Help please lovely MNetters - 5 live are interested to know your thoughts on family holidaying in the UK?

[JustineMumsnet]

Has the credit crunch and collapsing pound made the UK a preferable option for your holidays this year? Are you planning to stay put for a change and risk the UK weather? Is the UK up to scratch in what it can offer families? Or will you be scraping together as many anaemic pounds as you can and translating them into a pathetically small pile of Euros in search of warm sea and sunshine?

Essentially do you think the UK stacks up now as a family holiday destination now we're the poor men of Europe?

(It's for Victoria Derbyshire show - this friday am)

Thanks!

Like Kitbit, we live in Spain and always visit my family in UK a couple of times a year.

To dilute the stress for DH of being with ILs non-stop we always take their camper-van off for a few days on our own. I love getting to know England and Wales better, and DH is amazed at the beautiful landscapes.

Before we would stubbornly self-cater except for one meal out, but at Christmas it was fantastic to be able to treat ourselves a bit more with the pound so weak. Long may it last .

But I do agree with what so many have said before - you have to choose your pub or restaurant wisely, otherwise you can easily end up with crappy microwaved from frozen mass-produced food for quite a lot of money. There are good value places to eat, but they are often hard to find amidst the proliference of pre-packaged sandwiches and 3 pound a coke type places.

Since had children we have uk holidays. TBH, there is so much to see, and its cheaper and hassle free,imo.
We did camping,we went cottage holidays, now have caravan.

I think holidays in the UK are expensive but for us as a family they are also more convenient. If anything goes wrong it's far easier to just get on a train and come home than to try faffing around with changing flights etc.

No-one in our family likes hot weather so for us the cooler weather here is a good thing.

I think that UK tourist attractions should be more family-friendly though. Children are seen as an inconvenience that have to be put up with so that the tourism industry can get money out of the parents.

We regularly go to west coast of Wales which is very fab and beautiful with the most amazing beaches and a sort of weird microclimate which means it can be stunning weather when the rest of the UK is having gales. That said, we've had our fair share of drizzly walks, but the kids are fine in the rain as long as there's a flask of hot chocolate to bribe them with. There's lots to do, it's not too crowded and the beaches are vast with proper sand dunes.

We're so keen on Uk holiday we have recently bought a cottage in the Cotswolds for us to use and to rent out to make us a bit of cash. I'm banking on more people holidaying near home in the next few years to keep our place full!

We were planning on camping in France this year, same as last year but we found it expensive there last year so it will be evn worse now as the exchange rate is lower.
SO we will be heading for West Wales and keePing our fingers crossed that the sun will shine!

We always holiday in the UK. I can't face the thought of airports with 3 DC. ANyway none of us have valid passports atm and can't really afford to replace them atm.

Cornwall, West Wales, west coast of Scotland, IOW ...all lovely places. Weather doesn't really matter that much. And besides we do get good weather sometimes.

We live in a beautiful country. It amazes me that so many people fail to appreciate that and the only bit they see is the bit between the town where they live and the airport

We live on the continent so there has never been a better time for holidaying in the UK for us.

This year we will be over in Scotland to celebrate my brother's wedding and will be going on a shopping spree.

I know a few people who are thinking of going to Scotland this year as it is such great value for us in Euroland.

you will be v. welcome in scotland mmelindt.

we will be taking our chance with camping in the nw of scotland this year. exchange rate is too crap to afford europe sadly. i agree swimming outside is lovely but i think i can live without it.

I don't think the UK is expensive compared to Europe.

I have friends who holidayed in France last year and quite frankly the prices that they were paying for a mediocre meal made my hair curl!

Before having ds we only ever had weekends in the UK, our main holidays were always spent abroad. Now we are a family it is much easier and cheaper to holiday in the UK. Last year we went to Cornwall in June for 2 weeks, the weather was bliss and ds had the time of his life. Young children just want a beach to run around on they really don't care whether it is Bognor Regis or Barbados! I couldn't be doing with all the hassle of flying now, its boring.

