Summer holidays in the UK - thoughts?

[Hosebush]

Currently on holiday in Cornwall. It's beautiful but it's cold today. It's been chilly for our last three summer holidays here. It was amazingly hot the first time.

What are people's thoughts on summer holidays in the UK. Do you do them? Do you wait and see what the weather will be like before booking? If not, how do you make it work?

When we had babies and toddlers and were pretty broke, we always used to holiday in the UK and they are some of our happiest holiday memories.

Nowadays, it’s lovely to get a cottage (or boutique hotel) in Norfolk or Suffolk for a couple of nights, but Covid reminded me that it’s not the place for a main summer holiday unless you have under-fives in your party. I live the adventure of going to new and different places. In Canada this summer, even the supermarkets felt exciting.

We can leave home after breakfast, and be in Nornandy for lunch. Why would we want to head up the M1 instead?!

It is what you make of it. Of course I would prefer it to be dry when I am away but I certainly don’t let rain make it “fucking miserable”. I am going to Norway next summer where the weather will be similar to the U.K. and I can guarantee I won’t be miserable!

I understand why for some people sunshine is an important part of their holiday but just because someone has different views doesn’t make them a liar!

We do both UK & foreign holidays each year. I enjoy them equally. We had a beautiful hot week in Cornwall this summer. We love walking though, so if the weather’s not great that's what we’ll do. Never had a whole week of rain though luckily.

There are some amazingly beautiful and interesting places in the UK. I never used to holiday here until covid and now I love it. I don't expect nice weather in the UK so I'm not disappointed. There's still plenty to do indoors, or you can still do outdoor activities just wrap up warm and take a brolly!

We don’t do summer holidays in the UK because the weather is just too unreliable. Plus I just don’t feel like it’s a proper rest. Still driving around, shopping, cooking etc in a cottage. I also find them not very good value for money. We usually do 10 days in a good AI somewhere like Turkey in the summer. However, I would do a UK break at other times of the year, just not for our main summer holiday.

I like both but we tend to go very cheap and cheerful in the UK (eg Haven caravan) so I’m not sat on a cold beach in Cornwall resenting the fact that I could have been in Tenerife for the same price!

My kids are little though, the caravan might be less appealing with moody teenagers

@Fudgetheparrot yes that's my view too -

We were in Cornwall in July. It rained heavily one day, but was pleasant the rest of the week. We have 2 dc under 7 and they had a brilliant time. There was a soft play barn, pool and board games to borrow on site.

We also do lots of city breaks where we visit museums and galleries and other attractions, and it doesn't matter what the weather is like then.

We do overseas holidays too and we actively avoid southern Europe during the summer holidays due to the regular heatwaves. We like warm dry weather but not the 35+ degrees you sometimes get. We will probably do fewer UK holidays as the dcs get older and it's easier to travel with them. I want them to be well-travelled and comfortable with travelling.

City breaks are much nicer if it's not hot, you want mild weather so you can enjoy the culture without being hot and sticky. And if you are inside then rain doesn't matter.

I have to have an abroad holiday for guaranteed warmth and sunshine. If I’ve done this I don’t mind a UK break but they are expensive and my expectations for the weather is low.

I live in the warm SE so if we go to the coast or Devon/Cornwall then I need to knock at least 5 degrees off. Then it’s always a weird microclimate down there - often more rain/wind. Can be disappointing.

So no, I would never have my main holiday in the UK. Unless I loved rain and cold and wind.

But you wouldn’t want to be inside on holiday surely ….well I wouldn’t for sure

That depends what you do on holiday. I like to visit a variety of places so yes I may well be inside at a museum/gallery or other attraction.

Holidays don’t need to be outside all the time

But you don’t want to be walking out of that museum and getting piss wet through walking to the pub do you?

It’s not ideal but it’s hardly the end of the world. You can buy wonderful things called raincoats now!

Wow so much negativity on this thread. I don't recognise this description of UK weather as relentlessly cold and rainy. Yes, granted the hands down worst weather I've ever experienced in holiday was on a Scottish island but the second worst weather I've ever had was the south of France. In fact I've spent many days soaked and freezing in southern Europe and that's before you start classifying hot humid 35 plus degree weather as bad weather (which I would definitely count it as. Lots of threads on here this year from people hiding in the hotel unable to sightsee due to extreme heat)

Many people are not comparing holidays on a level playing field (hotel versus Air B&B, for example). Similarly if your main holiday is abroad in August don't compare it to a UK holiday at Easter or October half term. Flights are so artificially cheap you should not expect to spend that much less on a trip closer to home.

It boggles my mind how many people will stay in and cancel plans because of rain. It often doesn't even rain all day anyway.

In answer to your questions I do holiday in UK about half the time. I don't regard it as a lesser destination compared to "abroad" and am very unimpressed by people who want to destroy the environment going long haul for the sake of it. I can't go more than a few years without visiting Scotland.

I have a colleague who waits for good weather before she books holiday. It's a) very annoying as we can't plan to cover her work and b) pretty ineffective.

I've had a few English holidays where it's rained so much, our clothes were all wet in the tent and we just came home as I was fed up of being wet. It's not fun.

So now we book our annual leave, but dont actually book the holiday til last minute and pick area based on weather. It's fairly unusual for the whole of the uk to be raining for a whole week. It does mean ee arent gettingbin simewhere popular though.

I also prefer to be in a building in the uk just for keeping clothes dry. We have had bad weather in Europe but again, we chased sunshine as its quite easy to move campsites there.

I won’t do longer than a couple of days because the weather is just too unreliable, and it’s too disappointing when your one holiday is ruined by rain. Also, I’m too aware of how much accommodation costs, and I really resent paying the extortionate prices here for crap quality and service.

We are in Cornwall right now. Yesterday was really grim. Today was glorious. I love a U.K. holiday as long as I get an abroad trip too. I’d be properly sulking about the weather if this was my only holiday tbh.

We don't go away in the summer holidays as it's too expensive but if we did it would be UK. Most places in Europe would be too hot for me- anything 27 or above and im uncomfortable.
We go away in the UK in May half term, weather can be very hit and miss. We don't plan on nice weather so then we are pleasantly surprised when it's nice (which it often is) or fine when it's not.
This year we went to North Yorkshire and weather was dodgy all week but we had a great time. Maybe the things we like to do aren't as weather dependent as the things you like to do?
Next year we are actually going to Cornwall instead and I'm looking forward to it.

It's just not the weather. It's also the fact that everywhere is packed and everywhere you find the same chains.

You also end up spending a fortune on attractions and eating out. I also think the price of holiday cottages is absolutely extortionate for something half decent.

How do you experience the culture and history of a place without going into the art galleries, museums and historic buildings? As beautiful a building as it is standing outside the Louvre is not the same experience as going inside. Like I said before, I am not excited by lying on a beach, I want culture. And it's only beach holidays you want very hot weather guaranteed, if you are interested in the culture or exploring the countryside you are better going when you are guaranteed milder weather.

But anyway I'm not sure where you are all going on holiday in the UK that you get entire weeks washed out? Glasgow* in October possibly but most other places you'll have a mix of dry and wet days. And there are these amazing apps that can predict the weather so you can plan what you are doing accordingly.

*I lived in Glasgow for 4 years and love the city and go back regularly. However it is the wettest city in the country. Good thing we have raincoats and umbrellas and don't need dry weather to enjoy the culture.

I don’t do them anymore. Did them during the covid years and was miserable: cold, bad food, lots of rain and wind and it was expensive too. I just found it depressing.

Absolutely this.