to think the 4 of us can go away on £300?

[MissMotoGP]

Looking to take DP, and our 2 children (7 years and 8 weeks) away for a weekend somewhere in the uk early January.

AIBU to think I can do this on £300 ish? That would be just for accommodation. It'd be Friday- Sunday.

Any suggestions? It's for DP's birthday. Or am I being totally unrealistic? Not looking for anything fancy or to go abroad etc...

Of course you can! Unless you are expecting some quite luxurious accommodation ...?

You could probably get a family room in a YHA for that. You'd have access to a self catering kitchen too so you wouldn't have to spend in restaurants. more info

@gruffalomom I don't usually do this kind of thing. I've got very little money and have saved my butt off to scrape this amount together so not sure what this kind of thing costs. Sounds silly but I'm a bit nervous and not quite sure what I'm doing! Just want it to be special for him...

One of my friends and her family often goes on weekends in youth hostels. Apparently they aren't the spartan dormitories of yesteryear, and now have family rooms. Or you could find and Airbnb somewhere (I have never tried Airbnb BTW)

Cross posted with NannyR

Where are you wanting to go? Do you have transport? Happy to self cater?

Another vote for YHA! They're amazing. As long as you budget for everything (food, travel to/from accommodation) I think you can do it.

You can! We did Haven like this on similar money, self catering, but loads of free activities onsite helps to cut costs on activities. Not posh, not luxury, and not everyone's cup of tea, but kids love it, and happy kids make happy parents so worth a shot

You could easily get a small cottage or lodge gor that budget in January.

£300 is plenty for the accomodation and you could probably spend less and still find somewhere nice. Are you looking at 2 nights or 3? Is there a particular weekend you are looking at? Where in the country are you?

On that budget, I would probably look to spend less than £300 on the accomodation, go somewhere quite close to home (an hour or two away) to reduce traveling time/cost and maybe plan to eat out for one or two meals and then take easy food for self catering so it still felt like a treat, and hopefully find a nice attraction to spend a day at, and also look for voucher codes/Groupon deals to get the best value.

Of course! An Airbnb apartment would be half that! Even in my expensive seaside city it's not as much as that.

This company are generally good in my area www.brightongetaways.com

www.facebook.com/groups/petfreeholidays/

www.facebook.com/groups/HolidaysDirectIncludingDogFriendly/

www.facebook.com/groups/bookholidaysdirect/

The above are facebook groups where you can book a holiday cottage directly with the owner, saving the 15% booking fee charged by AirBnB, HomeAway, Owners Direct, etc. I think you could find a lovely holiday cottage for a weekend in January within your budget.

£300 might not be quite enough for a weekend at Center Parcs, although it would be worth looking in their late deals section, but you might be able to find somewhere similar that also has a pool complex, woodland walks etc.

YHA have hostels in some amazing places. Most do breakfast and supper now.

At the right time you'd easily get Premier Inn etc for that.

Haven? Off peak they are fab as a vase and you get more space than ahotel room.

Weve also done premier inn as a base just to sleep for much less, thwn had some fab days out!

Well d9ne for saving hard and am sure you will have a fabulous time - to protect against the weather a bit I would look at independent versions of centre Parcs as you will get a heated swimming pool etc bit won't have the premium price. Enjoy!

Definitely! We recently did 2 nights in London (Premier Inn) including return train travel from Cardiff for £260. That was for 4 of us.

Isle of wight park resorts... feels like "abroad."

I've just done a very random search on Classic Cottages and they had, for instance, a two bed cottage on the Isle of Wight for £210 for a weekend in January.

Or you can get two nights in a Premier Inn in London in January for - for example - £138 staying at the London Southwark (on the South Bank) if you fancied a city break.

Yes definitely! Check out TravelZoo (you have to sign up to see their deals but I don't seem to get too much spam from then) and TravelLodge, premier inn type places too - often these can work out same or cheaper than youth hostels we've found.

Center Parks is completely over priced, and usually work cheaper - travel included - if you go in one of the site on the continent.

Yes, look at some of the cottage websites like sykes cottages, put in your dates and your budget and see what comes up (look at reviews very carefully). Or you could look at a two night hotel break as its low season.

Where are you roughly? What sort of place appeals to you? City/lakes/countryside?

I agree with PP that Isle of Wight is great for kids and it sort of feels like abroad because you have to take a ferry That may be a long way from you though.