Great places to go for a family holiday in the UK

[MikeFlowersPops]

I really enjoyed the best family holidays thread last week, and I kind of wanted to recreate it but just for the UK.

So have you had a lovely family holiday in the UK. Where did you go and where did you stay?

I can recommend Northumberland. We stayed in a cottage near Alnwick which is right by the coast.

Large, clean and mostly empty beaches, loads of rock pools for crabbing, beautiful countryside, plenty of castles to explore, lovely pubs with real ale, gorgeous fish and chips. Alnwick itself is cute and has the best second hand bookshop in the world (Barter books). The roads were quiet and no problems parking anywhere.

Cottages we looked at were all cheap compared to other areas, ours was £500 for a week in August.

Weather was ok the week we went but the sea was freezing :)

Looking for somewhere different this year and would love some recommendations.

We loved Northumberland too, just south of Alnwick. Especially loved the beaches and Warkworth Castle.

We also really enjoyed Whitby and Robin Hoods Bay - good beaches, rock pools and fossils. Lyme Regis for the same reason.

We went camping in North Wales last summer and there was loads to do with the kids all within about an hours drive of where we stayed (near Llandudno) - castles, zoo, aquarium, beaches in the rain and Greenwood Forest Park.

Used to love the beaches & surfing in north Devon & Cornwall before the kids came along, especially Croyde and Bude areas. And also Pembrokeshire and the Gower.

I can also highly recommend the Peak District if you have outdoorsy children. We're on the edge of it and I don't think we'll tire of it for some time.

If anyone has any recommendations for Scotland I'd love to hear them please, especially any areas not affected too badly by midges in the summer holidays.

North Wales - Merioneth area
Dorset - Isle of Purbeck
Isle of Wight - Brighstone area
North Devon - Instow area
North Norfolk - Burnham Market area
Cornwall - Lizard Peninsula

Wonderful holidays in all of them

The best UK breaks we've had have been:

• a cottage in Whitby
• a Field Studies Centre family wildlife holiday in Devon
• a few nights in London
• Edinburgh with trips out to Saint Andrew's etc
• when the girls were little we used to like having a few days in Chester, with a trip to the zoo etc

We love Sheringham, its my favourite place to go.

We also like Robin Hoods Bay, Alnwick and Croyde.

Places I've enjoyed:
Snowdonia/N Wales - Harlech/Barmouth/Pwlelli areas
Pembrokeshire - Tenby/Pembroke area
St. Ives/Penzance area of Cornwall
Northumberland - just south of Alnwick
Lewis & Harris - would recommend taking a car, we managed without but it meant lots of planning around the 4-5 buses a day! We want to go back again and will def. be taking the car this time.
Mull - although we managed to avoid the worst of the midge season my going at the beginning of June

The Isles of Scilly are lovely - mild climate, fantastic beaches and very unspoilt. Of course they are small and accomodation limited so you do have to book a long way in advance.

Oh and can I second a reader from further up thread and big up the Peak District. We too live on the edge of it and as we like walking in the countryside we are never short of days out. As well as lovely country walks there are some great properties to visit too - Chatsworth springs to mind immediately.

We love (in no particular order)

North Devon - Bideford, Appledore, Instow - just lovely
North Wales - Porthmadog, Black Rock Sands - also amazing for beaches
Whitby

that's probably it as we tend to go to one of these every year, although this year we're branching out and going to Robin Hoods Bay - a whole 5 miles away from Whitby

Jammy Scotland - Mull of Galloway. We went Aug bank holiday and no midges (too late in season), quiet as Scottish school back. Lovely beaches, quaint harbours, has microclimate, forest within easy drive. Stayed in a lighthouse cottage (Scot NT holiday property) with the most awesome views and within RSPB reserve.