to not want to go on a caravan park holiday DH won through work?

[electrofagz]

I've checked out their website and I just don't think I can do it. Basically, the caravan home is owned by another employee through a sort of time-share scheme (?) so it is not possible to upgrade to one of the nicer homes in the park. I know that it is only a week and I am effectively passing on an almost free holiday but I absolutely hate that kind of set-up having discovered the world as an independent traveller over the years.

If we don't go, the 'owner' would probably know as his friend 'owns' the plot next door and will be there when we are meant to go. He keeps telling dh about the karaoke nights, "the best cabaret shows in the UK" and the huge breakfast buffet - these are things I would actively avoid in a holiday of my choice. Dh has already confirmed that he does not have any annual leave booked for those dates.

Is there a polite way of getting out of it?

Depends also where you fly from IFancy, £375 ain't going to happen in Scotland where we live, for example - and I note it wasn't a family of 5!

Orm is right - you've got to include the cost of passports, flight supplements, transfers, airport parking, converting your cash, kitting yourself out for foriegn holidays etc etc. I bet you your foreign holiday did notreally cost £375 if you add in everything else that you don't pay if you stay in the UK.

We flew from London (the most expensive area to fly from) and no, £375 was not for 5 but proportionaly similar...

And in this country, you'd have to pay for food also, travel / petrol / wet weather clothing / wet weather days out!

And we took our own food for flights to keep that cost down.

Orm didn't say how much the actual holiday cost - just the accomodation. Same as me...

do you know i looked after a lady who was dying and she would have loved this for her and her kids ,so why not contact one of the charities who organise things for the terminally ill and see if there is anyone who would like it ? that way you can be a snob with a heart !

We are going camping in Haven for 9 nights in May - £50 for all 4 of us! Would love to have a caravan, but can't afford the luxtury i'm afraid!

Last year we camped for a week and went all inclusive holiday in tennerife for a week. We enjoyed the camping in haven the best, and believe it or not, it was much better weather in the camping hol!

Morloth - you're still in Australia, aren't you? I'm sure they've been advertising Sodastream type things on tv recently so I'm guessing they're still available here as well as in the UK, if you really want one

Our week in Butlins in costing just over £1000 for Half board within the 6 weeks holidays. I cant find anything abroad for anywhere near the same price.

Will your dcs enjoy it? If so, then go and make the best of it, then treat yourself and dh to a luxury spa weekend somewhere flash with the money you've saved while loving granny looks after the children.

That way, everyone's happy.

This has to be the most pointless argument ever had on MN! It is very, very difficult to go on holiday for £375 abroad for a whole family in the school holidays (unless I suppose it is in the middle of winter). Most families are going to have to pay a lot more than that.

Holidays in general are cheaper in the UK than they are abroad.

Anyway, I am happy that this thread has rumbled on, as it has made me go and look at the Haven website and I have found that I can go to a variety of holiday camps in places like Blackpool and Cornwall and take the dogs. So it looks like I am going to be able to go somewhere other than a tent on a bleak moor after all. I have just booked a holiday at Easter for 6 of us plus dogs including kids club, climbing and horse riding for £259.

It's probably been asked but I've not read the whole thread but can anyone tell me why the OP's DH entered the competition if the prize is so yuck (sounds fine to me btw)

Missmamy- to "fit in" and win the champagne

Missmamy because it is a wind up. Not a funny one tbh. I have felt very offended as we can only afford caravan holidays, but then I realised that I love staying in caravans. I couldn't cope with camping though.

And for those who are saying about prices etc. If you collect the tokens from a certain newspaper, you can go for £10 each, plus the charges that the park make. We are going in May for 4 nights for 3 of us and it has cost £75. We also went to one last year and they park phoned us direct this year to offer us a deal and we now have 2 holidays in the uk for a family of 3 that has cost the grand total of £200. I am very chuffed with my bargains.

Shadeofviolet, I bet I could but it wouldn't be half board. One week in a holiday apartment plus low-cost airline flights for four - I could do that easily for well under £1,000 in Spain or Italy.
A couple of years ago we stayed in a huge villa in a beautiful part of Italy, near the coast, for two weeks in August and it cost £1,200 inc flights.

Lyra - but there are 2 adults and three children.

ScreaminEagle - we stayed at a John Fowler a few years ago and it was really good, both the boys enjoyed it.

MillyR: Holidays in general are cheaper in the UK than they are abroad.

I've found the opposite to be true. Our two weeks in a cottage in Devon cost more than the same two weeks in Spain when I priced them both up. We also found you had to have more money for activities when the weather lets you down.
There are some real bargains to be had if you shop around and are willing to stay in self-catering villas/apartments rather than hotels.

Shadeofviolet, I don't think one extra child will significantly affect the cost. One extra Ryanair flight can cost as little as £20.

No, London is not the most expensive place to fly from. Have you any idea how much flight supplements are from other airports further away from europe? The additional costs I mentioned do not compare with the things you mentioned - for a start, most of us have ample wet weather gear!

I'm also not sure what you mean by 3 is proportionately similar to 5. You were very lucky to get a holiday for £375 - presumably that was for a week? If it was 2, you were very lucky, because as we got 2 weeks for £500 in Somerset, and I thought we were doing well!

This apartment on the Algarve is available in May for £273 a week. Should be able to get low cost flights and bring it in under £800 for a family of five.

'works in the post room'?
Clothing fom Sports Direct, and a near miss with a Best Western breakfast?

Wind-up!

Only on MN is it considered snobbish to have tastes and preferences.

I wouldn't go on a caravan holiday either - or camping. Or to Tenerife. Or to Florida.

Or to a million places I don't fancy.

On what planet are you supposed to go on holidays you don't like in order to prove your humility? This is just bonkers.

Don't go OP if you don't think you'll enjoy it. Holidays are meant to be enjoyed not endured.

I'm so glad that RL is blissfully free of this endless sanctimony and lecturing.

Oops it's a troll.

Ok, but the principle still stands.

Caravanning doesn't appeal to all. No snobbery involved.

This one's even cheaper and on the beach

That's the point though Lyra - a lot of people can't afford £800 for a holiday. And half term is mostly in June anyway.

Just making the point that holidays in the UK aren't necessarily cheaper. Sure, a caravan in Yorkshire will be cheaper than an apartment in Portugal but if you compare like for like abroad is very often cheaper.

May is only for those who don't have children at school, and it only sleeps 4, so would not suit us unless we hid one of them. The cheapest flights that I could see from Edinburgh were £160 return per person. The apartment in July goes up to £436 per week. Add on £800 for the flights for the 5 of us - £1236 for a week, excluding transfers, money exchange, airport parking etc etc. Hardly cheap!