Bartlett's Ocean View Farm

With school summer holidays just a few short months away, many families are deciding where to go on their family holiday.  When budget is a concern, the options for child friendly, affordable vacations are limited, but not impossible!  An often forgotten, affordable and near perfect family holiday is to take the entire family camping.

Granted, if you don't have all of the camping gear, the first camping trip will be more expensive than additional camping trips.  If you've never gone camping as a family, you could try to borrow the supplies from a friend to be sure that the vacation is one your family will enjoy before purchasing the camping supplies.

Chances are though, you and your family will love camping.  Not only does it give you the opportunity to spend time in the great outdoors, but there is never a shortage of free activities that keep everyone entertained, including:

• Swimming
• Fishing
• Hiking/walks
• Bike riding
• Campfire songs and stories
• Board games

You can buy a family-sized tent for less than a hundred pounds; it’s pretty easy to find a good bargain on Google Checkout.  After that, the amount of supplies you need will depend on your desired level of ‘roughing it’.  You can cook over an open fire, or you can choose to buy a camp stove.  You can sleep on the ground in sleeping bags, or get air mattresses to make it more comfortable.  A couple coolers and ice will keep your perishables cold and a lantern will light up the night for some late night board games with the family. Most major supermarkets supply this kind of thing when the weather turns nice, so you can just take a look in your local store.

Campgrounds are one of the most inexpensive accommodation options for travelers, as well.  There are national parks located around the country – take a look at the official National Parks website to decide on which one to head to. Most cost less than £20 per pitch per night to stay in the campground.  Many of the parks also provide organized activities for families and children, ranging from playground equipment to sports and water balloon fights.  These campgrounds are perfect for short weekend get-aways, or lengthier family holidays.

If you want to travel to another country to visit an amusement park or other attraction, look for local campgrounds.  You can save money over staying in a hotel and add more family fun to the trip by camping in addition to going to the theme park or attraction!

If you find your family can't get enough of the camping vacation, you might consider upgrading the tent to a pop-up camper or large tow-behind, or even an RV.  Whatever you choose will be sure to provide you with years of affordable, kid-friendly, family holidays. If you fancy being a bit more adventurous, and you’re thinking about heading off on a camping holiday in foreign land, then take a look at cheap flights available with Travelzoo. ASDA’s travel website also provides useful guides on a number of countries and destinations.

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The city of Almeria in the Andalucia region of Spain, is steeped in history and culture. It has been used for location shoots for a number of films, including Lawrence of Arabia, Leone’s “dollar” trilogy and Blindman. Not as traditionally popular with tourists as other areas of Spain, it is nonetheless well worth a visit, not least for being the birthplace of one of the most enduring songs of the sixties.

In 1966, director Richard Lester was casting for his satirical black comedy, How I Won The War. Having worked with the Beatles on A Hard Day’s Night and Help!, he saw the cinematic potential of John Lennon – not just as a crowd draw, but as a witty deliverer of laconic dialogue, something that came naturally to him. Lennon was cast as sarcastic, glib ex-fascist Musketeer Gripweed, and the film began shooting in Almeria in September.

There are a few Lennon locations which any Beatlefan pilgrim must see. The locations for the shoot were Carboneros, Cabo de Gata and Tabernas, to which Lennon showed up every day, regardless of whether or not he was in the scene.

The beaches of Almeria are known as El Zapillo, and it was here that Lennon lodged in a small apartment called El Delfin Verde (The Green Dolphin), and began work on his most progressive work yet, Strawberry Fields Forever. El Manzanilla was a nearby restaurant frequented by the cast of the film, and it was here where Lennon’s 26th birthday was celebrated in October. Ringo Starr came out to Almeria for the event, and to keep John company on set. It was decided that the Lennons and Ringo should move into a bigger place.
Described in Cynthia Lennon’s book as a haunted house, Santa Isabel was the place where Lennon recorded the first demo’s of Strawberry Fields. It’s wild garden was left to grow even wilder for 30 years, until local journalist Adolfo Iglesias discovered its historic significance. It is now being restored by Almeria council and will soon become a public cultural centre.

