Skint but really need a break - where can we go?

[Honeybee79]

We've not been on holiday for a couple of years and are pretty broke but in desperate need of a break. It will be me, DH and DS (20 months). We'd like a week self catering in the UK. We live in London and would prefer not to drive totally insane distances but can be flexible. Other than self catering, our only requirements are a reasonable beach for DS to mess about on, a couple of nice pubs/places to eat and some nice walks to go on.

Really need some advice - any bright ideas?

Camping :).
A lot of people swear by Butlins in school term time. Take advantage of not being tied down to school, just yet!

I'm London based too and would recommend Bournemouth. It's only a couple of hours drive or 1hr:50 on the train, beaches are really nice too. We've went last year with IL's, DS4 and DD who was only 8 weeks. We had days out to Poole, Sanbanks and Swanage which were all lovely and if you get the weather there's a lovely place called Shell beach.

I'd try and look at renting a one-bed rental apartment...obviously not in term time but as your DS is 20 months you can go any time. I'd imagine you can get one quite cheap what with the crap weather affecting bookings. We booked a 3 bed apartment through a website called Bournecoast, I think, but lots of websites for rentals anyway..... best bet is shopping around for the cheapest

Could you do some sort of house swap? I bet lots of people would like to visit London. If you own your place, I think there are websites for arranging it. Other that than, YHA? www.yha.org.uk/ sometimes do family rooms.

Thanks v much for advice. Am currently looking into camping. Unfortunately, DH is a teacher. He works at a private school so we do have one week before the state schools break up but it's still going to be insanely expensive!

I like the idea of camping and DS having lots of time outdoors.