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?

UK holidays are great if you want to explore what your own country has to offer - and we have some great places - rather than jumping on a plane but you have to be prepared for any weather. Sometimes you are rewarded, other times not so much.

That’s just it…we don’t take any chances….would never go away for a week in the U.K….always abroad

I don’t want to be on pins worrying about whether it’s going to piss down all week……obsessed with the weather apps…..if I go abroad I know the sun is going to shine all week

Neither DH nor I like very hot weather, and beach holidays aren't our thing, so we are quite happy in the UK. Prefer to go somewhere which has kid-friendly activities on site e.g. Bluestone, and ideally at least some catering/restaurant options nearby. We might manage one or two days of "cultural" activities but despite my best efforts, both DSs (5&7) would rather be in a swimming pool or playground than a museum, so we try to have a mix of trips. I'm 40 and there are still loads of parts of the UK I've not explored much, so still plenty to try!

The UK weather doesn't bother me that much - we have a mix of indoor and outdoor activities and in the summer it's pretty rare for it to be so awful that it wipes out a whole week. A bit chilly is fine by me - I'd rather wear a cardigan than layer on the suncream!

We do also go abroad, and did an AI to Ibiza last October which I really liked - but the outdoor weather being cool enough for us meant the pools were too cold for the kids! I think future overseas summer holidays are likely to be Northern European Center Parcs type places rather than the Med.

It depends. We did UK holidays in a lot of areas and thoroughly enjoyed them. There is a lot to do and see in this country.

But we aren't fans of heat, we don't like being at the beach/pool all the time, we like to do stuff and get out.

We normally self-cater and while I agree, it's a bit boring seeing the same things in the same supermarkets and eating at similar places, it's just a bit more laid back then a trip abroad.

We had mixed weather in northern France, Belgium and Germany as well, it's not just the UK who doesn't have a guaranteed summer.

I think we will have a mix next year of aboard as a family and then DH and I for a week on our own when we drop DD off at uni and most likely will mix up like we did in the past.

I have been to Menorca is August and had rain.

For me I would find it very limiting to only visit places that it probably wouldn’t rain. So many beautiful places to visit that may not guarantee sunshine!

Love them. Criss-crossed the UK with the kids when they were younger. Because the weather isn’t always reliable, they visited and learned to love castles, museums, galleries, country houses etc. and are now replicating this as adults. Our oldest takes her child to the same sort of places and our youngest is just planning his first road trip by car in the UK, getting off the beaten track.

We’re not beach people (unless it’s St. Ives in winter or the NW coast of Scotland with no-one else in sight 😁). That makes a difference, too.

I go to lots of places where the sun is not guaranteed but not for a week….this year I’ve been to Amsterdam in April ( the sun actually did shine)…..alnmouth, London, Keswick, snowdonia, Yorkshire Dales ….but these were for trips of 2 to 4 nights……anything for a week I just wouldn’t …..so I have had summer hols of 1 week and 2 weeks…. in June and august, abroad …..I couldn’t cope with a week of rain it would depress me.

ps….I too have been to menorca in august where it rained….for an hour…..kids didn’t even leave the pool

I have holiday let's in Bournemouth and it's sooo busy!!

What I didn't realise before owning these is we get lots of visitors from other countries coming here.

They see the area on TikTok and want to visit!! X

Do you always struggle to understand that not everybody is like you? I'd be fucking miserable in the sunshine and water activities and swimming in lakes and similar would be hellish for my dc. We are perfectly happy holidaying in the UK and are easily able to cope with any weather here. In fact, I like it a bit grey and drizzly as a preference.

Well get you🙄

As per PP - I like reliably blue skies and experiencing different food and culture when on holiday. Yes it can get very hot in the Med, but you can plan for that - air con and a water based holiday. Or head for the mountains for less heat, maybe a little rain now and then but still appreciably better weather than the UK, beautiful and great food.

I find the unreliable weather of the UK very frustrating - it’s hard to plan activities ahead (but many things need pre booking), you need a ton of kit to cover all the possibilities, and laundry/drying facilities, it’s expensive if you end up paying for indoor activities on wet days.

Ultimately the main thing for me is that I just don’t get uplifted by grey sky and drizzle like I do by blue skies and sun. The food is a huge thing too - UK options seem to be mainly pubs or fish and chips, not my thing at all.

I don't really understand your passive aggression around the subject or your derision because people disagree with you.

I'm honestly curious what activities you do on holiday which you'd need laundry facilities if it rained during. I can only think of camping or long distance walking. And even then, I've been drenched numerous times out walking (most recently in Switzerland) and not needed more than a coat peg and a hairdryer to sort us all out and look respectable again.

It is harder and more expensive than it should be to get good food in the UK, which I think probably says something about our tax environment for restaurants. It's not impossible though. Our public transport compares very unfavourably to most of Europe which means parking hell in too many places. The money, language and culture is not as excitingly different sometimes.

BUT there is substantial regional diversity and we also have pockets of cultural and language diversity (both ancient Celtic and new immigrant communities) which British people in the whole don't value or know anything about. My MIL genuinely used to believe the north was freezing all the time, it rained every day and there were marauding gangs of football hooligans on every street corner until she visited. We could do with appreciating what the UK has to offer if we can all stop catastrophising about the weather for five minutes.

I'm honestly curious what activities you do on holiday which you'd need laundry facilities if it rained during

Well thinking of a recent trip, we all got very muddy on a bike ride! And our shoes got soaked through on a long walk - no laundry required for that but it was a pain trying to dry the shoes out. And some swimwear/beach towels that got left in a bag wet all day and went grim (in a hot country it would’ve dried in the sun before we left the beach).

However, it’s not so much that things get filthy, it’s more that a UK holiday seems to require bringing a lot more clothing due to the weather (whereas on a sun holiday you live in swimwear and a few lightweight things) so unless you bring huge suitcases, that may involve doing laundry.

Yeah I get that bike riding would be muddy in the rain and rain totally feel your pain on wet shoes. Had to dry shoes twice this holiday (in southern Europe).

If the beach was hot enough to dry my gear before leaving I'd probably die of heat stroke though. Also, I don't get out of the sea until someone begs me to take them home 🙂

However, it’s not so much that things get filthy, it’s more that a UK holiday seems to require bringing a lot more clothing due to the weather (whereas on a sun holiday you live in swimwear and a few lightweight things) so unless you bring huge suitcases, that may involve doing laundry

I am on a sun holiday abroad. My husband has spent the afternoon fixing our hire car. I will be doing laundry.

It's interesting to hear people's views.

I enjoy very few outdoor activities when the weather isn't good. When the sun comes out in the UK, it can be glorious. I remember once swimming in the sun in Scottish lochs.

Something we have a lot of here are cosy old pubs. I guess because historically people needed shelter.