Finding a late availabilty cottage

[toasty1]

So with great regret we have just cancelled our trip to France for 22nd August for 10 days , although we both work from home so if a 14 day quarantine kicks in as expected tail end of this week we can do this however our eldest starts senior school in September which means he could potentially miss start term at a new school we cannot risk it. I am trying to find a cottage any cottage starting that weekend of course would love coastal or coast driveable distance cannot find anything :( I know some of you ladies love a challenge consider it set!

Follow the Facebook pages of a few rental agencies - they usually advertise any cancellations or late availability. Some even have waiting lists for properties at the moment!

We could do with narrowing down the area a bit! It’s best not to travel far IMO, so where is within 2 hours from you?

You might struggle to get ten days, in peak weeks they tend to offer full weeks only. Try holiday lettings, air bnb, Sykes.

How many of you are there? Four? There are 85 places on Cottages.com for the week starting 22 August.

www.holidaylettings.co.uk/rentals/brighton-town/6692915?rSid=qvm

What's your budget and how many bedrooms do you need?

Ok budget £1500 max need two bedrooms kids will have to share if need be, 7 days is fine sorry should have made that clear if fact any number of days will be fine need to see a different four walls :) we are in Birmingham happy to travel ( we were driving to France) good idea Miss Poldark will get on it. We love Devon/Cornwall but clearly we won't get anything, norfol an option, Dorset amybe basically anywhere the kids can be let loose with a bucket and spade

Does it have to be the coast, what about a river?

I’m currently staying by the river Wye. Swimming every day and the river bank is similar to a beach in many ways. Safer too.

Glorious countryside and the DCs love it. They are 5&6.

WingBingo hadn't given it a thought but river yes...

How about holiday parks - Haven - parkdean resorts that kind of thing - obviously not the SW but other areas

Just had a look at hoeseasons and parkdean etc husband wants a cottage not a chalet told him to stop being fussy

Minehead/Dunster/Porlock area is actually pretty nice & might not be as sold out as Cornwall. It's a bit underrated in my opinion.

Wye Valley is also nice as previous poster said. Lots to do.

Good luck 😉

Be very wary of booking through cottages.com or any of its sister companies like English Country Cottages. It’s in some kind of administrative meltdown, showing properties as available (and taking payment for them) when they’re not. That’s why I’m not in Devon right now when I should have been (and we’re not alone in getting the e-mail of doom announcing their inability to honour paid for bookings judging by their trustpilot reviews and articles in the Times and Guardian!)

Try Airbnb. There are a few places available still in Devon

We've had to cancel France for week after you so are in the same boat! South West and Norfolk would normally be our UK choices but we've looked at areas like Wales and the south coast like Sussex and Kent and they seem to have slightly better availability.

10 days is often a struggle to find. You could book a week at one place then a 3 night weekend break at another? We sometimes like doing this as it gives you some variety.