If you have kids under 12yrs then i would think uk holidays are best, as the evening entertainment/ kids clubs and amusement arcades are more appealing than abroad.
Try telling that to my mates 10 and 12 year olds who have been to the golden sunny beach, a couple of water parks, swam with dolphins, been quad biking and karting this week here in Algarve... Sunshine dawn to dusk. Like most kids (sadly) they are happy to sit twiddling their thumbs on the I-pad in the bar of an evening after eating in a different, reasonably priced (€ 14 a head) quality restaurant every night. Although they are bright enough to join in conversations, enjoy watching the live bands in many bars and take part in the quiz too.
Under 5s are the ones that don't benefit from going abroad.
Britain is wonderful, so much to see and do in such a small space, but you do need the £££ to do it.
We'll be out there ourselves in 4 weeks, can't wait.
West Sussex Addick is out at the same time - if you are around Albufeira come and say hello!
Thanks for all your ideas, much appreciated. Fighting a losing battle still and the boys are firmly on mums side - looking like Croatia, been to Zagreb which was great, hopefully, more of the same on the coast
We went to the NEC earlier in the year for a classic car show. We stayed in the hotel on the complex on Saturday, went swimming then for a curry (which my daughter loves) in the evening. She now thinks Birmingham is a holiday destination and gets quite upset when I have to go there for work.
Can echo many suggestions on here - Croyde, Perranporth, IoW, Lake District, Scotland and New Forest to name a few. My two (10 & 13) are quite into history so English Heritage saves us a fortune - we recouped our membership on IoW alone and, if you do membership via DD you get 15 months for the price of 12.
Our compromise is usually a week abroad May, and stay in the UK August.
Went what is now Croatia 1986 - cant remember there being loads to do and where we were (Porec) was volcanic so few sandy beaches.
Because your children will look back on your UK holidays when they are taking their kids away in years to come and say, this is where i used to come with my mum and dad on our holidays and hopefully have fond memories. Your kids are 13 and 14 and never holidayed in this country? Whenever I go down to Lulworth Cove my sister always asks me if i remember coming here with mum and dad.
Will they say that about Sharm el Sheikh?
Cornwall/Devon/Dorset are all beautiful. Ive stayed in Polperro in Cornwall and last year in a van in Perranporth Holiday Park, right by the beach. I bought the girls two boogie boards and they loved it down on the beach during the day, even if weather a bit crap then in club house at night. We also drove to St Agnes and St Ives, which all have beaches. Beautiful places. Yes its completely different to lying by a pool... but its all about the memories. If staying in a caravan park, try and find a privately owned van as they tend to look after them a bit more with better facilities.
This all day long, my kids talk more about our 'sun' caravan weekends than they do about the holidays abroad
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the new forest. Only a couple of hours on the motorway, pitch a tent, have a barbie, bobs your uncle. The kids will find more than enough to do.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the new forest. Only a couple of hours on the motorway, pitch a tent, have a barbie, bobs your uncle. The kids will find more than enough to do.
Funny enough Popicon, one of the boys has just mentioned this - said he would love it for a long weekend (easy trip from sunbury, they have been there a few times) - but not the 10-14 day holiday
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the new forest. Only a couple of hours on the motorway, pitch a tent, have a barbie, bobs your uncle. The kids will find more than enough to do.
Lovely place, stayed at sandy balls a couple of times which is good.
As others have said there are tons of unbelievable places to holiday in the UK - although obviously the weather can be unpredictable.
For mine I would far rather spend more time and money exploring the various nooks and crannies of England, Scotland and Wales with all of the amazing historical places around the country than spend two weeks crammed on a beach in the Mediterranean or elsewhere.
Some of the overseas holidays Brits take just make me laugh, my own family once traveled 12 HOURS to a hotel in Turkey to an all-inclusive place where they spent two weeks sunning themselves round a pool which was smaller than the one I have in my back garden and getting pissed up in the same bar every night.
Personally I would rather growl out Cilla Black than endure that sort of holiday, I want to be up and about doing things and seeing things and if you want to do that then the UK is fantastic.
