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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To spend £1200 on a UK holiday

52 replies

MaryMotherOfCheeses · 19/02/2010 22:43

SEems like madness to me.

Two weeks in a static caravan, or rather, a chalet or bungalow on a holiday park.

We want to do one week in one place, one week in another. At the end of July.

£1200 seems a ridiculous amount of money to spend for 3 people on a UK caravan park.

What do you think?

OP posts:
MillyMollyMoo · 19/02/2010 22:50

It's school holidays therefore a premium, can you go any other time ?

I agree though, we paid £2000 to go to Egypt in a 5 star hotel for 5 of us and have been quoted £1,800 for a cottage in the lakes

cornsilk · 19/02/2010 22:53

we spent that on a week in Northumbria last year. It rained.

runnybottom · 19/02/2010 22:55

YABVU. Unless you want to of course. Sounds like the third cicle of hell to me, especially at that price.

BelleDeChocolateFluffyBunny · 19/02/2010 22:55

A hotel would be cheaper

MillyMollyMoo · 19/02/2010 22:59

I can't say I'd ever stay in a caravan again either, the start of the week the DC's were up at 4am because it was so bright and sunny and the curtains were so flimsy.
By the end of the week it was pissing down and the calor gas heating was on full blast and DC3 couldn't be let out of my sight even for a pee in case she burnt the whole thing to the ground.
We went home on the Thursday.

mylifemykids · 19/02/2010 23:03

No way on Earth would I pay that for a UK holiday. It could (and most likely will) rain all week. I know people say 'oh I don't mind what the weather's like as long as we're away', but that is a load of rubbish IMO!!

Northernlurker · 19/02/2010 23:10

So that's £600 a week? I think that is quite a bit for only three of you but I don't think it's too much for a uk holiday. 2 weeks in Scotland usually costs us around £950-£1000 plus another £100 for the ferry - we go to Mull.

I get everything from that I want in a holiday. What I think is unreasonable is people paying that amount - or three or four times that just to go 'abroad'. We live in an amzingly beautiful country and we should appreciate it. I cannot understand why 'resorts' are so attractive. Ugh. I'd rather have my teeth pulled without drugs than stay in an all inclusive blah blah hotel. I go on holiday to spend time with my family and myself, to look at the sky and let go. I have no interest in acquiring a liver complaint and skin cancer and paying through the nose for the privilage.

Northernlurker · 19/02/2010 23:11

Oh and I love it when it rains - I make stew and read books and make soup and read books!

thisisyesterday · 19/02/2010 23:12

it's crazyu isn't it

my holiday plans have been thwarted by my idiot of a dp, so i am now trying to book somewhere in the uk

i quite fancy norfolk, the cheapest i can find for a cottage for me, my mum and the 3 children is £750

and then we'll have food/transport/days out on top of it

thisisyesterday · 19/02/2010 23:14

and i agree with northernlurker too! there are so many parts of the UK I haven't been to and would love to visit.

was considering scotland but i don't like flying and the drive from here (south-east) with 3 children is just a bit much for me to even think about lol

but it is expensive. my plans before were to go camping in sweden, which i was v excited about.

but hey ho

Original poster
MaryMotherOfCheeses · 19/02/2010 23:38

I'm thinking a holiday park over a hotel / cottage cos of other kids around. DS is an only.

We normally go camping. Really lucky last year cos we had the weather. But it seems £1200 is what you need to pay to stay in something more solid than a tent, with communal playing space and other kids, in something which doeesn't look like it's stepped out of the royle family.

OP posts:
Original poster
MaryMotherOfCheeses · 19/02/2010 23:39

And yes, I love the UK too. We're not even thinking of the main holiday places - Kent Weald, then Isle of Wight (ok the latter is, but kent surely isn't)

OP posts:
heQet · 19/02/2010 23:41

Bloody expensive! We pay less than that for a week in a house all to ourselves with a private pool! (in the uk btw)

ThatVikRinA22 · 19/02/2010 23:45

id shop around

for instance we have stayed here

is 5 star luxury and less than your paying

there are loads of lovely holiday cottages about that are less than that!

piprabbit · 20/02/2010 00:06

Shop around and find smaller, more local agents to rent from.

We stayed here last year and it was fab, 5 minute walk from a huge beach. We'd go out on the sand at 6:30am when it was entirely empty and just run and fly kites.

verytellytubby · 20/02/2010 00:28

I wouldn't pay that. I'm incredibly lucky that friends of ours have a place in Spain and always invite us so we stay with them. Last year we did a week with them and a week on the coast. Ignoring the week with them, a week with an apartment from Owners Direct and flights was cheaper than what you want to pay and it was very sunny!

mylifemykids · 20/02/2010 00:43

You can read and make stew at home if it rains Northernlurker

Why pay £1200 to do that? TBH I prefer DH taking a week off work and us having family days out from home. Much cheaper

Northernlurker · 20/02/2010 01:06

Nah at home I do the ironing

LyraSilvertongue · 20/02/2010 01:17

That's a lot of money to stay in a caravan.
We've found over the years that it's cheaper to go abroad where you're pretty much guaranteed good weather, than it is to stay in the UK.
We usually do villas in sunny places and rarely pay more than £600 per week.
This year though we're doing an all-inclusive in the Caribbean (you'd hate it, northernlurker ) where all food and drink, accommodation, flights and 'entertainment' is covered by £3,000.
In 2008, our huge villa with pool on the coast, near a lovely Spanish town, was much cheaper than the equivalent two weeks in Butlins.

gingernutlover · 20/02/2010 07:31

£600 a week in the school summer holidays is completely normal.

I want to go to centerparcs but every tiem I look I nearly weep at the prices :-(

mummygirl · 20/02/2010 07:34

if you're willing to psend this kind of money go somewhere where you know it won't be raining during your entire stay at the caravan park.

if you wanna stay in the UK, shop around. This price is ridiculous even for school holidays.

mummygirl · 20/02/2010 07:38

oh sorry, I just realised it's 600 per week. This is not so bad, but what does it include? If it's only accomodation tell them to stuff it, but does it include your budget for food/transport/days out or...?

wingandprayer · 20/02/2010 08:04

I'm with NorthernLurker. Only been on UK holidays since we had DCs and spent considerably more than you want to and have all been lovely. Weather brilliant last year in particular. We've stayed in lovely 5 star cottages with every luxury, had family days out, eaten some excellent local food and generally had a great time. I don't want to have the hassle of airports with small children, all sleep in the same room for two weeks, constantly fear the kids getting burnt (though that also an issue in Cornwall last year!) or drowning in the pool. We had a lot of seriously flash holidays pre-DC and that has made us very picky but we still feel that our money gets much higher standard of accommodation and services than we ever could out of UK for the same price. Yes there is a gamble with the weather but we have always been remarkably lucky.

Nymphadora · 20/02/2010 08:11

Stay in a cottage rather thn a caravan then it seems a bitmore for your money?

NormaSknockers · 20/02/2010 08:20

I think it all depends on you, if you're happy to pay that then why not?

That's the trouble with only being able to go during school holidays though, all the prices shoot up. You can get some fab deals if you book very early & look out for the offers, last month we spotted a deal with Haven & managed to book a weeks holiday for the last week in June for £280 (would have been nearly £600) but it is tricker to get the good offers for school holidays.