Old fashioned Holidays

Sand shoes not sandals!

A chalet at Hayle, no running water and a chemical toilet. Endless sunshine (?) A new pair of Seaspray sandals, and a puzzle book in a colour series, all from Woolworths if I remember correctly!
BLISS?

Going to my grannies house in S. Shields, spending weeks before we travelled packing and unpacking my little suitcase.The-trip involved four trains and the ferry across the Irish Sea.Still remember my excitement at discovering her gas mask in the old shed! The best was the fish and chips by the pier.

What a brilliant post, I’ve really enjoyed reading about other people’s memories. We always went on a caravan holiday for Whitsun and a week camping in the summer and from my recall the sun always shone! I remember going with Dad to pick mushrooms from the field behind the campsite and loving the smell of the bacon being cooked by just about every other family. I recall seeing a knickerbocker glory in a shop window and I think it cost 2/6p. I was so cross that I couldn’t have one, too many of us to be able to afford it. So what did we eat? I think tinned stewing steak, corned beef and of course lots of fish and chips. Mum was absolutely sure they always tasted better at the seaside. I remember we would all be upset when it was time to leave the sea behind, knowing we wouldn’t be seeing it again for another year. I now live at the seaside and I still can’t believe how lucky I am to be able to walk along the seafront whenever I want to. Lovely memories.

I have a lot of fond memories of Holidays with my parents. They used to hire a flat for 2 weeks, and my dad would go on the train with the babies pram packed with everything we would need and mum would take us on the bus. We lived in Scotland then, and saw lots of lovely places. We would get up in the morning and Dad would take us down to the beach. Mum would come down at lunchtime with Soup, and sandwiches etc. Loved every minute. My Older sister was in the sea swimming all day until mum and dad made her come out to go back to the flat. Our first holiday away was to Blackpool and we loved every minute of it. Think this is why we also tried to have a holiday with our children every year, to make happy memories for everyone.

A day out, by coach, to Blackpool was the nearest we got to a holiday

6 weeks on Achill Island every summer. Ferry Birkenhead to Liverpool, ferry Livetpool to Dublin sitting outside on deck on a park bench most of the time as mum wouldn't sit with all the drunks (her words!) in 'steerage'. Breakfast on the train Dublin to Westport with the curls of butter on a China dish and little pots of jam, silver cutlery and white linen tablecloths and napkins! Bus from Westport to Achill Sound sitting on a newspaper to stop me being travel sick. Then a taxi oh my the height of luxury to her village of Dooega. We never remember it raining and the freedom to roam. The calves the donkeys and chickens. Helping grandad cut turf and cut the grass for hay it was an amazing summer, after living in a 2up2down slum with outside toilet. She used to have to hunt for us and drag us to go home. Oh the memories!

At least a month in Stirling. Walks up to the Castle, playing in the King’s Knot or finding lost balls on the golf course. Picnics on the shores of Loch Lomond or the lake of Menteith, trips to St Andrews and Kingsbarns, but best of all just the love and security of my grandmother’s home. Happy days

On the whole not many happy memories. Usually we went to a small seaside area about 45 minutes drive away from home. Sometimes in a small hotel ( where my father complained incessantly about the food and the other guests) and sometimes in a rented house. It wasn’t usually a success unless the weather was hot and sunny. This was the only weather that my father enjoyed. One year we were all packed to leave but didn’t actually go for 2 or 3 days as it was raining!

We holidayed in Hythe late forties early fifties, staying b&b in a pub.Father loved easy access to a pint.and he would visit
Folkestone races while mum and self spent days on the beach.
I first experienced a' knickerbocker glory' in an 'ice cream' parlour on the sea front.

I grew up in South Africa where my dad was in the Army. There were 4 of us children and my dad never had any money, so we never had a holiday. Then one year he managed to get a furnished house in the army barracks in place called Rhyll. It was a dump and the loos and showers were a long way from the house. I met another girl there called Rosanna. We were both 16, and we used to go down to the beach together. One night we children were all asleep and got woken up by my dad shouting urgently for mum: "Sylvie, turn off the power!!" I went to the bedroom door to look out. I could see into the kitchen and there was my poor dad completely naked, standing in the butler sink and hanging onto a pipe which ran across the ceiling. He had grabbed at it on standing up in the sink to help him get out, and could not let go as there was a live electric wire running through it. It took my mum a couple of minutes to find the switch to turn off the power and he could finally let go and turn the power back on. Poor dad was very shaky and had to go to bed at once. Luckily he survived and was all right in the morning. But my abiding memory is not of the nice beach but my poor old naked dad...

I have memories of my mother packing everything but the kitchen sink. We had a very small caravan that we used for holidays - however, it was no holiday for my mother who cooked three meals a day on a small 2-ring hob and tiny oven. At least my father did the washing up (in a tiny enamel bowl). It was only years later that I realised that this was all my parents could afford so that we could have a week away.

