Tell HouseTrip about your best holiday home experiences and you could be in with the chance of winning a £200 Boots voucher NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

HouseTrip have asked us to find out about Mumsnetters' best holiday home experiences, either from childhood or more recently.

Here's what HouseTrip have to say:

"We're on a mission to make it easy for people to holiday wherever they want in the world but in beautiful whole homes rather than cramped hotels. Holidaying in a home allows families to spend crucial quality time together that they don’t always get in normal life in order to make memories that will last a lifetime”

So, what has been your best holiday home experience? Maybe it was staying in a cottage as a child? Perhaps you have fond memories of visiting a city apartment? Or maybe your best experiences have been in a villa you go to each year with your kids? What made your experience so special?

Whatever your best holiday home experience has been, HouseTrip would love to hear about it.

Everyone who posts on this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one winner will receive a £200 Boots voucher.

Please note your comments may be included on HouseTrip's social media channels, and possibly elsewhere, so please only post if you're comfortable with this.

Thanks and good luck,
MNHQ

My best holiday home experience was staying in a house in the south of France as a child with my family. It was very basic - no TV, no microwave or kettle - but it had a pool and board games and was in a beautiful little village. We drove to the beaches, walked in the countryside or stayed at the house and swam in the pool. At night we read books, played cards or board games.
There was no shop in the village, but a man drive around with a bread van and there was a neat van and fish van once a week.
We loved visiting the French supermarket and buying foods we hadn't tried before and notebooks with squares.

Best was near Perugia in Italy - far end of a small village, 15 friends, pool, tiny shop, but loads of space to simply eat bread and olives all day, pick grapes off the vines, and the local manor house doubled up as a restaurant on request. Took us forever to stagger by torchlight back to the villa after those dinners!

With kids, a simple apartment in Edinburgh - ds made a den in an alcove off the lounge, and the seafood restaurant next door let MrNC take a meal away so we could relax while the kids slept, looking over the sea.

10 years ago with my husband and 7 years old son we went to the Norwegian South Coast and stayed in a fabulous wooden cottage/lodge. It was iscolated but the directions were good as were the instructions for finding the keys and working the appliances. The property was about 80 years old and had obviously been a much loved family holiday home. There were photographs and home made rugs, hangings etc. In this type of property it made it very cosy and homely.
Lots of maps and local brochures were available in addition to a good selection of quality childrens toys.
The highlight was the boat which we used to sail out in the fjord, fishing and swimming (we were extremely fortunate with the weather)
A guest book made excellent reading as people recommended places to visit etc.
All notes left by the owner were helpful and positive!
Bedding good quality cotton sheets and covers.

Having a cottage inBamburgh, kids having our attention all day every day, it was fab. All we did was walk across the road, walk alongthebeach, kids scrambled along the sand dunes, walked into teh village an got an icecream, went tothe very very small play area for aaaages (where Dd who canbe quite shy ) and ds made a new friend who they kept meeting at the park.

There were no DVDs watched, no gadgets, it was just lovely family time on holiday! And for the whole week (including driving to the cotttage and back, we had tolisten to the 3 Mr Gum audio books. Constantly) We can recite them word for word. The DCs were howling with laughter

Our most memorable family holiday to date was also our first experience of holidaying in a home/villa rather than the conventional apartment set up. My husband and I along with our 3 boys (aged 10, 5 and 3) stayed in a absolutely stunning house in Lazio, in the Southern area of Rome. It was a truly amazing holiday and the first where we were not in a rush to 'get out of the door' each morning...we could actually enjoy ourselves and relax in peace, knowing the children were safe, right where we were! Many, many happy days were spent like this. It was luxurious, clean, well attended & maintained - we didnt have to worry about a thing - which is what a holiday is all about in our book!

I would not holiday any other way now. It's a completely different experience to staying in a holiday apartment and once you try it, you won't go back!

