Wise parents know a great family holiday is about the knowledge, not the destination. It's simple to impress your kids if you've got lots of money to spend, but if your budget is limited you'll require a little more ingenuity.
Use some suggestions and your imagination however, and you'll get both good value and memories to last a lifetime, regardless of how workaday the destination or modest the outlay.
1. Keep things simple
Every parent has experienced that moment once they recognise that the youngster has much more fun playing in the puddles and climbing trees than experiencing the expensive attraction they've driven miles to determine. Sometimes all the planning, effort and expense just backfires and also you wish you'd just attended the neighborhood park instead. Don't confuse your concept of a great day out with theirs; keep things simple, know your limitations, and recognise that if they're happy you will be too.
2. Study from experience
Wherever you decide to go you can guarantee there's a glut of advice available on the web from parents who've already been there. Read reviews, learn about what's good value and just what isn't, where you can find the least expensive tickets and when's best to arrive to avoid the queues.
3. Prime your audience
Read about your destination together with your kids, watch a film together or even arrive dressed up in costume – whatever it takes to bring their imaginations alive. A castle ruin springs alive when you turn up in full knights' regalia and have a sword fight on the lawn, a medieval Oxford college is much more interesting once its connections to Harry Potter are revealed, and teenagers will lose their bad attitude once they realise that that boring walking tour takes in all Pharrell Williams' favourite haunts.
