Step one: Involve everyone who is going to go on the holiday, even the dog if he is coming too. Sit down and talk through what everyone wants to do. It might be hard to get everyone together but it will be worth it in the long run.

Step two: Decide on the perfect holiday spot. With a fantastic wealth of inland, coastal, rural and urban desinations there is no reason why a perfect spot cannot be found. In fact with a little careful planning you can often access all types of great holiday locations within easy reach of each other.

Step three: Let everyone have a day for their chosen activity. Whilst the kids might complain at the idea of trudging through a city gallery or museum they will be far less fractious if they know that the next day they will be zip lining down the side of a castle. Adults too will be more likely to throw themselves into hectic action packed activity if they know a relaxing end is in sight.

Step four: Have some alone time planned in too. Mum may well appreciate a trip to the nearest luxury Health Spa, Dad might pop along to the local golf course for a round or two (on the green or in the bar) and kids might just want to lie in or play with a computer for a few hours. Everyone should get the chance to be a little selfish.

Step five: Make sure you do not end up with a complete home from home and all the chores that involves. Eat out whenever you can and enjoy the local produce; every area has food and drink it is proud of. Hire a luxury car. Book a dream cottage. Remember this is a holiday not a hardship and you deserve to treat yourself to some of life’s little indulgences.

The best holidays combine the needs of all the family and leave everyone feeling refreshed and relaxed. By following this simple guide you will go some way to achieving that.

Tom Lowes is Marketing Executive at Sykes Cottages.

If you would like to be a guest blogger on the UKseries.com UK Travel Blog in order to raise your profile, please contact us.

5 steps to finding the perfect UK family holiday is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

Some will prefer the brashness of Blackpool, others the bustle of Brighton. Every seaside town has its own unique charm and we’d like to hear what your favourite is and why!  Post a comment and let us know…

So where is the best seaside town in the UK? is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

Shearings say the trend has grown rapidly over the past five years.  Many of their customers are now making a festive UK hotel break an annual holiday tradition. The company’s booking data shows that some customers have been away every Christmas for the last 12 years, many to the exact same location, showing that tradition is still important.

What are you going to be doing this Christmas?  Staying at home or going the route of an increasing number of grandparents?

Grandparents are more likely than ever to shun the traditional family Christmas and go on holiday instead is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

Useful links:
Hotels near Stonehenge
B&Bs near Stonehenge
Self-catering near Stonehenge
Tourist attractions near Stonehenge

What really happened at Stonehenge is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

The Scots have certainly invented quite a number of useful ideas over the years from the light bulb, Tarmac and Penicillin to slightly more debateable levels of usefulness such as golf. There are even some claims that that bastion of English sport – football – was invented in Scotland!

Lake District claim: Returning to the matter in hand – the original claim for the first recreational rock climb was an ascent of Napes Needle on Great Gable in the English Lake District in 1886. It rather begers belief that anyone in their right mind would attempt this today, never mind with the primitive equipment available back then, but that is a documented fact.

Scotland Claim: The Scottish claim is that infact the first recreational climb was actually by 3 men from Lewis who climbed Great Stac of Handa, Sutherland, in 1876 – 10 years before anyone thought about Napes Needle, which rather ironically sounds the more Scottish of the two.

To prove the case, three modern day climbers have recreated the climb using authentic equipment from the time to successfully show that the original men’s claim was indeed possible.

TV programme: Viewers in Scotland will be able to judge for themselves as The First Great Climb airs at 19:00 on 22nd November on BBC Two Scotland. Whether this will be available on BBC iPlayer we’re not too sure, but hopefully the BBC will give the English a chance to check for themselves.

Location: For those unsure of UK geography, can we just point out that contrary to what many have told this author of Cumbrian origins – Cumbria and the Lake District are not in Scotland or Wales, although Cumbria does border with Scotland.

More Scottish Resources:
Lots of things to see and do in the Highlands of Scotland
Hotel accommodation in the Highlands of Scotland
Self-catering in the Scottish Highlands

Where was rock climbing invented – Scotland or the Lake District? is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

When the phone boxes began to decline in use, BT introduced their Adopt a Kiosk scheme where local communities could buy the red phone box for £1 and turn it into anything from an information centre to an art gallery.

Around the country however, people have been finding a new use as locations to install defibrillator units, to increase the chances of survival for those suffering a heart attack. In England, there are now 4 such boxes, but the first has just opened in Scotland thanks to a local Girl Guide Heather Munro and the Community Heartbeat Trust who together organised for the village of Glendaruel in Argyll to adopt its own phone box.

It might seem an odd place to put a defibrillator, but the area is popular with walkers and there were several heart attacks last year in the village involving tourists, so having a defibrillator close by might prove the key ingredient.

More related resources:
BT Adopt a Kiosk Scheme

Tourist attractions across the Highlands of Scotland
Scottish Highland hotels
Self-catering accommodation in Highlands of Scotland

New lifesaver role for iconic BT red telephone boxes is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

The changes to Alexander House, a rather bland white angular office-block style building in the centre of town, involve painting roundabout symbols on the building and even bolting two replica Mini cars to the outside. Officials from the council have recommended the idea be given planning permission later this month, as the design incorporates connections with Swindon.

Symbols: The BMW Mini’s represent the BMW body pressings plant which resides in Swindon and the roundabout symbol is presumably paying homage to the Magic Roundabout – the famous intersection in the city combining five mini-roundabouts around a larger outer roundabout.

Flying pigs: Plans for solar powered rotating pigs were dropped after they proved to be too expensive, which we can only guess was a less than obvious connection to the Saxon meaning of Swindon “pig hill” or “pigs on a hill”. Perhaps someone can enlighten us?

As long as planning permission is forthcoming, the project will hopefully brighten up the building next year and will be paid for by the building’s owners.

More links in Swindon:
Tourist attractions in Swindon
Hotel accommodation in Swindon

Swindon finds quirky way to brighten up buildings is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

If like me you’ve not come across Jack Draws Anything, it was the idea of a 6 year old Jack Henderson who lives near Edinburgh and who’s brother Noah spends a lot of time in the Sick Kids Hospital in Edinburgh.

Jack wanted to raise money for the Sick Kids Friends Foundation, originally with a target of raising £100 by creating 500 drawings of pretty much anything people asked for, in exchange for a donation. Having spent the last 231 days creating the drawings, Jack has so far raised a total of £31,000 for the foundation, with donations still coming in!

The project gained celebrity support from the likes of David Tennant (former Dr. Who) and the Eurythmics Dave Stewart, The Wiggles and Queen’s Brian May. The drawings have even been published into a new book by Hodders Childrens Books simply titled Jack Draws Anything (see right of web site for links).

Now Jack has drawn everything or at least all 500 pictures he planned to draw plus an extra 31 for good measure, and according to his web site he is taking a well earned rest just like his favourite animal, the Hedgehog.

Stats:

Drawing for 231 days.
Total of 536 pictures.
Used 314 pens, 162 crayons and 96 pencils.
Plus 2144 sheets of paper.
There’s also the 222 cups of juice, 133 biscuits and 103 apples to keep the pencils whirring.

Put another way – Jack has so far spent 10th of his life drawing!

For more details on sponsoring Jack’s cause, see the Jack Draws Anything web site on the right hand side.

6 year old ‘Jack Draws Anything’ finishes 500 drawing marathon is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

A to Z of the UK: your favourite place in the UK beginning with the letter Z? is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog

A to Z of the UK: your favourite place in the UK beginning with the letter Y? is a post from UKseries.com's UK Travel Blog