The boom of the UK holiday cottage!

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I recall wanting to find self catering holiday accommodation around 20 years ago, and it was fairly thin on the ground in comparison to today. Major hotspots such as Cornwall were probably already growing, but I am really curious how and when this took off as a HUGE THING.

Every place there's even the tiniest bit of scenery now has clusters of holiday cottages (often apartments or regular houses, but called 'cottages'). I noticed a further boom during the pandemic.
I have partaken of a few myself over the years and find that they are usually somewhat generic, ubiquitous; with the expectation that the 'woman' needs a bottle of prosecco on arrival or she might be offended .

90% of reviews for these cottages are taken up with people worrying about their cars.

What were we doing previously? We My own family) used to camp in national parks and have a break in Europe every now and again. I do not think, on the whole, that this is Joe Public trying to cut down his air miles. We could never outdo a private jet if we tried in terms of the carbon footprint, or even compete with one Taylor Swift tour globally, even if we went abroad 5 times a year.
So what is it?
I have noticed all social backgrounds here, it isn't at all specific to one cultural stereotype. Our weather is largely unpredictable and let's admit it, can create stress to some extent. Our roads are crammed and often tiny in picturesque places, and in more northern hotspots (the Lakes) it can rain furiously for 2 weeks solid.

I used to see mostly walkers and dog lovers in the Lakes. They're still there, but now joined and outnumbered by people who used to have more lively tastes - in other words it has vastly expanded it's target market. Those who might have previously preferred less sedate resorts with swimming pools and lots of stuff for kids to do.

And the prices of these things is growing, year on year. A very basic stone terrace with no garden and dated interiors can cost up to £1200 for a week out of season. I am really interested in hearing your thoughts on how this all took off, as it seems to have ballooned somewhat suddenly in recent yrs.

Partly because the other holidays have also gone up in price? Perhaps

If you add in flights, passports, a UK cottage for a change of scenery isn't such a bad idea.

Also I think fewer families have touring caravans because you can't park them at you house anymore. Well fewer places, so the families, like we did, who might have used a caravan just take car to a cottage now? Perhaps

And loads of people have dogs so want a dog friendly holiday and thanks to Brexit it's harder to take a dog to Europe and back now.

In the 1980s we went to static caravans. My mum always hated them so as soon as we could afford it we moved to cottages.

It used to be a printed brochure from English country cottages and you rang up and booked.

I'm guessing the internet had made co-ordinating bookings easier. I think maybe you used to have to sign up with a provider for a whole season as well if you owned a cottage.

There has been a massive growth in second homes generally and maybe people are more likely to let them out to get some income from them?

In our case, we holiday in the UK because we can't bear the thought of having to fly and deal with airports, delays, arrogant security, cramped planes, etc. We went abroad for our first 20 odd years together, sometimes 2 or 3 times per year. But for the past 20 years or so, it's just been a nightmare, especially as Manchester is our closest airport and it's an absolute shit hole! Initially we cut down and maybe did 1 foreign and 1 UK holiday, but since Covid, we've not been abroad and have no intention of going abroad ever again. It's just too stressful and miserable dealing with airlines, airports, etc.

Lots of things

Covid made people more aware of what’s available in the UK and more likely to consider it as an option

Airports/ferry ports have got worse with longer queues post Brexit. More flights being cancelled too. Strikes. Generally stress of going abroad has gone up.

People with less money want to avoid cost of flying which has increased

People with more money are having extra mini breaks - usual holidays abroad but also a UK long weekend here or there

People buying a second property as an investment when interest rates were very low, so now there are lots available (whether the £ still adds up is another question)

Apps like AirBnB and Vrbo have made it all a lot easier

I think a fair proportion of it is down to increased Dog ownership. It'so much easier now to find pubs and cafes which will accept your dog too. Some people don't like to put dogs into kennels and prefer to take them on holiday with them. I guess holiday cottages work out better for this than hotels.

We started using holiday cottages, 31 years ago when my DS was born. You got a proper printed brochure and most breaks were Saturday to Saturday, 7 days. We were pretty naive thinking that for 6 adults we would book somewhere that slept 10 so we would have a choice of bedrooms and lots of space, when in fact it was very basic. The brochures just showed a couple of photos, so you really just had to wait and see what the cottage was like.

