UPDATED AUGUST 2017
I’m not sure what sort of places we will have in other parts of the world, but we are trying to do self-catering houses/cottages/apartments for our UK accommodation.
A quick search on Hotels.com will show you that you generally won’t get decent hotel accommodation in many UK locations, for a family of four, for much less than £80 a night. And in most instances, you don’t get breakfast or have means to cook meals. In London, this goes up to about £125 a night. Hostels are increasingly expensive (particularly for families), and staying in hotels and then having to pay for meals out each day, well £80 quickly becomes £120-160 a day just on lodging and food.
This is why we have chosen to stay self-catering for our UK accommodation. We can get our own meals and we get more space than a hotel room or a regular B&B.
In London, we spent a little extra to get in slightly better locations (close to convenient tube or bus routes, within walking distance of shops, family friendly areas) but we could have gotten slightly better prices if we had wanted to.
To give you an idea of what UK accommodation is like I’ve listed some of our accommodation with pictures and prices.
LONDON ACCOMMODATION:
Islington (N4) Studio Apartment. Booked through homeaway.co.uk. One double (twin) bed and one double (twin) sofa bed. In December 2015 this cost us £85 per night.
CURRENT 2017 PRICE: The average studio apartment in Islington, in summer, will cost approximately £130 per night for a seven-night stay. In winter (on non-holiday nights) the price drops to approximately £110 per night for a seven-night stay.
Camden/Hampstead Two Bedroom Terrace House Apartment. Booked through AirBnB. In December 2015 this cost us £95 per night with a £40 cleaning fee and a £100 deposit. One queen bed and one double.
CURRENT 2017 PRICE: The average two bedrooms terrace/maisonette in Hampstead, in summer, will cost approximately £140 per night for a seven-night stay. Most AirBnBs have a cleaning fee (the average around £60) and a service fee (which can be anywhere from £50-£120). In Winter the nightly cost is about £115.
SOUTH OF LONDON
The Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Cornwall sort of area of England seems to be one of the more expensive locations in the UK, especially in the summer. Well, that makes sense! It is the southern most point, so it is going to be the warmest too isn’t it?!
Dunkeswell, Abbey Cross Barn (Barn Conversion). Booked through Helpful Holidays. In January 2016 this cost us £297 for seven nights. Plus a £100 damages deposit. One double (although we think it might be a queen) bed and two singles.
CURRENT 2017 PRICE: This accommodation, in summer 2017, will cost anywhere from £580-£730 for a seven-night stay. The cost varies depending on 1) whether they have any time where it isn’t booked and 2) if they chose to offer said dates at a discount rate. A week at the beginning of winter will cost you about £300, the weeks over Christmas and New Years is back up to £530ish and then the price drops dramatically in January to £100 for the week. Interestingly, according to the website, if we were to book a summer in advance we could get the week for £100.
WALES AND SCOTLAND
Opinan, Gairloch, Scottish Highlands Three Bedroom Holiday House. This accommodation was booked on cottages.com and in February 2016 it cost us £350 for seven nights. It has three bedrooms, sleeps 7, has a spa bath (!!!), a Wii, and it has a great supply of fishing gear, games, books, kites, bats and balls… everything you could want really! The cottage is about 9 miles away from Gairloch, which is a lovely village.
CURRENT 2017 PRICES: £482 for a week in September 2017. It goes up to £612 for a week in in October half-term holidays. Price jumps up to £630-£650 in the summer and then sits around the £380 mark for the rest of the year.
Denbighshire, North Wales, Two Bedroom Cottage at a Trout Farm. This accommodation was booked with Sykes Cottages. In January 2016 this cost us £250 for a week. It has two bedrooms (the main one with a super king bed), and one bathroom. Fishing at the trout farm costs extra, but when we were there the kids wanted to have a go, and it wasn’t really in season, so the man said for £5 we could just hire the fishing gear and not worry about paying for anything else, which was nice.
CURRENT 2017 PRICES: Off peak prices are around £280 a week. A week in the summer costs between £480-£520.
This article will be updated regularly, with current prices and booking options. Be sure to come back and check how we go about booking our UK accommodation.
For other information on what we use and organise when we are planning our trips away please refer to the WHAT WE USE section.
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