We are coming back to the UK next year for a three-week family holiday and in all seriousness we could spent the whole time in London (we have three kids) and STILL not see everything it has to offer - and that is without going outside the M25.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the new forest. Only a couple of hours on the motorway, pitch a tent, have a barbie, bobs your uncle. The kids will find more than enough to do.
Lovely place, stayed at sandy balls a couple of times which is good.
I'm going butlins in 2 days (minehead) go every year, with special needs kids I wouldn't go anywhere else, my 13 year old is probably more excited than the others. For a holiday camp you can't get any better haven and pontins can't shine butlins boots.
If it's a leisure resort you would prefer TLH in Torquay is very nice, tennis courts, great spa, choice of pools, restaurants, evening venues, four hotels to choose from each with half board option and even a gaming room with table tennis, pool etc not far from the beach.
I only went abroad on family holidays twice before I was 15 - once to Belgium/Disneyland Paris (parents drove there) and once to Spain (flew out), both times staying at a family friend's holiday house. Otherwise Summer holidays were either going to Scotland to see my parents' family, Centre Parcs (or equivalent) or the South/South West (Bournemouth, Cornwall). Having been abroad nearly every year since I stopped going on holiday with my parents, I can see the appeal of doing family holidays in the UK - it's cheap and cheerful, far less stress, you can go back when you want to and you know you can see a doctor or go to A&E when you need to. Plus as a kid I didn't really care if I was swimming in the Hebrides or swimming off the coast of the Med and I have fond memories of UK-based family holidays. Plenty of ace locations in the UK as well - Scotland, Cornwall/Devon, the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales, Norfolk etc, plus loads of holiday villages on lakes or in forests (Centre Parcs and its cheaper imitators) which offer plenty of stuff to distract kids whilst adults relax, play golf or whatever.
..and you have to be over 21 to drink in The States :-)
I only went abroad on family holidays twice before I was 15 - once to Belgium/Disneyland Paris (parents drove there) and once to Spain (flew out), both times staying at a family friend's holiday house. Otherwise Summer holidays were either going to Scotland to see my parents' family, Centre Parcs (or equivalent) or the South/South West (Bournemouth, Cornwall). Having been abroad nearly every year since I stopped going on holiday with my parents, I can see the appeal of doing family holidays in the UK - it's cheap and cheerful, far less stress, you can go back when you want to and you know you can see a doctor or go to A&E when you need to. Plus as a kid I didn't really care if I was swimming in the Hebrides or swimming off the coast of the Med and I have fond memories of UK-based family holidays. Plenty of ace locations in the UK as well - Scotland, Cornwall/Devon, the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales, Norfolk etc, plus loads of holiday villages on lakes or in forests (Centre Parcs and its cheaper imitators) which offer plenty of stuff to distract kids whilst adults relax, play golf or whatever.
..and you have to be over 21 to drink in The States :-)
I only went abroad on family holidays twice before I was 15 - once to Belgium/Disneyland Paris (parents drove there) and once to Spain (flew out), both times staying at a family friend's holiday house. Otherwise Summer holidays were either going to Scotland to see my parents' family, Centre Parcs (or equivalent) or the South/South West (Bournemouth, Cornwall). Having been abroad nearly every year since I stopped going on holiday with my parents, I can see the appeal of doing family holidays in the UK - it's cheap and cheerful, far less stress, you can go back when you want to and you know you can see a doctor or go to A&E when you need to. Plus as a kid I didn't really care if I was swimming in the Hebrides or swimming off the coast of the Med and I have fond memories of UK-based family holidays. Plenty of ace locations in the UK as well - Scotland, Cornwall/Devon, the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales, Norfolk etc, plus loads of holiday villages on lakes or in forests (Centre Parcs and its cheaper imitators) which offer plenty of stuff to distract kids whilst adults relax, play golf or whatever.
..and you have to be over 21 to drink in The States :-)
I think comparing a UK holiday to a classic 'Brits Abroad' trip to somewhere like Spain, Greece and Turkey isn't necessarily the best way of doing it. Whilst I stated that I wouldn't choose to spend a week or 2 off work in the UK, that kind of foreign holiday is my idea of hell even more. The whole all inclusive around some dirty pool after piling on a Ryanair flight from Luton would make the Lake District seem like a dream.
