Hoseasons Darren, Finlake Holiday Lodges, Newton Abbot, Devon. Easter Week, Finlake Cottage sleeps 4-6. Single storey pine lodge set in 130 acres on the edge of Dartmoor, half an hour from the sea, outstanding leisure facilities.
Cost £425.00 for Holiday accommodation or £70.83 per person based on 6 people or £10.11 per night based on 7 Nights.
Expensive Darren? Great Value for money and Finlake offers good accommodation and a great site. Even my wife couldn’t get over how good the food in the restaurant was!!
We do have some gems in England darren!!
Mind you personally, I enjoy any where that’s South of Dover

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As an American, I must strongly disagree. I think the UK is a great holiday destination, despite the weak dollar it is still one of my favorites. I think your comment about Britain’s public transport system is particularly unfair.

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Darren, you’ve pushed quite a few buttons in this short post, you little provocateur, you!

Overpriced cottages? yes, if you’re Lord and Lady Ripoff-Britain then you can charge what you like for your cottage in Devon just because it was featured on some period costume drama on the Beeb – and you don’t even have to boutiquify it

Public transport? As a Londoner I would tend to agree with your argument though expensive is the word I’d add. London’s more expensive than Tokyo when it comes to public transport and comparably useless

Pine lodge vs Cottage ? some log cabins/pine lodges are superb compared to chintzy crummy cottages. The example Lee illustrates sounds like great value to me.

But perhaps people are choosing to holiday close to home for several reasons: crap exchange rate for the Euro; chaos and escalating costs/hassle at airports not to mention the increasing costs and aggro getting to them; more interesting holiday options here with the increasingly popular ‘glamping’ ideas (great for kids); perceived threat of recession (even though in some cases going abroad is cheaper the perception is that of ostentation)

There’s probably a myriad of other reasons and I don’t think it’s as black and white as you paint it Darren.

Mind you, I’ve got my sights set on Uruguay as a holiday destination but like Lee says, there’s some gems here if you know where to look.

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Idiot.

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Darren,

We’ve had a Siberian winter here in Nova Scotia and even Disney is looking good right about now.

(I was over a few years back in late February for the Spotlight Canada tourism fair and flowers were out.)

The last time I was there was in 2002 and found the transport great. But in North America the ground transportation is so poor I guess I’m impressed by anything.

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Completely agree with you Darren. Public Transport is pathetic in comparison to other countries in Europe, primarily because it hasn’t been kept up to date.

I work outside of London for that exact reason….. I would rather spend an hour in my car than an hour on a train crammed in with hundreds of other people!

Back on topic…. I’m a bit suprised, as the majority of people I know (granted they are mostly from London) not only want to holiday abroad, but actually want to move abroad. I’m a huge fan of Cornwall as I spent most of my school holidays down there with my family, other than that, sun, sand and senoritas

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Here We Go Darren, Brick Built, Overpriced Cottage in the middle of nowhere.
Coach House Cottage, Ledbury, Herefordshire. Sleeps 4, Price Group D.
This Splenidly converted former apple store, provides a cosy and very comfortable retreat. Adjoining the owners home, the cottage enjoys shared use of their gardens, and all around lovely cider orchards burst into spectacular bloom in early May. The Black mountains, Wye Valley and Malvern Hills afford scenic walking,Golf,Cycling,riding,fishing,canoeing and hot air ballooning can be enjoyed nearby. Ledbury famous for it’s black and white buildings is 6 miles away. Places to Visit localy, Great Malvern, Ross on Wye, Worcester, Cheltenham, Gloucester, Birmingham, Shakespeare country,Cardiff , Direct Train service to London 3 1/2 hours etc,etc.
Easter Week , Cost £321.00 or £80.25 per person per week or £11.46 per person per day.
Of Course you get value for money in the UK, Darren, you’ve just got to trust your goood old fashioned,Independent Travel Agent to find it for you.
Ready to Book?

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Also, check out UnderTheThatch in Wales. Run by Greg Stephenson, historian, who restores old cottages. He prides himself on not overpricing his accommodation

http://www.underthethatch.co.uk

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Here we go Darren
How about Bond Place Hotel, Toronto, Crowne Plaza Fallsview, New york Helmsley with Fly Globespan, including Amtrak rail 7Days FROM only £591.00. Single room price to be confirmed Airfares can be sourced from Globespan and we could tag on Boston with Amtrak I’m Sure. Flights would be Toronto return.
Would you really need 3 weeks Darren?
If you did how about fitting in Montreal and Quebec. Can be done by rail, as I am still presuming that you havn’t taken a driving test yet.

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DARREN. I have used public transport primarily in London. I am from Los Angeles, where it is non-existent, so arguments about it not being perfect in the UK (or anywhere else I know of) don’t mean much to me.

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I live In New York but my mother is Welsh so spent many childhood summers there. I have fond memories of everything except the weather…
You picked a great time of year to travel to NYC. The concrete oven cools down a bit by September but the sun is usually still shining.

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Hah, you should come over to the U.S. We need the love after the Sunday Times’ diatribe last weekend! cf. http://blogs.away.com/2008/01/uk-travel-secti.html for more.

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