and teas out. Don’t get me wrong, we’re having a nice time, but it’s definitely not a rest - we’re knackered. We usually go abroad but have stayed here due to Covid, we’ll be off abroad again next year if it’s possible.

Most relaxing family holiday I ever had was camping with a 2 year old and a 8 week old. The weather was glorious, the older kids on the site adopted the 2 year old and entertained her, the baby was breast fed, just wearing a nappy and vest. Hardly any washing. Mobile shop came on site every morning so you could buy fresh bread, salads fruit etc. Fish and chip van came on the site a couple of times a week and 2 lovely pubs a short walk away that did lovely food. The beach was walking distance but it was hard to drag the 2 year old away from their new buddies.

Beach front tea shop did a takeaway tea tray so you could sit on the beach with a Devon cream tea while watching 2 year old who had hopefully met up with friends from the site.

30 years later it stands out.

I hear you OP and precisely why (Covid gods willing) we will be in Antigua in a couple of weeks.

You can't compare self-catering to an all-inclusive package. Personally I think your holiday sounds lovely - the barn, the farm, Devon and Cornwall on your doorstep and the weather is heavenly at the moment in the UK. My idea of hell is an all-inclusive package, jammed together in a resort with a load of other Brits, unable to sample any local delicacies or shop in the markets because you've already paid up-front for enough food and drink to sink a battleship. I also think that while you might be going a bit OTT on all the washing and tidying, it's actually quite nice having a machine on holiday especially when you have small children. I think holidays with small children are rarely truly relaxing unless you are the type to put them in kids' clubs all day, but I always loved those early-to-bed-early-to-rise bucket-and-spade years and you have the farm for good measure - I'm getting a bit misty-eyed now thinking how quickly those years fly by.

I agree with many posters that some of you seem to want to make hard work our of a holiday, and enjoy being a martyr. We love self-catering in the UK, but we aren’t fussed about a bucket and spade beach holiday anyway. I’m not keen on crowded beaches, I hate sitting in traffic jams, we take enough clothes to last a week without needing to wash them and I keep cooking very simple when we eat in. I would get bored of going to the beach every day anyway.

@Lapsidasicle your holiday will only be hard work if you make it hard work.

We had a brilliant holiday in Wiltshire recently staying in a fantastic Airbnb in a converted mill, and visited all sorts of interesting places. We also found plenty of time to drink wine and relax (apart from when the football was on). We deliberately avoided booking anywhere near a holiday hotspot this year. Surely people knew it would ridiculously busy in Devon and Cornwall?

You can't just chill and relax like you can abroad on an all inclusive

Of course you can. You need to think outside of the box. I think people need to manage their expectations when it comes to a UK SC holiday. It is completely different to an AI holiday in the Med, and to expect the same is just silly. And over crowded Devon and Cornwall aren’t the only nice beach destinations in the UK.

North Norfolk is amazing with so much that is unspoilt, miles of sandy beach(Holkham), and plenty of smaller, quirky little beaches. Lots to see and do

I agree. We stayed in Wells-next-the-Sea one year, and had a fantastic holiday. We were so lucky with the weather, and I have never seen such huge beaches. When the tide is out at Holkham it is quite a hike to the shore line.

It does sound that hotels in the UK could up their game by offering more AI holidays

I don’t eat UPF, vegetable oils and grains. This is why I choose to holiday in Italy and go on cruises. Food cooked completely from scratch and healthy. I don’t eat the burgers or pizzas but eat a Mediterranean diet. You can’t really get that food in U.K

Utter nonsense. Of course you can get good food here. You aren’t trying very hard. What is UPF? And olive oil is a vegetable oil, so how do you avoid that in Italy?

@maldivemoment the Outer Hebrides is on my bucket list. One day I would like to do a cruise round the Scottish islands.

I love uk hols and haven't missed hotter climes much at all but the weather does making packing more complicated.
We do a mix of takeaways/eating out and eating in so it's not a grind but helps keep costs down.

I get you op!

Usual holiday for us is roll out of bed into breakfast, chill by the pool, play in the pool, go to the beach, AI lunch and dinner.

We don't lift a finger on holiday. Someone else makes the beds, changes the towels etc.

Not comparable to a UK holiday

I’m not sure why you were surprised that self catering involved more work than a hotel where there are limitless meals and staff to clean up after you. This would also be the case with self catering v hotels if abroad.

It’s an issue of self catering v hotel, not domestic vs foreign holiday.

Perhaps you picked the self catering because there aren’t many all inclusive hotels in UK. Hotels in UK can be very expensive too. Or was it quite simply you didn’t realise that with self catering…….you have to self cater??

Different people like different things. Lots love a remote cottage and heading off to the beach for the day, eating chips on the beach and heading home for a bbq and the kids upstairs to bed, followed by a relaxed evening cooking delicious meals downstairs in the evening. Lots love to hike or kayak or canoe or travel around site seeing, whilst others just want to lie in the sun and do nothing.

Surely this is just a case of it confirming that you like the lazy beach holiday in a hotel and don’t like self catering. It’s not really that you don’t like the UK is it?

Perhaps you could go to Center Parca where it’s all laid on, book activities and book meals for every mealtime and you’d find it relaxing too.

Definitely find holidays at home not a rest. All inclusive means you don't have to sort food out, it gets made for you. More days by the pool rather than lots of different day trips. Better weather. Kids entertainment. Holidays in the UK are like being at home with nice scenery. But then holidays with young kids are hard full stop 😆

@ssd my god you’re a twunt

The most relaxing holiday for a parent of small children would be to hire a 24/7 nanny for the weekend and book into the local (air-conned) Premier Inn.

And yes all inclusive sort beds and towels etc.

