Tag Archives: summer holidays

Top UK music festivals this summer

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What better way to spend a summer weekend than listening to music with thousands of like-minded people? Even better, you don’t have to brave mud, camping or pouring rain at night either. Rent one of our fabulous holiday cottages nearby and get the best of both worlds!

Here are five of the top music festivals you can enjoy during summer 2014. Each has a range of our quality holiday cottages within easy reach.

Isle of Wight Festival – June 12th to 15th

The Isle of Wight Festival is what kicks off the summer of music every year and 2014 is no different. With headliners such as Calvin Harris, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Kings of Leon, there’s a lot to love about this weekend.

The Isle of Wight is lovely too, so if you can combine the festival with a longer holiday, it’s even better.

Download Festival – June 13th to 15th

The Download Festival at Donington Park near Derby is another amazing music festival. If you like your music live and loud, this is the one for you. With Avenged Sevenfold, Linkin Park and Aerosmith headlining, it’s set to be a good one this year!

We have dozens of holiday cottages within easy reach of Donington, so accommodation is sorted too!

Glastonbury Festival – June 25th to 29th

Glastonbury Festival is the daddy of all music festivals in Britain and this year is no different.  Headliners are Arcade Fire on Friday, Metallica on the Saturday, and Kasabian on Sunday. Other acts include Blondie, Disclosure, Dolly Parton, Elbow, Jack White, James Blake, Lana Del Rey and Lily Allen.

The Glastonbury Festival is set in lovely Somerset surroundings making it an ideal spot for a longer holiday before or after the festival too. Check out our holiday cottage listings to find a property nearby.

Wireless Festival – July 4th to 6th

Wireless Festival is held in Finsbury Park in central London and Birmingham. Each usually has a great lineup, with 2014 being no different. Headliners include Kanye West, Drake and Bruno Mars. Support acts include Basement Jaxx, Ellie Goulding, J Cole, John Newman, Iggy Azalea, Outkast and Pharrell Williams.

Needless to say, we have plenty of holiday cottages around London and Birmingham!

T in the Park – July 11th to 13th

T in the Park is being held in Balado, Kinross-shire, Scotland, which is a fantastic part of the world. Headlining here is Biffy Clyro, Calvin Harris, Arctic Monkeys with Ed Sheeran, Elbow, Franz Ferdinand, James, Kaiser Chiefs, Paolo Nutini, Pixies and Pharrell Williams in support.

Scotland is a fantastic place to visit for any reason and a music festival is one of the best reasons.

Wherever you go this summer and whatever you do, holidaycottages.net has a cottage for you. Check them out!

Taking your dog to your holiday cottage

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We have hundreds of holiday cottages here on holidaycottages.net. Many of them are pet-friendly and will welcome your dog as warmly as they welcome you.

Taking pets on holiday is something that is become more popular by the year. We have always wanted to holiday with our furry friends, but have rarely had the opportunity. As holiday accommodation has woken up to this new requirement, a new market has sprung up for pet-friendly holiday cottages.

If you’re travelling with your dog for the first time, here are some useful tips for you.

Travelling with your dog

Some dogs are more than happy to travel by car. Some not so much. If you have to drive to your holiday cottage, plan on stopping to let your dog go to the toilet and have water on hand for them to drink. Dogs that are anxious get dehydrated very quickly, which compounds the problem.

Where practical, have a window open to provide fresh air. Air conditioning works well too if open windows won’t work. Keep the temperature in the car as cool as you find comfortable to prevent your dog overheating and further dehydrating.

Dogs and trains

If you’re travelling by train, you are legally entitled to take your dog with you as long as it is well behaved, under control and on a lead. It forms part of the National Rail Conditions of Carriage and all railway companies have to comply.

Check with yours before travelling though in case there are any restrictions.

What to pack

Most holiday cottages cater for human visitors only, as that’s what they are geared up for. That means you have to pack for your dog just as you would your children. Items to pack include:

  • Food and water bowl
  • Bedding
  • Toys
  • Lead
  • Poo bags
  • Dog towels
  • Chews

You might also want to add a ground anchor to secure the lead, shampoo and brush if your dog likes to explore and cleaning products to ensure your holiday cottage is left in the same condition you found it.

