Expats if you come home for the summer where do you stay?

[Pumpkinhead]

Hi there, we are thinking of another overseas move but this time I'm trying to think with my head and not my heart... As a family of 5 we always previously struggled with coming home in the summer as we don't have any family that can put us up and even the cheapest holiday let seems to be close to £1000 per week in the summer which always meant we couldn't stay for long. What do other families do? I'd like to come home for 3/4 weeks to see friends and family and give the kids some UK time but can't see how we could afford it? Just curious to see what other people do really? Thanks

We are not at this stage yet (third child is just a month!) and we still stay with family in ireland. But have you looked into university accommodation? It can be cheaper and you can usually get self catering too. Or try sabbaticalhomes website for any uni staff heading away and looking to sub let for the summer.

We converted our home into a holiday let so I can book it out for myself for a month. The rest of the year I let it to holiday makers for weekly or sometimes 3 night stays. Being doing it for al long time now and so far it has worked touch wood.

Haven Holidays. A 6-8 berth caravan did it for us.
It seems to offer the best price all round. Basically just use it for sleeping in. We managed £850 for 2 weeks, just look out for deals on certain parks.
By the time you add in flights and car hire it always ends up really expensive anyway though.
I haven't been back for a few years now so I don't know if you can still get good deals.

Do you plan August? I used to book a holiday cottage and tell people where I was. With car hire etc it's expensive. It needs to be factored in to expat decisions IMO.

Could you house swap your place? Or does your dh stay behind? Could he share with a friend whose family have also left?

Go on owners direct and holiday lettings and have a look. Maybe do the jurassic Coast and London and book well in advance. You might get a deal for money up front. Or go to Spain instead:)

We stay with family and then have a European holiday just ourselves for a week after, before heading back to the USA. This year we rented an apartment in Paris through airbnb, worked well.

We go for 2-3 weeks and divide time between families. We used to stay with family the whole time, but as the children got bigger and more crazy we decided to rent a place for one week in the middle. Now we have a timeshare at Stouts Hill. www.stoutshill.co.uk. Perhaps there is something similar near your folks.

Consider a house swap maybe

I used to go for a month and split between mum's house and a holiday rental near DMIL (she moved into an apartment a few yrs ago so no room for us). Now I'm working again I only go for 2 weeks and do a week with mum and then a week in our own house near DMIL which we bought and rent out the rest of the year- still costs us though in terms of rent foregone. I go in term time (June) as my kids are quite young, schools here are relaxed about that, and Jul/Aug are really busy for Dh and I in terms of work. I'm quite lucky in that most of my friends either work or are Australian, so I dont mind summering here as still lots of people around (I actually quite like it as roads and clubs are quiet).

Spend a fortune!

Fortunately my parents have a good size house with 2 spare rooms so we base ourselves there then travel to see people for a few days at a time. All our family and friends are scattered around the UK so we rack up the miles! We either stay with them or a nearby travelodge/premier inn.

I was back for 5 weeks this summer, DH just the first 10 days. It cost us thousands in car/hotels/taking people out for meals when we stayed etc. The DCs loved it and I really want them to have that time/experience with family and England but for me it was knackering! We stayed in 8 different places in the time we were back..... I think next year we plan to go for 3 weeks and rent a big enough cottage for 2 weeks for people to visit us then a week at my parents.

We have just resigned ourselves to the fact is does cost a lot but its an 'essential' for our family so we save up for a few months beforehand and pay off the credit card bill over a couple of months when we get back!

So far we've been lucky enough to base ourselves with my parents and lucked out house sitting in London for various friends (or I leave DC with my parents and I kip on sofas of various friends in London), this summer a friend offered us his 2bed house and he got an air bnb spare room which we paid for, thank god - cheaper than us paying for our own air bnb.

However my dad is mid job change so god knows where they'll be next time we go home. I don't think we can honestly afford it if we have to pay for accommodation as well as flights. Or we'll just have to go for a much shorter time

Thanks everyone for your messages. I think we will just have to budget the cost of a 'holiday' back in the UK and see how viable it is. I just don't want the kids to grow up not knowing home. I will take a look at some of your suggestions though and see if they could work for us so thanks again

I was flamed in here for saying that if DH is moved I want provision for our accommodation and expenses when we do our annual trip back. No joke we easily drop $10k on a two week trip outside of airfares that are paid for by his employer. DH is from Denmark and no one has a spare inch of space in their home in DH's family. Totally reasonable that this is the case. They can't be expected to maintain a larger home than their needs just to accommodate us.

Seriously thinking of buying a small 2 bed apartment and an old estate car for our visits. We plan to rent to others in a similar position to us this helping cover the mortgage.