family holiday by the sea – come share and inspire!

[chelseamorning]

DP, DS (5 yrs) and I are looking for somewhere new to visit for a holiday over the summer. We usually visit Cornwall (Penzance, Lizard, Roseland Peninsula, Falmouth, Bodmin etc) or Dorset (Lyme Regis, Swanage etc) but are looking for a change. Here are our requirements:

? beach (preferably with high cliffs like Lyme Regis
? sand, pebbles and rock pools on the beach
? self-catering (we don't eat meat and I don't eat fish either)
? good pubs/restaurants nearby
? interesting places to visit
? things to do (DS loves water parks and we all love the great outdoors)
? under £1,000 for accomodation

We don't mind if it's a long road trip to get there (we leave between Oxford and London).

Any suggestions please! I'm desperate for a holiday but we can't decide!

Tenby - just outside www.celtichaven.co.uk/ Stayed there a couple of years ago & recommend.

Whitby - the Abbey was no.1 in Sunday Times this weekend for ruins to visit. Has sandy beach, cliffs, harbour, loads pubs/restaurants, N York Moors incl steam railway & waterfalls/streams for the playing of Poohsticks.

Whitby is great so I'll second that. Good for pottering with dcs, easy to reach lovely beaches like Sandsend or Runswick Bay one way or Robin Hoods Bay the other way for rock pools. Steam trains go right into Whitby to whisk you off to the North York Moors for a day.

Northumberland coast is generally great too.

Oh thanks so much for your replies. I'll shortlist Tenby and Whitby as they both sound fab. However I think I'll save Whitby for a long weekend as DP's parents live in N Yorkshire so would expect us to stay with them, which I know will be too stressful for me!

Ooh, would second Tenby - we went last summer and it was fab despite the tail end of the hurricane

Would recommend going to Folly Farm if only for the indoor vintage funfair which is fab but also safari and farm animals and rides for children, and Manorbier which has a fab beach. We're going back to North Wales this year with DS (3) but have said we'll definitely be going back to Tenby again.

Thanks, Fireover. Glad to know that Tenby is such a popular location. Went there years ago so it's definitely due for a revisit!

Tenby definitely! We went a few years ago. I'd agree with Folly Farm and Maorbier being great. We also visited the dinosaur park at Tenby and Saundersfoot looked quite pretty.

The Gower - just past Swansea, dont know about theme parks but good leisure centre in Swansea - we stayed by Mumbles and there's lots of fab restaurants and the beaches are amazing..some good for rock pooling and also wide open sandy if you want cricket/football on the beach...we went for the first time this year and can't wait to go back... and amazing ice cream shop too!

we are in west london and took us less than 2hours door to door as just off m4...
booked via here and they were very helpful but there are a few agencies

www.homefromhome.com

I second Gower/Mumbles. Loads of different beaches to choose from, great walks, fab leisure pool with slides, surf wave, loads of restaurants (The Kitchen Table in Mumbles has great veggie options). Loads of local families rent out for summer hols so lots of properties geared for families with young kids. Archery & hawking centre at Perriswood, Cardiff only 45 mins away, Pembrey Country Park great for a day out with bikes.

You should give North Cornwall a try this time. It's completely different to Falmouth, Penzance and Bodmin, and is my favourite part. The beaches are amazing and the views stunning.
Try these guys - Harbour Holidays - they have some pretty reasonable places still available.

Also Anglesey/Lleyn peninsular. Not sure about cliffs but some good beaches and there is loads of non-beach stuff to do too - walking and cycling, ridiculous amount of castles thereabouts, mines.

There are some great youth hostels in the Tenby area- we have stayed at Manorbier which was great and there is also Broad Haven You could even doa tour of a few of them.

They have an offer on too AT

wells next the sea, it is lovely, we holliday loads in the UK and i just loe love love wells next the sea having went on a mumsnetter recommendation last year. ALso IOW is lovely too but for less travel Wells is the place.