The most cliched middle class family holiday destination you've been on?

[Borntobrighton]

For me in the UK - Cornwall & North Wales.
Abroad - a campsite in S. France 10 mins from St Tropez.

Not so posh
Salou & Cambrils
Tenerife
Won't be returning anytime soon.

We went to Burnham Market once for about an hour because it was so dull

One of my favourite anecdotes is the time I spoke to Hugh Grant in the Hoste Arms in Burnham Market. If it's good enough for Hugh Grant...

Eweleze Farm camping
Ile de Re

We sometimes stay in a North Norfolk village, not the posh bit of the village but on a chalet park just on the outskirts near a Tesco Express, which no doubt the locals had a petition up to stop it happening. Anyway, I overheard a conversation in there between a Joules wearing couple bemoaning the fact it didn't have any Organic milk or sourdough bread.

The ladies who ran the local charity shop were also up in arms about the incomer who had taken over the local Spar shop and had ruined it by having stuff outside on the pavement.

Stop it!!!!

It's funny seeing the comments on Southwold. We have family nearby so go all the time, but it is very middle-class. During covid it's the only place I saw people wearing Joules face masks that colour coordinated with their outfits.

Hold on, if not ‘couch’ then what? Surely not sofa or, god forbid, “settee”?!

last Week we did beach days everyday and I did notice something about the locations

we spent a day at Dawlish Warren. There were big groups on the beach pumping out music, drinking and I could smell weed a fair bit.

even a fight over parking broke out.

we then headed to Blackpool Sands, harder to get to and it’s a private beach so you pay £9 to park. Much more civilised and chilled out. Definitely a mc destination if ever there was one.

Centreparcs.

I prefer Butlins. There's a MC story there, too. We were looking at the lodge style accommodation at the Minehead site. Apparently, MNetters had input into the design of the lodges and concluded, no TVs in bedrooms, that their kids would prefer playing board games, instead of lowering themselves with TVs, so no TVs installed. We booked accommodation with TVs in the bedrooms after that.

The problem is that different people have different views of what is middle class. About 50% of the population is working class (or similar in modern definitions including the aspring service workers and office based call-centre workers) and 50% is middle class. That 50% breaks down to 5% elite, 20-25% established upper middle, and 20-25% middle (middle/lower middle) class. There is a big difference between these two groups so their holiday destinations are also very different.

The upper middle are very unlikely to go camping (unless at Glastonbury) rent a mobile home or holiday in in Tenerife! You may find them in Salcombe (although last time I went it was over-run with day-trippers), St Mawes or Burnham Market but they will have rented an expensive property, have their own or be staying at a friend's place. I would expect to find them in St Paul de Vence or Portofino but perhaps not staying in Nice or Sorrento. They will probably ski in Verbier, Gstaad or Davos rather than Val d'Isere.

The middle/lower middle classes are the ones that take their kids camping (or glamping), renting AirB&Bs, flooding the previously upper MC enclaves like Salcome and St Ives and pre Covid were probably frequent flyers to typical holiday destinations and ski resorts in Europe and further afield. I imagine these MC types will probably be curtailing their holidays now due to rising prices as they are less resiliant in hard times. The affluent MC are more likely to make their own arrangements, booking flights and accomodation separately, unlike the WC who are more likely to look for package deals.

I now realise that I am working class....

According to the previous post I am working class but with upper-middle holidays.

@Plantstrees if you’ve visited Costa Adeje in the last 5 years or so you’ll know there’s definitely lots of upper middle class, same with parts of northern Lanzarote. In places like the canaries, Spain the surfing enclaves particularly are often a completely different demographic to places very nearby. It’s incredibly regional within the islands, just as it is within counties here. It’s like saying holidaying in Devon isn’t middle class when it could be Paignton or it could be Salcombe, there’s huge differences.

And before I get told I’m obsessed with class - I work in marketing, it’s pretty much my job to judge how much money people have, where they are and what they spend it on (which is lucky because I’m a nosey cow).

@ShrillSiren22 I disagree. I don't think resorts like that are UMC, just very expensive MC destinations. You can buy a 'expensive' all inclusive TUI package to most of the palace hotels in Costa Adeje so I put it in the same bracket as Dubai. The people that go are very wealthy but most are probably not established UMC in my view.

So the upper middles rent an expensive property, the middle/lower middle classes rent Airbnbs. What are you when you rent an expensive property from Airbnb?

My last Airbnb cost £2000!!

Sardinia and Nice

@dogcheck @Hoppinggreen Average AirB&B prices are around £100 per night for a double room, which is lower than hotel prices. In high season you can easily double that in a popular area. An average two bedroomed property will therefore cost around £1400 for a week in the summer holidays. I would expect a large top location property with luxury facilities to cost closer to £5000 a week in high season. These properties are more likely to be rented by the wealthy MC.

Wealth does not elevate people to UMC. The UMC is firmly established, so only the children of the very wealthy MCs can rise to UMC and often it takes more than one generation. It is common for the UMC to have less disposable cash than wealthy MC.

The most luxurious properties are not on AirB&B. They are booked up by word of mouth well in advance so they have no need to promote themselves. Bookings are generally only accepted on the basis of a personal recommendation. These places do not necessarily cost more that an expensive AirB&B, but are more exclusive as they limit bookings.

The point is that it is not about price.

It all sounds a bit exhausting and try hard. 😂.

@NewMoney1000000 , I well remember my dds at maybe 7 and 10 being asked by other children on holiday whether they went to a private school.

Since we were living abroad at the time, where they went to the only one available - the English-Speaking School - they hadn’t a clue what it meant. I was appalled that relatively young children would ask such a question, let alone be interested in the answer.

Obv. it came from the parents, same as the girl of no more than about 9, who I heard remarking that another child - a friend of dds - was ‘Eurasian’.

Both my kids commented on the "where you went to school?" being a common but weird question in Fresher's week - they both thought it came from a certain type of person.

Judging solely on the mc I know, I would say most parts of France & Italy (judging by this summers sm posts)France & Austria for skiing... I don't know anyone who has been to Switzerland skiing😊

I recall being asked the 'what school did you go to?' question when I went to university in 1984. And disappointedly my DC were asked the same question in 2016 and 2017!!