“Big house” birthday rental.......

Oh Pippa how sad but a lovely way to be together to remember him.
We rented a house for 11 of us in Greenwich last summer for my DH’s 70th. Some of the family live in Spain and the Spanish DGC were keen to see London. It worked well, especially as it was a house on three floors so the three families had a floor each!

That is so sad and lovely Pippa.

I'm in the same boat as you Sallyann and am still wondering what we will do. I've hired the village hall for the evening but nothing else and it's only a couple of months away. I haven't actually invited anyone yet!!
I'm coming out in a sweat just thinking of it.

The house sleeping 12 + sounds great as it becomes a holiday rather than a party.

We rented a cottage from "Sallys cottages" for my 60th ,they have places in the Lake District.
Ours was called Turner How Cottage and it was fantastic with a huge well equipped kitchen and plenty of seats round the table.2 huge bathrooms and a seperate toilet too. A massive living area with masses of seating space on squishy sofas and a lot burner. 2 other smaller living spaces for teenagers or whoever needs a bit of time away from everyone else . Quality bedrooms and superb luxury bedding. A walled garden . Boot room. Dog room..yes you read it right ,a dog room.
There were 11 of us there ranging from 3years old to 60+ and we loved it . We had a tesco delivery on the Friday night and everyone chipped in for it .A Chinese takeaway on the Saturday night. lovely walks around the area too and fab views..oh and a pool table in the basement garage.
I would definitely do it again.

We rented a beautiful big house for a week in North Yorkshire for my husband's 60th. We had a brilliant time and everyone was still talking to each other at the end of the week! My only tip is to make sure there's more than one bathroom/toilet! Ours had en suite and cloakroom facilities too.

Please do not read if you are easily offended!

There is a wonderful barn near us that sleeps 20+ in a beautiful location with shops only a mile away and plenty of tourist attractions.

It is however, known as the local "knocking shop"

We took a big house for our 50th wedding anniversary, 14 of us plenty of room indoors and out, a good time had by all. Do think about the catering and get food delivered to the house if you are eating in so nobody has to go off and do it.

It sounds like a great idea - and in my experience people are OK to spread the cost among all the families involved. When I was a child, we all came to a Cornish village and booked rooms in a hotel and B&Bs, and rented cottages, and got together for days out and evening meals when we could. This is different from booking one large house or converted barns, but is an option if the larger shared properties are already booked.

We did it at Christmas 2016 when sister and niece were over from US. 12 of us plus two tinies, worked very well. Only thing was, taking mountains of food and not forgetting anything essential, since not near any shops!

Dd2's lovely partner did it for a birthday of hers - about 10 of us, one baby, it was lovely.

Dd1's MiL also did it for a big birthday, very big house and garden walking dist. from beach in September. There were at least 12 of them inc. several children of different ages and it worked v well. We were there but in our own accomm. nearby.

One thing, if it's at all a high season time of year, do book early! We left it quite late to book that Christmas so I think we were lucky to find anything so nice - a big converted pub with a pool table and table football - both v popular! thrown in.

I have two friends near here in South West France that have really super properties that sleep 12. Reasonable cost. ON me if you are interested and I will send you contact details.

My sister organised similar for her 70th. It was brilliant. Apart from breakfast, all meals were either eaten out somewhere or catered. Ages ranged from 80 down to 6.

Nana billy, thank you for the precise detail. Very helpful. I've fancied doing this for a while but didn't have a clue where to start and the few dabs I've had at google have proven useless. Appreciated.

We went to Centreparcs for a 3 night stay. There are 10 of us, 2 daughters and their families plus DH and me. All different ages but there's something for everyone. We had two chalets next door to each other. We did a variety of activities including archery, cycling, walking, swimming etc and had meals together. It was very successful.

Hi there,
Last October we rented this Chateau in Normandy;https://www.booking.com/hotel/fr/chateau-d-argouges.en-gb.html.
7 or 8 en suite rooms and plenty to do in the local area,Bayeux, landing beaches and some amazing markets. The owner is a lovely man, we booked direct via his website. The Chateau is very clean and comfortable and well way. We are hoping to return this year.

I arranged one for my big birthday for all the family, no one else would have done it for me, we had a lovely time, lots of laughs and lots of wonderful memories and the GC asked if they could do it every year. Sadly I also discovered just after that weekend that my OH was having an affair which put a bit of a damper on things.

Oh, Nannyme how horrid - been there / had that happen ? - did you and he survive it?
Thanks for all the tips and ideas! Have done Center Parcs previously / couldn’t afford travelling to France (well we could - going there next week n fact in campervan ?, but not all the family!).

Airbnb has lots of quality homes for rent all over the world, which are massively cheaper than hotels or advertised 'holiday lets'. I use airbnb 90% of the time when travelling or gathering my family in one place collectively for celebrations or catch-up weekends.
Look online but be quick...they get booked up very fast and months ahead.
Good luck.

I'd say choose an area with plenty to do nearby and local shops pub etc.
Figure out how many bedrooms/ bathrooms you'd need and how you'd get there then look for properties that match on airbnb.
They almost always provide towels and toiletries, tvs dvds, books etc of course and often a welcome pack of basic food, booklets on places of interest, local transport, maps and places to eat.

We rent a house by the sea for a week every summer for us AC and GC and sometimes some extended family or friends visit for a few days. As long as you all get on it can be a lot of fun. Good luck.

I was 60 last year and I hired a converted barn for the week and invited 9 close relatives who live a distance apart including my granddaughter aged 4 and my mum (great grandma) ages 82. It was a lovely week. We had so much fun and laughter. My only advice would be rent the biggest property you can afford so that people can seperate if the youngsters get too boisterous. HAve a lovely time xx

We did this last year for two big birthdays; eleven of us rented a house with an indoor pool. The children loved it, most adults swam before breakfast, it had a snooker room, lots of boxed games, a big kitchen, en suites for all and a large sitting room . We chose a spot with several places to visit and it all worked out really well for a long weekend. I do agree with renting the largest place you can find - space is comfort and we really did fill the house.

Did this a few years ago when DS & family were here from overseas. Rented through Sykes Cottages and had a 5 bedroom house. (We've no connection with Sykes other than as clients!) Family & friends came and went & the whole reunion worked very well, helped by good outside space; large patio, lawns, and children's play area. And dry weather!

Oh I forgot to mention the 6th (downstairs, with en suite ) bedroom, which was great for my aged mum!

If you're looking for a long weekend, Dorset's lovely for this type of family break. Always make sure there are enough bathrooms, our first rental slept 12 (we were 7months to 70years old) with 1 bathroom, but it didn't put us off. These are my favourite holidays.

We do it every autumn with my husbands brothers and sisters and their partners. We have a long weekend ( Friday evening until Monday morning) Do our own thing in the daytime and then get together in the evenings round a big table of about 22 of us. Friday night is a "junk food night".
Saturday one of the brothers cooks the evening meal. Breakfast and lunch we all muck in and Sunday lunchtime off to the pub for lunch.
Springtime we get together for a family meal at some eatery. This ensures we all keep in touch despite living in different parts of the country. We've been doing this for several years now and all seem to enjoy it.

If booking in France make sure bed linen and towels are included as often they are not. We have 7 bedroom French house we bought in 2017. We spent some of last year and been over this year to do painting. We will probably rent in future but it is not ready to rent this year as having new kitchen fitted. I hope you find somewhere gorgeous. Try to make sure there are lots of things to do close by for all age groups.