Mumsnetters share what makes a family holiday special with Isles of Scilly Travel

[LucyBMumsnet]

This sponsored discussion is now closed. Thank you to everyone who took the time to share.

From picking the perfect place for your family getaway to planning what to do and how to keep everyone entertained, family holidays are full of emotions and stories to tell. Whether you travel abroad to a sunny destination or stay locally and explore what the UK has to offer, Isle of Scilly Travel would like to hear the ways you make your family holiday special.

Here’s what Isles of Scilly Travel has to say:
“Discover why the Isles of Scilly, a group of sand-fringed islands found just 28 miles off the Cornish coast, is the perfect family holiday destination and enjoy a return to a gentler way of life. One visit to Scilly and you’ll understand why the islands are famous for enticing people to return year after year; families often holiday on Scilly for generations and visit the same camp sites, holiday homes or hotels every summer.

Isles of Scilly Travel makes the journey as memorable as the destination. Short Skybus flights from Land’s End, Newquay and Exeter airports reach Scilly in under an hour, or you can sail on the Scillonian III passenger ferry, which departs daily from Penzance Harbour between March and November.”

So we are asking you what part of the holiday does your family love the most? What is your preferred family holiday - active one with lots to do, or lazy one relaxing on the beach? How do you choose between staycation in the UK or overseas travel and why? What transport do you and your family use to get to the holiday? What would you change about you travelling together, if you could?

Share how you make you r family holiday special on the thread below to be entered into a prize draw where 1 x MNer will win a £300 voucher for a store of their choice AND family day trip on our passenger ferry the Scillonian (2 adults 2 children) – value depending on the day chosen is between £144.00 - £171.00.

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

Our first and only family holiday so far has been to Isle Of Wight. Overall - It was rubbish! Didn't think much of the island, not a lot to do with toddlers and the weather was awful. However, it was a great adventure for our 2 year old. She loved the ferry ride, the beach, and mostly the arcade rides. It was lovely to see her enjoying herself so on that basis it was a nice 'family' holiday. We are planning our next trip somewhere different soon, this time tailored to her interests as for me, its most important that the children have fun.

What makes it is the people and spending time together, the worst holiday on paper can be your best holiday if it brings you together

We like centerparcs or similar, it offers something for everyone so we all get to enjoy activities we want to do without the others being bored, and then we all enjoy and appreciate our family time more because we aren't in each others pockets the whole time.

I don't fly because it means we can take whatever we want and I'm not stressing over luggage allowance, or making the DC choose 1 toy/book etc and them being bored because they should have chosen the other one. It means that the packing and travelling is a lot less stressful and there is slightly less stress during the holiday too

Our holidays always have family at the centre of them as we live far from both of ours. The best times are always when the children are occupied just playing with their relatives and I don’t have to think of something for them to do! Ferries tend to be very popular with my dc.

@LucyBMumsnet you might want to look at the last paragraph of your post, it mentions Christmas!

I think it’s when the routine goes out the window and everyone relaxes a little. My favourite holiday is actually back to my childhood home in Cornwall: being woken by the gulls, pre-breakfast trips to the beach, post-breakfast trips to the beach, and all other times of the day too. Sand between the toes, splashing in the waves, that sticky, salty, warm feeling at the end of the day. And the food ... Popping to the artisan bakery for fresh bread in the morning; pasties as big as your head, ditto ice creams, Cornish strawberries (best in all the land), fresh fresh fish, and for the adults a spot of Tarquins. Surfing, SUPing, kayaking, swimming, all in a turquoise sea, under a cloudless sky.

I’ve not been to the Scillies since a school trip, and we live several hundred miles from home now - I’d love the chance to take them on the old ‘stomach pump’ and explore Hughtown and Porthcressa.

Thank you @MrsFrTedCrilly!

It's intangible really. We've been lucky enough to live and travel all over the place but honestly? Our two best family holidays were Youth Hostelling along Hadrian's Wall and staying in a rather down at heel self catering place on St Mary's on Scilly. Children were primary age and both times were perfect. And I cannot put my finger on why.
As the children got older I found it far harder to keep everyone happy, so maybe it was the ages that made things work.

We love to travel as a family. I want to say the best bit is experiencing new cultures but to be honest just being together, away from home and chores, is the biggest draw. We adore relaxing beach holidays, our kids, 7 and 4 can entertain themselves for hours with a bit of sand. Add in a warm pool and make that days. We like trying new foods and making small attempts to learn new languages.

We tend to travel abroad only because of the weather, we all love sunshine and warmth - the hot days the uk often experiences in June/July are plenty hot enough for us but so unpredictable so that we can't plan a weeks holiday around them.

My kids would say a holiday is made if there are bunk beds!
For me as long as I don't have to think about cooking or cleaning and there are.some nice places to explore nearby I'm happy!

Variety is what makes our family holidays special. This means that we vary transport. The default is to fly from our local airport as this is the easiest and quickest way, but we like to drive, travel by train (or sometimes coach) as alternative options.
We also like to vary the type of accommodation - from AI to self-catering in a villa or cottage, or even full board at a hotel.
Another thing that we sometimes do to make a holiday special is to base it on a theme, by being inspired by books we have read, for example. And we always take Uno.

We love just not having to rush, lazy mornings and long slow walks.

A mix of things to do and relaxing. The things fo do can be simple as walks, and pottering round shops.

UK or France is our preference, for ease and lack of flying.

