If your kids aren’t excited by the idea of spending a holiday in a tipi, they need to get out more. The Welsh Bicknor YHA youth hostel offers a six-berth tent on the riverbank in the Wye Valley, with blow-up beds, a wood-burning stove and full access to the ablutions in the main hostel building. You can rent canoes or bikes to fill the days in this most rewarding of outdoorsy regions. The price is £420 for YHA members; a year’s family membership costs £22.95. There are three other tipi-renting YHA hostels in the country, including the Golant hostel, in Cornwall; call 0870 770 8868 or visit www.yha.org.uk.

IF YOU intend to keep the bill below £1,000, you are best steering clear of airports. Although it is possible to find (a few) holidays with flights included in this price category, the accommodation is likely to be poor. Better to stay in the UK or take a ferry and invest in somewhere gorgeous to stay. Working farms in Switzerland offer magnificent scenery, crisp mountain air and a warm welcome. Inntravel (01653 617906, www.inntravel.co.uk ) has Annie’s Farmhouse, in the village of Sörenberg, an hour’s drive from Lucerne, which has a swimming pool, tennis courts and marked walking paths on its doorstep. A three-bedroom apartment costs £325pp for a week’s self-catering, including ferry crossings. Children go for just £15pp, so the total for four is £680 between July 8 and August 26.

The fjords of southern Norway are majestic in summer, and there are bargains to be had in the back half of August, when local children return to school. In the picturesque mountain resort of Aseral, a two-bedroom cottage costs £960 for five nights in high season for two adults and two children under 16; travel on August 18, however, and the price falls to £760. Both prices include overnight ferry crossings, with cabin, between Newcastle and Stavanger; book through Fjord Line (0870 143 9669, www.fjordline.com ).

In one of the most sought-after regions of southern France, The Gascony Secret (01284 827253, www.gascony-secret.com ) has a selection of self-catering properties for less than £1,000, including Le Téoulère, a two-bedroom apartment in the grounds of a large home near the village of Manciet. No need to feel jealous of the folks in the big house: you get to use their swimming pool, fishing lake and three acres of grounds. A week’s rental from July 15 costs £901, including Channel crossings.

Learning to sail can be a great way to bond as a family, but it’s not cheap: in the Mediterranean, you’ll pay £3,000 or more. Switch to the Norfolk Broads, though, and the price tumbles. In the village of Upton, on the River Bure, you can rent a 27ft four-berth yacht for a week in August for £592, with Blakes Boats (0870 197 6898, www.blakesboats.co.uk).

If you are beginners, start your holiday with a four-day RYA-approved Start Sailing Course, which costs £73pp (free to under-8s). The total price for a family of four is £884, plus a £100 refundable deposit. In the heart of rural Somerset, Moorleaze Farm is a sure-fire child-pleaser. Set amid 76 acres of orchards, lakes and woodland, it is home to roe deer, hares, pheasants and tawny owls, and has a large indoor pool, a tennis court and a playground. There are 10 well-appointed cottages, three of which sleep four and cost £897 per week in high season, with English Country Cottages (0870 197 6890, www.english-country-cottages.co.uk ).

Page 2: on a £2,000 budget
Page 3: stretching to £3,000

()WITH £2,000, you can really spread your wings. Villas in the Med, five-star hotels in the Red Sea and beach clubs in Greece are all within your budget — if you know where to look. Even long-haul is not out of the question. But these are the deals that tend to get snapped up quickly, so move fast...

The Sani Resort, in Halkidiki, on the Greek mainland, has become synonymous with Mediterranean opulence — at a price. A week in July at its most luxurious hotel, the Sani Asterias Suites, will cost a whopping £3,990 for four. But this summer sees the opening of a stylish new mid-price option aimed squarely at families. The Sani Beach Hotel will offer contemporary rooms with tropical-rain showers and plasma screens at three-star prices: a week’s B&B for four, sharing a junior suite with a sea view, costs a total of £1,999, including flights, with Amathus (0870 251 4898, www.amathusholidays.co.uk ).

Egypt’s Red Sea coast gets mighty hot in summer,but prices are so low this year that it’s worth stocking up on sunblock and getting out there. A week’s half-board at the five-star Marriott Taba Heights, based on a family of four sharing two rooms, flying from Gatwick between August 9 and 20, costs a total of £1,996, with Thomson (0870 550 2555, www.thomson.co.uk ). Another cracking deal is a week’s half-board at the InterContinental Abu Soma, in Hurghada, which costs £1,996 — a discount of £876 — with Mosaic Holidays (020 8574 4000, www.mosaicholidays.co.uk).

Mediterranean beach clubs such as Mark Warner and Club Med provide an ideal solution to family holiday dilemmas. But they’re pricey: a week in high season can cost as much as £4,000 for four. A far less expensive option is the Ionian Beach Club, in the northwest Peloponnese, which has 80 bungalows set in 10 acres of gardens alongside a gorgeous sandy beach. Although it doesn’t offer childcare, the club has tennis courts, a swimming pool, windsurfing, a fleet of (brand-new) dinghies and twice-weekly sailing clinics for beginners and improvers, all included. A week’s half-board in July or August costs £1,998 for a family of four, including flights from Gatwick, Heathrow or Manchester, with Seafarer (0870 442 2448, www.seafarercruises.com).

Florida is a perennial family favourite, even in the hot and humid summer holidays. As a rule, a week at a top-class hotel will come in at more than £3,000 for four, but by combining flight discounts with hotel deals aimed at the American market, it’s possible to do it much cheaper. The upmarket operator Carrier (0161 491 7640, www.carrier.co.uk) has a week at La Playa Beach & Golf Resort, in Naples, based on four sharing a large family room, for a total of £2,000, a saving of £928. The resort has a spa, a championship golf course, watersports and four swimming pools.

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