Win a two-night bed and breakfast stay at a Luxury Family Hotel

[HannahGMumsnet]

Hello folks - we've got another competition for you!

Luxury Family Hotels are famed for providing families with stress-free and relaxing UK breaks which are fully focused on spending quality time together and taking some time out to relax.

With multiple locations across the south of the UK and prices starting from £329 for two-night stays including breakfast and dinner, it's the ideal time to book your break - and you can find out more here.

This year they're celebrating their 30th birthday, and to celebrate they're giving one lucky Mumsnetter the chance to win a two-night bed and breakfast stay at a Luxury Family Hotel of their choice.

To be in with a chance of winning, all you have to do is let us know your top tips and tricks to ensure you and your family unwind properly on holiday. Whether that's making sure you turn off notifications for work emails, or getting out and exploring nature or simply remembering to pack the tablet charging cable, we want to hear it.

We will be picking a winner at random on Monday 22 July 2019 - good luck!

The prize is valid for redemption until 28 March 2020 (excluding school holidays and Bank Holiday weekends). The prize is valid for two adults and up to three children. The prize is subject to availability at time of booking.

No driving - lots of walking and maybe the odd taxi or bus. Definitely no cooking so I get a real break. Almost no technology - no TV or laptop. Lots of outdoor time, read a few good books and quality time together.

I like to plan our days out so that we’re are not faffing about with the annoying “what shall we do “
Also a ready supply of snacks to avoid hangry children is an absolute must

Separate bedroom for dc so they can go to bed at the usual time but parents can stay up later with the light on.

Good books and new (challenging!) Lego sets (for down time), loosely planned list of things to see and do (with everyone's interests being taken into account), DVDs, popcorn and board games (in case it rains bad!), upbeat songs playlist for travelling in car, some spontaneous exploring around new places and a great sense of humour!

I always do lots of research about the area we are visiting and make notes about costs and times which gives us lots of options for rainy days, active days and places to visit.

We always take lots of quick family games which we all enjoys and which are not too intense like bananagrams and uno.

I always like to book a place with access to a pool.

We avoid self catering so it really feels like a break for everyone. I’d rather have less days in a hotel with a bit of luxury than 2 weeks self catering.

If we are flying out we factor the cost of staying in a hotel near the airport the night before to take away some of the stress and rushing about.

My top tips are to stay flexible, as so much can go wrong with even the best of planning- so try to see the positives!
And for us adults to try to get back to grass roots, be a kid again, play cards, rounders, go rock pooling! This stuff just always turns me back into a kid again and the kids even forget about WiFi! 😎👍

iPad with Netflix ready

Unless I can guarantee reasonably priced food DC will eat in a very nearby restaurant (rare!) we pop to the local supermarket and get a range of picnic things and have a ‘bedroom picnic’. We get into our pjs, put film on iPad and picnic away

Always choose one thing each we really want to do each day and plan it out over breakfast.

Always always take a book / notepad and pen when we’re out for DC - then if I want a nice chilled out people-watching coffee, she isn’t nagging me

I make my ds a holiday pack, with toys, drawing stuff etc and take a new one out every day so there’s always something new. I find not having too much of a schedule helps keep things relaxed too

We have a vague plan of any day trips/activities that we might want to fit in, but otherwise we go with the flow and are flexible with our plans.

My tips: not too many activities- it might be fine to organise multiple things every day for adults but kids will just get stressed

• board games - great fun without screens!

Not overpacking, taking a sling, mapping out decent places to eat.

Most importantly not fitting in too much in one day to enjoy time as a family

Turning off work emails on my phone is a must, can’t relax at all otherwise

Spend as much time outside as possible! We have a toddler and like to (loosely) stick to our usual routine so he doesn’t get overwhelmed and we have portable blackout blinds we take with us so he has a similar environment to sleep in as he does at home.

We also like to go with grandparents sometimes; gives us all some quality time together and gives a couple of sets of spare hands so DH and I can still go out some evenings if we want.

Bring as many familiar things / home comforts as you can. We try to bring our DDs sheets (still in travel cots) and night lights, plus plates, spoons etc, so potentially fraught times are kept calm.
Second sticker and colouring books - they're nice calming, relaxing activities for time we have to stay indoors for whatever reason.

Great location, and amenities will guarantee we can relax. We enjoy curling up at night to watch a movie together and exploring the local area during the day.

The best quality time we have is to go to our local.coutry park and have a picnic , ride our bikes and just talk and spend time together. And absolutely no screens!

We all take our sleep masks! We all like to sleep in the dark and the quality of curtains when you’re away can vary wildly. Sleep masks are so much more portable and less of a faff than blackout blinds.

Prior to children I would always try and pack as much into a break as possible. I pretty much had an itinerary of what I wanted to do each day hour by hour. I quickly realised that this method makes an extremely stressful break with toddlers so now I massively pair back my expectations and plans. A day at the beach with a picnic is as detailed a plan as we need.

Definitely planning activities before we go - making sure we have a back up plan in case of bad weather for example.
Taking board games which means less time on iPads and more family interaction.
No cooking!!!!

We tend to holiday with the whole family (11 of us!) So i always make sure we have time on our own just me, DH and our 3 DCs.
But by far the biggest and most important thing is 'knowing what we are doing'
We are an Autism family so we discuss where we are going, look at pictures and maps. Then day one is spent looking at leaflets/brochures etc and planning each day. Makes for a much more relaxed (if predictable) time.

I like to research what's in the local area, and have a list of things to do if we have horrible weather. Local pools, museums and even the dreaded soft play in my backup plan mean that we're never mopping about a hotel room in the rain.

A new magazine for the travel there and some new books for bedtime stories. Helps take the stress out of sleeping in a different environment!

Take portable blackout blinds. I go nowhere without them!

Finding the right balance between doing things and relaxing so we are chilled but not bored

Try not to fit too much in. We have a look at nearby activities and places to visit and if anyone has a particular favourite we try our best but don't cram too many things in. Prefer to find time for exploring or a relaxed meal. The older DC are into playing card games which is a nice way to spend an evening chiling out.