Holidays with the family

Last line is not us twice!

You say you want a short holiday. You may like to consider a few days in Ironbridge in Shropshire. It is a world Heritage site and has about 8 really interesting working Museums which will appeal to all ages. The Victorian Village was great with working shops to go into, a small fair, a schoolhouse with a scary teacher to contend with. Horse and cart trips, a pub with two Victorian entertainers and a fab Fish and Chip shop and a small Bakers with fruit buns yummy.

There is a scientific museum which is hands on for children. You can buy a passport to visit all of the museums for one price for up to a year.

The small town is crammed with cafes and pubs.

The countryside is wonderful and there is a a Medieval Manor nearby where the kids can run riot. You are on the border of Wales.

Very different from CP but worth considering.

We spent a week there last September and liked it so much we have rebooked within the year so that we can reuse our passports.

Not too far away us The Black Country Museum which us a fabulous day out.

I've been to Centre Parcs with the family a few times and although it is fun I think it is very expensive for all the activities. Anyone who likes the CP activities might also like the Manor House Hotel in Devon. Almost all of the activities are free - you just pay for any consumables you use. Have a look at the website www.manorhousehotel.co.uk/.

What part of France do you go to Saxifrage

pollyperkins We use Owners Direct all the time; here and overseas too. We found the properties very clean, sometimes with maid service and very reasonable. Easy to deal with and always in our experience there was someone who spoke English to hand.

What a lovely idea.

Airbnb is wonderful (despite odd press story). Have used it a dozen times, every single one a delight. Look under 'entire place', all sorts of homes, rural, sea, near towns, all over, here and warmer climes.

I know this is probably too far to travel for a lot of people, but we had a lovely holiday with the grandchildren at Coombe Hill Farm in Cornwall last summer. Every morning started with feeding the farm animals and riding on the tractor. We visited different beaches during the day and the little ones got a ride on the miniature train in the evening. Apparently there is access to the swimming pool at the nearby hotel up the road if the weather had been bad but we didn't need it.
We have also enjoyed Centre Parcs which is good but expensive. Not too bad when the children are small but would be prohibitive with older ones.

Actually i think it was owners direct we used for the house we hired. Antway it was a hrea house and not all that expensive compared to others. You need to shop around.

WELL I WON a holiday at Bluestone Pembrokeshire in a Gransnet competition three years ago. A WONDERFUL weekend, lots of activities for all ages. Beautiful clean lodges; lots of fresh air and a geat time had by all!! We have been back three times since and are booked in next weekend. [http://www.bluestonewales.com] Have a look at their site!

Husband and I took 2 grandchildren to Center Parcs just before Christmas. We had a lovely weekend until Grandson dropped a bowling ball on his cousins toes. She silenced the bowling alley with her screams! Brilliant nurse on duty though. Oh and previous that there was my wardrobe malfunction on the Rapids, same granddaughter shouted "Granny, your things are out"!! ?
There's something for everyone at Center Parcs and we've been many times. I do think it's getting very expensive though, maybe December is more expensive because of the Winter wonderland area.

When OH was 70 we took our DS and DD, DIL, SIL and four grandchildren to Center Parcs. We booked two villas next door to each other and had a fabulous week. The children's ages ranged from 9-5 and they enjoyed all the activities along with swimming every day.
Cooking was shared and we had treats in various restaurants including the pancake House which the young ones loved.

Thanks for all your thoughts. Should have said that this was my first time posting a thread - really welcome your comments.

As just posted on the other thread. We rented a flat in Kensington last year. Loads to do, a lot of it free, if you Have Tesco vouchers they can be exchanged for experiences.
The flat had 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a sofa.bed in the sitting room. It was cheaper than hotels that we looked at. There were other flats at that address.

We have had a number of family holidays in Centre Parcs. Always good fun and lots to do for everyone. We also went to Blue Stone in Wales - had a lovely time with good accommodation and not as expensive as Centre Parcs. We also went to Clowance in Cornwall (you can book through Hoseasons. Hope you have a great time.

www.groupaccommodation.com/

There is a website called group accommodation which specialises in large properties in the U.K. And abroad.

If all have passports Brittany in France is a lovely family holiday spot. We have been with D IL's and with children from 5 to 19, and all were catered for. We use the site Owners Direct, then click on France. We have never been disappointed. You get a lot of photos of the house you will rent and we always find a large house with either pool or jacuzzi, garden or patio for evening wine drinking, near to beach, not too far from town and amenities so teenagers can explore. We always go in August so prices high but convenient for children in school holidays. My IL's told me it was nicest holiday they ever had my MiL likes markets so in heaven, FiL likes historical castles etc so he was catered for and very easy to amuse children with great beaches so can visit a different one each day. We travelled on Ferry.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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".

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

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.