Ideas for extended family weekend location in the UK

icedgemma

Hi everyone,
We're struggling to find a location for a family weekend in the UK. April ish next year. Hopefully someone can help... Criteria:

1) It's my gran's birthday, so needs to have a "special" feel
2) Ideally looking for a large holiday house, or B&B, or other idea (river boat?!) that can accommodate around 15 people for a weekend. Would be good to have some catering space (to save money cooking our own rather than going out for meals) and some chilling space where the family can just sit and chat, play games etc. For this reason hotels have been discounted as not personal enough.
3) Needs to be somewhere geographically in between the Oxford area and Wales, but not too South (ie. not Cornwall) and not too North (not Scotland!), and preferably not in the Cotswolds (as it's where my Gran lives so a bit pointless!) We have people travelling from all over and this area seems to work best...
4) Preference to have some activities in the area which will work well for a family ranging in ages from 1 year to 80....! Walking, gardens, boat trips, etc, nothing too flashy necessary!
5) Accommodation will hopefully be under £150 per person for the weekend, hopefully a lot less.

Looking forward to hearing your ideas!!

greenface

When are you thinking of ? Sorry Aprilish next year is a little bit i missed. How about a group of lodges sleeps 4/6 each on a country park in Snowdonia not rural but very tranquil riverside location about 2 or 3 miles from stunning beaches ?

kerri_gt

Yikes! that's a pretty comprehenisve list, but not impossible - have you had a look at a map and tried drawing and area around where it would suit people geographically and see what that includes? i would have said the Lakes (since we did an extended family holiday there) but prob too north for you all.

However, think about 'must haves' i.e any mobility issues, kids in pushchairs / prams etc, nowhere too remote as you'll need food etc and don't want to do an hour's round trip for a pint of milk.

Also, your Gran might like it if it's not too far for her - having the family around will be special for her and (not being patronising) but travel can become more tiring as you become older - somewhere where there's a change of scene but not too far from home might actually appeal to her - after all, its those kind of places none of us ever really stay.

[Deleted User]

Hi there
Agree with the comment above about keeping it local, I tend to use Pure Holiday Homes http://tidd.ly/84c4bbf0as they have large and interesting homes available or the other good oneis Holiday Lettings http://tidd.ly/e427ca69booking direct as well with owner so should work out reasonable.



Cheers

Thomas

feclmum

What about here http://www.fortbelan.co.uk/index.php?id=26 some of the cottages have adjoining doors which can be opened for example Belan House and Newborough House are next to each other with adjoing door and together sleep 15, thats what we did!

DebbieR

What about the Hay on Wye/Monmouth area of Wales? We used this company last year. They have groups of cottages/barns etc and they're reasonably priced. The cottage we stayed in was gorgeous and they're a really friendly company to deal with; they seem to know each property individually so would have some idea of the type of place you're looking for.

http://www.breconcottages.com/

Tuesday_Tenor

Plenty of the self-catering cottages websites have properties for 15 or more:

This looked interesting; in grounds of Ludlow castle, so plenty to do in the town but not too far to walk. Unfortunately only caters for 12, but gives an idea of what's possible
http://www.castle-accommodation.com/

Or Acton Scott, which was the base for the BBC 'Victorian Farm' Tv series:
http://www.cottages4you.co.uk/sites/cottages4you/pages/PropertyDetails_C.aspx?QS=3E0F3DCD-882D-4738-9E61-B90EA3C005F2~C~RJJ3~HCG~216~GBP~16~0~~A~N~1~9F9B4F72-02FE-42A6-6D71-DAE97B1CB864~21619~0~5~N~N~N~N~N

Tuesday_Tenor

Or this National Trust property in Somerset:

http://www.nationaltrustcottages.co.uk/south_west/somerset/lytes_cary/390

greenface

This forum is brilliant and so helpful

kle87

Try www.lydstepcaravanhire.co.uk beautiful place and as requested some of the homes on there really do have the special feel you were looking for. Even if you booked a few homes you would definately be paying less than £150 each!