@AddsVsGeorgs

First world problems, huh!

Yes.... and?

I get you OP.

I’ve done SC in the UK and the med and it feels a lot more work here. It’s just the little things that make it more work but it does add up. In the med, the sand is light and you can shake it easily off the towels and brush it off your skin. I went to a local beach at the weekend and despite daily showers and several baths with feet scrubs, there is still sand engrained around my DC’s toenails. I daren’t look at the amount of sand that is in the car! In the med, it just wouldn’t get that far!

On a med beach, there will more likely be loungers set up for you whereas a trip to a British beach usually means dragging deckchairs etc from the car.

For me, if you’re in a foreign supermarket, it is an adventure looking at all the different things, whereas Tesco is Tesco whether you’re in your home store or one where you are on holiday. Once you see the familiarity, it will always click your brain back into ‘chore mode’. Again with the feeling of the UK being more expensive - when paying in £ you are conscious of how much it costs. When paying in a different currency, it is easy to not think about how much you’ve paid for things.

Just noticed you’re on north Devon and Cornwall borders. I’d be tempted away from crowded beaches to Dartmoor. Hexworthy bridge has the most idyllic uncrowned paddling, swimming and sunbathing spot without sand, with shade, and adequate parking for a good few cars. Buy a little net and they’ll ‘fish’ for hours.
You can go into Tavistock for a potter and park time and pick up a cheap picnic lunch.
Many other such spots just south of you. The Tavy has a few not far away.

I think you simply haven’t really planned and assume the beach is easiest and most fun for children. It’s not necessarily.

You are not wrong. It is hard. And the weather has been too much this week (although probably better than constant rain I guess) I hope you've at least got some beautiful pictures though x

You need to stop comparing it to an all-inclusive resort.

We do both, DH hates AI so even then we do trips but I agree, it is obviously easy to just sit and relax while being served.

But we also love self-catering, it is a lot more relaxing for us as we can spread out and are not restricted to a hotel room, we don't have to deal with other people, we can eat when we want and not look at the clock when the restaurants serve or even worse, deal with these bloody buffets or making a booking for a restaurant.

We normally always take a picnic and eat out in the eveing or if we go for lunch we have a simple meal at home. I don't mind washing a pot and pan for a simple pasta dish. Unless we have something booked we relax in the morning. OK, we don't do beach holiday as in most years the weather wasn't good enough.

We lounge in the house or garden with a book, play games and just relax knowing that we are not at home and no forgotten or avoided projects are glaring at us.

And yes, I agree with pp, try venturing out to dartmoor or Exmoor. Is the owner on site/contactable? I'm sure they'd be able to point you in the direction of a quiet little spot off the beaten track.

I'm with you OP. Done it a few times, lots of fun but hard work. On the downside it could have pissed with rain all week so look on the bright side, British holidays can get a lot worse. And see you at the airport next year

Wow, some people are spectacularly missing the point. And do defensive - do you all work in UK tourism???

I get you OP. I live in Ireland. We had a week away 2 weeks ago - cold and rain for 6 days. The sun shone as we packed up the car to leave the house on the last day 🙁. Second year in a row.
Also, it was hard to eat out as we only have open air dining and with the the rain it was awful. And to compound it all, the dryer did not work in the house.
DH enjoyed it as it was a change from his routine, but I did not. I need sunshine and I need to get away from the same radio in the car, the same headlines in newspapers when I pass a shop, just the sense that you are not really away from it all.

BTW - please tell me where the Hong Kong pancake hotel is - hoping to go back when this is all over.

Yes exhausting, it’s much cheaper abroad and eating out regularly is doable in a way it is not in The UK.

We go camping to Spain or France every year, as a single mum of 4 it is the only break I get from cooking each year, campsite is on tge beach so very limited driving once there, affordable supermarket on site, a real rest.

Uk holidays are lovely and different but much much harder work.

@Workyticket

I get you op!

Usual holiday for us is roll out of bed into breakfast, chill by the pool, play in the pool, go to the beach, AI lunch and dinner.

We don't lift a finger on holiday. Someone else makes the beds, changes the towels etc.

Not comparable to a UK holiday

No, it's not comparable to any holiday, wherever, that isn't AI.

A Med holiday in a self catering holiday home is EXACTLY the same as a UK holiday in a self catering holiday home.

[quote ChocolateRiver]@MrsFin no we go all inclusive with beach towels etc provided. Don’t have to do a thing.[/quote]
Well you haven't booked a like-for-like holiday then, have you? It's not about being in the UK, it's about the fact that you haven't booked all inclusive with towels provided.

Self catering holidays are definitely harder work than an all inclusive. You still have to do the planning, shopping and cooking, which unless you enjoy it, it is a chore. I suppose you are feeling it more keenly since it’s such a departure from what you’re used to.

@RampantIvy olive oil is not a processed vegetable oil. I eat that and other pressed oils. It’s very difficult to avoid vegetable oils and ultra processed foods in the U.K. it’s in everything. I have terrible IBS if I eat out in the U.K. never had an issue in Italy. They cook fresh in local restaurants, using fresh and lightly processed foods, with olive oil. On a cruise I can ask the restaurant to prepare any food I like, it’s really flexible. Everything made from scratch on the ships. Again, don’t suffer from IBS (but I avoid burgers, pizzas etc).

Like a growing group of us on mumsnet, I follow the Mediterranean diet as set out in Dr Jenkinsons book.

Dartmeet is a wonderful place, designated as an area of outstanding natural beauty. You can paddle in the stream there. Kids like it.

Do people really travel on an airplane to another country to just sit by a pool all day?

I like having a swimming pool if staying at a resort but wouldn't sit there all day; it's good to go out and see somewhere different surely.