To feel like I'm being fleeced - glamping

[SaffronYellow]

£1,000 plus, to stay in a TENT for 1 week in Devon?
Some are £1,200 for 1 week.
Just seen one for £1,500 for 1 week.
This is to stay in a bell tent in a field.
To me, these are insane prices!!
AIBU to think over £1,000 to stay in a tent for a week is absurd?
I can't afford to stay in a holiday cottage.
Air BnB prices are out of my price range.
So I thought camping might be an affordable alternative.
I just want to go away for a week in this country in the school summer hols with my 2 DC, I want to give them a week away. Devon is my favourite place, used to go there as a child.
I'm not well enough to take my own tent and put it all up by myself, I've got ME and fibromyalgia and long Covid, so I really need a tent that's already erected and one that has a few more comforts to it than sleeping on an air mattress on the floor.
I thought a tent in a field would be a financially viable way to go away with my DC, who really deserve a week away, but the prices are eye watering and completely unaffordable.
I'm not asking to go abroad anywhere....just a week in my own country! But I'm priced out of this! I can't believe it, feel so sad for DC.😥

Glamping has never been cheap, but even standard camping costs have shot up to ridiculous levels on some sites so it doesn't surprise me a week glamping would be around £1k. I have seen some sites wanting £50/night without electric hook up, where the only facilities are a portaloo and a stand pipe, and you even have to take your rubbish home (or find a public bin each day when you go out). We tend to choose sites or rallies from the camping and caravaning club at £11-25 night, which tend to be very basic but I don't mind at those prices! The top end usually gets you EHU and hot showers, but the lower end may not even have a loo.
Is your glamping price just a bog standard site, or are you getting really good facilities too?

We are camping in Dorset for 10 nights at £90/night this summer. It is far more than our usual UK camping spend, but we wanted more facilities for a longer stay (we normally do 3-4 nights) so have sucked up the cost this time. It has EHU, indoor and outdoor pools, evening entertainment, onsite activities for DCs (at an extra cost), and is in a good location for the beach and other day trips.

Does it have to be a summer break? Often the May or October half terms are cheaper.

Thanks everyone, for all your lovely and helpful replies.
My budget is no more than £700 really, at a push.
Anywhere in Devon.
I'm looking in to the ones posted, thanks.

Unfortunately, our Ready Camp safari tents are no longer in operation

https://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/campsites/glamping/

I'd head to France. All their campsites have loads of stuff to do for kids, with plenty of caravans/ready erected tents.

You prob would get a better deal to fly out of the country! What about a mini cruise, or a ferry!

I’m from the SW, we usually stay in a static caravan. Will be a LOT cheaper than that and easier for you.

Saying that they are that expensive this year we aren’t even going home for a visit and that’s out of season.

I can't speak about Devon but we are paying £750 for a week in July in Yorkshire in a caravan. We've been all over and never paid more than £800 for a three bed caravan. We do tend to go to haven sites and the like, which people can be snobby about, but if you do your homework and book privately rather than through them you get much nicer accommodation for a lot cheaper. I wouldn't have dreamed of going on a caravan holiday before I had kids, but they love it and you get everything you need - the one we have booked this year has a washing machine and dishwasher - and they are usually well situated for beaches etc.

Glamping is a rip off, you're right about that, we did a yurt and it was over £350 for two nights and that was a few years ago - it would be at least twice that now.

Erm and a camping stove, electric hook up, heating, camping lights, table and chairs for starters - as an enthusiastic camper a week in an air tent (£700+) plus some SIMs does not sound fun on its own or cheap

Holiday homes in this country are bloody ridiculous!

@SaffronYellow honestly I would book 4 nights in that premier inn in Torquay and cram a lot into the 4 days if your budget is that tight. I think with Haven etc you will be pushed to get it that low and might struggle to find anyone who will do less than a week .

Blimey I just paid £1300 for a week in a one bed apartment in a hotel including flights and transfers- Tenerife, school hols - me and a teenager!

i have ME and/or long covid -I love camping on my own but with kids it’s work

https://www.campmates.co.uk/single-parent-holidays.html

Haven't read full thread so someone may have linked already but this organisation have ready made tent options.

Hi OP I am a regular glamper and also have ME and fibromyalgia. Honestly I couldn’t do it without my DH it’s a lot of work and often you have to walk back and forth from the toilets/showers/sinks quite a lot. If your children are too young to go alone you’ll have even more trips. Not sure this will be much fun for you.

We go for Kent (cheaper as less of a holiday resort) and take a last minute deal, often in a caravan park. We got an 8 berth (so 1 double room each) for £200 for a week in August a couple of years back. We normally just keep checking and as long as there's plenty left, the prices often go down quite a lot the fortnight/week or so before.

@SaffronYellow

https://www.pitchup.com/search/England/South_West/Devon/?arrive=2024-08-01&depart=2024-08-08&type=13&type=6&type=7&adults=1&child_ages=10,7&children=2

Any of this useful? I just searched a random week in August

https://www.pitchup.com/campsites/England/South_West/Devon/cheriton-bishop/springfield-holiday-park/?arrive=2024-08-01&depart=2024-08-08&type=13&type=6&type=7&adults=1&child_ages=10,7&children=2

I know you want Devon but your money would go so much further somewhere else. Try South Wales or Norfolk - great beaches and other bits and bobs. Or try small companies. I've just looked up a cottage we stayed in in Cornwall, in a small village with its own beach, and it's £700 in school hols. It only sleeps 2 and might be a bit isolated for you so it's not "the one", but it proves you can do better than £1000 for a cottage with a real roof in summer hols, even in Cornwall. I appreciate it's still tonnes of money, but "glamping" is a very expensive way to do it. It's a successful business model because some people will pay a massive premium for it.

Or, with 2 kids you could just book into a chain hotel for a few nights. It doesn't have to be a week. It's not glamorous but neither is glamping, really, and you could still make it fun whilst keeping the decent beds and all mod cons. Plan your days like you would in a cottage. One year we did a couple of nights at a theme park and called it our summer holiday. Your holiday only needs to suit you, it doesn't have to be a week in a single SC place just because that's the norm.

Youth hostel?

£925 for a week in August in a gorgeous cottage on the lizard peninsula in Cornwall. £1200 for glamping is mental!! Loads of cottages available!

https://www.tregoningmanor.co.uk/

If you are still looking @SaffronYellow

There is this

www.galmptonholidaybungalows.co.uk/Tariff

Or in north cornwall these

www.delamereholidays.co.uk/availability/

Or

www.coldharbourfarmcottages.co.uk/mobile/availability.php?my=7&y=2024#2

We are paying £655 for a 2 bed apartment in Looe Cornwall! In August

Glamming isn’t really budget friendly. If you want budget friendly then do a caravan holiday.

How about this place, on the edge of Dartmoor https://www.parkersfarmholidays.co.uk/type-f-db3/

Try a YHA youth hostel - family rooms are often en suite.

It's cheaper to go to France I think.

A week in summer hols family room in Okehampton is approx £450. There are hostels along Cornish coast too.

I'm like a broken record on here sometimes, banging on about home exchanges, but it's a great way to have a free holiday