Routine and dog behaviour

Dogs are like humans in that they are essentially creatures of habit. They can adapt to change, but need a little time and a little reassurance in order to do it. When travelling with your dog, ensure you’re always close by and that they can see you at all times. Keep them company until they are used to the holiday cottage and bring as many of the dog’s things are you can manage.

Bringing the dog’s bedding doesn’t just ensure you don’t dirty the cottage, it also provides a link to the dog’s routine and comfort in something they recognise. Plan on providing more stimulation than usual in the first couple of days to help take their mind off the differences in routine.

Cleaning up behind your dog

A well behaved dog isn’t just a joy to be around, they also prove to the owner of the holiday cottage that allowing pets is a good idea. Cleaning up after your dog is an essential part of that. Not only to continue the goodwill from property owners, but also to prevent any big cleaning bills.

Holiday cottages are businesses after all. If that business has to pay for cleaning after you stay, it’s only right that they pass that charge on to you. Cleaning up after your dog means everyone goes away happy!

Top tips for advertising a holiday cottage

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Here on Holidaycottages.net, we want everyone to find exactly what they are looking for. We want guests to find that perfect holiday cottage and our advertisers to find a simple, cost-effective medium for advertising their properties.

Formatting the advert is an art form that every business could benefit from learning. It is a fundamental part of running a business in any industry. With that in mind, let’s discuss the anatomy of a good holiday cottage advert.

The headline

The headline of any piece of work is vital. It’s probably the most important few words you will write. It needs to describe what you’re offering in an attractive way and intrigue the reader enough to draw them in.

For example: “Holiday cottage in Cornwall for rent” isn’t going to do much for your occupancy rate is it?

However, “Fantastic seaside getaway with ocean view minutes from Fistral Beach” would do much better.

The first paragraph

The first paragraph of your holiday cottage advert has to continue the good work you began with the headline. Here you will need to highlight the main features of your holiday let and make them as compelling and as exciting as possible.

It might help to make a list of the main selling points of your holiday property from a guest perspective and list them in this first paragraph. That way, your strongest pitch is within a couple of seconds reading time where it will have the most impact.

Images

A picture paints a thousand words. A well-used quotation, but for good reason. Even the best headline and description in the world doesn’t come close to making a sale as good images.

Take some great quality pictures of your holiday cottage to really make an impact. Look at your cottage at different times of the day, assess when the light shows it at its best and take the pictures then. Use your list of selling points from your initial paragraph and take an image of each of them to include in your advert.

Take and use as many as your advertising medium will allow. They really are that powerful!

The remainder

The rest of your holiday cottage advert should be used to offer supplementary information and important details. You can expand on your selling features and move on to less important elements of your cottage.

It’s also here that you will add details like availability, seasonal information, local amenities, highlights and anything else you need your guest to know before making a booking.

Writing your holiday cottage advert will take time and effort, but it’s an investment not a cost. The better you make it, the more likely it is to convert readers into guests. Which is what we’re all here for, right?

Why Holidaycottages.net works for holiday property owners

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Holidaycottages.net is a leading holiday property website designed to offer benefits to both property owner and guest. It is a fast, efficient way for owners to increase occupancy and an easy way for guests to find quality holiday cottages at great prices.

There are a number of advantages to advertising your holiday cottage on Holidaycottages.net, here are just a few.

Visibility

The more places your holiday rental is featured, the more bookings you should get. If the website that you feature on is also easy to use, cost-effective and simple to manage, it makes running your self-catering business even easier.

You have to agree that Holidaycottages.net is great to look at and offers plenty of opportunity to showcase your holiday cottage. That’s because we know the more your audience can see of your holiday let, the more likely they are to book it!

Fast route to market

If you own a holiday cottage, you want to get the word out about it fast. You don’t want to be waiting weeks for printers or creatives to make your marketing material, or have to schedule your advertising to suit a magazine publication. You want to advertise right here, right now.

All you have to do is email us with your details and we can begin building your advert right away. It’s fast, hassle-free and easy to manage.