DH hates flying so we will usually drive and catch a train/boat.

I'd change the cost now DD has started school, it's so expensive in the school holidays

We don't fly so holidays have been either UK, Ireland or France, with every nook and cranny of the car jam-packed with all our crap.
We have learned from our mistakes and we stagger DS-friendly activities throughout the day/week so even if he's not doing something he's chosen he knows it won't be long before he'll be doing something messy, noisy and exciting.
One of our favourite things to do before the holiday is printing out a map, marking where we are staying, then marking out different things that each of us want to do. We take it with us and it means there's always plenty to choose from, whatever the weather and we can combine, eg, a big day out for DS with a visit to something I want to see that is close by .

Even now my DC are in their teens, no family holiday is complete without a beach with buckets, spades, rock pools and ice cream. On a dream holiday we’ll go into town on day one and find a) a posh gelateria to which we can return every day and work our way through every flavour on the menu b) a charity shop where we can buy several jigsaws.

I have family that live on the Scillies, and I've worked on the island, without being bias the place is like the Caribbean. I once went to Jamaica and it wasn't dissimilar, but smaller with a virtually non existent crime rate. But no it's beautiful, relaxing, the people are lovely and the sea can also be warm. It depends what type of holiday you want. If you're looking for adventure then it won't be for you but for rest and relaxation it's perfect. It does slow down from October to April but christmas is fairly busy as Christmas and New Year in Cornwall is hugh. You'll also spot a few celebs because they holiday there!!!

Time, freedom and the sea!

I find it quite hard to answer this, as time on The Isles of Scilly has formed part of our family summer for the last 8 years! I’ve just asked the kids, who are now in their teens, what they love about Scilly, and they both mentioned the walks. When they were little, it was very much a slow amble round the Garrison, with lots of posing next to cannon and scrambling on rocks. This year DD and I did full walk around St Marys.

It’s a very different pace of life, and the kids can have much more freedom. DS’s job each morning is to go to the shop for pastries for breakfast.

And we’re very fond of buying fudge and paying in honesty boxes!

Our favourite holiday last year was a lovely lodge in the Lake District in the middle of nowhere. It rained every single day but the kids loved being out in nature and having a fun adventure every day followed by being out under the stars in the snugly hot tub every night.

Would love to visit the Isles of Scilly one day it looks stunning!

The best days are the days when we plan nothing. Just pack a picnic and go to the beach. The dds love exploring rock pools, playing in the sand and splashing in the sea. These are timeless activities that memories are made of.

We took the kids to the Isles of Scilly for the first time this year, they were adamant they wanted to go to their favourite place, but we overruled them. They had the best time, didn’t want to leave and we then went to their favourite place, which is now not their favourite place.

The IOS are magically, beaches are clean, Sandy and safe, and almost empty in the height of the season. The pace of life slows down and you can truly relax and chill. Opportunities to explore and take trips out. So mix of relaxing and active exploring. Thrill seeking for the kids and terrifying me when they quay-jumped!

It’s a longish drive for us to get to the tip of Cornwall, but that’s all forgotten when you arrive in St Mary’s. We flew on Skybus and fascinating seeing into the cockpit.

Going back this summer, and counting the days. IoS is heaven on Earth.

For my daughter, the perfect holiday is somewhere with a beach. She's three and when asked what she liked about Christmas, her answer was 'going to the beach'. The highlight of a family holiday to Australia last year (for my brother's wedding) was taking my sister's dog to the beach. So, for us a beach makes the perfect family holiday.

My favourite part of the holiday is the first run out onto the beach with the kids and the excitement of splashing in the sea. Then having an ice cream on the beach after a long drive.

We like to go to places with lots to do, and where it isn't too hot as we aren't sunbathers. We do a mixture of visiting historical sites and theme parks, because that's what we all enjoy, and do lots of walking. We normally stay in the UK and travel by car, but we've also visited Brussels and Paris on Eurostar and really enjoyed those trips too.

DS2 has some additional needs so for us it's a break from the grindstone and doing things at his pace somewhere new
My favourite part is seeing him and DS1 explore somewhere and try something new, theirs is probably the food!

My grandparents lived in Devon when we were little, so we had lovely Famous Five style japes on the beach for days on end. We loved it. When my own DS was 2, we tried to recreate the same magical Devon break, with some success! Building sandcastles, ice dreams, pub gardens all featured. This year, we didn’t go away because we needed to save our holiday for our son’s staggered start to school and I didn’t think it would matter as we live in London and had some great days out. But we missed it! I’m going to look at caravans later...

Time together is priceless. We don't have a rigid plan, but have a few ideas of what we might fancy doing. We like lots of fresh air, lovely walks, beautiful scenery and loads of space for running around.

I throw the diet out of the window, which makes every meal an indulgence we all enjoy

Our holiday tastes have changed quite a bit since having our son - from having quite relaxed holidays - wandering along the beach at our own leisurely pace, visiting old castle ruins & sipping tea for as long as we pleased... Our holidays now involve endless races along those very same beaches, hide & seek in the castle ruins & glugging down tea as quickly as possibly before we are chivvied along to the next activity!
Our holidays now are certainly more active now, & we do a lot more research beforehand to ensure there's plenty to interest all of us!
It's lovely to for us all to spend time together away from home, away from all the distractions of cleaning, ironing, decorating & all the other tasks which get in the way of quality family time!