5 of the best UK cottages for 10+ people

The old adage of 2.4 children doesn’t always stand true anymore, and with families getting bigger their needs for a holiday cottage change too. Especially over Christmas, a festive treat away from the hustle and bustle is a nice change – and, you can do this quite easily.

There are so many spots around the United Kingdom where people can enjoy numerous attractions, walking trails and hiking whatever time of year it is. With Sykes cottages you can pick and choose from any location across the land that meets your family’s needs. Here’s a glorious top five:

• Goosewell House, Callington – Down in the idyllic county of Cornwall you can find something for everybody to enjoy. This detached cottage is wonderful in its appearance, sat perfectly for frequenting both Devon and Cornwall as well as having a games room that boasts a full size snooker table. What more could you want?

• Whytings, Uplyme – Sometimes you need more than just space for your children in the home, but there also needs to be access for your dogs. This barn conversion near Lyme Regis is the ideal spot for that and within a stones through of a picturesque harbour; this is one of the best dog friendly holiday cottages on the market. A top spot for exploring the Eden Project and the many south coast beaches.

• Solent Heights, Ryde – Fancy a trip overseas? Well, you can, as the Isle of Wight offers this wonderful holiday cottage. This has always been a popular tourist destination and is well-known as a family resort that has something for everybody. With tenpin bowling and an ice rink, alongside beautiful coastline, surely it’s time you had a look. Picturesque is a word that is massively overused, but when it comes to this island it’s completely true.

• Ingleside, Adsett – The Royal Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire is a magnificent oak forest, and using this outstanding house as a base, you will be able to explore the wonder of it. From foot trails to horseback rides, kayaking to golf it’s clear to see that there is something for everybody. And, after a long day, you can all get around the open fire and enjoy some quality time. Just a short trip away you can find the Severn Estuary, Gloucester with its historic waterfront and the Norman Cathedral made even more famous by its appearance in the Harry Potter films.

• Meadow Place, Ipstones – When considering a British getaway, a stint in the Derbyshire Dales and Peak District is always going to be suggested. This stone-built barn conversion is sat in a beautiful village near Leek and is loved for its character and charm. What’s more is that you can bring the dog along too. Everyone’s a winner, especially once you’ve got kitted out to explore the moorland countryside. Nearby attractions include Alton Towers, Blackbrook Zoological Gardens and Chatsworth House.

While a lot of holiday cottages on the market cater for couples and smaller families, there are still plenty for the larger family and their pets! This is just a selection of five, but there are many more to choose from if you know where to look.

(Sponsored Post)

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We're planning the road trip of a lifetime

For years now there has been one particular country that I have always wanted to visit. The country, the food, the people, the language... everything there has a beauty about it.

Italy.

So a couple of months ago we decided we would take the family on the road trip of a lifetime there to coincide with Mike’s 40^th birthday year in 2013.

The plan is to load up the minibus with all our supplies and the children and head off. 

Of course, it isn’t quite as simple as that.

First we need to work out where exactly we want to visit.  We can’t go everywhere and see everything so our plans so far are that we will drive down through France over a couple of days, stopping overnight each evening to recharge and then continue down into Italy.  We will then spend the next four to five weeks visiting different regions, staying in each for a week or so at a time. 

I don’t yet know which regions or what we plan to see. Suggestions would be very much appreciated.

And that is the extent of our planning so far.  There is a small list of things that need to be done before we’re even close to being ready to take off and go.

Apart from deciding on the areas we will then need to arrange the accommodation for each, which of course will need to be large enough to accommodate us all.  This part will probably need to be sorted out during 2012.

Closer to the time we will have to give our people carrier a thorough service and check.  It has been very reliable in the time we have had it and it actually doesn't take very much financially to keep it running,
especially if we take the time to compare car insurance for it and keep it in a good state of repair.

It all sounds so easy doesn’t it?  A to-do list of only two things.  Just sort out places to stay and make sure the bus is running and away we go. 

It doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that, does it?

Of course it doesn’t.

(This was a sponsored post).

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Large families, day trips and holidays. Why do companies fail to deliver for us?

There was an interesting post last week over on Have a Lovely Time where they asked the question, "Do larger families get a tough break on travel?"

