UK family holidays and breaks

The UK is a perennially popular choice for family holidays and breaks, particularly if you’re on a budget, since your travelling costs will probably be minimal. The wide range of child-friendly self-catering properties available, from cottages to tents, luxurious or otherwise, help to keep costs down too, while allowing you to make the most of Britain’s wonderful farm shops and farmers’ markets. Beautiful countryside studded with castles and country houses is balanced out by some dynamic cities bursting with fantastic attractions aimed at kids or families, many of them free to visit, while the seaside can’t be beat for its family appeal, whether you want splendid isolation or all the facilities of a classic resort.
 
London is a family city-break destination par excellence and one that stands up to repeated visits – even those who live there can’t hope to keep it with its hundred family-friendly attractions and ever-evolving events, from world-class museums that bear several days’ exploration in their own right to the latest West End shows.
 
The East of England (part of which is still sometimes known by its traditional name of East Anglia) comprises the ultra child-friendly counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, best-known for their wonderful beaches within easy reach of London but also offering some superb forests and unspoilt landscapes with lots of scope for fresh-air activities. Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire are also in the East of England.
 
South East England is also within easy reach of the capital and includes the lovely countryside of the ‘garden of England’, Kent, where you’ll also find more bucket-and-spade fun in a string of quirky seaside towns, as well as some great castles and other historical attracions. There’s classic seaside fun to be had at the long-standing family-friendly resorts of Brighton and Eastbourne, while Sussex, of which they are a part, has more beautiful rolling countryside and castles, battlesites, castles palaces, Roman villas and gardens for gentler-paced family holidays and breaks spent embracing both culture and the great outdoors. Next up is Hampshire, with the buzzing maritime cities of Portsmouth and Southampton, a rural hinterland of thatched villages and flint-cobble market-towns, and most of the glorious New Forest. Oxfordshire (home to part of the Cotswolds; see below), Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Surrey complete South East England.
 
South West England is a popular part of the country with families, largely for its seaside-based fun in child-friendly Dorset, Devon and Cornwall, plus the Isles of Scilly off the southwestern tip of Cornwall. Somerset is often overlooked in favour of Devon and Cornwall yet still offers kilometres of beautiful sandy beaches, stunning inland countryside including the Exmoor National Park and several Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, historic Bath, Glastonbury and Wells, and fascinating ancient villages. Neighbouring Wiltshire is landlocked so a less obvious choice for family holidays and breaks, but alongside quintessentially English villages it boats the inspiring and world-famous Stonehenge, Avebury and Old Sarum, plus stately homes and glorious gardens galore. Last come the buzzing city and ceremonial county of Bristol and then Gloucestershire, home to the Royal Forest of Dean and also to much of the chocolate-box pretty and in parts child-friendly (if generally expensive) Cotswolds area.
 
As well as Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire (see above), the Cotswolds also extend into parts of Wiltshire and Somerset (see above) and then also into Worcestershire and Warwickshire in the West Midlands (see below). An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Cotswolds lacks major attractions but more than makes up for this with its farms and other outdoor venues, historic gardens, books and arts and crafts shops, and welcoming pubs and inns.
 
The West Midlands is very diverse, ranging from Britain’s second most populous city, Birmingham, to the rural western counties of Shropshire and Herefordshire bordering Wales, and includes five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Its main family attractions are Shropshire’s Ironbridge Gorge, birthplace of the Industrial Revolution and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and, in Warwickshire, Stratford upon Avon, birthplace of Shakespeare. Staffordshire is home to the themeparks Alton Towers and Drayton Manor and the animal attraction Monkey Forest, as well as part of the National Forest (see below) and of the Peak District National Park (see below).
 
The highlights of the East Midlands where families are concerned are Derbyshire, home to most of the Peak District National Park with all its outdoor pursuits, and Rutland, focussed around Rutland Water with its watersports. There’s also Leicestershire, home to the National Space Museum and Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre and Country Park; Nottinghamshire, where the main attraction is Sherwood Forest, home to the legendary outlaw Robin Hood and also to a Centre Parcs; Northamptonshire; and most of Lincolnshire. Too rural and remote to be one of the UK’s holiday big-hitters, Lincolnshire offers up a coastline of almost comically traditional seaside resorts backed by the timeless Wolds, the atmospheric Fens, and the beautiful historic city of Lincoln.
 
Part of northern Lincolnshire is in the region of Yorkshire and the Humber, along with most of the historic county of Yorkshire, a beautiful but rugged enviroment with three national parks –the Peak District, the North York Moors and the Yorkshire Dales –two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and three Heritage Coast areas, making it great for outdoorsy families. But superb cities such as York and Leeds means there’s plenty to do culture-wise in Yorkshire.
 
North East England’s highlight is Northumberland – a great alternative for family holidays by the sea for those who find the likes of Cornwall and Norfolk over-subscribed. There’s also County Durham with the charming cathedral city of Durham and excellent Beamish: The Living Museum of the North; Tyne and Wear, with Newcastle a surprisingly good bet for family city-breaks; and the conurbation of Teesside (which includes parts of North Yorkshire).
 
North West England offers more idyllic landscapes in the form of Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria, the latter home to the gorgeous and very family-friendly playground of the Lake District. Merseyside is often overlooked but conceals some incredible beaches and nature reserves. But it’s not all about landscape and active pursuits in the North West: there are great family-friendly cities with wonderful museums (many free) and other excellent attractions, especially Manchester, Liverpool and Chester.
 
From here it’s a short hop into Wales, a longstanding favourite for family holidays and breaks, with Pembrokeshire especially well known for its glorious beaches, and nearby Cardiff boasting sleek hotels alongside the 18th-century folly of Cardiff Castle, good beaches within a stone's throw, locations kids will recognise from ‘Dr Who’ and ‘Torchwood’, and easy access to the outdoor activities paradise of the Brecon Beacons. Snowdonia and North Wales (comprising Gwynedd, the Isle of Anglesey, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham) offer more superb landscapes and opportunities for outdoors pursuits, plus some fantastic seaside resorts and castles to visit. 
 
Scotland has always been a good bet for a UK family staycation, with wild landscapes studded by some wonderful cities, especially capital Edinburgh, which is stuffed with so many great attractions for kids it makes for fantastic city-break destination in its own right. To the north of it, Perthshire boasts mind-blowing landscapes of mountains, lakes and rivers offering family holidays and breaks with lots of scope for getting active and feeling at one with nature.
 
Lastly, Northern Ireland might not be an immediately obvious choice as a family holiday destination, but Belfast and County Antrim are an interesting bet, combining a city that has undergone remarkable changes over the past decade or so, and is now full of culture, entertainment and excellent shopping, with beautiful countryside including Northern Ireland's most popular attraction, the Giant's Causeway.

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