Holidays with the family

One of my friends and her partner take all the extended family (his, hers, children , children's partners and grandchildren) to Center Parcs at Woburn which is actually no more than 20 miles from where anynofbthem live but the activities are great for the children, there's the spa for the mums and the dads go and play golf at Woburn Golf Club. (And nobody has a long tiring journey to get there.)

The best holidays are family had over the years have been caravanning by the sea. In fact last year all our now grown up grandchildren with their partners took us back to one of our all time favourite holiday destinations to relive their childhood experiences with their wives/husbands/partners.
All intend to revive the tradition with their own families when they come along . Of course it's not every bodies cup of tea but very memorable in our family.

Centre Parc comes highly recomended by a friend who often holidays with her son, daughter their respective partners and 5 GC.

Yes Center Parcs great for inter generational holidays, we've had some great times there when our children were young just us as a family and several with close friends and their children and one with grandchild who at the time being under one was too young to appreciate it, but would like to go again with grandchildren at some time in the future.

Useful thread for me firsttime, reading with interest.

For about 5 years now we have hired a large house either in Britain or in France during the summer for us, son, daughter spouses and now 5 grandchildren. Present ages 1-11years. I think a swimming pool is a great asset or to be in an area with loads to explore. We have done south of France, Norfolk, Isle of Wight, Broadstairs and this year back to middle of France. We self cater for a week which is about the right time. Shopping and cooking becomes quite fun once everyone is mucking in together. Highly recommended.

Either Centre Parcs or hire a big house somewhere nice - a pool is a definite bonus. We had a great extended family holiday in Margate last August staying in a house right on the seafront, slept 12. 4 and 5 year old adored the beach and crabbing after tea before bed. We'e also used James's Villas.

Never been to Center Parcs, but sounds really perfect for extended families. If you wanted to go slightly further afield, a gite/villa holiday is suitable.

For five years, DS1 and family took me on holiday with them in their caravan. Sadly, they have sold the van but have asked me to go camping with them (at 76!) in France this summer and it never occurred to me to say 'No thanks!' I love being with them all, though it's going to be different with two teenagers from the days when they were both at primary school. They have their own 'pup' tents, so can sleep in as long as they want in the morning! I might be crazy, but they all look after me very well and you never know when the chance to holiday in France will come again!

If you hire a large holiday home, check with the owners for local home caterers and treat yourselves to at least one hassle free family meal. We have done this several times and each time the food was excellent and they cleaned up the kitchen afterwards.

Deffinately Centre Parcs we are paying for all our family 10 in all to go as their Christmas present. Its great they can all do your own thing or all join together for fun and games. Its not cheap but but great for all ages and we love it.

We went to Center Parcs with DD and SiL when GS was small and we had a great time except for all the bike riding - our accommodation was a fair way out from the heart of the village. Plenty to do and the pool complex was fantastic. I'd go again if I didn't have to get on bike! We had a week with the extended family last year for our fiftieth and chose a large house with four bathrooms (that was the clincher, though for most of the week the shower in one of them didn't work), close to a blue flag surfing beach in West Wales. We had to book it a year in advance to be sure of getting the week we wanted!

I've just come back from a family holiday to centre parcs, with my DDs and SILs and 3 grandchildren. Works well for us all. Lots of activities as well as being really family friendly. Both my DDs also have family holidays at centre parcs with their in laws.

Lots of people go "Oh no!" (without ever having tried it) but have you thought of Butlins?

Yes, I tried Butlins. A long time ago now but I wanted somewhere to take my little 7yr old son. The dining room was a case of everyone crammed on to one table for meals, so very noisy. The room was basic with 2 beds, a wardrobe and a wash hand basin and toilet in an annex. There was loads of things to do in the day time for him, I just supervised. In the evening there were shows so I took him to the early viewing some nights and swimming other nights. One of the days I wanted to get away so we went off camp and on to the beach. We enjoyed it but OH would have hated the whole thing.

