Which cottage? Remote with lots of space, or central and small?

[Aranea]

My brain is frying. Please rescue me.

After hours of trawling cottage websites (not, as dh suggests I should write, cottaging), I think I've narrowed it down to a straight choice. And I am stuck... so please help!

We'll be travelling with a 5yo and a 22mo. Should we stay in Northumberland in a large, gorgeous house with a big beautiful garden 20 mins drive from lots of interesting things to see & do?

Or should we stay in St Ives in a small cottage with a little patio, where we would just need to walk out and do things?

rofl hellymelly!

I have just been looking at pembrokeshire and thinking maybe that would be best option! Was thinking about solva or st david's.... any suggestions?

am just drooling in envy at the thought of a lovely holiday like that and wistfully remembering Alnwick.

what time of year are you aiming for btw?

OOOH very excited. We have just booked a lovely looking place in Solva in Pembrokeshire! (bit of a long way from my original thought of northumberland, but I suppose that's the result of obsessive googling )

Phew. Thank goodness I can stop obsessing over holiday cottage sites now.

Thanks all for your help!

There's always next year...! I would really recommend alnwick or bamburgh as a base, it sounds like just what you are looking for. I don't know about any fitzwilliam estate, but from the description it sounds like one of the armstrong cottages - they are a short walk south of bamburgh just opposite the sea. A good spot I'd say!
Anyway enjoy Pembrokeshire...

Yes, I still really want to go to alnwick or bamburgh. There's lots I want to see around there, and I know the countryside and beaches are beautiful. I think I need to book a bit earlier this year - it was amazingly hard to find affordable places available during August.

Well, it is quite hard to find cheap cottages really close to the coast (though I have found one, but I don't want to broadcast it to the whole of mumsnet!!). Bamburgh is also a bit pricey - alnwick might be cheaper. But you could opt for somewhere like Beadnell or Seahouses which are by the sea, or get even better value somewhere like Belford which is a village a few miles inland - but reasonably accessible.
And yes, booking early helps too!

Sorry, just got back. I find they are called the 'Armstrong cottages' - don't know where I got the other idea from!

If you look at a map of Bamburgh, you will see a road down the coast to the south (Links Road) and a small collection of houses there - those are they. Quite a few are green painted boarded - look rather beach hutty except a lot bigger!

I hope you have a good holiday in Wales - but this would be worth looking out for in future.

Oh, thank you mistlethrush! I will definitely remember that for next year.