Christmas Breaks in England
Christmas is at its best when everyone joins in with a generous spirit and a warm heart.
Choose your guests wisely if inviting extra friends or relatives for Christmas, the right mix means that everyone will get along happily and have a good time. This is especially important if you are shouldering the cost of the cottage rental and inviting people as your guests.
A mean or selfish person could cast a blight on your Christmas holiday. Only invite people that you are sure will get on well together. The more public rooms in your holiday cottage, the greater the chance of everyone finding that little bit of space and avoiding people they may not be too keen on.
Advice for Christmas cottage rentals
- Book the most spacious cottage that you can afford to give everyone comfortable living space
- Make sure that you have a good ratio of bathrooms to numbers in your party
- Do not book a pet-friendly cottage if you plan not to bring any pets unless you are certain that no one suffers from pet related allergies.
- Book a holiday cottage with efficient central heating that is under your personal control. Some cottage owners control heating from their own house and it may not be set as high as your like.
- Take out a holiday insurance that covers self-catering accommodation. Christmas can be a time for colds and flu and if you go sick, you affect everyone's Christmas break.
- Warn people to give only gifts that are physically small because you will have to take them all home again. This is doubly important if you have children because toys come in large packages..
Where to stage that Christmas Break and for how long?
The duration of your break much depends on your reasons for having one. If you're renting a large self-catering house to get a family under one roof, you may wish to have a shorter break than if you're planning to have a real holiday with close family.
Where to book a Christmas cottage break again depends on why you are having that break. If it's to arrange a family get-together in a cottage large enough to accommodate the entire family then you may wish to consider how far people have to travel. If everyone is chipping in with costs then it may be fair to have a vote on the location and a range of cottages.
It is always worth considering entertainment options where a large group is concerned, perhaps an indoor swimming pool, games room or sauna.
Modern games rooms often include an electronic games machine in addition to the usual table tennis, table football, darts and board games. Large self-catering houses at the luxurious end of the market may feature a cinema room. Essentially, the more entertainment facilities available, the less chance there is of your guests becoming bored.
People don't usually have enough time off work to take a long break to include the New Year and both Christmas and New Year also enter into the peak price range which makes this an expensive holiday period. However, you may be be able to obtain a special deal if you do book both weeks or 10 days that include both Christmas Day and New Year's day. Find self-catering cottages for New Year as well as Christmas and enjoy yourself for the entire festive season. Remember to provide twice as much champagne or sparkling wine to stretch for both special holidays.
