Anyone else find U.K. holidays hard work and exhausting?

[Swimminglesson7]

With young(ish) children, I find U.K. breaks a big effort. Glamping in cold, rainy woodlands, staying in a holiday cottage and driving to a heaving beach daily…

Having to pack for every weather eventuality: sandals and factor 50, jumpers and wellies.

Am I alone in finding U.K. holidays to be not-quite-holidays?! The kids are having a blast. But I’m sick of lugging picnics and bodyboards and water bottles from one spot to another, then cooking and cleaning endless meals in a cottage or glamping site. I feel like I’m almost entirely servicing their fun.

(Meant to be lighthearted!)

@hettie. You may have read my post already just below yours. I’m just back from Cornwall, I am now positive for covid. Suspect it was picked up early on in the trip given the timings , possibly on the train to St Ives. Avoid crowds if you can.

The fun in holidays as a parent is seeing your children have fun and spending time together not working.
If you want a chill by the pool , nice meals out in the evening holiday go without the children.

Just to point out, that eating out/getting takeaways etc for a family for 2 weeks, is bloody expensive.

We usually manage to eat out twice in holiday. We get some instant meals (pizzas etc) too, and we do things like BBQ, but the main reason for self catering and eating in is cost.

Nah it’s hard work unless you’re happy to let kids run off do their own thing while you sit back. We took ours to a caravan site a few weeks ago Dh thought it was fine to let them all over the complex when in my mind there could be any weirdo in one of those caravans. I don’t think holidays abroad are much better either. I had an appalling one with my eighteen month old years ago. Fabulous villa, everyone else was relaxing. I had a rocket who just wanted to walk to be on the go all day and didn’t like the pool.

Obviously it wasn’t possible for most people this year but there is a reason why we always took our children to the Balearic Islands every year …generally cheaper and easier to keep them cool ,than trying to keep them happy,dry and occupied!

My DS is an adult, so holidays with children are a distant memory. However, when he was little, I did AI only. I was in my own with him, so we only went to hotels where they provided a children's club and where I could be sure he made friends with other kids in the pool. Never did a UK holiday. Although we did plenty of days out in London etc.

@Cheeseismymiddlename Thanks, we're not there until the week of the 30th August, so might be a little easier. Plus I'm a West country girl, so me need to see the sites (too much of a busman's holiday). Likely long walks, wild beaches and some surfing... Hope you all recover

We’re not bothering with a holiday this year - I would rather stay at home than spend a fortune going somewhere I don’t really want to go, only to have rubbish weather & nothing to do when we get there.

@hettie. Thanks Hettie.x

I think holidays with young dcs are hard work generally. The hardest one we had was in Spain it was the hottest it had been in 100 years and unbearable. The kids couldn’t cope with it as it was just to hot to do anything expect the beach. The nicest holidays we have had have been the last 2 summers at a caravan park an hour from our house right on a stunning beach and scenery around the area. We have been lucky with the weather though we did still do nice trips. I would like to go abroad next year but all the paperwork and uncertainty puts me off plus the cost of flights was sky high when I looked (but so are UK holiday parks)

can't beat an all inclusive hotel - why on earth do you not get them in the UK?

The self catering element is the issue not the country. You need a beautiful spa hotel with childcare! Room service, restaurants, twice a day housekeeping and someone to press your evening dress before you go out with dh for an evening together minus dc.

Of course you are going to be completely knackered entertaining and cooking for a brood in a rain soaked cottage in the middle of nowhere.

We need services and pampering, not wellies and endless cooking and cleaning.

We don't go anywhere in the UK with our toddler for more than 2 nights, and never in school holidays. 2 nights in a lodge at Alton Towers last September was brilliant, and we're looking at a New Forest long weekend this October. Agree that if you are used to abroad this is the absolute worst year to drive down to Newquay or St Ives!

I would never camp in any country. If it's not got 4 walls and an en-suite I'm not interested.

It is better to go for two nights in a hotel if that is all you can afford, and it is a complete break from the drudgery than seven nights self catering.

I don't live in the UK so I may be missing something, but is there a reason why the fact that a holiday is in the UK means that you MUST self-cater/do some version of camping? When I go back to the UK, we usually have some short breaks in other parts of the UK and we stay in hotels and someone else does the cooking.

Just to point out, that eating out/getting takeaways etc for a family for 2 weeks, is bloody expensive.

I think two weeks is a very long holiday, and I'd rather have a few relaxing days than spend the same amount on a two-weeks vacation where I had to cook and scrub dishes and clean the kitchen all the time. Why not have a shorter holiday where you can actually chill for a bit?

@Kokeshi123

I don't live in the UK so I may be missing something, but is there a reason why the fact that a holiday is in the UK means that you MUST self-cater/do some version of camping? When I go back to the UK, we usually have some short breaks in other parts of the UK and we stay in hotels and someone else does the cooking.

Cost I guess? A B&B I looked at in Lymington wanted £330 for 2 nights in a double room and a family of 4 with older kids needs 2 rooms. A week in a cottage is a set price for however many you can cram in.

You can book a book a budget hotel like the Premier Inn and have a much better time than the slog that is self catering Toykoto you don't need to lay out a great deal of money to have basic services such as breakfast and dinner in the restaurant, room service and cleaning service. It is still going to be easier than self catering with kids.

The allure of a sweet cottage with a gorgeous garden for the children masks the reality of the cooking, cleaning and doing the same things you basically do at home - usually with less space and no toys. It is an illusion.

Yes I know, I already said we only do 2 nights with my toddler so we can have a nicer time. I am answering the question as to why people choose a week self-catering over a week in a hotel.

I don't know if you've ever looked at the cost of a Premier Inn per night in the school holidays but you're looking at over £100 per room.

I live in Scotland and honestly if we got the weather it would be amazing! For me it's not a holiday unless you get on the plane, feel that heat when the door opens, that first morning at the pool the gorgeous lunches you make because the bread is so lovely. Siestas after lunch in the apartment, then pool again couple of drinks then heading up to get shower and ready for dinner out. That's just some of it but it's got to be abroad to feel like a holiday !

I think you are looking in the wrong place, Premier Inn in Southampton is 72.50 for a family room, and Sailsbury and lots of other destinations. Not all are over 100.00. 72.50 is not bad for the middle of August close to the sea.

But what do you do in Southampton if it rains for a week?
I’d rather sit indoors than spend a week in a premier in room waiting for it to stop raining

I'm always a bit baffled by people who say that it's the same drudgery as being at home. When I'm at home I'm doing house stuff AND working a 40+ hour week, as is DH.

Cooking dinner isn't such a headache if you're not trying to cram it in-between a conference call, nursery pickup, DH's boss having a meltdown and the dogs needing a walk .

Likewise, I have a toddler, but normally I'm up at 6:15 to get a start in the say before he wakes up, on holiday I can wake up when he does and we can eat toast in our Pyjamas while watching Peppa pig. Def more relaxing than trying to get everything done before your IMs start kicking off at 9am.

@DragonWillow

can't beat an all inclusive hotel - why on earth do you not get them in the UK?

Good question!

Maybe because it'd turn into a sort of chaotic hostel during our long runs of wet/chilly days. A massive hotel full of folk stuck in their rooms going slowly mad with their kids, then all thundering down to the dinning hall three times a day

In a hot country everyone in the hotel tends to at the very least drag themselves and their kin to poolside for a while during the day.