Does anyone have a house they can let to me for Christmas in London?

[TheSunTheMoonTheTruth]

Nice try though eh?

OK. I need help organising Christmas. I don't think it's possible but if I can work something nice out it would be a great Christmas for my MIL.

Budget is £2k. We can possibly stretch this a little. MIL wants Chelsea or other very central locations (she grew up in Chelsea, now 80). I have emailed her and said 'you're having a laugh!' (not those exact words mind you...)

This is the rub. There are 3 families of 2 adults and 2 children (including our family). 1 Adult (MIL who might or might not be bringing her toy boy, let's presume not for now). There is also another older couple, but they don't know us so well so are happy to stay in a hotel nearby and do their own thing. We live in UK, the rest are coming from USA and are already spending a ton on flights.

I simply cannot find any properties that can accommodate us anywhere in London for anything less than £5k. I expect I am not going to.

So, any suggestions for areas near ish London we can stay in that might bring us within budget, or close to? Somewhere that is commutable on train or tube. We live in Devon and have had the family over here for Christmas for £1500, but, that has been in the middle of nowhere and although it suits us (bliss) it doesn't work with jetlagged US family who get up at 2, leave the house at 4 and are like at the fact shops close at 5pm (at the latest, they couldn't get used to local shops/post offices in little village we stayed in being open mornings 6 days week!).

Any other ideas of how to do this?

How many nights is the £2k to cover?

There are houses on onefinestay that have 5 beds and start at around £265 per night in central enough areas of London (eg Stoke Newington, Highgate, Clapham, Chiswick). I agree forget about Chelsea . You could squeeze in if you have an inflatable mattress or two for kids to sleep in rooms with parents? The areas take a little while longer to get into central London proper but will have plenty going on in the local area, shops open late etc!

Or have you checked OwnersDirect?

7 nights sleep I shall go and have a look on those sites. I have looked at Owners Direct. But will revisit with a widened search. I have found one promising place in Hampton - it's actually 3 apartments in the same building, which looks lovely.

goog idea about blowup mattresses for children

Not sure I'd bother mentioning them to the rental co though

Hampton really is quite a way out no? I'm sure you could find something in zone 2/3 that would work....you would feel much more like you are in London .

Do you really think Hampton is too far out? Isn't it like 20 mins from London? I just found a place in Hampton Court, lovely house, and I asked the owner about the children crashing on an air mattress and she not only said yes, but that she had a pop up bed that we could use! If we go with that (great! thank you!) suggestion then there is plenty of room for everyone as the double rooms are all kingsize rooms and there is a twin room for the older girl who won't want to bunk with her family! There are two en-suites, so those with children crashing on the floor can have those. There are good hotels v close by for the adults who are going to stay in a hotel near us.

It is within budget and so far, the response from family is good. MIL has not responded yet and she is the one who might want closer to London and it's to celebrate her being 80 years old that we are all meeting up so it's her call.

I have tried to find somewhere in London itself but am struggling to find anything even outside the central zone.

Umm, well it may be 20 minutes on a train but it is Surrey, not London. So it depends how much you want to be in the action as it were...Surrey is very nice, don't get me wrong - and certainly in easy reach of London, (both reasons why it is full of successful stockbrokers and lawyers) but it isn't in London. I guess it depends what your plans are and how much inconvenience it will cause being an overground train ride out of London rather than on a tube line...

Have a look at Chelsea Cloisters. I've just put in 4 adults, 2 rooms and it came to £1300 for the week. Have a fiddle with combos and it might come in at budget?

ok, so, MIL agrees that it's too far out. She does accept that her desired areas is probably a no go. So, we shall give Hampton a miss. I guess she is 80 afterall, lives in a place where she does not get on trains EVER so won't want any kind of journey by public transport other than a quick hop on a tube. Fair enough.

I will look at those places box and natasha. Thank you.

Don't forget that there will be no trains on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Tubes and buses run on Boxing Day.

Have you looked at doing a house swap? Rural Devon for Christmas sounds lovely...

tethersend Would love a house swap but we live in a City, and although the location is awesome, in terms of being near places, our place is tiny and I can't imagine anyone would want to swap london at christmas for here We are not in beautiful rolling countryside

What about a homeswap with one of the US contingent?

reveal now, that would work. MIL has a fantastic house in US, in Santa Fe that would be swappable. But, it would depend on whether he boyfriend is going to come with her. BIL could probably swap his, a lovely large house on the edge of New York State but, he has his own In-laws living with him!

I think we have found somewhere - in St Pancras. It sounds too good to be true so I am double checking before I book it for us all but it fits us all in including the other couple who were not originally going to stay with us. it is £3k not £2k, but, that couple will contribute something toward it and the other families with make up the difference. For a family of 16, it seems like a pretty good deal for Christmas period.

Thank you so much everyone for the website links and ideas to make it work. We are almost there!