to think that a weeks holiday in the uk should be cheaper than going abroad?

[carriedababi]

would liek to go to either cornwall, dorset or east coast,so pretty flexible

for 1 week

2 adults 1 4 year old

flexible on accomadation, either b and b, hotel, caravan
so flexible there

but can't seem to see any accomadation for less than 800 a week

YANBU

Personally you'd have to pay me to spend my "summer" holiday in this rain-sodden, bleak country.

yeah yeah the state of the rain an gloom today, i kinda see your point

My friend went to Butlins for the week, last week, she has a dh, and two young children, they paid about £700 . They had the most basic accommodation, but to eat out in the restaurant was about £40 per time, and the shows and added extras amount up. I personally would rather go to a nice sunny beach in a hot location.

go on bookings.com, there are quite a few on there in the £500 range for mid august.

It does seem crazy when you can hire a private villa in the sun with a pool for less than a caravan in the UK.

Are you sure you don't want to go abroad?

(Sorry, I'm afraid I'm not feeling very positive about UK tourism when I look out of the window on this June weekend to see rain, rain and more rain....)

It is ridiculous. Cannot afford holidays anywhere here or abroad.

When DC are a bit older it will be camping as cheaply as possible.

Will never be able to do anything more

Thats why so many do go abroad, accomodation so much cheaper in, eg Spain or Portugal than in UK, although for us, it is cheaper to go UK than abroad as we have to include car-hire (wouldn't like to be stuck in one place/reliant on public transport/transfers) airport parking, pet care, can take dog with us if UK based. So UK is usually cheaper.

We spent a week at butlins at easter. We paid £350 for 2 adults and 1 child and it included bed, breakfast and dinner, using the buffet restaurants (which we loved). Admittedly the first time we went 3 yrs ago we did pay the full price (about £500) but each time we rebook now we get 50% off the brochure price so it's much cheaper. We can't find anything abroad for the same low price so will stick with butlins once a year for the next few years.

Owners of properties will charge as much as they can and still get business, and no less than is required to cover their costs.

Holiday rentals in the UK are expensive to buy, maintain, and run.

It is possible to get good accomodation in the UK not too expensively, but just like abroad you need to book a long time in advance for the school holidays i.e. around Christmas to go away in August.

I have managed to get lovely cottage rentals in Ireland for £500 for the week in peak season. Cost of the ferry or Ryanair flights isnt much.

I'd love to holiday in Devon or Cornwall but it is ridiculously expensive. Cheaper to do a package to the Med!

If you are happy with v basic accommodation it is def cheaper to holiday abroad esp Turkey than the UK. The eurozone isn't as much cheaper then it used to be but is still probably cheaper esp last min deals.

Book in advance, and go off-peak (assuming your 4 yr old is not at school). We just spent a lovely week in North Yorkshire in a fantastic cottage, £350 for a week. Self-catering so food not that expensive. I appreciate that it's a bit late to follow my advice, but this is AIBU after all. OK it rained a bit but it rains in large swathes of Europe just as much as here.

Yanbu! We are in the same position. Bought a big tent last year but having been looking at Cornwall and a lot of decent sites a fully booked. Some are asking for a fair amount of money upfront and if it rains there is no way on this planet I will be camping. Can't seem to get a static caravan for less than £600 and when you cost up fuel, food, day trips etc I am thinking it would be cheaper to go abroad. Doing lots of overtime at the moment but really need to spend the spare cash on much needed work to the house. Why do I beat myself up that I can't afford to take my kids away? :(

betty how much are they charging to pitch a tent?

i guess most of us want to give our dcs holidays as we want to give them happy memories, as we probably remember things from our childhood like holidays etc

I think accomodation can be cheaper/the same price abroad, but surely the cost of getting there usually makes abroad a lot more expensive?

this year we are going to majorca, its 200 quid for 3 of us flights and 600on a nice hotel for the week inc breakfast

Betty can I recommend UK campsite for ideas of good but cheap sites, and also the caravan and camping club for cheap but decvent sites.

Sites do book up quickly but often if you post on UK campsite an owner with a cancellation will see you.

if teh sort of thing you are after is big-site camping then I suggest the isle of wight, park resorts are decent, we like Nodes.

if you prefer the slightly smaller palces, these abound but are ahrd to track down to C&C club: if you want posh camping look at Sandy Balls whom I know have vacancaies still as they keep mailing us.

not Cornwall but just as good regions.

HTH.

We're camping next weekend in Ilfracombe. Cost for 6 of us with C&CC is £35. A bargain IMO.

We stayed in a nice 2 bedroom apartment in a Georgian terrace house right on the beach in Tenby during spring bank half term. It cost 560 pounds for a week. We ate out most evenings, but if we had wanted a cheaper holiday I could have cooked instead. UK holidays don't have to be expensive. There is no way we could have got the kind of holiday abroad we wanted for the three of us for 560 pounds plus petrol.

Yes we did spend more on days out - boat trips, visiting castles etc, but that is what we like to do. I love being a beach bum, but doing it all day every day for a week is rather boring so we would still want to do a bit of sightseeing wherever we were.

It's around £300 for the week. That's with electric hook up. For me it's just the risk of the weather being, well like it is today! I know I would be miserable as sin in a tent in the pouring rain! Just pricing up the last week in august with four of us going to menorca, booking flights and hotel separate can be done for just over £1000 although that would probably be in some god awful hotel try somewhere2stay.com we did this a couple of yrs and go and saved a good few hundred pounds :)

We are longing for Cornwal but it looks like it's out of our league atm. It's stupid....maybe the way to go is cancellations at last minute.

How about camping abroad Betty as a mid way solution?

Do think about sandy balls; plenty to do if wet as they ahve a decent quality bistro / spa etc but also about £300 with EHU.

Oh and Wrt to rain YY about being miserable as sin stuck in

We save Tesco points for outings for wet days, and never ever stay indoors: it's raincoat on and off you go.

YANBU

DH and I have inconsistent work schedules so can't book holidays too far in advance, and we've never been able to get decent train fares to travel within England, so usually end up taking budget flights elsewhere in Europe.

Once we found it would cost us twice as much to get to Gloucester as to Berlin! That's just silly.

I think more people would travel in England if train prices were lower.