Flexibility

Being able to tailor your holiday cottage advert to suit the individual property also has its advantages. Holidaycottages.net enables you to use multiple images to highlight selling points, pinpoint features and benefits so they appear in the selectable criteria.

This allows you to highlight things like being dog friendly, coastal location, indoor pools or saunas for potential guests to select. We have an entire menu on our home page for just those highlights.

Search visibility

As well as those selectable criteria, potential guests can use our own search engine or use our interactive map to select their holiday cottage. We provide four different ways for your audience to search for your holiday let.

By using multiple search methods, we cover all types of guest, those who like to browse, those who like to search and those who are looking for something specific.

Search engines

The Holidaycottages.net website is indexed by Google. This means, not only do you feature on our own search engine results, you can also feature on Google’s too. That extra little publicity can only help your exposure.

Those are just some of the many reasons why you should use Holidaycottages.net to advertise your property. The website is well designed, offers benefits to both advertisers and guests and has been created with you both in mind.

If you have a holiday cottage and would like to feature it on a website designed to maximise visibility, you’re in the right place. Contact us today to to get started!

Why are holiday cottages so popular?

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With the world now smaller than ever before, with airlines flying to more places and holiday companies catering to all kinds of traveller, why is staying at home and renting a holiday cottage still so popular?

There are several reasons for this. The price of travel, the hassle of the airport, the length of journey and the desire to see more of the UK. Let’s take a look at each.

The price of foreign travel

There is no doubt that foreign travel is cheaper than ever before, but it can still be quite expensive. Once you factor in transport and parking at the airport, extras like insurance, new clothes, flights, hotels, tips and all the rest, a foreign holiday can be an expensive undertaking.

The airport experience

Since 9/11, foreign travel has been something of a nightmare. We have always had to turn up hours before the flight and wait around for the airline’s convenience, but it’s even worse now.

Now we have to humiliate ourselves by taking our shoes off, have our own property removed from our bags and confiscated, be body searched, ID checked and if you’re travelling to the U.S. it’s even more intrusive.

The airport itself is an expensive business built around maximising profit out of a captive audience. It’s hard to not think the entire hassle of flying anywhere is designed more around making money out of you here than keeping everyone safe.

Whatever the truth of it is, we know renting a holiday cottage in the UK is nowhere near as troublesome or expensive!

Length of journey

We can appreciate there’s nothing quite like visiting a new country and absorbing new cultures, trying new food and taking it all in. We can also appreciate that not everyone’s idea of a holiday is spending 10-14 hours on an aircraft to get there.

Factor in travel time to the airport and to the hotel at the far end and that time mounts up. Even in the worst of British traffic, it won’t take you that long to get to where you’re going!

See more of home

Even with personal mobility being at an all-time high, we don’t get to see as much of our country as we should. Our typical journeys are to work and to the supermarket. We don’t get to see our own country half as much as we should.

That’s where a holiday cottage comes in. Ever wanted to see the highlands? Hike the Lake District? Go mountain biking in Wales? It’s all possible when you can rent a holiday cottage nearby.

The world is a huge and exciting place, but Britain isn’t so bad either. That’s why holiday cottages are so popular!

Great reasons why you should try a holiday cottage

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The rise and rise of holidaying in Britain has led to a huge rise in the number of holiday cottage rentals available. What used to be a niche market that was seen as a poor cousin to foreign holidays is now just as, if not more popular than package holidays.

We spoke last week about why you should choose a holiday cottage as your next holiday and we’re going to expand a little on that this week by talking about cottage selection.

It’s all about priorities

In the early days of self-catering cottages, choice wasn’t something we had much of. We had to find a cottage that was available for the dates we wanted and go with it. There wasn’t much choice and there wasn’t much innovation.

Then, when holidaying in Britain became more popular, more holiday cottages came onto the market and now choice is the thing we have in abundance. So much so that we now have to narrow down the sheer choice of holiday cottages just so we can choose between them.

When selecting your holiday cottage, you generally have several priorities.

  • Budget
  • Location
  • Availability
  • Amenities

Budget

Budget is the age old battle between what you want and what you can afford. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a holiday, a new home or a car, there is always a mismatch between our ambition and our ability to afford it.