My son is taking his family to Centre Parks in a couple of weeks. By the sound of things they will have a great time with their two little boys. Family friendly is worth its weight in gold. Nothing worse than having old people tut tutting because the children are noisy is there? Children are naturally noisy and lively so Centre Parks sounds ideal.

We vote for Centre Parcs as well. Lots of different activities, but book up things like bowling and badminton well in advance. Also we have rented big houses in France and Italy with pools and table tennis etc, always had a great time.

There is a website "cottages for you" that has property all over the country. All different sizes etc . Worth having a look

Sorry this is a duplicate post as there are two threads on the same subject today.

Sounds ideal firsttimenanna.

Dependent on how far you are willing to travel might I suggest Weymouth.

Obviously a favourite of my family but it could tick all the boxes.

We always book with Dream Cottages and they have a good website and easy to speak to if you need advice, not pushy!

Weymouth has an excellent beach, a harbour, a marina, rockpools (a must for the little ones), good pubs and restaurants, cinema, shops, bowling alley, theatre RSPB Radiploe Lake, fishing trips, etc. etc.

Weymouth for the most part is on the flat except for one area called The Nothe but it is a lovely walk which takes you from the harbour , around Newtons Cove (where the rock pools are), up to the Fort and back down to the harbour. Ideal for rockpools, picnics, strolling and suits all ages. The thing is it is literally adjacent to the harbour and marina where it is all happening.

There is plenty of accommodation smack bang in the heart of Weymouth Centre where you literally will walk out of the door and you have it all on tap.

One suggestion if you are all dibbing in financially would be the 'Oast House' or properties in that vicinity, order a brochure and have a gander.

Have a wonderful time.

There are two new threads on ideas for family holidays on the go at once, how strange! So I'm copying and pasting what I said on the other one:

We're going with our lot to Center Parcs in May. Twelve of us, ages late sixties to (we estimate!) 4 weeks. We've booked two villas next to each other and the bigger one has a sauna, hot tub and games room in case of bad weather, and so that the adults have something to do when the little ones are in bed. We're hoping not to have to pay for too many extras as the four children will all be pre-school and the general opinion is that they'll be happy with the swimming, the wildlife and the playgrounds. We're definitely booking a girls' spa day though, and leaving the lads to it!

We did have a lovely Autumn break in 2015, in a massive house fairly near Beccles. It had its own grounds with a small lake and woods, tennis court, hot pool, and was near enough to the coast for day trips. We booked through Sykes Cottages.

I will add that Mumsnet have just had a long thread about Center Parcs. The majority loved it, some were agin it, but my favourite quote was "It's just Butlins with Boden and less swearing".

Thank you for all your ideas - really appreciated. Have spent the morning looking at CPs. Looks good but expensive if you add in all the extras you seem to have to pay for absolutely everything. E.g. Table tennis!!

Happy to go with this idea but is it value for money if it rains? Comments really welcomed.

Here's a link to the other thread, with more ideas and views:

www.gransnet.com/forums/ask_a_gran/1233810-Three-generation-short-break

I think it's best not to book too much for Center Parcs in advance - you can over commit and most of it's really not necessary.

We booked a cottage for a week on the north Norfolk coast last August. Delightful. 6 adults, 5 children, 2 dogs. 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms - plenty of space for all. Lovely safe garden for children and dogs, but plenty of other things to do there (beaches, steam trains etc). Would recommend.

I think center parks is expensive too. We have twice hired a large house in the uk near the south coast (all shared the cost and the catering) once is somerset and once in Sussex. A decent sized garden and some activities for the children help and a pool s a great bonus but not essential . We had a great time and our grandchildren loved being together. I think we had a long weekend both times. We had a deluvery fom saisburies which we all added to/amended and wach family was tesponsible for one meal excluding breakfasts. We obviously took bikes and balls etc and had a good time playing ball games in tge garden, having bbqs etc. Didnt work out that expensive. We used cottages 4 you and cottages direct to search and book and it was wasy to all look at websites on line to decide which to book.