For me, the UK is perfect for those 3 or 4 day long weekends. You can easily get to any of it in that time, and across a few years worth of long weekends you can see all of our sights. I wouldn't exactly call Bognor Regis or Minehead one of the sights of the UK - I am thinking Cornwall, Lake District, Cotswolds etc. Hire a nice cottage for the weekend for the family is nice.
10 days or 2 weeks off work and that's a chance to see the world for the family I say (assuming you can see the UK at weekends / short breaks). A road trip through the Rockies, stopping off in Vegas, drive to Disneyland for the kids, then up PCH is my favourite family holiday. I want to see Japan and New Zealand in the next few years (have family in both) - it just feels like you truly get away for a change of scene when you leave these shores behind (Spain doesn't count because it is full of Brits anyway). It doesnt mean that the UK isn't a nice place to live (it is!) but when we work hard all year, why use the time away to live the same life, eat the same food, experience the same culture (whether in the UK or a Brits Abroad Europe trip). We only get one life - see the world I say.
I think comparing a UK holiday to a classic 'Brits Abroad' trip to somewhere like Spain, Greece and Turkey isn't necessarily the best way of doing it. Whilst I stated that I wouldn't choose to spend a week or 2 off work in the UK, that kind of foreign holiday is my idea of hell even more. The whole all inclusive around some dirty pool after piling on a Ryanair flight from Luton would make the Lake District seem like a dream.
For me, the UK is perfect for those 3 or 4 day long weekends. You can easily get to any of it in that time, and across a few years worth of long weekends you can see all of our sights. I wouldn't exactly call Bognor Regis or Minehead one of the sights of the UK - I am thinking Cornwall, Lake District, Cotswolds etc. Hire a nice cottage for the weekend for the family is nice.
10 days or 2 weeks off work and that's a chance to see the world for the family I say (assuming you can see the UK at weekends / short breaks). A road trip through the Rockies, stopping off in Vegas, drive to Disneyland for the kids, then up PCH is my favourite family holiday. I want to see Japan and New Zealand in the next few years (have family in both) - it just feels like you truly get away for a change of scene when you leave these shores behind (Spain doesn't count because it is full of Brits anyway). It doesnt mean that the UK isn't a nice place to live (it is!) but when we work hard all year, why use the time away to live the same life, eat the same food, experience the same culture (whether in the UK or a Brits Abroad Europe trip). We only get one life - see the world I say.
I agree with a lot of that, except the bit about Spain; it's an enormous country where a lot of Brits holiday on the Costas of course, but there are vast swathes of countryside and all the coast from Gib to Portugal where you get hardly any British holidaymakers. I am sure the north coast is the same. I live in a "Brits abroad" holiday town, but even here if you really want to, you can virtually avoid that culture completely if you choose the right places to go. And if you go a couple of miles inland it's a different world. :-)
I think comparing a UK holiday to a classic 'Brits Abroad' trip to somewhere like Spain, Greece and Turkey isn't necessarily the best way of doing it. Whilst I stated that I wouldn't choose to spend a week or 2 off work in the UK, that kind of foreign holiday is my idea of hell even more. The whole all inclusive around some dirty pool after piling on a Ryanair flight from Luton would make the Lake District seem like a dream.
10 days or 2 weeks off work and that's a chance to see the world for the family I say (assuming you can see the UK at weekends / short breaks). A road trip through the Rockies, stopping off in Vegas, drive to Disneyland for the kids, then up PCH is my favourite family holiday. I want to see Japan and New Zealand in the next few years (have family in both) - it just feels like you truly get away for a change of scene when you leave these shores behind (Spain doesn't count because it is full of Brits anyway). It doesnt mean that the UK isn't a nice place to live (it is!) but when we work hard all year, why use the time away to live the same life, eat the same food, experience the same culture (whether in the UK or a Brits Abroad Europe trip). We only get one life - see the world I say.
