How I save hundreds on Haven seaside holidays every year with a very simple hack

ONCE school’s out for the summer, it can be very tempting to rush away for a family holiday as soon as possible.

Everyone’s ready for a change of scenery with a bit of sun, sea and sand, and who can blame them?

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But if you’re struggling to find enough spare cash to get away this
summer, there’s a very simple hack that could save you a packet.

Flipping your summer back to front and going away just before the kids go back to school could make all the difference to prices, as my
family of five has found.

We’ll be heading to Haven Wild Duck near Great Yarmouth in Norfolk
just before my three boys, aged four, eight and 10, return to school in
September, as prices start to drop after the August bank holiday.

It’s costing £280 for a weekend in a bronze caravan. At the start of the school holidays in July, the same caravan would cost £410, while over the August bank holiday, it would be £460.

So it pays to pick your weekend well and it just goes to show that you can still bag a bargain during the school holidays, if you’re willing to wait until the end of the summer.

We did much the same last year when we stayed in a lodge at Parkdean Breydon Water, also near Great Yarmouth, for a fraction of what it would have cost if we’d gone earlier in the summer.

The weather was fabulous, so we spent the whole weekend keeping cool in the outdoor pool.

As it was the end of the summer season, the open air pool was
due to close after our break, so the lifeguards were pretty relaxed
about session times and up for a bit of fun with the children after a
busy summer keeping everyone safe.

The boys loved having buckets of water thrown over them as they headed to the water slide and there was a really great atmosphere all round.

And there was a lovely decking area with access to the bar for anyone who wasn’t swimming to enjoy a drink while watching the fun in the sun. The perfect way to round off the summer.

Another major plus of waiting until close to the start of the autumn term to go away is that there are far fewer people on holiday.

By then, most families are getting new school shoes, checking what uniform still fits and generally trying to get back into some sort of morning routine.

A quieter park means that activities won’t be booked up as
quickly as at the height of the holiday season and you can generally
just go with the flow a bit more, instead of having to plan what to do
and when far in advance.

It helps if your school has an inset day or two before term starts, as then that gives you a buffer between your break and getting back to normal to sort out lunchboxes, school bags and uniform.

If you book a break at the end of the school holidays instead of the
start, you know exactly what spending money you’ve got to play with, as you’ve already kept the kids entertained all summer long.

If you’ve had lots of day trips and treats, you can keep costs low on holiday by sticking to free activities like swimming and the beach.

If you’ve been saving money by choosing picnics, parks and having fun at home for the rest of the holidays, you can splash out while you’re away.

And no matter what sort of summer you’ve had, you’ve still got your
trip away to look forward to for some family fun before the kids go
back to school.

You’ll be heading into the autumn on a high for half the cost of a
holiday just a few weeks earlier and your kids will have their summer
break fresh in their minds when their teacher asks them what they did in the holidays.

Meanwhile, Haven has 2024 UK holidays with breaks from £4pp a night.

And these are the best Haven holiday parks with indoor and outdoor pools.

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