Our best holiday rental was a converted old farm building in south west France.
It was simply but beautifully converted, in a tiny village with no amenities- just a place where about 60 french people lived. It was surroundedby vineyards and sunflower fields. Honeysuckle and roses grew outside the windows and it had a pool.
We spent 6 blissful weeks there. We walked by the Charente river often which was stunning in places; lazy,deep, green, cool and bordered by beautiful old trees. We visited ancient hill towns and sleepy little market towns, cycled by the coast, drank coffee in the nearest town square on Sunday mornings and lingered over lunch and the papers. We had lunch or dinner out often and discovered restaurants we returned to numerous times; loving the food and the atmosphere.
We made friend with Jean in 'the big house' in our village- whose family owned the vineyard and produced their own pineau which we developed a love for and brought many bottles of it back with us. We went to dinner, they came to dinner with us. We made friends with a family who had children in their late teens and whose very elderly mother lived with them. They woud ask us round for drinks and canapes. We returned the invitations at our house.
It was hot, sunny and occasionally it poured. One afternoon as the sunlight disappeared behind black clouds and the rain came with the thunder and lightning, we lay in bed with the shutters ajar and the rain drove the scents of the honeysuckle and roses into the dark room.
The house was our hideaway. We loved it. We cooked and ate outside - breakfast, lunch and dinner -in the sun. We swam in the pool, walked in the fields and just soaked up France. It was there we decided to get married.

My fave holiday was a caravan my gran rented on the east coast and filled with me and my cousins and NO parents! I was six. There was a bucket toilet! My gran took me to the bingo and gave me her tickets so I could choose a prize.
In contrast holidays with my parents consisted of sticking my bro and me in the back of a hot car to tour around europe, spending 80% of our waking hours fighting and puking and the rest enduring 3 hour meals...

When I was a teenager my parents rented a gite in France for a week. It was in the middle of nowhere, part of a tiny hamlet surrounded by miles and miles of sunflower fields. We went on day trips out but I loved coming back in the evenings to have a swim in the pool, play board games with my family and read a book in the fields. The simplicity made some lovely memories.

My best holiday experience was on my honeymoon to Mexico it was so nice and relaxing and a lot of fun. It's also where I conceived, almost a year after I now have a beautiful baby girl, we've decided to take her to her 1st holiday for her 1st birthday in July to beautiful Mexico.

My best holiday home experience has got to be my honeymoon. We rented an apartment in the centre of Paris and lived like Parisians for a week in a way we could never have afforded to in a hotel.

Fresh baguettes from the boulangerie every day, home cooked meals with lots of wine, restaurant meals with lots of wine, exploring the city by day and coming 'home' at night to listen to music (Serge Gainbourg!) or sit on the balcony and feel we were in our own private haven.

At Easter we took our 4 year old down to a holiday cottage in West Wales. It was the best holiday EVER! We had beautiful beaches, lots of ice cream and plenty of activities on offer to keep us all happy. We can't wait to go back there in a few weeks time.

We've had lots of lovely ones over the years.

With small children the best ones for us are not posh, perfect holiday homes but clean, basic, inexpensive houses. We usually pick ones that look like they are owned by a family who just rent it out for a bit of extra cash when they are not using it.

The last 2 we've has stick out in my mind.

1 in France was shabby and rustic but perfect. It has a stash of games for the kids, a garden with a shed full of beach stuff including parasol, balls etc and a paddling pool to use in the garden. It was right by a river and we spent many happy hours pottering along to feed the ducks. It was in a village with a small local shop that did "depot de pain" so we could go pick up croissants for breakfast :)

The other was just last year in the Peak District. The owner was so welcoming, she couldn't do enough for us. If you wanted anything that wasn't provided eg in the kitchen in terms of baking tins or roasting dishes then she would get it from her own kitchen and lend it to you. We were met with a freshly baked cake, a vase of flowers from the garden and tea, coffee and milk. Perfect. It had a garden to run around in and a trampoline plus book shelves full of stories for the children. Ds1 and dd spent ages sitting on the floor at the top of the stairs by the bookcase reading :)

What is important to us isn't how modern it is,it isn't having internet (I go on holiday to escape things like that!), isn't TV etc. We enjoy village locations for ease of pottering with the dcs. It is nice if there are local shops eg butcher, baker. When in France (I have family in France so we go a lot) then a local depot de pain or boulangerie is essential for breakfast! We like a comfortable, big bed. Sorry but I am fussy about that! I have a king size bed at home and I don't want to go on holiday to feel cramped in bed! We like things to be well thought out. I don't care if the furniture is old and second hand so long as it is functional and clean but I like things like waterproof mattress covers on the beds so I don't need to worry about the children wetting the bed. I like a spare set of sheets jut in case. A bit of flexibility is good for example when it says 2 bedrooms sleeps 4 then allowing you to have a baby on top of that is nice though my baby is now in a bed so I need bigger properties. If you are going to attract families then you definitely need to provide cot and cot bedding, highchair etc. Some places we've been to had things like backpack carriers or even all terrain pushchairs which is lovely. I like enough tea towels. I like a few bits and bobs of general purpose cleaning stuff so we can wipe up after ourselves. I like clear instructions for how to use everything so I'm not guessing plus instructions on rubbish/recycling and bin days. But not super anal don't do thing that and the other instructions! I like a nice folder of brochures and suggestions for attractions.