I think one thing that's changed since say the 80s/90s/00s is that jobs available in these places that are popular UK holiday destinations are different now. Traditional ways of making a living like small scale fishing, manufacturing, mining, etc. are no longer or at least are happening on smaller more boutique/cottage industry scales. The things that kept people able to feed themselves in these - often rural, far away from big city places - are different. This means that people have had to either move away (selling homes or no longer around to pay monthly rent on a long term private tenancy) or they have had to go into work that is in the tourist industry (drawing in more tourists).

So homes that used to be family homes for generations now make money being holiday lets - because they were sold off by people who moved away or died or they're rented out on Airbnb and the like by family who've kept the home but never lived in the area and just don't want to sell their nan's cute cottage, but can charge 3x as much per night than per month. The holiday let industry has ballooned because there's been a vacuum in many of these communities of people who want to stay (fewer skilled jobs) or who can afford to stay. And it just becomes like a snowball that rolls and rolls and gets bigger and bigger.

When there's more holiday cottages available, there's more tourism popping up around to take advantage of that economy and more 'things to do' for tourists draws more tourists and makes it more profitable to sell up or turn an old family home into a holiday let.

That said, we've long done UK holidays in a holiday let so I don't think that's changed, but I'd say what has changed, is we're not 20 anymore, so what used to be really expensive (meaning we'd use a campsite instead of a holiday cottage), now in our 40s/50s, we can afford because paying £100 a night isn't a big deal anymore. I think maybe it's more obvious to us now because many of us are at that age when it's the done thing. My uni students I teach are definitely still camping and staying in YHAs or going to some grim party town on the med for cheap fruity drinks, not spending £2000 on a holiday cottage in Cornwall in July.

When I was young most of my friends and family went skiing or to france in summer, or some modest apartment in spain. My dad was terrified of flying so we only ever went to wales or lake district

I always feel really sorry for local people, who have been priced out of living in their own community.

There is so much more choice and so much easier to research and book now, back in the day you got brochures and had to phone up to book, or send a form. We always self-catered as a family growing up (mainly camping) and I've never been inclined to use hotels for holidays, but before we had the DCs (20-30 years ago) it wasn't economical to SC in cottages as they were all bigger for families and groups and we used to struggle to find anywhere we could afford. Now there are lots and lots of apartments as well as the traditional cottages, or cottages that have been divided into smaller units it is much more realistic price-wise. Plus all the brexit changes making it harder to go abroad.

The changes to tax rules re residential lettings also pushed lots of people into converting them into holiday lets instead, i.e. restriction on interest, greater capital gains tax relief, etc. Obviously that has had a knock on effect in making it harder (due to lack of supply) for locals to rent homes in tourist areas. To some extent, the recent budget may have scuppered that cunning plan because it removed the holiday let tax advantages, so a holiday let is now taxed the same as a residential let, so I'd expect some people to either sell up or convert back to residential lets, especially with all the price rises suffered such as increasing utilities, waste disposal, rates, food (welcome packs etc). Holiday lets aren't as attractive, profit wise, as they used to be!

I suppose I am thinking of an older UK mindset - wanting a holiday to have decent weather, relaxation, something new.

I used to live in Ambleside in Cumbria and most people seemed glued to their cars, with only a small few leaving them parked. Alcohol consumption and food became more popular on the whole than outdoor pursuits and fell walking. I think it slowly became 'modernised' over the past 10 years, with more focus on party groups and less 'muddy boots with dogs', if you see what I mean.

I get that overseas travel can be daunting, but I am still surprised at the boom in the UK. It is a beautiful country (where is hasn't been built over too hideously) but a big change nonetheless.

Interesting comment about people selling up and leaving. I witnessed several elderly pass away when I lived in Ambleside and it was just a given that their home would become a holiday let after weeks of construction. You could predict it. A holiday let owner down the road from my home offered us a decent price on the house as sh'ed had enough of the industry but we could not afford it due to the value having shot through the roof.

We live in another mildly touristy area now but mainly day trippers, and a much nicer climate

As for Brexit (which I don't support btw) I have not found it remotely difficult to travel abroad.

It's more complicated to take dogs now.
Not impossible but more complicated

But surely dog owners can't be the full reason for a ginormous UK holiday boom. I have several friends with dogs who go abroad and either leave them with a dogsitter friend/family or kennel them, it depends on the dog!

Does this explain the permanent stench of poop on a popular Ambleside park path? You have to step your way along it like a game of Twister.