Caravan holidays in Beer, Devon, Dad going out mackerel fishing - and mackerel fried in butter for breakfast.

We used to go by train to the coast...caravan usually. I know this from photos but don't actually remember them even ones when I was 11 or 12.

My granddaughter loved the old fashioned carousel at Beamish and was absolutely entranced by the movement of the horses and the barrel organ music. It’s lovely to know that modern children can still enjoy the simpler pleasures that we enjoyed

We were lucky enough to have our own caravan, so weekends, bank holidays and long summer holidays every year, great times with loads of fun meeting up with all the other kids. Rainy days were spent playing board games, reading or a trip to the amusement arcade with our bag of three penny bits, 2d and 1d, could get hours of fun for a shilling ☺️

Shropshirelass,
"Can you see the sea?" ??

Car-bingo, a cardboard square with little pictures of things we might see on the way to our holiday destinations!
My mum complaining about a tapping noise that was annoying her and, after going thru the checkpoints as he drove along, my dad saying it wasn't the car and we were fine. Then we went over, I think the Severn bridge, and one of the sleeping bags flew off the roof rack, never to be seen again....yes, or was the old stretchy 'spider' thing that used to hold things onto car roofs! My mum berated my dad for that for so long afterwards!! ??
My big brother suddenly keeping his mouth tightly shut for the remainder of a holiday in Cornwall as he had been sucking a stick of candy rock and had swallowed a bit that wouldn't melt - it was a front tooth!
My parents buying me a new pillow and me finding a lump in it, eventually digging out an apple core! ?
Them buying me 'The Wind in The Willows' book to read on that holiday....and it leading to my love of Willow trees forever, especially trailing over water!
Camping gaz stoves, a strange thing mum used to heat up water cup by cup to make us cuppas - an element attached to a plug!
Meeting Christopher Biggins on holiday in Romania and him helping my dad to know who to go to for decent cash exchange, they said he was famous but I didn't know him! Lol I found out who he was a few years later.
My aunty and uncle had a private hotel in Teignmouth!
Looking for Nessie in the Loch!
Oh what glorious memories, thank you so much!!! xx

Always a caravan in the Lake District. We didn’t have a car so got the bus,an early morning start change at Lancaster for the Lakes, all the luggage in rucksacks.Walked everywhere,fishing with Dad who hired a towing boat for the day. Washing up in a bowl outside and trips to the loo at night usually in the rain wearing a plastic mac over pjs. Sugar puffs for breakfast as a treat.Happy days.

We used to go to a boarding house in either Blackpool or Cleethorpes. As someone said upthread, out in the morning and no returning until teatime, weather notwithstanding! Mum loved it but I think that my dad hated it as much as I did, and then, as I got older, holidays dropped off the agenda and we would go somewhere on the train for a day. As a child my head was full of Famous Five and their Cornish adventures. Didn’t have a prayer of getting there until I was in my teens, living in London and a friend and I travelled down on the train for a week staying near Penzance. I’d never seen sea so blue; and the water was warm enough to swim in. It all took my breath away.

The first holiday I recall was when we rented a caravan at Skegness. I had lots of flea bites, probably from the blankets, and topped them with a wasp sting. Oh and I was sick every day.

Staying in some dingy flat with a shared toilet and the so called sea view you would have to stand on top of the roof with a telescope. Nasty cold weather and swimming in a nasty grey sea. Nothing like where we went after I left home aged 18, even though we didn’t have much money.

Two weeks down the Clyde coast with my parents and widowed auntie. We rented rooms and Mum and Aunt Jean did the cooking. My Dad was my companion as it was such a novelty for him not to be at work . First day was usually spent seeking out the best butcher , greengrocer and ice cream parlour. If we woke to a glorious day ( didn't happen often ) I was promised a full day on the beach. Sandwiches were always tinned ( John West ) salmon with the added crunch of sand and my Mum and Aunt wore summer dresses , stockings and sandals for the beach trip - bare legs were not the thing at all . My Dad wore an open neck shirt and "flannals" which I think the less formal trousers were called. One magical year at Ayr my best friend was staying in the neighbouring town of Prestwick with her family. She was allowed to come to Ayr by herself by bus ( we were 12 ) and she found us on the beach. My Dad saw her back on the bus to Prestwick at the end of the day. Nobody had a phone or any way of contacting her parents but it all worked out fine. Happy days.

We didn't have many but one year when I was 10 we flew to Ireland, that was very exciting, and drove to Galway and stayed with aunt on farm. Great memories. Making hay. sheep dipping, mushroom picking, warm soda bread, trips on horse and cart with my cousin in charge and seeing the wilds of Connemara. Going to the peat bogs to cut the stuff. I loved it.

Also my mother booked a flat in Bideford in my teenage years twice. Spent a lot of time at Westward Ho and tried surfing on hired boards and exploring North Devon. The best of times. The first time we went over on the ferry from nr Chepstow then the Severn Bridge opened.

I lived in the Channel Islands. I was permanently on holiday. Lucky me.