UK holidays - soo expensive

[bonnies mum]

I have in previous years looked into holidaying in the UK but found prices for decent accommodation to be very high eg £800pw for a 1 bedroom studio in Cornwall in September. When our family were young we soon learned that you get what you pay for.
I don’t think I would pay even higher prices than I have seen in previous years. Part of my holiday enjoyment is getting away from the familiar, having a break from British food, media, shops etc.
Will save my money for now & travel further afield when I feel comfortable to do so.
On a positive note the weather feels like abroad and has done so for weeks now and that’s in Scotland.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by dubletrub

Last paragraph of yours said slightly different from Watford for a couple of nights

I was trying to give a view of cheap holidays, even ones that you can take your dog to, I was just saying I have had plenty of cheap holidays around the uk, they can be found

See more...

I agree that you can find lots of cheap holidays in the UK, and I would add you can take your dog with you too.

We have stayed at lots of caravan parks, cottages and B&Bs that are affordable and allow us to take our pets. I would suggest that people avoid the big named companies such as Centre Parks, Haven etc and look for smaller companies. They are usually much cheaper and give better service than the big companies.

I think prices of all holidays, UK or overseas, are going to rise after this as the companies are going to try and make up for the losses over the past few months

[JLH]

I think the UK is like most countries- you can get cheap but you may have to look hard and you can pay more. I have had long weekends in a lovely lodge in Somerset end of August for around £200 or a lodge in Bluestone Wales for £750( and that was discounted) for same amount of days. When you look at the price of a villa in say Greece for a week the lodge prices in this country seem a bargain. I am paying £720 for a two bed apartment in Croatia for five nights in August so that’s not far off UK prices .

[katiec68]

Originally Posted by dubletrub

I do laugh at these threads, we have in the past have had a week in a travelodge/premier inn for around £50 a night including breakfast and used it as a base for some great days out.
We stayed in one around 2015 and did Harry Potter at Watford, Chessington and Thorpe park, did London with a show and a few lovely days out around there.
Rain doesn’t stop play for us, some of our best days out with the kids growing up have been winter on Ainsdale beach with the kites and a picnic
I would never pay center parks prices but I have bought the sun (ready to get flamed) and done a few of their £9.50 holidays on some lovely caravan parks.
You can do the uk on a budget

See more...

Originally Posted by Beth_Disney

I've seen a Travelodge by the seaside that's £90 for a 3-night weekend break in July. We'll probably end up booking that will as it's not far from where the in-laws live and we've stayed there before.

I'm not a holiday snob by any means and have been on plenty of £9.50 Sun holidays, PI/Travelodge city breaks etc. but I wanted more of a luxury UK break with self-catering facilities, just in case pubs and restaurants aren't open. The price difference is staggering though - £90 for 3-nights at Travelodge vs £900 for Forest Holidays.

See more...

I am pretty much a holiday snob - I don't want a week in a Travelodge on my holiday.
I want a view, a nice cozy sofa, decent room etc.
Don't get me wrong - I have stayed at PI's and Travelodges - especially when we go to London for the weekend, but we missed out on our skiing holiday and I don't want to replace it with a Travelodge - no matter how cheap it is!

[Eden]

Depends on who's going...
We paid over £1k for our lodge last August and have booked the same this August - but it fit 7 of us very comfortably
It would be a lot more than £1k for 7 of us to Greece
However as a couple, it would work out much more expensive

[Michyloulou]

Originally Posted by dubletrub

I do laugh at these threads, we have in the past have had a week in a travelodge/premier inn for around £50 a night including breakfast and used it as a base for some great days out.
We stayed in one around 2015 and did Harry Potter at Watford, Chessington and Thorpe park, did London with a show and a few lovely days out around there.
Rain doesn’t stop play for us, some of our best days out with the kids growing up have been winter on Ainsdale beach with the kites and a picnic
I would never pay center parks prices but I have bought the sun (ready to get flamed) and done a few of their £9.50 holidays on some lovely caravan parks.
You can do the uk on a budget

See more...

Although we have been to Centerparcs (2018) and would love to go again, in the previous year’s we’ve also stayed at the Premier Inn Southampton Airport and used as a base for days out (Paulton’s Park, New Forest, day trip to IOW as foot passenger on ferry). It’s also allowed us to visit my in-laws who live in that vicinity & usually we drive home via Reading so we can pop & see my Mum on the last day.
That said, staying in a Premier Inn for us means booking 2 rooms (as we’re a family of 6) and we usually include breakfast (buy 1 adult breakfast & get 2 kids free, so works perfectly when we have 2 rooms). We usually have a PI dinner 1 night, and either use Tesco Clubcard vouchers for Pizza Express or Bella Italia in Southampton.
We’ve also previously stayed with my sister in Farnborough (her kids have flown the nest & she just about has room for us all) again we use hers as a base for days out which has been a life-saver in previous years. My sister was on her own when her kids were little & struggled massively to take her kids away - she used to also live in Reading at the time but stayed in another of our sisters houses in Worthing (as that sister always went abroad in school holidays with her kids, so my sister would house-sit & get benefit of being near the beach). My DSis in Farnborough would lay on bbq for us, or we’d enjoy a take-away together when we got back from our days out. The kids (and ya) have really fond memories! If we’d had to fork out to stay somewhere in the UK for a week we’d have struggled back then, so really grateful for the getaways we had.

[Brock]

Originally Posted by PoohBears#1fan

I've just looked at canal boat rental for 2-4 people, it's coming out at between £1100-1600 a week during July/August, so not a significant increase, just regularly overpriced (IMO)!

See more...

I work within the UK inland waterways. The cost to build a hire craft for the UK canals system is in the region of £ 85 / 100, 000 the life of a hire craft is between 7 / 10 years. On top of this is refit costs, insurance, annual licence and operating cost and staff wages. £ 1100 / 1600 is a fair price to re-cover there cost, you have to remember their season is only around 20 weeks

[PoohBears#1fan]

Originally Posted by Brock

I work within the UK inland waterways. The cost to build a hire craft for the UK canals system is in the region of £ 85 / 100, 000 the life of a hire craft is between 7 / 10 years. On top of this is refit costs, insurance, annual licence and operating cost and staff wages. £ 1100 / 1600 is a fair price to re-cover there cost, you have to remember their season is only around 20 weeks

See more...

I know the costs involved, we own one (although don't rent it out). I just think that the price is not viable to the majority of people when compared with what they could have abroad for the same money.

[Brock]

Originally Posted by PoohBears#1fan

I know the costs involved, we own one (although don't rent it out). I just think that the price is not viable to the majority of people when compared with what they could have abroad for the same money.

See more...

I am sorry I have to disagree.
Before lockdown, one of the hire companies which I am a consultant for had over 20 weeks booked across the board this company has over 100 hire craft and I believe the same can be said for the Norfolk Broads.

Hire craft costs are significantly more than the pleasure craft more insurance and a higher licence fee to name but two.

[loobz]

Originally Posted by Emmymouse

Didn't say you did, but my labradors still can't go to Thorpe park with me I was just raising the point that yes, you can get cheap breaks away, but it might not be the experience other people are looking for.

See more...

nor can your dogs go to Florida or Greece or wherever.