Mostly though functional and clean does me just fine. I love staying in a villa/cottage whatever. The comfort of having a house, of being able to crash in the afternoon if kids are tired, of having the space to spend the day playing board games if it is raining, of being able to spend some evening ot late but others putting the children to bed and having time together as a couple if the children would bloody well sleep is what makes it a holiday for us rather than just childcare in a different location without half the stuff you need.

That is a good question...... Many holiday's for various reasons

6 months travelling with Husband (before Daughter) Amazing China Vietnam Thailand Oz and New Zealand

Now have Daughter and ski every year, she will be 5 in August and this year watching her bomb down a blue run, very proud Mummy moment, tears in my eyes!!

Park holidays / Butlins, collect sun vouchers and upgrade, Daughter has a blast and if she is happy we are happy !!

Camping - only been a few times, but good fun (never been in rain though!!)

just the plain old family day on the beach, lucky enough to live near sea, so when nice always down on the beach

could go on and on

What a lovely thread :)

The best holiday home we ever stayed in was quite spectacular; it was pre-DC’s and just as well! I did a project for some clients a few years ago and they offered us use of their ‘little house in Spain’ as an extra thank you. The ‘little house’ turned out to be a 3 storey townhouse on the edge of Puerto Banus and was beautiful…and very white! White sofa’s, white floors, white wall, beds, everything! We spent the entire week careful not to spill anything. It was a lovely week but I think had it been now with two DS’s in tow I’d have had a heart attack on arrival and kept them in a tent in the garden!

The worst place I’ve ever stayed was in a cottage in Devon when I was little. It was two semi’s knocked into one but one side hadn’t been lived in for years. It was literally full of spider webs and we used to think it was haunted because the furniture was so old and the owls that lived outside were creepy at night. Probably wouldn’t get past health and safety rules nowadays but it is still one of my key childhood memories.

One of my favourites was a private holiday cottage on Lake Coniston, it was near where Swallows and Amazons was set and the cottage had all the books and various other S&A games and activities, it was hidden in the woods and made the holiday quite themed.

The house had loads of games, toys, books etc and this made it feel very welcoming, as though the owners really wanted us to be comfortable there.

Our best holiday cottage experience was in the Forest of Dean at New Year about 15 years ago. There were 4 of us and our dog.

The owner was amazingly welcoming, the cottage had been decorated for Christmas, there were pine cones to put on the open fire. She had left out the makings of a cream tea for us, a big box of shortbread and treats for the dog.

We had the best time there as we knew we were welcome and didn't have to tiptoe around worrying about breaking things. The house was immaculate, lots of space for us and newly decorated, not filled with someone's tat from decades before!

We went for long walks, went on the steam train, ate yummy food and relaxed. The perfect weekend away

A beautiful holiday we had was staying in a relatives beach house in denmark. We bicycled every morning down to the beach, then cycled for ice-creams before heading back to the house. It was the year my daughter really learned to ride a bicycle, and i loved all three of us cycling down these beautiful tree lined roads, no traffic ... it reminded me of cycling with my brothers whilst growing up.

It was lovely to stay in a home, watching tv at night, having a bbq, and all having some space to read or lie in the garden when we wern't at the beach or doing bits of sight seeing .....

A wonderful holiday in Italy about 5 years ago. We were due to return to the small self-catering apartment in the grounds of a boutique hotel in Tuscany in which we had stayed twice previously. When we got there, the owners explained that they had decided to compeltely renovate the whole building, so we were going to stay in their own newly built home on the same site instead

It was bigger (by far!) than our own London home, and was completely phenomenal: the most incredible kitchen, luxurious (huge) living room with log fire, 3 bedrooms (we only had 2 dcs and one was a baby!), 3 bathrooms and a guest toilet (!) and a massive patio/covered garden. All on one level, so our crawling baby had a wonderful time. And all finished to a really high standard. And provided with loads of sheets, towels, books, games and so on. It was ace :) The main bathroom even had a mini mosaic lined pool, instead of a bath, that you could fit about 8 people in. You can imagine how much fun the dcs had in it!

