How have you saved money while holidaying in rural England?

Tigsteroonie

We save money by not holidaying in rural England, but choosing rural Wales instead I don't know if we've been lucky but car parking charges, entry prices etc don't seem to be quite as much a rip-off as they do in England.

[posted from Pembrokeshire!]

zagubov

kathrynha wrote: »

The infrastructure is good enough. Bigger roads would ruin the countryside.

I'm totally underwhelmed by the transport infrastructure across the UK. Tiny Belgium doesn't feel more built-up than the UK but it has motorways that can whisk you anywhere and a really good train network. Plus canals. We could do with a bit more of that than we've got.

When tourists and working people have to share the same roads, we need to widen the roads.

onlyroz

My tips are:

- If there are more than two of you, hiring a cottage or caravan will be cheaper
- If there are two or less of you, staying in a hotel will be cheaper
- Take advantage of annual memberships, e.g. National Trust or English Heritage, or paying via "Gift aid" to get you a year's membership to a single attraction.
- Look out for special event days, often organised during the school holidays - e.g. English Heritage run a "Knights and Jousting" event through the summer months at various locations
- Save money with picnics, or going self-catering, rather than eating out all the time
- Make use of park-and-ride schemes rather than trying to find a space in overcrowded carparks in town centres
- Support the local communities by buying local produce, e.g. try a local wine or ale rather than sticking to Carling, or go to a local restaurant or cafe rather than a chain.

dlmcr

I save money by going abroad instead...

I find the cost of going on a self catering holiday (renting a self contained apartment or house) in this country very expensive compared with doing the same thing in other countries in Europe we've visited. Another thing that puts me off is the concept in this country of "low, medium, high" seasons, a concept that we have never encountered in the continent, and which means that, for example a break over xmas and new year here is *even* more expensive than it would be normally.

Some examples: we (me and my girlfriend) looked at self catering accomodation in North Yorks / Lake District, prices around £4 - 500 for 7 nights during a week in summer in a very ordinary terraced house. Prices that we have paid for self catering accommodation in europe include: 250 euro for 5 nights in detached house in the countryside on the Italian coast, 300 euro in Lisbon for large 2 bed apartment for 5 nights. Marseille 390 euro 10 nights over xmas and new year in large studio flat in vieux port with unbroken views of sea and chateau d'if. and so on.

The point is there is better value for money offered in going to europe together with many other positives such as better weather, better food, more things to do and see, culturally more exciting, people know how to behave etc etc.. Holiday in this country is full of screaming kids, chavs on the beach, rowdy nights out, people that don't know how to behave on public transport... wow where do I sign up for that lot?
I remember a campain in this country mid recession about encouraging people to holiday in this country to help the economy: my response was why on earth should I when this country offers so little compared to europe who is frankly more glad to see our money than we are?

Newly_retired

Just returned from holiday in the Torbay area. An easy four hour car journey from the East Midlands, we could easily have managed without our car once there, as public transport is good.
We saved money by using our National Trust and English Heritage cards.
We did the Round Robin, a round trip with a river cruise from Totnes to Dartmouth, ferry to Kingswear, steam train to Paignton, open top bus to Totnes. In fact by buying a Jubilee pass, we could use the trains and cruises again on subsequent days. Really good value and gets you around the area.
You can also pick up a brochure with lots of vouchers, though most, but not all of these are for family orientated entertainment places . We used discount vouchers saving 10% off entry to Bygones, a museum of nostalgia, and Torquay museum, but there were lots of other possibilities.

Other savings can be made by taking a picnic out to the country or the beach, or even buying a sandwich from a supermarket works out cheaper than eating out at lunch time.

AnnieO1234

We've holidayed for longer in NY than here in the UK, especially if we choose to go to attractions. They're expensive, some lack facilities, there's no proper way outside London to get decent prices like the NY pass. As has been mentioned transport also plays a big part of the costs of UK holidays.

We've had short breaks here in Cornwall and the North Yorkshire coast that have still been close to the cost of 10 or 14 days in the USA.

Xxx

Alikay

Parking can be a problem in small British towns: I know local councils want to encourage people to use public transport, but if you're on holiday or a day trip, chances are you've come by car. Whilst magically finding space for a multi-storey in a quaint organically-grown market town isn't usually feasible, a large cheap (or free) car park with toilets, 15 minutes walk from the centre may be possible, and the walk in would encourage people (people like us, anyway!) to spend more of our holiday money on tea and cake when we get there.

Ilona

I try and use Youth Hostels as much as I can, it would be better if there were more of them. I pick a hostel, book for 2 or 3 night, drive there and use it as a base to walk in the area. I self cater. I had a holiday in North Norfolk last year, and walked from hostel to hostel, 17 miles between them.

I had a bus pass holiday, Scun thorpe to the Lakes, some walking, used some B & B's and Youth Hostels. Stayed at two hostels in the Lakes. Single traveler so I can please myself.

Ilona

milliemonster

Car parking costs are the biggest thing that put me off, a week in cornwall where we would travel around all the little coves that charge horrendous amounts for parking and give you no other option than to pay for a full day (when you may only want to stay for an hour or so to see the view as there is nothing else to do there) mean I won't visit anymore, when you're charging the best part of £10 for the day's parking, when I'll only want to stay for an hour or so on the beach and a coffee in the cafe before Ill want to move onto the next place means that a day of touring the local area by car is prohibitive.

Car parking costs in this country, even in rural villages and coastal areas are eye watering and put me off visiting these places, no matter how cheap you make public transport, it will never convince me to switch as I don't want a trip that takes an hour by car to take 3 hours by bus/train, and if by increasing car parking costs you try to force me to change to public transport well all that means is I just won't visit anymore

Timpu

UKParliament wrote: »

What, if any, changes are needed to give people better access to the coast and countryside?

Coast: More sensible parking arrangements. We once drove to Whitstable on only to return having not left the car. The massive overflow car park was closed. It was a May Bank Holiday weekend! Goodness knows how many others had to do the same, such a waste.