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

I'm from Penzance so we camped on the Isles of Scilly as the year 6 residential. That trip is the only good memory of my school days there before we moved away. We camped on st marys and visited lots of the islands with loads of walking and swimming and camp fire cooking. We travelled on the Scillonian but we had to go back early because a storm was coming in. I remember having a really genuinely good time and really enjoying life then when I was 11. That was 1990! Another time in another world.

Now I'm a parent we have a caravan at mullion. I go lots during the year and my best friend usually comes with me. We are both lone parents and the 4 children are as close as siblings. We take pack lunches to the beach every day, pick blackberries, play hide and seek with walkie talkies and make up treasure trails around the park. We fish body boards out of skips and the kids think this is a huge bonus! We do lots of craft and board games in the evening and watch endless Harry Potter. The kids love all the traditions and routines and think doing the same things every time is great! We don't have lots of money. Paid theme parks and attractions have been off the menu for years. We have national trust and squeeze every last perk out of it. We scour Facebook and the local paper for free events and attend with an open mind.

The kids are on top of each other and it's a squeeze but in this respect I've never felt so privileged to provide these experiences for my children. We are very lucky.

We always do a fire on the beach and toast marshmallows at the end of each trip. The best bits of the holidays are the kids being free range playing together for hours happily and falling into bed worn out every night.

Our daughter is now 15 and in recent years we have been able to find holidays which offered free child places but age limits have varied. We’ve had fab all inclusive holidays in Lake Garda, Croatia and Austria. They do seem expensive at first but you’re paying up front, then there’s not much to pay when you’re away. The best things are not having to cook and do the usual chores, and experiencing new places together. We like holidays where we do a mixture of sightseeing and relaxing by the pool or on the beach.

What makes a family holiday special? Adventures together, from the travelling to the accommodation (be it tent or luxurious hotel), the sites, the views and even the disasters! All these shared experiences help a family to bond. We are a family a five, with three small boys. We have holidayed at home and abroad and the things my children still talk about are some particular journeys (an overnight ferry is still talked about in awed tones), an amazing lighthouse cottage we stayed in in Scotland, wildlife we have seen, and even friends that have been made (a caravan holiday in Cornwall saw a veritable tribe of kids running free and playing together for hours at a tie until called in for their tea!).
Shared experiences that take you away from the usual day to day routine of school, work and housework, make for a strongly bonded family. We'd all love to share in a holiday to Scilly and add to our precious stock of family holiday memories, before us parents become too uncool to hang outwith!

Spending time together is what's special about holiday. Laughing and having fun, swimming in the sea and chilling out!

For us the best bit is time together. Nice weather also dictates how nice of a holiday we have.

We like beautiful scenery, quiet places where the children can have freedom to play and relax and be themselves, but also somewhere with something to do if the weather is not good

We try and go somewhere that offers something different to home whether that be a language, food, weather or environment so it can be abroad or UK based.
We get excited and make it special for our three year old but looking at the world atlas and pointing out where home is vs where we’re going, pick out things we want to take and let him pack his travel bag and we always hang back on the plane to see if the pilot is around to say hello to.

When we’re on holiday, we explore lots with walks, scavenger hunts and lots of fresh air...and loads of ice creams

I love having a new place to explore - that's accommodation and the new, local area. A change is so good.
I also love not having to choose what we eat, cook and do the dishes. That's a real treat for me.

The best part is getting together as a family without the added pressure of work and school looming. I've 2 DC at 12 and 4 and the youngest DC had his first holiday last year. A caravan on the Yorkshire east coast. He loved it, and we loved watching him enjoy the beach and sea. Haven't been able to go away like I did with the eldest simply due to funds. But she enjoyed numerous holidays including Spain, Disney Land Paris, Torquay and umpteen caravan holidays. Really hoping to organise a trip to Disney Paris this year for the youngest if I can get the funds together as feel really guilty that the eldest has enjoyed so much and he hasn't.

We always let the kids plan one day each on holiday so that everyone has a chance to do what they would like!

Holidays are about having a change - and that’s true about it being as a good a rest. New walks to discover, chance to do things as a family with nobody having to rush to work, a club or a music lesson. A time to be indulgent and have an ice cream or two, or a meal in a restaurant!

We don't have set plans, but we do like to get out and explore so we have lots of lovely memories to take home with us.

We always read up on the history and customs of the place we are visiting before our trip. The children love recognizing the places when we arrive. Much to my horror one of them corrected a guide who gave incorrect information!

