to ask if you go on holiday during the school holidays(and if so where?)

[Cuddler]

My 3 children ages 4,3 and 2 are all starting reception and pre school in September.

Until now we have just gone on holiday whenever we fancy it(eldest never went to pre school and im sahm),dh runs his own business so as long as hes not busy then we just book and go whenever-taking advantage of the fact holidays are half the price in term time!

I have been looking online at our usual destinations,including places in this country and im shocked at how much more expensive it is.

Do you take your kids out in term time?or do you pay the extra and go during the holidays?

Also has anyone got any ideas of places to go during the holidays which are under 1k?even centre parcs was over£1200 for 4 nights in october,it was only £400 the weeks either side of that,it all feels like a huge con!

DH and I are both teachers so we've been limited to school holidays long before the DCs came along. We go camping, house-sit for friends or book a self-catering place somewhere in the UK. Sometimes we book a Travelodge for a night en route to split the journey - if this is done far enough in advance a night can be £12.

Hahaha cut your cloth and camp in Italy, bloody hell get in the real world! You know most people can't even afford that term time.

If people can afford to go in school holidays well that's great but for some people a cheap term time break to Spain is the only way they can afford a holiday and if that's the case they should definitely go for it.

I worked out the cost of a fotnight's camping in a nice looking campsite with swimming pool in the Tarn area of France (south, temp at the moment mid to late 20s).

Pitch 280
Travel 225
Recovery 80
Green Card 40
Crossing 170
Total 795

On top of this you will have to add food but that really is up to you.

You can kit yourself out for a camping holiday for around £400 (probably a lot less if you shop around more). Once you have bought a lot of kit you will be able to use it for many years afterwards.

Will it be 'package'? Absolutely not. Will it be totally comfortable all the time? No. Will it be an adventure that your DCs remember? Absolutely!

"gnomedeplume** here here. >>>bows

Yes. We go to Cornwall self catering. You can book a cottage for a week for under £1000

As a teacher I'm used to the prices, but I'd also say that I have no problem with children up to year 9 being taken out of school for two weeks of the year.You'd have to be a pretty useless teacher to not be able to cope with a child that's been out of class for two weeks.

I have 3 kids and this summer we are camping in England, house sitting, Mum's caravan and going to Mallorca. Mallorca is the kind of holiday we can only do every couple of years after a lot of saving up.

MarriedInWhite -

We camped when DCs were small and we could afford no other holiday - starting in a small ridge tent. DH's job had fixed holidays (sharpest point on the peak of the season) so no option to take holidays at a cheaper time.

We look back on those holidays with affection. They were hard work at times but the sense of adventure and achievement were enormous.

When they were in primary, we took the boys out an extra week in the May/June half term to go to Florida and the year after we took them out two weeks before they broke up in July to go to Florida again. We saved shed loads of money.

Once DS1 started secondary (and I started work also in a secondary school - part time, term time only) we go in the hols. It costs loads more, we are going to Mexico in August this year. However, if I did not work in a school, I still wouldn't take the boys out of secondary school. They miss too much work, plus DS1 (yr10) has had a load of exams to contend with.

we're going in the holidays
we need all our annual leave to cover school hols - there's no way that DH and I would both spend a week's leave on a term-time break.

we book a cottage in the UK, and generally get something really lovely with 3+bedrooms for about £600.

What's a green card gnome? [ignorant]

Son Baulo in Majorca in August was lovely but I do hope dd's school will let me take her out next May/June as we really want to go to Canada (where my brother lives) for a visit as once dtds are 2 there is no hope we can afford it.

Another teacher here. We've only been on a proper holiday once (mainly because I thought spending so much money on one measly week was a waste - until we tried it and realised how great a proper holiday is!). We booked a self-catering place in Wales and loved it. This year we're going to West Sussex - doing the self-catering thing again - because it coincides with a wedding we've been invited to and we can't be arsed to do all of the travelling twice. I booked it months ago and paid in instalments; it was about £650 for a three-bedroomed place, and we're cheapskates so the whole week shouldn't cost us more than a grand in total...especially if we get fed well at the wedding!

gnome bit extravagant on the crossing though - have done Eurotunnel for an MPV and four passengers for £12.00 before now

a green card is the piece of insurance paper that validates your car insurance on the Continent.

This is the first year we've had a holiday in the summer holidays. Always thought it was too expensive, but we're struggling with getting enough holidays from work to cover childcare in the school holidays now so this year we've had to combine. We're going for a week in Majorca in the first week of the hols. We got the flights from jet2 and the hotel from expedia which worked out significantly cheaper than thomson, but still more expensive than we have ever spent on hols before.
When our boys were tiny we used to get cottages for the week in Whitby it was wonderful and inexpensive but the weather was a big factor. I really want some sun now

No arguments there MarriedInWhite but I didnt want to be accused of inaccuracy so I just looked all the prices up on the web and didnt really look for the real bargains that proper planning will give (£12.00, I'm impressed!)

Once DCs are at school I think that parents have to reassess what they consider to be a holiday. I know we did. For us a holiday became the chance to be somewhere else, a break from routine, eat different food, see different sights. It wasnt about luxury.

last year we did a house swap with a family in dorset - friends of friends - we had a week at their house and they had a week at ours in the lakes. Was a brilliant cheap option for all. Would recommend that

Gnome "Once DCs are at school I think that parents have to reassess what they consider to be a holiday. I know we did. For us a holiday became the chance to be somewhere else, a break from routine, eat different food, see different sights. It wasnt about luxury."

I couldn't agree more with that. I don't get the whole 'turning noses up' at a lovely break in your home country. Yes, we've had rain (but so did we on the first day when we went to Corfu last August), but we've also had some fab memories. It's also a whole lot easier to do when you've got little dc, than the whole going on a plane palava.

Abroad - better weather and food, and usually cheaper. Try to do something active too.

we book a cottage in UK - bit different for us as I work so would have to cover childcare in the holidays if we don't go on holiday - its has been well under 1000 - for what are very nice cottages
would consider a house swap sometime

We camped in Holland at Duinrell. It's small theme park with camping attached. DS wandered around theme park at night (free with camping) and we did Holland in day time. Great place.

Camping this year. Maybe self catering next.

We are off to Greece for six weeks.

We are just off to Tenerife (its start of Scottish summer holidays). I booked flights Ryan Air and apartment through villarenters website. Works out you get much better accom than using a package deal and its normally cheaper. We have used this kind of approach the last 5 years and had some lovely holidays, all in school holiday time. I just look for air-conditioning and two bathrooms (we have one bathroom / loo between 4 at home so this makes it feel like luxury).