Holiday inspo for 3 kids, no flying

[Flopsy145]

Looking to go either in April half term or last week of august for 5 nights
UK or somewhere in Europe we could get a ferry too (flights for 4 of us and a baby are just a killer).
DS 1, DD 3/4 and DSS 10, so need plenty to do locally
Budget of max 2k
Bonus if there's some nice old towns with great local food and shops, a bit of culture (mainly for me haha)

Had been looking at eurocamps but also keen on location suggestions for air bnbs, or any other parks/camping!

Please inspire me! ⭐

For Europe I'd take a look at center parcs, Landal sites, Duinrell (with day trip to Amsterdam) or Domaine des Ormes.

Somewhere like Center Parcs De Haan could work. Only 1.5 hours from Calais. Huge soft play, decent pool, beach with sand dunes if you get good weather, can do a day trip to Bruges for sightseeing and waffles.

Not sure where you are in the UK, but could look at Bluestone in Pembrokeshire with days out to Tenby or a castle.

If you're not too far from the south, Waterside holiday park in Weymouth is lovely, fairly upmarket with nice pool and entertainment and loads to do nearby for children.

Up north, Northumberland could be an option. We stayed in a holiday cottage near Alnwick and visited the Harry Potter castle and gardens, Bamburgh, Lindisfarne and Cragside.

Cruise! Look at MSC from Southampton. Usually the kids go free. There’s loads to do, free childcare even for babies, till 2am (read that again slowly, it’s true) and you get to see different places and only unpack once!

Shetland.

Netherlands. Zeeland (the area towards the border to Belgium) is lovely.

You can take day trips to Amsterdam, Bruges, Utrecht.

Where approx do you live? It makes a difference to ease of reacing places by ferry.

In August we have had two great trips to Netherlands - one was Rotterdam. We absolutely loved it for the kids. There’s a fabulous park called Plaswijkpark a short bus ride from the town centre - insanely cheap and my kids loved it. You can get a historic tram to the old bit that wasn’t blitzed in ww2. Loads of modern architecture (the cube houses are famous) and an amazing food hall, which is nice just to mooch around. And you can daytrip to a huge empty sandy beach if the sun shines. You can go to the very kid-friendly maritime museum and climb around boats. If it’s sunny and budget permits, take a ferry ride round the port of Rotterdam. We stayed in a cheap Airbnb and self catered so budget might be ok too, depending on travel cost from wherever you live.

If you are after camping and beaches and “wild days” it won’t work for you, but for something a bit different we loved it.

Thanks all, great suggestions. We're in Berkshire so getting to Holland is pretty straightforward, have looked at a few of the centre parks there and Port Zeland looks ideal!

Not too much of a trek, those of you that have been there would you say easier to do train/ferry to Calais and drive or ferry to the Hook of Holland which is longer but less driving? We have almost exactly equal journey times to Harwich, Folkestone and Dover.

Normandy can be lovely in the Spring (can also be very wet!), better weather in August (but more expensive). Plenty of activities for children. We stayed in Eurocamp (which it is very child friendly) and travelled on the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to Caen (with cabin). However, you usually have to book 12 months in advance to get the cheapest deals.

Also have a look at Roompot.com and Landal.com for alternatives to CPs. Last week in August should be cheaper as Dutch schools go back. We stayed at the Water Village next to Roompot resort on Zeeland and it's lovely round there. Some lovely villages to visit, Neeltje Jans Deltapark, a Go-Ape place, seal watching boat trips etc. Duinrell is also fun, but wouldn't want a week there.