How to plan a last-minute holiday in the UK

Many of us have had that stomach-dropping moment; your holiday is cancelled at the last minute for reasons completely beyond your control. This happened to me recently – right before half-term. 

The annual leave from work was in the calendar, the children weren’t booked into a holiday club and the heatwave was upon us. Looking down the barrel of a week at home near London with small children in 30-plus degree heat with only sweaty daytrips to entertain was all I needed to pull a plan B together very quickly.

Where to go

Having previously spent an unfortunate and uncomfortable two-and-a-half hours in Naples airport, queueing to pass through the new Entry/Exit System (EES), I quickly dismissed the idea of trying to take two small children over to Europe. 

However, I did look at options like Greece (who have chosen to ignore the imposition for the summer) and Turkey (not in the EU), but the flights alone were going to cost well over £1,000 – our budget would be blown out of the water in no time. 

Fall back on an old favourite

I recently revealed that the UK was one of my favourite travel destinations – when the weather shows up. And with the forecast looking as promising as you could ever hope for on home soil, it was an obvious choice. 

As we wanted to avoid the heat, and avoid family attractions that involved any kind of queueing, the coast seemed the most logical option. 

Where to look

When looking for something last-minute in the UK, there are a few options; the more obvious being platforms such as booking.com and airbnb. But decades of experience has taught me that taking the time to look through individual cottage company websites is always worth the time. 

Many have great filtering systems, offer bargains at the last minute and come with peace of mind – as they rely on their reputation and repeat bookings, they generally look after their customers very well.      

In my hunt for a last-minute half-term getaway, I found something promising through kate & toms (a company I’ve not travelled with before but offered midweek stays at better rates)  a three-bed ‘cottage’ in Mevagissey, Cornwall. I’d been to Mevagissey as a child but had very little recollection of it, so I called my Mum. 

“It’s one of the places we went to get a spare part when the car broke down on holiday,” she told me (this is a recurring theme in holiday tales of my youth). “It’s lovely there, but I can’t remember much about it…”

Never a let down

There’s nowhere in Cornwall I’ve visited that has let me down. I tend to favour the North over the South, but, ultimately, I’m just happy to be in the land of pasties – preferably by the sea. 

We found Mevagissey to be a traditional fishing village through and through. I won’t sugar-coat the fact that the roads are a nightmare; small, narrow and unforgiving of drivers who don’t know the size of their car. 

Thankfully we made the decision to arrive in the middle of the night (around 1am), but even that wasn’t without its problems (trying to find house names in the dark was taxing). 

We were so traumatised by the escapade that we didn’t drive through the village again – opting to take the alternate, longer way round; deciding we’d rather end up in a bush on a single lane than hit a house in a tiny village. 

Harbourside haven

While we did escape to some nearby beaches throughout the week (Gorran Haven Beach is a good choice for families), we also spent time exploring the village. A working fishing port, the reliance on the industry by the inhabitants is obvious, and visitors are asked to engage with that heritage. 

The harbour walls have informative boards explaining how the industry operates, while the small aquarium (free to enter, but donations are appreciated) educates as to what can be found in the surrounding waters – apparently octopus populations are booming.  

Some boats have been repurposed and around three or four offer regular wildlife watching trips out to see the seals at The Gwineas (an island just beyond the harbour). The kids loved the time on the water and at £7pp for 45 minutes, it was good value for money. 

Catch of the day

You can buy fresh fish from the harbour to cook up at home, but there are also a number of businesses that take away all of the hassle. Fish and chips from Ben’s Plaice was a huge hit with our four-year-old; the fish was so meaty that he dubbed it ‘chicken-fish’.

We were impressed by the pasties at Cornish Bakery and the Harbour Tavern offered a good place by the sea to tuck into pub-style dishes. The Ship Inn is also a big hit with visitors.

A couple of our evenings were spent eating ice cream as we dangled our legs off the harbour walls and those moments of togetherness were priceless (well, almost – ice creams now cost a small fortune). 

Home time

What I hadn’t anticipated was how much time we’d spend at the house. The grey slate patio offered a safe, fun space to play (the stones got very warm in the hot weather, but hours were spent squirting patterns on them with waterguns).

Every evening that didn’t involve chicken-fish was spent barbecuing; while eating outside is a luxury that we don’t have at home, the kitchen was also unbearably hot as it has an AGA that needs to be left running constantly. That’s great for winter, not so great for a heatwave. 

But with doors to the patio from both the lounge and kitchen, the space felt free flowing and enabled us to escape to the shade easily. 

Although the house had three bedrooms (all with ensuites), we lived in the two very generously-sized main bedrooms that shared a landing (the third bedroom was a flight further up and although also reasonably sized, got quite hot). The large windows offered great views and the children spent most mornings standing on the sills, looking out to spot villagers, birds and the occasional cat. 

My son’s second-favourite fish were found in the pond at the bottom of stairs that snaked down through the gardens to a gate that opened onto a small but steep slope to the village. Each time we went anywhere, we had to allow for at least 20 minutes to watch the goldfish and tadpoles swim in the waters, and spot dragonflies and pondskaters. 

It was a hugely successful trip given the circumstances – if anything, I think it was likely even better than our original plans overseas. And we didn’t have to contend with an aeroplane and a two-year-old. 

How to do it: Penny was a guest of kate & tom’s who offer a midweek break at Penpol costs from £1,625.