Is £230 enough spending money to go to Cornwall for 5 days?

[MascalPascal]

Going to Cornwall for Feb half term. Booked a lovely caravan which was very cheap owing it to it still being out of season. Going to St Ives.

Everything is booked and paid for, including all activities. Over the last 6 months i have been booking things slowly. Biggest expense really will be a food shop and petrol (I need to pay for return journey petrol from this money too).
Should that be enough?

There's a big Tesco's just outside St Ives - aim to do food shopping there rather than at the Co-ops in St Ives.

I love St Ives, it's beautiful whatever time of year you go. Have a lovely time!

My two kids would absolutely love the sound of this holiday. I’m just too scared to do the drive with them 😆 they love the whole seaside, fish and chips, arcades, ice creams, days out - I bet you’ll both have a great time and fingers crossed for the weather.

I would say probably not, but I don't like going on holiday and worrying about running out of money.

Do ask on your local FB pages if anyone has any of the newspaper free vouchers for National Trust entry that they're not going to use going spare. They were printed in the papers at the end of January. Just had a look in my firelighting pile of papers but sadly I think we already burned that one (we are members anyway).
Lots of NT places in Cornwall.

OMG I'm the same. Like that amount would be a skimpy DAY for me on holiday, but then I like to shop and drink and eat out: I'm a city break kind of girl, and I also like to play things by ear rather than have preplanned and prepaid activities.

I think it’s plenty. You’ve already booked and paid for more activities than many families would do on a short break away.

Eating out is a big expense. You’ll be able to afford to do it, if you take packed lunches some days and have things like snacks and drinks with you, so that every couple of hours you’re not spending £15 on a drink each and small snack.

Im amazed by how much some people think they need to go away for a few days. Lots of people just be really missing out on holidays, because they are not prepared to go with what they have got. It doesn’t have to involve eating out 3 times a day and constant buying in gift shops or expensive paid for attractions every day. To be honest, lots get more pleasure from windy beach walks, rock pooling, and chips on the prom. A mix of free activities, paid for ones and eating out and prepping your own could be ideal.

I suppose if you have no spare cash and therefore need to watch every pound you spend, it’s not going to be a liberal and totally carefree (spendthrift??) holiday. Psychologically having to keep track can be a bit hard. But to be honest, I’d al as face a bit of a budget idea on holiday, even if there were multiple thousands in the bank at home. Because big spending doesn’t equal a more fun holiday in my experience. Some of the most expensive activities are the tackiest. If I have an expensive day on holiday, I’d probably have a cheaper one next day.
It’s a mindset. Some families….and then their kids …only seem to have a sense that something is fun if it is costing lots. There can be a lack of imagination and being very hard to please and self-entertain. Other families ….sometimes those who are extremely well off…and their kids will do a whole days bike ride with picnic and have the best time. As parents, our approach to this stuff shapes our kids.

I want my kids to be as ye type who at 18/19 decide to go away for a long weekend with £100 or less to spend….that find ways to stay cheaply and entertain cheaply. Who are inventive, not boring and who stay at home sitting in the sofa because they don’t have £2k for AI.

Have a great time Op.

Well this post isn’t about you @ExercicenformedeZ I’m sure your bragging post is no help at all to the OP.

OP I think you’ll have an amazing time, you’ve planned really well and have lots of varied activities. I think kids love taking out a picnic, and you will find ways to keep to your budget. The Paint and Create at Cornish gold is inexpensive and great fun. I do agree if you can get hold of a free NT ticket do so, they will have activities on for half term, most of them free.

Mmm.. using some very rough averages I think the fuel one way is going to cost you around £75 - £80 and then driving around Cornwall, whilst it may look small on the map, nothing is ever on a direct route from where you are now, its all around the houses and then getting lost two or three times, so you'll go through a fair bit of fuel there.

If you already have a full tank, you need to knock £100 off your £230 just to get there and then home, and I'd say another tank for driving around, so £60 (?).. (might be over cautious but you do not want to be playing fuel guage chicken when you have no idea where the next fuel station is!)