Now, with so many holiday cottage rentals on offer, you stand a much higher chance of getting what you want for the price you can afford.

Location

The sheer diversity of our self-catering properties is amazing. We have holiday cottages in all parts of the United Kingdom and Ireland, from Dublin to Dumfries, Essex to Edinburgh and everywhere in-between.

It is now possible to find a great holiday cottage almost anywhere in the country. Wherever you want to travel, whichever parts of the country you want to see, there’s a cottage nearby ready to serve.

Availability

The holiday cottage industry is thriving, so booking as early as possible is always a good idea. However, with the sheer number of holiday rentals available, choice isn’t something you’re going to be short of.

With hundreds of cottages all over the country, there is bound to be an ideal location and property available at the time you want.

Amenities

If you wanted internet access, a pool, maid service or satellite TV, you used to have to stay in a hotel. Now you can have them anywhere, including a holiday cottage. As demand for self-catering holidays grew, so did the standard of properties on offer.

It’s now usual to have internet and satellite TV, while pools and extra services can be optional extras. You can now search for things like pet-friendly cottages, ones designed for families, for couples and for just about any interest you can think of.

Those are just some of the many reasons you should try a holiday cottage this year!

Why choose a holiday cottage?

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In an ever-shrinking world where air travel is faster and cheaper than ever before, why rent a holiday cottage? Why forgo sunny beaches and foreign climates for England? Why holiday here when there is an entire world to explore?

The short answer to those questions is fairly simple. Because we want to. The longer answer is well, longer. There are several reasons why holiday cottages are so popular.

They include:

  • Cost
  • Convenience
  • Location
  • Flexibility

Let’s take a look at each in turn.

Cost of holiday cottages

Let’s not underestimate the impact of cost on our everyday lives. It influences just about every decision we make and is one of the main reasons holiday cottages are so popular.

There is no need to pay overinflated airline prices with a holiday cottage. No need to pay extortionate costs for parking, or manage the expense of kids running around an airport looking for things to buy.

A holiday cottage is a very cost-effective way of getting away from it all for a while. You don’t need to pay for flights, you don’t need to pay for transfers, tips or anything else. You can select a size and location to suit your tastes and your budget and truly tailor your holiday to fit you.

Plus, everything you spend stays within the local economy. Not only are you saving money yourselves, you’re also helping to support local businesses.

Convenience of holiday cottages

How long were you waiting at the airport the last time you went abroad? How much was airport parking? How much did you spend in the airport? None of that is necessary with a holiday cottage.

By the time you have driven to the airport, found a parking space and checked in, you could be sitting in your holiday cottage with a glass of something cool watching the world go by.

Location of holiday cottages

The self-catering industry is now well established and is mature enough to have properties just about anywhere in the U.K. and Ireland. If you want something somewhere, we can usually find it for you.

Our lovely country is full of places to explore and new towns and villages to venture into. It’s too easy to take it all for granted or think it’s all the same. It really isn’t. A holiday in the U.K can be just as invigorating, if not more so, than a trip abroad.

No more late night flights, no more jet lag, no more bleary-eyed drives from the airport. Those days are past!

Flexibility of holiday cottages

If you have spent any time at all on our site, you will already see that your options are numerous. You can choose property types, price, location, date, features, pet friendly and so much more. You really can have your holiday your way.

Need to move a date? Check with the property owner and it should be no problem as long as the property is vacant at the time. No need to change flights or pay extra “administration fees” for simple things like that!

These are just some of the reasons holiday cottages are so popular. Isn’t it about time you booked yours?

Welcome to the new Holiday Cottages blog!

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Today is the beginning of a new era. An era of blogging that begins right here, right now.

From today onwards, the holidaycottages.net blog will be updated twice a week with news, useful information, tops tens, hints, tips and general information about holiday lettings and boat rentals.

So not only will the main site be the place to go if you’re looking for holiday accommodation anywhere in the UK and Ireland, it will also be the place to go if you want to know more about holiday lettings in general.

It’s all part of our commitment  to provide the very best service to all our customers!

