Cheapest school holiday

[lancslass17]

Last year we went to Butlins ( out holidays fell out if peak time).

Now looking for this year and 😱

Where can we take a 5 year old on holiday for low ££?

UK ideally not travelling more than 4 hoursfrom north west.

What's your budget?

Less than £500 but the lower the better.

Have you looked at Park Holidays and Parkdean sites? They’re usually cheaper than CP / Butlin’s / Haven.

Find a caravan park you like such as Parkdean or Haven etc, then look for private owner groups on Facebook to rent direct. Join local Facebook group for your town too, and search "caravan" as owners seem to list theirs on our local group.
I've just booked 4 nights during Easter hols for £100ish as the site is refurbishing the indoor pool. The kids will still enjoy the play area, and it's a self catering base from which to explore.

Can you borrow a tent from someone? This would make holidaying so much cheaper. Even buying a tent might be worth it (especially if you get one second hand).

There will be loads of campsites you can book for a week and come in under budget then.

Blackpool? North west area and cheap, lots of things to do for a five year old?

We've just booked a holiday for the summer to a Partingtons holiday park. It was about half the price of the Haven park in the same area.

https://www.partingtons.com/

For example, I just looked up prices for this year for my favourite campsite in the Lake District, Park Cliffe. Even in high season, you could pitch a 6 person tent for £40 a night. So £280 for seven nights. It's a beautiful campsite with great toilets and showers, a games room for kids with table tennis etc, a playground, an on-site shop, pub and restaurant.

And that's just one example. I am blessed to have a little bit more money to spend now (not much) but when I was first a single mom and struggling, my summer holiday with my daughter was always five nights (or more if I could stretch to it) in a £30 tent I picked up in Aldi or Lidl .... They were amazing holidays, we have such good memories of them.

Camp! Buy a 2 bedroom plus living area tent, nothing fancy but ensure it has a hydro rating of 5000 min (so waterproof!)

You'll need beds, (can use normal bedding) a stove, a cool box but all is best to buy from a big Asda/tesco once in season. My old tent was Tesco too. It will be about £200-250 to kit yourselves out but then it will last a few years, you can top up your equipment gradually and replace bits as needed.

If you need to use public transport instead choose a vango base camp tent, obviously smaller but they are lighter weight, compact and waterproof- we have the galaxy 300 which sleeps 3 adults comfortably in one compartment though. Has a good sized porch. You'll need back packs to carry gear and proper sleeping bags (Asda is your friend here)

I typically pay £15 a night for camping- £7.50 per person plus it's usually £2 per child, no electric hook up, or we go to rally's and it's usually £20 for the weekend including band on Saturday night

Are you by any chance in one of those areas of the North West where the primary schools have a 2nd holiday week at the may half term? If so, that's usually by far the cheapest time to go.
You can just about get a 7 night break in a caravan at some the parkdean sites for under £500 in the summer holidays. Or go for just 3 or 4 nights so at least you've been away.

I also really like this campsite