Some people have much more money than the average, and the divide has got greater. So having more than one holiday, going away at school half terms and Easter happens more often.

I’m glad you haven’t but I have definitely noticed a difference. Very long passport checking queues due to having to go in the non EU lane which has more checks and stamps for everyone so moves a lot slower. Not so much in UK airports but in the foreign airport. M20 backed up due to post Brexit rules on goods, with a knock on effect on leisure travellers. Have nearly missed planes and Eurotunnel due to these effects.

I think these were temporary issues and hopefully gradually getting better as everyone gets used to the new systems but in the meantime some people may have been put off going abroad. However, ETIAS is coming next year which may put more people off.

A few factors at play…

Prior to t’internet to find a cottage you were restricted by word of mouth or maybe 2 or 3 shitty brochures which you had to book up a year in advance, and even then you were winging it in quality. We had a couple of hair raising holidays in Wales where things were not “as advertised” but it was the 70s and our parents got pissed and left us to sit in a hole on the beach till it got dark.

The other alternative was “going down the travel agent” which was a whole morning, sitting watching a lady with a very special system, punch dates into a gas powered computer, or more likely, ringing up tour operators and trying to find you something that was in all likelihood, a package to Spain.

My parents in 1980 booked an apartment in the algarve ina town that had 2 bars and one restaurant. It was totally undeveloped and they booked the flights separately. And my cousins/uncles treated this like we had gone backpacking in Borneo. It just wasn’t done and was regarded as highly dangerous.

And then ceefax happened. That was another ritual of watching my dad scribble details from page 93 of 181 and missing a bit and waiting for it to come around again. Insanity.

So the likes of airbnb and booking.com make generalised holidays way easier. And the easier they are, the broader the offering.

Plus, flying now is shit. It really is. No dinner. No nice ladies to help with everything. Flying prior to ryan air was part of the holiday. Now it’s a bit to just get through.

And (I’m on one now) getting the train is also shit, and costs a fecking fortune. We used to get the train to holidays but now that would cost more than the bloody stay.

Nowadays if I want to stay in a yurt in Bedfordshire for one night, and a castle in Yorkshire for another, my needs can be accommodated on a whim. And that’s why there are more yurts and castles available. For tossers like me who want weird stuff.

I am off to Northumberland next week to explore castles and beaches. I've been to many many places abroad and am well travelled - as a kid we had a camper van and explored every inch of the British Isles.

The reason I don't go abroad as much is that it's simpler for me to be here and I am less bothered by tanning, sunning and warm weather these days.

The cottage boom comes from people having less cash to own second homes so people with then find an alternative way to fund them

Oh god yes the train is so expensive.

I book cottages very frequently now as often if I want to go and see relatives I'll book a cottage near them and then see which of my kids and or mum want to come.

I've got two booked at the moment, one for Easter and one for the summer. It is a lot cheaper when you are splitting it between adults and it's a nice way to see family.

I'd fly more if my kids or my mum could chip in on shared holidays but two of them won't fly any more.

It's definitely easier thanks to the Internet and that also means you have a larger customer base who wants your cottage so it's more lucrative.

Prior to DD we often went driving and staying at a B&B overnight, just looking around for one around at 4pm. That's also not possible anymore, you have to book months in advance during the Summer and nice locations.

We stayed in the UK a couple of times but while it was nice and we had a good time, the weather is just too unpredictable. We did May half term in Norfolk, started with 25 degrees and sun and ended with 15 and torrential rain. Same with a week in Wales in August.
That does not replace a holiday where I want guaranteed sunshine and I don't mind airports and travelling.

But I agree with the dogs, friends now moved from holiday in France to holiday in the UK as it's quite difficult to get the pet passport.

I haven't found issues with trains although it depends what line you are on.
I can visit the Lakes for £22 open return or a low as £13 depending when buying ticket.

However if I go to see family in Shropshire I can pay over £44. Just because we would change to a Welsh company, or something.

Let's not forget that running a car is also very expensive. If we go somewhere in the UK we will try only take it as a last resort. We don't have kids though so if I factor that in I can see why people might think that.

Im always torn about cottage holidays. I like the idea of them far more than the reality! I’ve had a couple of bad experiences with damp cold dark miserable places, which somehow managed to look cosy warm and comfy in the pictures! And the so called “pub 5 minutes walk away” turns out to be a 25 minute walk along a road with no pavements, to an eye wateringly expensive Gastro pub!
Dh flatly refuses now.