The kernel of the idea for Strawberry Fields Forever was brought back to England after filming on How I Won The War was finished, and developed into one side of the Beatles strange and wonderful new single. Something had happened to John Lennon to make him move away from his impeccable but ultimately straightforward pop songs of the early sixties. Perhaps it was merely age or – as is often cited – his discovery of LSD, but it’s hard not to give some credit at least to the abundance of time he had on his hands shooting this curio of a film in southern Spain. The time to reflect in the exotic surroundings  of Almeria certainly would’ve done no harm to the creative process, and when you visit the place, it’s easy to see why.

Flymonarch offer cheap flights to Almeria. For travel insurance try AA. Use a company like Lastminute.com for car hire so you can move around freely – there’s no Beatle Bus tour in Almeria as yet.

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Online shopping has becoming more and more prevalent in today's society.  Practically anything can now be bought with nothing more than a click of a mouse button. Online shops sell anything and everything from shoes to second hand goods on Ebay. One market area that is becoming big business online is the travel market; however, with purchasing flights and holidays online precautions should be taken, as there is often a larger amount of money involved.

The most basic precaution is to make sure that the website is legitimate. The most common error (although this is by no means a large scale problem) is for people to visit bogus sites, enter their card details and then have funds fraudulently taken from their accounts.

One way of avoiding this is to visit a travel comparison site such as Dealchecker.co.uk where you can be assured that the travel companies listed are legitimate companies. Meanwhile, if you’re specifically searching for cheap flights, then Cheap Flights.co.uk is a good site for price comparison between a number of providers. Furthermore, it’s worth having a look at holidays provided by Travelzoo – this website compiles all of the best bargains on the internet in one place, so you don’t need to trawl the web and spend hours searching for a bargain.  

When dealing with online comparison sites remember that they make their money from the travel companies they display only once a ticket is purchased. Fraudulent companies are very unlikely to want to pay a price comparison site to display their non-existent 'offers'.  Also the best travel price comparison sites have spent a lot of time building up their reputation, to become a market leader - one slip up could serious damage this.

Once a cheap flight has been found you will be redirected to another website.  For example if you were looking for a cheap flight to somewhere in Europe you could be redirected to Flymonarch.co.uk, for example, an airline company specialising in European air travel, where you will then book and pay for your ticket. As an extra security check, it’s worth exploring the site you are redirected to to find details on who runs the company or to call their customer service number for further reassurance.

The most common thing for people to worry about is the use of the credit or debit card. However, in recent years, online credit card use has actually become quite safe.  As long as the website has been checked out then there really shouldn't be any problems. Most banks now offer insurance in the unfortunate event of credit or debit card fraud so if something should go wrong then the customer’s bank should be contacted immediately.

Banks now spend a lot more on improving their security – for example, it is common for the number on the signature slip on the back of the card to be entered along with other details. This makes it even more difficult to fraudsters. Some banks, such as Natwest, even require further verification after card details have been entered.  Commonly this is one of the standard tests that banks use to confirm your identity; a mother's maiden name or the customer's date of birth.

The final thing that could be an issue is that the majority of companies now email tickets to their customers. The customer will need to make sure that the usual email precautions are adhered to - namely that no one else is given access to their inbox, and being extra vigilant on 'public' computers such as those in the work place.

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There comes a time in most of our lives when we want to throw off our domestic shackles and travel the world! Of course, the assumed wisdom is that this can only really happen at either end of our professional lives: when we’re still students, or when we retire. In between these periods is the rest of our life, conventionally committed to all things permanent: career, mortgage and family. Like all conventions however, this isn’t necessarily the best path for everyone. Staying still and keeping stock for such a long period can seem like the only responsible route – but if you’ve got itchy feet, and you missed your gap-year gap when you were 20; or the thought of waiting ‘til your pension to travel depresses you, then taking a year off from your professional life could be a surprisingly viable answer.