I was asked for my opinion on this feature with regards to days out.  It is a bug bear of mine that events or attractions very rarely cater for larger than average sized families such as mine.  Families come in all shapes and sizes yet most places still offer a standard family ticket price of 2 adults plus 2 children.  Occasionally, you may even see 1 adult plus 3 children, though generally the 2+2 still seems to be the normal savings offer.

What if you don't have 2 children?  What if you have three or four?  I'll accept that a family the size of mine is the exception rather than the rule but surely there must be three or four child families who like to visit places of interest or just have a fun day out?

My response to Have a Lovely Time was that while it would be impractical (and more likely quite impossible) to expect an entry fee based on every family type but suggested that venues and event organisers could perhaps adopt a standard family ticket (2 adults plus 2 children) plus a sliding scale entry price for each additional child.  Surely to make it more reasonable for a large family to gain entry somewhere would be more beneficial for the venue in the long run?  More people equal more drinks, more snacks, more souvenirs... more revenue in general.  So why do so few places encourage them?

Have a Lovely Time then went on to discuss the difficulties that large families have arranging holidays.  This is something else we are all too familiar with as too few places actually have accommodation large enough to cater for big families.

Both Haven and Canvas Holidays claim to offer options for large families but is what they offer good enough?

Haven stated that the cost of the holiday with them includes all entertainment, kids clubs and sports activities.  However, their maximum occupancy for their largest models of caravans is for a total of eight people.  This means that caravan holidays with them is out of the question unless we booked two caravans and split the family up.

I then had a look at Canvas Holidays. It is handy for us to be able to load up the minibus, get the children on and just drive away  through the Eurotunnel to visit the rest of Europe.   I was particularly interested to see what Canvas could offer as we are planning a road trip around Italy the year after next with a stop off in France (and possibly other countries on our outward/homebound journeys).

I was impressed that Canvas offered sites in eight European countries, with a great selection in France and a further three in our final destination, Italy.  However, despite its site claiming to offer "... a choice of quality self-catering camping accommodation, designed to provide ample living space for the whole family, whatever your party size or budget. ", a quick search of the site and it became quickly apparent that a larger family actually had one, single option out of all the destinations and that one accommodated a maximum of ten people in four bedrooms.  Hardly a choice.

Once again our only option would be to hire more than one accommodation and split our family up and that is not my idea of a family holiday.  Generally speaking (and I'm not pointing the finger at Haven or Canvas because I don't know whether they offer any options themselves), because there would only be one single adult and several children in each accommodation, quite often an extra supplement is required from some companies when this happens.  I'm quite certain many places won't offer me the second accommodation at half the price of the first, or would they?  The option of renting to places to stay in is not cheap whether entertainment is included or not.  All in all, it's a lose/lose situation.

We are very fortunate in that because we homeschool we are able to holiday and have days out during the cheaper times of the year, during term times for example when prices are lower and places are less busy.  Yet still I am constantly on the lookout for deals, vouchers or simply just somewhere to go that isn't going to break the bank.

Having a Lovely Time's article contained a quote from an ABTA spokesperson who stated that if there was a growing demand for holidays for larger families then in his opinion members would react accordingly.  My question is, why isn't there a demand that we know of?

The US seems to generally cater for the needs of large families far more positively than here in the UK where we seem to be penalised from everything to smaller "family cars", houses with very limited room sizes and tiny parking spaces.  Is there really no demand for more reasonable prices when it comes to having days out with more than an average number of children?  Is there really no need to have holiday accommodation available for more than a party of four to six people?  I'm interested to hear from anyone who has ever had problems or has some input on these points? You can leave your comments here or email me at family@largerfamilylife.com.

I would also love to hear from any event organisers or day trip venues as to whether you already feel you take into account those with big families and what they offer, and if you don't why not and do you think this is something we could work together to achieve?

Likewise, I'd like holiday companies to get in touch.  How do you think you could better meet the needs of large families who wish to have some quality time together just like smaller families.  Just because there are more of us does not mean we should be subjected to splitting the family up in order to take a holiday.  It defeats the purpose of time away together if we're not actually together.  In turn you are losing a lot of potential revenue that these large families could bring you.  There is a market that many of you aren't reaching.  Surely a compromise could be reached that would benefit everybody all round?  I really would be interested in seeing if this is something we could pursue and bring about a positive change whether it's a day out we're after or a week away.

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