There’s no clear timeline for when holidays will be permitted again, thanks to lockdown and travel restrictions. In 2020, we saw a surge of travel closer to home – and it looks as though staycations are here to, well, stay.
UK travel bookings have more than doubled since the vaccine rollout started picking up steam and with government ministers continuing to warn against booking foreign holidays, many home locations are beginning to fill up, fast.
While most of us still can’t travel for the foreseeable, we can still dream of a summer holiday once restrictions are lifted. So, HuffPost staffers are keeping themselves happy with memories of our favourite holidays here in the UK.
We hope these nostalgia trips bring you a little inspiration for your own.
Peak District, Derbyshire
Rachel Moss, Life reporter
“I’m happiest in hiking boots, so a long weekend exploring the Peak District in 2018 was an absolute dream. The rolling hills and trickling rivers are simply stunning. We roamed around Kinder Scout by day and explored the restaurants in nearby Sheffield by night, having worked up a huge appetite! We’d booked an Airbnb between the two destinations, which I’d highly recommend if you have a car – it’s a perfect mix of city and country, with a scenic half-hour drive between the two that’s a joy in itself. I can’t wait to go back.”
Weymouth, Dorset
Adam Bloodworth, features writer
“I’ve been running about at music festivals every summer since I was able to convince gate staff at my local festival to let me volunteer as a teenager. Let me confess: going to music festivals can make you a bit of a snob about ordinary camping. I assumed it would be, well, boring. But Eweleaze Farm in Weymouth is a more socially-distanced festival set up than barren field: there’s a rustic restaurant in a converted barn (fingers crossed, Covid allowing), freshly baked bread daily in a charming communal area, a bar (!), animals to pet (!) and a private beach. Weymouth – with its gorgeous bars to sink drinks while the fishing boats come in in the late afternoon – is an hour’s amble around the cliff. Fossil hunting and cricket on the sea-facing lawn, as well as campfires, are more earnest activities. Book this month before all spots go. Eweleaze Farm also has the neighbouring Shortlake and Northdown farms, but Eweleaze has the best facilities.”
Portmeirion, Gwynedd, North Wales
Angela Hui, Life reporter
“I might be biased because I’m Welsh, but my heart yearns to be on the other side of the Severn Bridge. Picturesque Portmeirion is home to Festival Number 6 (remember festivals and fun?) and looks something straight out of a fantasy book. Welsh Architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis modelled this tourist village in North Wales on enchanting Italianate style architecture. Even on a miserable and wet day (as pictured above), there’s still plenty to see and do. Snap up the quirky rainbow buildings on the village tour, ramble along the scenic coastal route and have afternoon tea in the hotel overlooking the sea. For the adventurers out there, head to neighbouring Snowdonia’s Llechwedd Slate Caverns, where you can go deeper underground in the mines or go off-roading on a lorry through a quarry.”
Northumberland Coast
Jess Brammar, editor-in-chief
“In summer 2020, we spent a lovely week on the Northumberland coast, with my boyfriend’s parents. After the first few months of Covid lockdown, those huge skies and long, desolate beaches were soul-restoring. We’d been meaning to visit that area for years, and it didn’t disappoint – even without being able to venture inside lots of the great local pubs and restaurants we were recommended by friends (because… 2020), we enjoyed some beautiful coastal walks and plenty of takeaway fish and chips and crab sandwiches. We stayed in Bamburgh, which has a huge (and lived in) castle on the shoreline, and spent a day exploring Lindesfarne, the island which is only accessible by a causeway when the tide is out. I can’t wait to go back and have been telling friends to go and visit Northumberland ever since. Next time I’m determined to be brave enough to swim in the sea, even if the weather can be a bit bracing!”
Whitstable, Kent
Natasha Hinde, Life reporter
“This probably won’t come as much of a surprise but Whitstable is one of my all-time favourite places to visit in the UK. I’ve spent two holidays there in recent years and both of them were brilliant. If you haven’t been, Whitstable is a small seaside town on the Kent coast where you can expect to find shingle beaches, amazing seafood (check out The Lobster Shack or, if you’re self-catering, grab fresh fish from the market nearby), and beautiful boutique shops. Be sure to stop at Sundae Sundae for ice cream and, if you’re able, hire some bikes (or take your own) and take a leisurely cycle to Canterbury on a sunny day – you won’t regret it.”
Burford, Cotswolds, Oxfordshire
Nancy Groves, head of Life
“I’m going to break the habit of a lifetime and not talk about Cornwall, despite how much I love it. Because the best holidays, the ones that really stick in the brain and heart, are the ones with friends, aren’t they. My group, who met working as local reporters in our early 20s, manage to organise ourselves roughly every two years, splitting the cost of a drafty old rental somewhere and cramming in for a weekend of food, booze and DIY indie discos.
“Our first trip came long before we had dependents when we somehow landed in a gorgeous historic house on the main high street in gorgeous Burford – complete with Tudor beams, a walled sun-trap of a garden and a banqueting table bigger than most of our flats. We couldn’t believe our luck and lorded it up for three glorious days, feasting through our Tesco delivery, waging dangerously competitive games of Articulate, sunbathing, and setting a template for years to come. If I recall right, we barely left the house except for a ramble to walk off our hangovers. Since then, we’ve visited Suffolk, Wiltshire, Essex and even the Cotswolds again, with multiplying partners and children in tow. But nothing quite beats that first carefree holiday and the friendships it cemented for life.”