One possibility that’s gaining in popularity all the time is to take a sabbatical. Traditionally a possibility reserved for lecturers and academics, the sabbatical (or ‘career-break’) is being offered within more and more companies. Of course, there are understandable contingencies for staff members wanting to take a sabbatical (usually a minimum of five years must have been spent at the company), but these are often met inadvertently, and are seldom a hindrance to someone who has arrived at the idea of a sabbatical. The most important thing to remember about sabbaticals – and the reason it’s attractive to many employers – is that it implies you only want a break from your career, and not that you want to quit it. Allowing their employees this opportunity means that employers will lose less staff in the long run: generally speaking, a sabbatical refreshes the career-drive and steels the work ethic; sating a desire that might otherwise have resulted in resignation. Even if your year off turns out to fill a gap between jobs, it is worth thinking of it as an experience that can enrich your working life back home, rather than something rash that you may regret.

Once you’ve decided to take a year off, and negotiated your career to fit, the rest is planning, and where you’re imagination and desires can run wild. A familiar dream is to simply travel around the world. This can be fulfilled in any number of ways, but an open-ended ticket is a very popular option, and it allows you to travel all over without the restraints of pre-booked flight dates and package itineraries.

A good place to look for these kinds of deals is gapyearforgrownups.co.uk, who offer a variety of links and ideas for tickets to far-flung destinations. The freedom to roam offered by such tickets complements the desire to explore without constraint, but does require a certain amount of familiarity with those most flexible of global lodgings, the humble hostel. HostelBookers.com offers a comprehensive guide to a vast number of the planets hostels – a perusal of which can be hugely illuminating. Go Travel also comes recommended, this time for low priced backpacker’s travel insurance.

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Mountains, lakes,forests, moors and miles of seaside: all lurking somewhere just north of Lancashire…

The Lake District National Park is one of the most beautiful areas of Europe – celebrated in the poetry of Wordsworth, immortalised in the landscapes of Ruskin, and well-traversed by generations of that distinctly English holiday-maker: the rambler. Remaining unspoilt for hundreds of years, The Lake District National Park (the dramatic epicentre of Lakeland) still plays host to a thriving tourist industry, comprised in the main of those drawn to the prospect of fell-walking and escaping to the traditional rural idyll. Nowadays however, alongside such timeless holidaying pursuits, there is a full complement of modern past-times, cultural venues and events to draw the prospective visitor.

The eponymous lakes themselves play host to a vast number of seasonal attractions, with the most famous, Lake Windermere, providing perhaps the largest number of outdoor pursuits. From windsurfing to steamboat rides; boat galas to theatrical performances, Windermere is the perfect starting point for the uninitiated. The largest natural lake in England, it is over ten miles long, just grazing the town of Ambleside at its northern shore. Just as the name suggests, Ambleside has long been a retreat of passing ramblers (or amblers), wandering one of the many walks that circulate the great lake. The town itself provides a perfect base for further excursions into the Lake District, home, as it is, to a well-stocked selection places to stay. A short drive or a longer walk north, is the town of Grasmere – a beautiful village that was described by Wordsworth as “the loveliest spot that man hath ever found. In August, the village plays host to the Grasmere Sports, a gala sports day including fell-running, hound trails, and the inimitable Cumberland wrestling!

Of course, a holiday in the Lake District wouldn’t be complete without some serious fell-walking (or hiking to you and me). England’s tallest peaks can be found here, including the ominously named Scafell Pike – worth the momentous trek for the magnificent panoramic views from the summit.

Planning a trip to the Lake District should be done with the spirit of the place in mind; and to that end, booking in to one or several of its many hostels is a particularly appropriate approach. You’ll find them peopled by a wonderful mix of walkers and outdoor-pursuitists, from the amateur to the serious professional: all seduced by the natural magic of the Lake District. And as one of the first tourist destinations to be revealed by the building of the railways all those years ago, Cumbria still enjoys a busy and regular train service, with direct services from London Euston to Carlisle and Penrith.

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