This year we are planning on Scotland, I am expecting rain but that is half the fun of a UK holiday, running into a cafe for a hot steamy drink, walking on the beach in your wellies. I love it!

The UK doesn't have to be expensive either our accommodation for two weeks in the school summer holidays is only costing just over £500 for all of us, you would not be able to find anything cheaper in mainland Europe.

For the last three years, we've had one holiday a year abroad - in France - and two or three more in the UK, mainly camping. I assumed that was for financial reasons, but now we can actually afford to go abroad "properly" as dd1 calls it I find I'm still booking places in the UK! We go to Wales at least once a year - it has so many beautiful places to explore. We're going to Northumberland and probably Pembrokeshire this year, and if we do go abroad it may just be for a short break.

We mainly go abroad. Why?

• Because we want to experience somewhere different
• We want good weather

The UK is not that cheap to holiday in at all. Infact it is bloody expensive in most places, £5 for a kids meal that is fried and rubbish. Lets face it our service is rubbish on the whole.

We have some beautiful places to go to here in the UK, but not for longer than a weekend.

Apart from the lack of sunshine I think the UK is great for family holidays (however I'm a bit foreign so it is still a novelty for me/plenty to see after ten years here). A change of environment (self catering cottage)is the main thing and anything else is a bonus!

Swimming outdoors! Who says you can't in UK? I've swum all over the UK. Including on a beautiful beach on the Isle of Lewis. OK I lost the feeling in most of my body for an hour or so but I lived

Huh! Wimps.

We normally have our holidays in the UK - not because we couldn't afford to go abroad but because we prefer it. Last summer we were very lucky and had two holidays, one in Scotland and one in France. Yes, the weather in France was A LOT better (!) but the drive was horrendous and I felt environmentally guilty about it. There is such a lot to do and see in the UK that I can't see us running out of options yet. We normally book a selfcatering cottage, because I don't want children in the same room as me - and that cuts out most of the 'bargain' foreign holidays anyway (though we did have a fabulous week in Malta about three years ago with two interconnecting rooms in a lovely hotel). I don't like 'sitting on a beach' holidays - not when it is too hot anyway, and the children are just as happy in cagoules and wellies on a british beach! Plus in somewhere like great yarmouth you can then go and play pirate crazy golf, and then take a boat on the broads, and then visit a small zoo, and then a castle and then a national trust place...much more my cup of tea. We've just booked a barn conversion holiday cottage in Suffolk for August this year, for £525 for the week.

We holiday in Uk for one holiday a year,usually Cornwall.
Last year went t o France in August but weather not great,so are off to Lanzarote in Feb,then Cornwall in August,for 2 weeks which was not cheap!
Don't t hink UK cheap for holidays,but when the sun shimes nowhere is more beautiful.
I second Fimbo in that if weather is poor,there is always something to do.
We are National Trust members and always have days out at nearby NT prroperties whilst away.

We have never taken the DCs abroad on holiday (they are 5 and 7) - usually we have a week's "holiday" in Wales at the inlaws and another week somewhere in the UK. But, having spent about £1600 for a week in Centreparcs last year, where it rained torrentially EVERY DAY we will definitely be going abroad this year!!!

We were swimming outdoors in October this year in a very lovely pool in Cornwall. I've swum in the sea at all times of the year.

Much as cornwall and North Wales are beautiful id much much rather go abroad.

The weather here is generally crap

Everywhere is over crowded & Overpriced

You are either destined to fast/bad food hell or make to feel like a leper for daring to take your children somewhere you can get a nice meal (and made to leave by 9pm) whereas children are largely welcomed in restaurants abroad.

We go away several times a year in the UK - Isle of Wight, Dorset, Cornwall. They are all cheap and cheerful self-catering: £9.50 Sun hols (ie in a caravan), sharing cottages with friends in winter, or house-sitting.

