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Last minute UK holiday booking - hmmm...

deebster

deebster

Half Man Half Biscuit
Having just got the week after next off work I thought I'd surprise the family by booking a break. A caravan in a quiet seaside park, out of the way Lake or Peak district farmhouse or cottage, that sort of thing. Well, what a foolish man I am - not much out there on the usual private caravan rental sites I know and from some late deals net searches.

Not wholly unexpected of course, given the few news reports I've seen from overrun seaside towns (I tend to avoid the news, it gets on my tits) but I had expected to find something more than 4 nights in a caravan in nowhere inparticular or a cottage for 3 grand.

Is everywhere that booked up at the moment? Am I hideously out of touch and wasting my time?
 
Yes I think pretty much everywhere is booked up, you may get lucky but it will take some scouring, and of course the grabbers have all shoved their prices up by ridiculous amounts. I'd probably not bother.
 
It's very busy in the Lake District, I have owned a static at Ullswater for 15 years and have never seen it so crowded, we came up here for 9 nights last Friday as it fitted with work commitments and I have considered going home! with hindsight we should have left it until after school holidays. Lots of numpties out on the fells in totally inappropriate gear
 
Don't, personally, do holidays, but I do listen to Farming Today most mornings as it is on not long after I get up, and that alone told me 2-3 weeks ago, what you have just found out. SO many farmers run holiday lets that it has been mentioned numerous times.

Your only chance would be really the back end of beyond, away from the sea, north, probably Scotland, from what has been said.
 
matt j said:
and of course the grabbers have all shoved their prices up by ridiculous amounts
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You mean that people who rely on about 5 months of income to feed themselves all year, who have lost most of that, are charging something that might just allow them to scrape through next winter?

That said, many are amazed that bookings are already stretching for 4-6-8 weeks beyond their normal season.
 
Yes I am told by family members that almost nothing available at the moment , I keep meeting folks going camping for the first time !!!
 
Gerard124 said:
It's very busy in the Lake District, I have owned a static at Ullswater for 15 years and have never seen it so crowded, we came up here for 9 nights last Friday as it fitted with work commitments and I have considered going home! with hindsight we should have left it until after school holidays. Lots of numpties out on the fells in totally inappropriate gear
Click to expand...
2 years ago we were in ulswater and met many families from the Jewish community climbing the hills in shirtsleeves while everyone else dressing up in appropriate gear.
 
About two weeks ago we were able to book a holiday cottage in E Devon via Air BnB. Stupidly expensive, and we rent cottages in Cornwall every year, so know the going rates. Still, not able to get to Portugal, so saved an arm on the flights bla bla. So we are going. Should be nice - 3 beds, 4 baths, nicely done, indoor swimming pool (shared with a couple of others, book your 4 hour slot) and in a well remote quiet corner of a green and pleasant land. 30 minutes from beaches if the weather is OK.

But there was nothing, just nothing in Cornwall, our favoured holiday choice. There are some hotel rooms for short and mid week stays around - some at reasonable prices.

Now looking for another week later in September - significant Birthday for OH. Kids should all be esconced in Uni or Jobs by then. But where to go?... conundrum time. Might try N Norfolk - I know it a bit, the Mrs does not.
 
I just booked an AirBNB on the seafront in Cromer. quite a luxury pad with all mod cons 3 double bedrooms for sniff under £2k. I thought pretty good price really, we were lucky on the booking and it was solid either side of our week .
 
About this time of year we would be somewhere in the Med or Atlantic. We have not holidayed in the UK for 30 years and have no desire to. Happy to stay at home and spend next year if foreign travel is possible and not too expensive.
 
We have a holiday let in Carbis Bay St Ives Cornwall and are solidly booked until October when of course we'll go down and enjoy this quiet season. We kept our prices the same as last year as we believe that a good reputation is worth more than a few extra quid on the booking price. We will be lucky to break even this year as the outgoing costs kept piling up. Even so thats better than a loss and we get two weeks holiday for free apart from HMRC taxing us on it.

Cheers,

DV
 
We’ve already written off the idea of a holiday this year. We have a couple of nights in That London planned, but the rest has either already been cancelled, or will be shelved until next year.
 
a couple of weeks ago we moved our planned (4 city) Portugal holiday to next year (at no additional cost), and devised a 6 stop road trip around the coast of Wales (to almost complete our circumnavigation of the UK by road (or as close to the coast you can get) - 2 more segments to go).

Over the last 10 days i have been booking hotels and restaurants in Wales seems to be no problem here. We even chopped and changed hotels as i needs changed.
 
Yes, it took us ages to find somewhere available in the Devon area for the middle of September. Apparently due to the global restrictions, the west country has been inundated. Good for local tourism I guess, but not so good if you want to go there :(
 
We run a FHL on the coast and it has definitely picked up, but August was always our busiest month anyway. We haven't increased our prices - we charge a little over £100/night for a 'sleeps 5' cottage about a minute's walk from the beach - but then since we're not in Englandshire we don't quite get the same crazy demand. Just looked and we're booked solid until the end of October now, but plenty availability in 2021....... :)
 
Was thinking of going away for a long weekend here up north. Prices are high more than normal so will give it a miss until prices become more realistic.
 
I can't quite fathom people being worried about holidays at present. I've not been to a pub, restaurant or cafe yet (aside from work, fully masked up of course) never mind a holiday.

I'm not doing anything until we have a gold plated vaccine.
 
As everyone who goes on holiday has 50 points taken off their IQ, what price a second peak? Pubs and restaurants will be desperate to make up for lost revenue so they'll be bending the limits of sensibility.
 
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