Your're right Damo, i've no idea why some people would do the £1-2k family holiday to Spain or Turkey when they could be doing the £10k all American dream :-)
I think comparing a UK holiday to a classic 'Brits Abroad' trip to somewhere like Spain, Greece and Turkey isn't necessarily the best way of doing it. Whilst I stated that I wouldn't choose to spend a week or 2 off work in the UK, that kind of foreign holiday is my idea of hell even more. The whole all inclusive around some dirty pool after piling on a Ryanair flight from Luton would make the Lake District seem like a dream.
For me, the UK is perfect for those 3 or 4 day long weekends. You can easily get to any of it in that time, and across a few years worth of long weekends you can see all of our sights. I wouldn't exactly call Bognor Regis or Minehead one of the sights of the UK - I am thinking Cornwall, Lake District, Cotswolds etc. Hire a nice cottage for the weekend for the family is nice.
10 days or 2 weeks off work and that's a chance to see the world for the family I say (assuming you can see the UK at weekends / short breaks). A road trip through the Rockies, stopping off in Vegas, drive to Disneyland for the kids, then up PCH is my favourite family holiday. I want to see Japan and New Zealand in the next few years (have family in both) - it just feels like you truly get away for a change of scene when you leave these shores behind (Spain doesn't count because it is full of Brits anyway). It doesnt mean that the UK isn't a nice place to live (it is!) but when we work hard all year, why use the time away to live the same life, eat the same food, experience the same culture (whether in the UK or a Brits Abroad Europe trip). We only get one life - see the world I say.
I was concerned until we went here last year, absolutely blinding, great food drink 7 pools, entertainment, a great place for families
Comments
Our compromise is usually a week abroad May, and stay in the UK August.
Went what is now Croatia 1986 - cant remember there being loads to do and where we were (Porec) was volcanic so few sandy beaches.
For mine I would far rather spend more time and money exploring the various nooks and crannies of England, Scotland and Wales with all of the amazing historical places around the country than spend two weeks crammed on a beach in the Mediterranean or elsewhere.
Some of the overseas holidays Brits take just make me laugh, my own family once traveled 12 HOURS to a hotel in Turkey to an all-inclusive place where they spent two weeks sunning themselves round a pool which was smaller than the one I have in my back garden and getting pissed up in the same bar every night.
Personally I would rather growl out Cilla Black than endure that sort of holiday, I want to be up and about doing things and seeing things and if you want to do that then the UK is fantastic.
We are coming back to the UK next year for a three-week family holiday and in all seriousness we could spent the whole time in London (we have three kids) and STILL not see everything it has to offer - and that is without going outside the M25.
And get the first flight out to a sunny European country.
I get them a lot when we go on holiday
If it's a leisure resort you would prefer TLH in Torquay is very nice, tennis courts, great spa, choice of pools, restaurants, evening venues, four hotels to choose from each with half board option and even a gaming room with table tennis, pool etc not far from the beach.
For me, the UK is perfect for those 3 or 4 day long weekends. You can easily get to any of it in that time, and across a few years worth of long weekends you can see all of our sights. I wouldn't exactly call Bognor Regis or Minehead one of the sights of the UK - I am thinking Cornwall, Lake District, Cotswolds etc. Hire a nice cottage for the weekend for the family is nice.
10 days or 2 weeks off work and that's a chance to see the world for the family I say (assuming you can see the UK at weekends / short breaks). A road trip through the Rockies, stopping off in Vegas, drive to Disneyland for the kids, then up PCH is my favourite family holiday. I want to see Japan and New Zealand in the next few years (have family in both) - it just feels like you truly get away for a change of scene when you leave these shores behind (Spain doesn't count because it is full of Brits anyway). It doesnt mean that the UK isn't a nice place to live (it is!) but when we work hard all year, why use the time away to live the same life, eat the same food, experience the same culture (whether in the UK or a Brits Abroad Europe trip). We only get one life - see the world I say.
http://www.sandos.com/hotel-san-blas-in-san-miguel-de-abona/accommodations.htm?gclid=Cj0KEQjwur2eBRDtvMS0gIuS-dYBEiQANBPMR7cu7VhAEi6gCf0J7fOclIDXIa88QSiVUykF_cP6D5EaAu7b8P8HAQ
Just came back from Ibiza, 4 nights half board £420, 33c every day and clear sky's