We've been back a few times since (and went to the owners' wedding a few years later) but sadly they finished the building works by our next visit so we were back in the 'normal' (very nice) apartments after that!

My fondest holiday home experience was as a 4 year old girl staying with my family in a cottage in Somerset, on a farm with wide open fields on 3 sides, perfect for us children to muck about in. Watching from the front door as a black and white calf from the field next door wandered through the gap in the hedge casually into the front garden. I don’t remember anything much about the holiday itself though mum tells me the cottage was damp and a bit basic. I think that goes to show the best memories children have are not necessarily what parents think matters.

I’ve tried to remember that when booking holiday homes for my young family. The last place we stayed in Devon was also on a farm, with lots of space to play and the property itself was top-notch in terms of fixtures and fittings - win-win for both parents and children.

I do tend towards the higher-end properties. I want to stay somewhere at least the same standard as we have at home. There will be times as the children grow up when it matters less but for now I want my luxury so we go looking for that combined with space outside to run wild. Its not so easy to find what we want but we have a shortlist of half a dozen properties that do us nicely for the next few years.

Most important for us are location and comfort. We tend to holiday in the U.K. and like to stay properties in stunning locations and we don't mind paying the extra for it.

We have very fond memories of a week we spent in a cottage right next to the Llangollen canal and within 2 minutes walk of Chirk aqueduct. The location was amazing, we could walk to the Ponyscyllte aqueduct from our front door and sit and watch boats going past in the evening. The owner had paid tremendous attention to detail and every need was catered for.

This year we will be returning to a property we stayed at last year. We are going back because the location in the heart of the Yorkshire dales was so fabulous and the property was perfectly charming. Big enough that we aren't falling over each other but comfortable and homely. It is perfectly suited for walking with the most stunning walk right from the front door. Can't wait.....

a couple of months ago 16 of us stayed in a holiday home on the south coast.

It's an ex B & B which seemed to make all the difference as:
all rooms had en-suite
really well equipped kitchen (loads of crockery, cutlery etc)
drinks fridge in the dining room
2 sitting rooms

Plus we had see views and was walking distance to the pub.
We all had a fantastic time!

I stayed in holiday homes almost every holiday with my parents. We usually went to Scotland and we found out that as long as we went late in the summer we always had a lovely time. My scariest moment was being chased up our long drive by highland cattle when we wanted to put the bins out on bin day!!! Going at the start of summer didn't work so well as the houses can be damp if not recently used.

On the other hand we always loved staying in gîtes in France (government approved holiday homes). They were always good quality houses with everything we needed and going to sleep to the sound of crickets was a wonderful reminder that we were somewhere a bit further south! I loved the chance to live like a french person for a week or two, going out early to get the bread and croissants, visiting the swimming lakes, eating steak haché while my dad insisted they were made of horse meat (which never really bothered me) and watching the super cool French girls greet their friends with kisses (even when topless!) I so wanted to have even just a little bit of their je ne sais quoi!

I have fond memories of staying on a caravan site summer after summer as a child, especially:

• looking forward to meeting up with your friends year after year (and, on arrival, trekking round the site to find out who was there!)
• 'knocking on' for your friends - having so many friends to play with in one very small and safe space
• playing all sorts of traditional and made-up games together (like manhunt, hide and seek and skipping)
• parents vs. kids' games of rounders and football were very special!
• the smell of BBQs coming from every caravan on very hot days
• staying out with your friends chatting and watching the stars until all hours

My best holiday home experience was three years ago this coming September. We went to Wales with friends and (our then) 11 month old. She learnt to stand unsupported on that holiday. We have videos of her walking along with her walker, sticking her hands up in the air and giggling. Such happy memories!

We hate to go away for our precious 2 weeks together and then find out that the accommodation is not as nice as at home.

We have stayed in a few horrible places (old smelly sofas and no wifi) and some fabulous ones (docking stations, books and leaflets about the area). The things you need to turn a nice holiday home into a great one dont cost much but for us guarantee a return trip another time.