Holiday cottages

Given the website name is holidaycottages.net, our speciality is of course, holiday cottages. Cottages and holiday lets are our main focus as they make up the largest proportion of holiday rentals within the U.K. But, we’re about much more than that.

Our strength is enabling you to tightly focus your search on a specific area or criteria. We cover all of the U.K. and Ireland and feature hundreds of holiday cottages spread across our green and pleasant land.

We also have a powerful search engine that allows you to set criteria such as pet friendly, cottages with a pool, near a pub, near the beach, cottages with tennis courts and much more. It’s a fast, easy way to select the perfect accommodation for your needs.

Boat rentals

We don’t just do holiday cottages, we also feature a number of holiday boat rentals too! Ever wanted to pilot a narrowboat around the Norfolk Broads? Ever thought of taking a cabin cruiser across a loch? Or exploring Britain’s thousands of miles of waterways? If you do, we can help!

The same search engine that powers our cottage searches can also be unleashed on your search for the perfect boat in the perfect area. We have hundreds of boats on our books of all shapes and sizes. No matter where you want to go or what type of craft you want, we’ll have something for you here.

We have designed holidaycottages.net to be lean, clean and simple to use. It isn’t cluttered with unnecessary noise or filled with irrelevant information. We have created it with you in mind and put the information you need front and centre.

If you have any questions about what we do or how we do it, if you have any suggestions on how we can improve the website, or ideas for features, please get in touch.

3 Simple Reasons You Need To Book Your Autumn And Winter Holiday Cottages Now

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With the school holidays now over and most children having been back at school for at least a week or two, we’re sure there are plenty of you out there who are relieved. Keeping your kids entertained for a weekend can be difficult enough, but for those who have had the full ‘joys’ of the summer holidays with your brood, you deserve a medal!

Most of us at HolidayCottages.net are parents ourselves, so we really do know just how challenging it is to keep the kids entertained during the holidays – and also how expensive.

With the October half term only six weeks away for most (and Christmas less than 100 days away!), if you’re planning on booking one of the many holiday cottages around the country for a family getaway, it’s important you do so now, for three simple reasons.

1. You could save a fortune

Let’s just get straight to the point – if you book any type of holiday as far in advance as you can, you’re almost always going to get the cheapest price possible.

You’ll of course be able to get some cheap last minute deals with most holidays, but there’s a huge risk factor involved. Imagine you waited until the weekend before you wanted to go and it turned out everywhere was fully booked. Then what do you do?

Chances are there’ll be something available somewhere, but nothing that fits in with your budget or suits your needs, which leads us perfectly onto the next two points.

2. You’ll be able to choose exactly where you want to go…

It’s a simple point, but it’s one that a lot of people forget about.

Just like the further in advance you book, the cheaper it will be, if you book at least a month or two before you travel, you’ll be able to choose exactly where you want to go (whether that’s in a rural area away from it all or close to the local attractions) and get your choice of which type of cottage you want to stay in – how about a cottage with a hot tub or swimming pool?

Everyone likes choice. No one wants to put their details and requirements into a website or search engine and find out that there’s only one or two cottages for them to choose from. It’s disheartening having to settle for second best!

We really do try to offer the widest selection of quality holiday cottages we possibly can, but there’s only so many available to offer (and with a particularly small window to book at peak times, the longer you leave it, the more chance there is that everything will have been snapped up).

3. …and when you want to stay

When you’re booking a break with restricted dates – the half term holiday is a perfect example – one of the most frustrating things about booking late is that you can’t often get to stay exactly when you want (or more importantly, need).

Linking back to your choice of cottages and destinations, you might be able to find somewhere that suits your needs, but what if it takes nearly a full day’s worth of driving just to get there? A three night stay could give you just one full day before you have to start thinking about getting ready to drive all the way back home.

Not really a relaxing break with the family, is it?

Sometimes you won’t be able to book holiday cottages in advance, we understand that. You might not know exactly when you can go, for example. You might not even know yet whether it’s a possibility if you do have dates.

But if you have your dates already worked out, the simple fact is, book now and you’ll be able to choose exactly where you stay, when you go and most importantly, all for the cheapest price possible.