So your actual budget is £70, out of which you need to eat out and buy food to cook with and take for picnic lunches.

I don't think its enough, sorry.

You need to do the maths. OP hasn't left herself much wriggle room at all. I assume that she has a credit card to use if she does need to go over budget. If not, I wouldn't go away with so little money. It isn't sensible.

What a pointless (bordering on spiteful) post.
What you prefer to do is irrelevant to op.

What on earth was 'spiteful' about my post? I was merely agreeing with another poster, who acknowledged, as I did myself, that the type of holiday they enjoy is different to the OP. That said, I don't think that OP has left herself enough wriggle room, considering that she needs to find petrol money out of the £230.

Op posted for advice. Telling her her holiday falls short of your standards was shitty and pointless.

you could combine a trip to Marazion and Penzance; petrol is cheapest in the supermarkets just between those towns and there's a lot to see. The big Sainsburys (usually the best value) has a cafe on the first floor with windows looking out to the bay; the food is fine and the views are free. I don't know if the Jubilee Pool is open yet but it's amazing to be in the geo-thermally heated section even when it's cold!
Have a lovely time.

Our fish and chips for a family of 5 only costs us 14pounds down here.and it's far too cold for ice cream unless you get it for the rainforest,that's the place for ice cream.eden is wonderful definitely the best time of year for it.food is expensive there except pasties and ice cream but lots of lovely places for packed lunches.have a lovely holiday!

Do you think that OP has left herself enough money for this holiday?

OP, if u want to see more of the area without the car, U can get a coastal bus, very scenic.

Someone earlier recommended Porthgwidden beach so I'm just posting again to signal boost, definitely go to Porthgwidden beach! We saw a seal there, it was one of the highlights for DD last year.

Of course she has. It's her and one DC and she's already prebooked activities.

Just because some people spend money like water, it doesn't mean it's not possible to have fun spending less money. Plenty of free activities like the beach, playparks etc and plenty of ways to cut the cost of eating out - eg get the cream tea ingredients from the supermarket, not the cafe. They can probably have two cream teas each in the caravan while playing board games or watching cartoons for the price of just one between them from a cafe unless.

Some really good ideas for you on here, especially the reminder about parking in Cornwall. The car parks are all very expensive for hardly any time unless you are a National Trust member in a Nat Trust car park. Hope you have a lovely time ! I ran out of money on holiday once because it cost us more as it rained a lot so ate and drank more staying inside. Lived on grapes as they were cheap.

It's completely possible to make it last. Ring fence the petrol money and the rest is plenty for food and a little soending money for an adult and a child for five days. There's a Tesco and big Asda etc for meal deals pizzas etc, it will be fine.

What matters is that OP has budgeted within her means to provide a nice, memorable holiday for her child, which is lovely.

I'm quite envious. When we went to Cornwall it was peak season and packed until it pissed it down with rain. We took down our tent and joined a massive tailback of flashy caravans and campervans.

We couldn't get into St Ives when we tried, OP will get there.
And they might get good weather.

I hope that they have a great time. It wouldn't be for me, personally. I would be too worried that something would go wrong. I think that if the money didn't need to stretch to petrol as well, it would be less of a problem. I think it's tight, but I hope that they have great weather and a lovely time.

She already has a full tank for getting there, she just needs petrol for on the way back.

As long as you have a 'just in case' credit card, then I can't see a problem.

Have a lovely time OP, your DD's a lucky girl. The views are free!

But presumably you are not a single mother on a very limited budget looking to have a lovely time with your seven-year-old next week and wanting to run your thinking past someone.

OP might love to be a ‘city break kind of girl’ but that’s clearly not an option for her right now and that’s fine. I’d love to be a ‘Maldives at half term kind of girl’. Sadly that’s not in my budget but if it were I don’t think it would be especially helpful to tell the OP all about it.