By the end of it we were all stir crazy and my chum’s mum and dad had that glazed look of the slightly insane.
Every time I see a caravan now I suffer flashbacks. Which is why a nice country house hotel with plenty of wet-weather options is my first choice when the forecast spells trouble.
For example, Rudding Park Hotel, near Harrogate, even has a private 14-seater cinema where guests can request a film of their choice or enjoy one of the regular shows.
Within a 20-minute drive are historic York, with its wonderful museums, and Leeds, with its great shopping and art galleries. Even closer is the charming town of Harrogate, where the magnificent, ornately-styled Royal Baths houses Harrogate’s Turkish Baths and Health Spa.
Too grand? Then drive back to Rudding Park where you can recreate the sodden conditions outside in the hotel’s own, rather luxurious, rainforest. It’s part of their own glam new spa which also offers various Hammam treatments.
For the chap who doesn’t want to emerge smelling of roses – literally – there’s a caffeine-based treatment described as ‘uplifting’. How long before they devise a beer ’n’ fags option for the even more macho among us?
Budock Vean, near Falmouth, has a web link to a useful site listing ‘101 Things to do on a rainy day in Cornwall’. Nearby attractions include Flambards, the family theme park, and Falmouth with its Maritime Museum.
Don’t get snookered by bad weather – the hotel has its own full-length snooker table. It also features a natural health spa, sauna and a particularly attractive heated indoor pool.
Outdoor hot tubs are just as enjoyable during a downpour and Budock Vean’s offers attractive views over the grounds and golf course where, I’m told, diehard golfers are happy to play whatever the weather.
Others for whom cloudbursts hold no fears are those brave souls who go ‘coasteering’ at the ElementalUK adventure centre at Swanpool Beach. This involves climbing, swimming, scrambling and leaping into the water. It must be tempting when guests moan about the weather for hotel staff to tell them to take a running jump. While coasteering, of course.
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