Our UK Winter Staycation Ideas

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Usually in November Mikey and I like to try and take a little bit of time for ourselves and go and explore somewhere new without the kids. A few years ago, just a few days after we’d found out I was pregnant with Oscar, we drove to Bruges and explored their famous Christmas Market, as well as sampling the city’s other attractions. It was a really nice winter city break and exploring new European cities is a really fun way to spend a weekend away. However this year, it doesn’t look as though we’ll be leaving the country any time before Christmas. 

With a house move planned and a wedding to save up for, not to mention summer holidays and all the other boring household finance stuff, we’re on a mission to cut our spending and save some money. That being said, we’re still keen to get that little break away from life together, even more so now that we’ve got two kids instead of just one. After discussing it, we decided that instead of travelling abroad this year, we’d have a staycation!

UK Winter Staycation Ideas

Since giving birth to Oscar, I’ve desperately wanted a spa day. I’ve been looking at spa break deals in the UK and came across the Voyage Privé website. The free member’s only travel site brings you brand new deals every day, offering amazing prices on a variety of holiday options. Having had a look through their categories, I can definitely see us using the website lots over the coming years. It would be perfect for last minute getaway deals and weekend city breaks. They even currently have up to 70% off on holidays to Santorini, which is one of the places we were considering for our honeymoon, so that could be handy. 

Couple’s Spa Break

We’re not entirely sure where we’d like to go for our UK winter staycation just yet. We’d been thinking that maybe visiting Wales would be fun as we’re both keen to do some walking and exploring. However, I can’t help but think maybe that type of holiday is better suited to warmer weather! I have noticed that, even though the weather might not be amazing for hiking, Wales does seem to have some gorgeous looking day spas. I’m hoping to convince Mikey to come away on a couples spa day with me so we can enjoy some grown up time without the kids zooming around. 

Regardless of whether we visit Wales or not this year (although I hope so, for the sake of my spa day!), we’ve promised Luke a mountain biking holiday there next year as he’s finally learned to ride without his stabilisers. That means we’re definitely going to be looking into the best places to visit next year when the weather gets warmer. We want somewhere that’s good for beginners and isn’t going to completely exhaust us all before we’ve even got started – neither Mikey or I have been on a proper mountain bike adventure for quite some time, so it’ll be a fun, relatively new experience for all of us. 

Skiing In Scotland

There are a few other great UK winter staycation ideas that I’ve been looking into as well. We really want to travel to and explore Scotland, and I’ve seen that you can book weekend winter skiing holidays up there, which sounds amazing! I’d absolutely love to explore Scotland and see what it has to offer, it’s one of the places on my bucket list so I think I’d want to spend more than just a weekend there. Obviously a skiing holiday requires you to get some gear, so I found a really helpful guide from Globo Surfer that helps you to choose the best ski boots for you – sounds super helpful right? You can check it out for yourself here: https://www.globosurfer.com/best-ski-boots-for-beginners/

Winter Glamping

I’ve also seen that you can go glamping in winter. I had always thought that way a ‘summer only’ kind of thing, but it turns out that some glamping sites open their doors (tent flaps?) all year round. It sounds really romantic to be able to wrap up warm with a hot chocolate and stargaze before retreating into a lovely, cosy and luxurious tent that contains everything you need for a night away. 

Log Cabins

There are lots of areas of outstanding natural beauty in the UK. We’re so lucky to have such a diverse collection of scenery around us to explore! One idea that we’ve been playing with for a few years now is booking a weekend away in a log cabin. Ideally this would have been somewhere abroad, like Switzerland, but having looked into what’s available in the UK, there are loads of options that look just as good! You can even get log cabins with BBQ decks and hot tubs. The thought of sitting out in the hot tub with a glass of gin sounds like an amazing way to spend a weekend away! 

I’m not quite sure where we will end up going just yet, but it’s been really enlightening to find out about just how many amazing UK winter staycation options there actually are. This year we took our summer holiday in Cornwall, and I know there are some amazing places in the UK to visit during the summer, but I’d never really thought about visiting places in the winter. I think for the next couple of years, while we are trying to save as much money as possible, we will be looking a lot more at staycations and winter breaks within the UK. It seems like there are so many options! 

Where is your favourite UK winter staycation destination? I’d love some suggestions!