Guaranteed holiday sunshine – but at what cost?

It depends – I like the Caribbean especially Barbados – spent a few years there – sunshine virtually non stop. But I have dogs – the cost of transporting me and the dogs there is too high on my O.A. Pension and I find kennel fees high – nor would I like to “imprison” them while I’m away. So I go camping with the three dogs instead – as it is cheap and healthy.

Looking back at over 30 years of UK holidays with friends, I can remember having only one completely dry week. Coping with what the weather has to throw at us is all part of the fun. How boring life would be if we could predict the weather. If you are going to let weather spoil your holiday you might as well stay at home.

Some places have a climate; we have the weather. We can enjoy a UK holiday whatever the weather. This [Sunday] morning excepted, it rarely rains continuously for more than two hours at a time and there’s always something interesting to see or do. I agree with wavechange, coping with the elements is part of the fun. Otherwise why do people go to pop festivals, Wimbledon, and the British Grand Prix? Without moisture affecting the game, even cricket can be boring. But we do like to get away to some predictable sunshine once or twice year and – apart from one holiday in Madeira that was ruined by tropical storms – we have never lost a day’s sunshine in the Canaries or the Mediterranean. And thank goodness, because in some of the holiday destinations there is not much else to do but relax in the sun. May and October are our first choice for going places. If you want to cook it, try the eastern Med in July.

I prefer to have UK holidays. I find that the hassle and stress of airports, additional packing, preparation and so on, defeats the objective of a holiday.
I don’t expect sunshine in the UK, but if I get it, then it’s a bonus and certainly improves the break.

I agree with what people have said above – it’s nice to have sunshine, but it’s a bonus rather than something I’d feel like I needed to have to make my holiday fun. I’ve spent many a wet weekend on Dartmoor or in Wales, and I have to say that one of my favourite things about these holidays is going out for a long, soaking wet day hike and then coming back to the warmth of a cosy pub fireplace and a pint.

Camping can be trickier in wet weather, though – I’m off to a festival this weekend and have my fingers crossed that we’re not going to have to canoe through the fields. It’ll still be fun, of course, but just a bit less so than if I could guarantee the sun would be out all weekend!

I have just taken a weeks break, returning at the end of last week.
Every day we had warm sunshine with those dinky little fluffy clouds scudding across the bright blue sky. Daily walks along the coast or on the cliffs, pausing occasionally to take a dip in the warm sea, towards the afternoon a cool breeze would spring up making walking a delight. Sometimes just sitting on the beach [shingle not sand] licking a delicious ice cream to cool down, or sat by the harbour feasting on fresh local fish, lobster and as many oysters that I could shove down my throat. We returned tanned healthy and well refreshed.
The cost of this ‘holiday’ a tank of diesel to drive there and back and the use of a friends cottage.
Location ENGLAND the North Kent coast.
And we had all this during the wettest June / July on record.