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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

UK Family Holidays, where am I going wrong?

72 replies

missedthememo1 · 22/01/2018 08:29

AIBU to not book my UK holiday 5 years in advance? Clearly.

DC2 has just turned 1 & as we didn’t get a holiday last year (never got around to it) its a priority this year.

Now we are not holiday virgins, travelled a fair bit with DC1 & loads without kids. However we are virgins when it comes to booking the traditional summer break in the UK.

Ideally we would like a week in Devon between June -Sep. Seems we have left it far too late. I’ve never booked any hotel months in advance. Admittedly I’ve never done the UK holiday thing except from the odd weekend break. My parents are immigrants so every school break we were whipped off to our respective holiday homes abroad.

What’s the MNs way?

OP posts:
Original poster
missedthememo1 · 22/01/2018 09:17

Nothing against holiday cottages or air bnb so will check those out.

OP posts:
BikeRunSki · 22/01/2018 09:18

You’ll do better from the 2nd week of Sept, after schools go back. Or is dc1 school age?

misslomi · 22/01/2018 09:20

I live in Brixham and it’s a sweet town but the south hams is a much nicer part of Devon! Salcombe/Kingsbridge and surrounding countryside is stunning! Definitely stick with that area if you can, the beaches are some of the best I’ve been to in the world. We came down on holiday when I was a child, around 10ish and I adored it!

onalongsabbatical · 22/01/2018 09:22

www.salcombe.com/
This is the website I found those two on - honestly, there are loads. Makes a difference if you'd take a flat, loads of people living in places like Salcombe convert part of their house to rent out, I've stayed in these kind, they always leave you alone, it's not like you feel you're in someone's house. So you'll often get a higher standard for same price or can get cheaper if that's the way you'd rather go.

Singlebutmarried · 22/01/2018 09:23

Kingsbridge is lovely.

Also hop on booking.com as there’s some fab properties on there.

Original poster
missedthememo1 · 22/01/2018 09:24

onalongsabbatical

Good finds! 1st so cute & like the location of 2nd. Thank you.

HeadDreamer Not particularly just don’t really know the UK very well (don’t bash me). I know Ireland & France much much better as that’s where parents are from. As an adult I tended to travel further afield.

Will check out your link.

OP posts:
Original poster
missedthememo1 · 22/01/2018 09:26

DC1 is 3 so 1 year left to take advantage. Traveling with kids in the summer holidays is bloody expensive!

OP posts:
AnnaMagnani · 22/01/2018 09:27

Everything in Salcombe is £200 a night as it is a nice place for the posh older person to go on their hols in a hotel. All of which will be wasted on your kids.

It's quite possibly booked up as it's the sort of place a certain type of person goes year after year after year.

Hoppinggreen · 22/01/2018 09:29

Don’t book a hotel with a 1 year old
Self catering is the way to go, with plenty of child friendly restaurants and takeaways nearby

Original poster
missedthememo1 · 22/01/2018 09:29

It's quite possibly booked up as it's the sort of place a certain type of person goes year after year after year. Eek, are they the type to read the Daily Mail?!

OP posts:
Trillis · 22/01/2018 09:32

We always do UK self catering. I tend to look in about February for the same summer, but the last couple of years I've left it till very late (booking in June/July for an August holiday and found the best/cheapest places we've been to for ages.

For Devon, I've booked with this site a couple of times and found the places lovely: www.helpfulholidays.co.uk/
I just did a search and there were 27 pages of 4 person cottages available this summer in Devon, and 6 pages of cottages near a beach. No connection other than as a customer.

MonkeysMummy17 · 22/01/2018 09:35

Parkdean sites are your friend with a toddler, we've just booked a week at the end of June in st Ives for £240
We've used a couple of parkdean sites and found them to be exactly what we need for keeping our 2.5yr old entertained plus they seem to be not too far from other attractions so you can get out and explore

theredjellybean · 22/01/2018 09:38

Headland hotel at Newquay is fab, self catering cottages in the grounds. Lovely pool, walk straight onto the beach...

AClearShotOfTheStreet · 22/01/2018 09:43

Have a look at Retallack..... it's naice lodges, with a pool onsite, a lovely restaurant and some other bits. Near Padstow. We have had some lovely breaks there.

onalongsabbatical · 22/01/2018 09:43

www.salcombe.com/cottages/marine-mews-3-shmmews?adult=2&infant=1&nights=7&range=3&start=30-6-2018
www.salcombe.com/cottages/caerleon-shcaern?adult=2&infant=1&nights=7&range=3&start=29-6-2018
Same week, middle of Salcombe. First one is £741, second one is £561. They look comparable in standard and facilities, but the cheaper one is a flat, so that's the kind of saving you can get if you look at flats. It's got it's own outside space, so, frankly, I think you lose nothing.

AuntFidgetWonkhamStrongNajork · 22/01/2018 09:45

Second helpful holidays - their website is brilliant.

puckingfixies · 22/01/2018 09:46

Look for cottages on Airbnb, HomeAway, Owners Direct, Holiday Lettings then google to see if you can find the website of the property you are interested in. All the agencies charge between 10 - 15% booking fees.

Or try these facebook pages for direct contact with the property owners. On either of these pages you can put in your dates and ask owners for details of properties with availability.

www.facebook.com/groups/HolidaysDirectIncludingDogFriendly/

www.facebook.com/groups/bookholidaysdirect/

AnnaMagnani · 22/01/2018 09:46

Eek, are they the type to read the Daily Mail?!

Very much so, yes GrinWink Preferably while having a pink gin as the sun goes under the yard arm.

I prefer the Totnes end of the South Hams where everyone is buying vegan shoes, doing yoga and going plastic free Blush

bananagrabber · 22/01/2018 09:47

West charleton grange near salcombe was lovely when we went on our first holiday with a baby! Try babyfriendlyboltholes website, even if you dont book through them (it's often booked up) it's good to get ideas

HalleLouja · 22/01/2018 09:58

If you are happy to go to a Caravan look at Hoburne. They have a few parks on the South coast. We have stayed at Naish and one in Christchurch and both are great. The Naish one has lovely lodges you can hire out too. The good thing about the parks is they have great entertainment for the kids and indoor pools if the weather is rubbish.

HalleLouja · 22/01/2018 09:59

Would also recommend Bluestone as mentioned above. Went years ago and it was lovely.

OddestSock · 22/01/2018 10:02

We've stayed in this cottage in Salcombe twice, definitely less than £1.7k (I've just looked at the end of June & it's £689 for the week).

www.coastandcountry.co.uk/cottage-details/stleo/

lalalalyra · 22/01/2018 10:03

Perranporth is beautiful.

We always stay at Perran Sands. The nicer caravans are lovely and the facilities on the park come in handy with kids.

antimatter · 22/01/2018 10:08

We stayed near Dartmouth 2 years ago. There's plenty to do for a week in the area.

Luckymummy22 · 22/01/2018 10:33

Would you consider a caravan site? Some of the caravans are really nice. We always upgrade. With your budget / time of year you could easily upgrade to Platinum I would have thought.
We like Haven so you have Devon cliffs or Perran Sands (Cornwall)

Kids absolutely live it which is why we go Year after year.

We always upgrade a bit. This year it’s Prestige and costing your budget for 10 days in school hols