What makes a great family holiday is spending time together doing something different, days doing things together but also relaxing too. My house feels like a live WWF show sometimes with my boys fighting, but for some reason they seem to get on better on holidays even sharing a room. I guess everyone's just a bit more chilled out and enjoying themselves rather than thinking about school and work for a while. And no cleaning for a few days haha

We are fortunate to be able to afford to travel, and our family holidays are about new sights, new foods, new experiences and new cultures. We tend to make it a mix of kicking back and relaxing on the beach, and getting out and seeing the sights. The children loved Egypt, Spain, Mauritius and The Netherlands. They haven't all cost the earth, the accommodation has been a mixture of caravans, self catering hotels and luxury all inclusive, but they've all involved getting involved in local life, new experiences and trying new foods. For us, memories are priceless.

The packing and planning of a holiday gets me excited! We never tell our son until the day before as otherwise he gets too excited and frustrated at the wait. The journey is an exciting time as he knows we are on our way and I make him travelling goodie bags with fun activity’s and snacks etc for on the way.

When we lock the house to go on holiday we shut the door on all the day to day distractions which, often unnoticed, eat into relationships. Life is meant to be full of of repetition and routine; it gives us stability and purpose. But what if we change the rhythm and play a new song, just for a week or even a weekend? Our senses are stimulated by a sense of new or by seeing the familiar ‘out of our box’.

Holidays stay with us when all the humdrum fades. Do we remember that we put the wash on a 30 degree quick cycle on the 5th of June or do we remember the warmth of the sand kissing the souls of our feed, the crabs in the rock pool, the day we tried horse riding.. and fell off. Holidays are a gift, a time to retreat and find mindful relationships, to celebrate those we love and remember to cherish their good points.

Adventure!
A change is as good as a rest. We like to do something that feels different. Be it a dolphin spotting boat trip in Cardigan Bay, a cycle along the Canal du Midi, or taking the train to Milan with two toddlers. This year we hope to swim in Lake Annecy with our 6, 4 and 2 year olds, once we have kitted out our old camper we bought from a friend.
Part of the adventure is working out how to afford it. One year we got budget flights to Santander and took the train to Madrid and then Barcelona. Now we avoid flying if possible. Children love boats and trains.
It's about showing the children beautiful spots and sights that they don't encounter in daily life. Spending time together having fun, getting a breath of fresh air.
We have always wanted to show the children the Scilly Isles. It's important to see the beauty and tranquility our country can offer.

Hi @Changeembrace,

Thanks for your message. The prize will be drawn next week

It sounds corny but the best thing that makes any holiday special is the people you are spending it with. It doesn't matter where you are or what you are doing if you are with people special to you.

• quiet

• good food

• good drinks

• nice beaches

• wildlife

Doing things that you would not do at home makes a holiday more memorable and lots of photos to show them as they grow up to keep the memories alive :)

I'd love to go back to the Isles of Scilly. So gorgeous! We usually go for a mix of activity and lazing around on holiday, often self-catering as we have a range of dietary requirements, and self-driving to make sure there's plenty of room for all our stuff. We avoid anywhere too hot too.

Choosing somewhere where we feel safe for the children to go wandering and go exploring. Having the freedom of plenty of time for each other while giving each other the space to choose to do something different. Being away from the stresses, strains, commitments and constraints of regular home life but not replacing them ourselves with overblown distractions and activities. Leaving time for the senses to open; ...and just be.

If the holiday is far away making sure that there is time to recover from what might be a fraught journey. Our neighours went, with two very young children to Thailand (lovely!) for one week (madness!). They looked like they needed a holiday as soon as they got back.

Somewhere beautiful, somewhere inspiring, somewhere where we get to see young eyes get to open to new possibilities on their own terms: discover vistas, immerse in nature, make new friends, practice new words, taste different cooking; stretch, laugh, growl at the moon and hunt for ninja pixies.

Anything that approaches stress is a no-no.

We have found this on the coast of Croatia, the quieter Greek islands, a rented cottage in Monmouthshire, staying with friends in Devon, the Austrian Alps in the Summer...

Hi all, I have just booked a holiday for October, the problem is I changed my daughters surname last year but her passport is still under her old name and has 2 years left, can I still use it?
Thanks

I think that the best family holidays are rarely planned. The best ones we have had we do always on a whim and last minute! Kids, I realise, really don't care as long as they get to be inquisitive and are with their parents :)