Please inspire me with summer holiday suggestions.

[AnnaKar]

We haven’t booked anything yet. Will probably choose not to fly, given the issues at the minute. Hope for some sunshine.
We both work in education so needs to be school holidays.

Where can we go?

The best holiday we've had was in Wooler. A small community in the far north of Northumberland.

Our children were about 12 and 9.

The beach around Bamburgh was so stunningly beautiful and quiet.
Wooler was a lovely village.
Lots of boat trips available to the Farne Islands to see puffins, seals and other wildlife.

Lindisfarne , touristy that it is, was still quiet enough to enjoy... local mead, history and great rock pools , but mind the tide!

Alnwick Castle is fantastic for young families. The tree house is amazing !

Bamburgh Castle is wonderful.

Just being within the Cheviots was fantastic in itself.

Ok , I might be biased.

Other than that, Pembrokeshire was just as fantastic as was Machynlleth in Snowdonia. .
Near Machynlleth there is a Scientific recycling centre. Not sure what the name is, ( I'll Google) but it was the best day out . We saw pamphlets at our holiday cottage but dismissed as naff.
Our holiday there was beset by bad weather and on our last day thought that we'd just pop along.
It was great and the children loved it.
The Centre for Alternative Technology, I believe.

Thank you for taking time to post. We know Northumberland quite well and visit quite often.

Pembrokeshire, I’ve not been to, so will take a look.

We are a couple going on holiday, our DC’s are older.

I wondered about Europe by train….love the thought of ‘just going’ and seeing where we end. Unfortunately the reality is that I plan every detail…😂

Island hopping off the west coast of Scotland. Or Channel Islands? Bit warmer than mainland UK. You can start in Guernsey (an hour flight from Midlands) and island hop a bit.

Or the Isles of Scilly? All things I'm doing when the kids have left us behind

If you like the idea of Europe by train, look into the Deutsche Bahn offer for 9 euro train travel this summer in Germany. Not sure about the criteria but one of my friends is doing it.

Interrailing is fun.

Isle of Wight - we went last year and loved it! Fab restaurants and loads to see and do.
or jersey, similar vibe to the IOW

France if you want sun. Anywhere say Bordeaux level or south of that is pretty certain to be hot and sunny in the summer holidays. Northern half of France is less guaranteed but warmer than the UK anyway. You could go by car or train.

what do you like doing on holiday? Sightseeing, beach, walking?

Trains are fun, we travelled from LA to San Diego recently along the coast and I had forgotten what an easy, chill way it is to travel. No dramas with airports, comfy seats, wine available 😁 My MIL regularly travels from SE England to La Rochelle and she is in her 80s, if you want nice weather I would definitely go to Europe.

We love a road trip - on one right now! Typing this from a lovely hotel in a quaint french village whilst I wait for it to be breakfast time.
I always plot in an end destination where we can spend a few more days. This time it's a week but sometimes we do just three or four days. Then I work backwards and work out how many hours we are prepared to drive for - ideally no more than 6. Then I research places within those timeframe (using ViaMichelin) that look interesting or worth stopping. Sometimes we do two nights in a place rather than one if it looks worth extra time but mostly we enjoy rocking up at about 4, wandering around the local town/area and having dinner.
Once I've got the hotels booked I then look at points midway in the day worth a quick lunch stop off.
We find it an amazing say to get a feel for lots of different places. We don't often go into museums or do tours etc but are happy just having a saunter and a meal so it really depends on what you like from a holiday!

Thanks for some more great ideas. Like the idea of France and we have ‘Dutch’ bikes.
We did a road trip around The Netherlands which was great. I think I need more sun this time.

I will look at the German 9€ offer, southern Germany could be warm?