holiday bookings in the school holidays-yikes!

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southbucks3
Posts: 3579
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:59 am

holiday bookings in the school holidays-yikes!

Post by southbucks3 »

I have just discovered the perfect Cornwall house for our family and dogs, secluded, adjacent field for the dogs, lovely house.

They do not just add a premium from one week to the next if it falls on a school holiday, they double the price and some! Check out an Easter break here! For summer you will pay an eye watering £1000 more if you go one week into the hols in July!

http://classycottages.co.uk/charlie_wil ... ility.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Needless to say we will not be spending Easter here!

And I thought centre parks added too much...makes them sound generous!

Anyone who knows a secluded detached house, with a few acres of garden and preferably a stream, for rent over Easter please pm me, our regular haunt in the lakes has been sold as a residence, and we missed it like crazy last year and it's good value tariff.
pheasantchick
Posts: 2439
Joined: Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:28 pm

Re: holiday bookings in the school holidays-yikes!

Post by pheasantchick »

Last year, we went to Deerpark forest lodges in Cornwall. That's fairly secluded, and has a stream running through it. Unlike Center parcs, there's a relatively few number of lodges, so it doesn't feel as crowded.

The previous year, we stayed in the lodges at Eden Valley holiday park. The lodges were lovely - very high standard ( much better quality than Center Parcs), and a lot cheaper (approx. £700 in summer holidays if I remember correctly). They were booked up last year, which is why we didn't return. The website didn't do,the site justice.
Proud_Dad
Posts: 500
Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2013 9:55 am

Re: holiday bookings in the school holidays-yikes!

Post by Proud_Dad »

This is one of my perennial bugbears! :evil:

I know its because we live in a free market economy subject to the laws of supply and demand and holiday companies will naturally charge whatever people are prepared to pay. But it does seem hugely unfair that families with school age children, who generally have less spare money than other groups, have to pay 2 or 3 times as much to go on holiday.

You will always pay more if you go during school holidays, but its worth shopping around as some places don't hike the prices up quite as much as others.

Another tip is that some nearby countries like Scotland and France have slightly different school holidays than us, so if you fancy going there you can generally find something a bit cheaper at the end of August for example.
southbucks3
Posts: 3579
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:59 am

Re: holiday bookings in the school holidays-yikes!

Post by southbucks3 »

I know some people get very snitty about it, but I can honestly say f it was not for the threat of a fine, I would have no problem what so ever in pulling all three of mine out of school for a week in June!
I cannot understand how it can possibly cause disruption to others, lessons are planned in advance, so could easily be copied to parents for catch up, and the kids would return happy and relaxed, rather than left out as they listen to the wonderful expensive hols their friends were whisked away on after every half term!
Until ds1 started secondary we would have thought nothing of whisking kids away on a Friday for a long weekend once or twice a year, now we would feel like criminals.

Why can't they just allow a couple of flexible weeks, that have to be booked on a leave chart so not too many are missing and important dates are not missed, they could easily shorten the summer break? Heck. Get a cover teacher and let the teachers have a bit of flexibility too!
The holiday companies could then charge an average price all summer, rather than covering costs of empty lets in May, June and September by charging extortionate sums in July and August.

Looks like it's camping for us again...I love it, but it really is not relaxing if it rains!
Yamin151
Posts: 2405
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2013 8:30 am

Re: holiday bookings in the school holidays-yikes!

Post by Yamin151 »

Could you do a house swap? Assuming you live somewhere that someone might like to spend some time at. There are several sites dedicated to people swapping houses.
southbucks3
Posts: 3579
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:59 am

Re: holiday bookings in the school holidays-yikes!

Post by southbucks3 »

He he he..the lack of funds is because we are busy fixing up our house....I don't think bare plasterboard and electric cables would suit! My friend did house swap to Florida last year, she spent three weeks cleaning her house...had time off work to do it :lol:

We are not alone though, far too many parents are getting stung by this new stricter regulation, schools are allowed to grant authorised absence, but encouraged not to do so.
Last edited by southbucks3 on Tue Jan 14, 2014 12:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
aliportico
Posts: 888
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2007 12:19 pm

Re: holiday bookings in the school holidays-yikes!

Post by aliportico »

Scotland and France are a fair bit cheaper than England and Wales even during their school holidays. Last Easter we spent a week at this place (a sort of much more basic CenterParcs), which - including travel - was half the price of a Mon-Fri break at CP.

This Easter we're renting a house in Flanders for less than 500 quid for the week.
southbucks3
Posts: 3579
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:59 am

Re: holiday bookings in the school holidays-yikes!

Post by southbucks3 »

Scotland is so cheap...just looked, a loch side cottage for 6 comes out at around £500! Always written it off due to the drive, when kids were younger. How horrendous is the journey to the highlands from bucks? I suppose we could camp on the way up and down.

We really only want to holiday with our dogs this year, when we can get a house sitter...when the house is done, we will head for the sun or France at least. We always used to nab that cheap last week at the end of August and holiday in France in wonderful lodge camps.
Proud_Dad
Posts: 500
Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2013 9:55 am

Re: holiday bookings in the school holidays-yikes!

Post by Proud_Dad »

southbucks3 wrote:We are not alone though, far too many parents are
getting stung by this new stricter regulation, schools are allowed to grant authorised absence, but encouraged not to do so.
What's the deal with schools authorising absence?

When DS was a bit younger we used to take him out for a week to go skiing. (We couldn't afford to go during half term or Easter but there are good late deals around if you go during term time.)

The school never used to officially authorise our requests, but we just used to take him out anyway (with their knowledge) and never had any fines or comeback from it. They seemed to have an unofficial policy of turning a blind eye so long as it was less than 10 days a year.

Do senior schools tend to be stricter or does it depend on the individual school?
Fatnorville
Posts: 302
Joined: Tue Oct 16, 2012 9:09 pm

Re: holiday bookings in the school holidays-yikes!

Post by Fatnorville »

On the subject of Centreparcs, an Oct half term break in Notts would cost us nearly £1000. A similar holiday in Belgium costs €430. Accepting the costs of the ferry (which was largely paid with Clubcard vouchers) and petrol / time this is a massive saving. Plus going to Belgium is far more exciting than travelling 40 miles up the M1!

Note Centreparcs Europe is notorious for price diffenetation based on nationality. Exactly the same holiday for a French person costs €635. It is worth a little trial and error to get the best price.
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