If you’re getting the kind of itchy feet that tell you it’s time to book a summer holiday, why not consider investing in a staycation this summer? A staycation is a loosely coined term that can be used to refer to any holiday that is taken in your own country. It’s a cheap alternative to an expensive, stressful family holiday overseas – what more could you ask for?
When it comes to taking a holiday in the rolling green hills and bountiful meadows of Great Britain, you’ve got two choices. You can opt for a cosy holiday cottage with a roaring fire and a four poster bed in every room, you can decide to commit yourself to the wilderness and rough it in a tent, or you can stay in a holiday park. The options are both very different – they each come with their own unique advantages and disadvantages. The question is – which of these options will work best on the ultimate family staycation?
First things first – it’s important to separate the real adventurers from those who are just too soft around the edges for a camping holiday. If you can’t bear to be without your flat irons or your remote control for more than an hour, a camping holiday is not the right choice for you – it’s best left to the genuinely hardy explorers. The art of camping is for those who love to wake up to the sound of birdsong and the smell of fresh grass and heather.
One of the main benefits of a camping staycation is the fact that it is so much cheaper than the alternative. A cottage holiday can be extremely affordable, if you book it right, but it can never beat the cost effective nature of camping. It’s nice to know that even those who are really struggling with money can afford to pick up a budget tent, pack the kids into the car and go and find an adventure. There are benefits to camping, if you’re hardy enough to seek them out.
Yet, the charms of a camping holiday can seem curiously redundant if you can afford to invest in a cosy countryside cottage. After all, the average cost of a week in a holiday cottage has significantly declined over the last decade or so. According to experts at the Independent, you can get a week in a high end cottage for £300 per week, per family these days. If you look carefully, you can find one in a great location too. There are beautiful holiday cottages all across Wales, Norfolk, Cornwall, Cumbria, Suffolk, Scotland, Somerset and Devon.
There are all sorts of benefits to a stay in a self catering cottage holiday – besides the fact that you’ve got an inside toilet, of course. You can really make a cottage feel like your own home from home, a thing that’s very important when you’re trying to entertain and comfort young children. The vast majority of these high end cottages come with DVD players, coffee machines, barbecues, even swimming pools. If you want a luxurious and stress free staycation, you can’t go wrong with a stay in a magnificent rural cottage.