Summer holidays are usually in a mobile home, having driven to France. I haven't booked this years trip yet, but I expect to pick up a late deal by being flexible on dates/parcs. The basic holiday cost is probably about the same, the supermarket bill slightly higher than in previous years.

My main concern is feeling like the 'poor family' of Europe. DH & I are happy to self-cater but it's nice to be able to sit on a cafe terrace and treat everyone. If it costs 25 quid for 3 ice lollies and a couple of coffees that's going to leave a bad taste in the mouth when you know the French/Dutch/German family at the next table aren't feeling it in their wallet.

I've been saving up for two years to take my dts on holiday. After last summer there is no way I would risk a holiday in the UK. I would bet that it will still be cheaper to go abroad for a holiday than go anywhere in the UK.

Plus during the summer holidays we go on lots of days out around Scotland so they get to see their own country.

We usually holiday in the UK for our second holiday. This is usually a camping holiday(although we havent for the past couple of yrs due to the weather getting worse and worse).
Our main holiday is always abroad. We tend o have either a fortnight abroad in Aug or a wk May ish and a wk Aug.There is no competition as far as im concerned, The Uk is lovely and i love visiting new places, but the weather nearly always lets you down. You then have to spend a fortune finding activities to do. Abroad is so much cheaper. You dont need to spend anything in the day when you have lovely weather and a beach/pool.

Eating out is amillion times better too, cheaper and more child friendly. And what is better than being able to sit outside and have a drink late at night and still be in your summer clothes?Never happens here.

I love experiencing new cultures too and its a totally different experience.

We do have some fab times in Britain though too and caravans are so cosy. No way would i pay a grand for a caravan though!

This yr we are doing a Sun hol. Nothing booked abroad yet as im trying for a baby but if no joy by the summer then i will be booking up!!

We always stay in the UK, plane travel is a no-no anyhow (with 2 autistic kids? You'd have to be very, insane brave!) but we like it anyway.

This year we had hioped to go to France; that has been written off- partly because there's no such thing as a safe job now, and we don't want to miss out on a holiday becuase we left it too late; the site we have chosen for our trip in the UK is a popular one and already almost full.

So glad we took the decision- sun wuld have been nice I guess but we can do without I suppose. Better guranteed holiday for £600 than no holiday for £1200 which were the costings we had (based on 6 people 'posh' camping for a fortnight in the school hols).

We always take a ski holiday (and obviouslyy Scotland just does not hit the mark ... sorry ) this year to save costs and avoid airport hassles with 3 kids we are driving. A long way its true, but with a DVD or two and a stop every few hours its more than manageable. This year with the pound being so bad I am planning on taking as much food as possible in the roof box to avoid too much expense in the chalet.

The rest of the year, I know we are very fortunate as we have a second home we use for most of the school holidays.

Yes, it might rain, but we have books, scrabble and NO TV ! Its perfect !

I had booked to go abroad this year (two weeks school summer hols to majorca), but children have moaned so much that they want to go back to Cornwall that i have cancelled it!

We rent a cottage, and they just love to surf, rock climb, skim board and go rock climbing. The weather is never ever a problem. If it's dull we just walk along the coast etc! It's so beautiful too. I couldn't ever get sick of it!

We are still on the beach if its cool - wet suits keep the chill out as they play, parents wear fleeces!

We also love to go camping - with another family, and the fun we/they have is unbeatable!

We have given up flying, and I dislike hot weather. UK is very expensive at the moment - for the last few years we have not really holidayed at all except when kind grandparents have paid for the accommodation.

We do find that the less we travel, the more hyperventilatingly exciting we find it - we are off for an overnight trip to London in February, staying in a Travelodge, going to do free museums and exciting stuff, and we are all on tenterhooks waiting for it!

When i was younger and equally broke, I went on British Trust for Conservation Volunteers working holidays. I would much rather learn or do something on holiday, preferably in the fresh air, rather than boil alive on some beach. Which makes the UK pretty good for me. I do worry I am limiting ds's experiences though - with any luck he will make his own way when he is older and will always find it exciting.