Dear YHA,
Dusk had fallen over Robin Hood’s Bay. Our children were laughing and whooping as they jumped into rock pools and got caked in sand and mud. The tide was out, and the immense expanse of the beach was their playground. At last, worn out and happy, they jumped back across the stream to our cosy room at YHA Boggle Hole.
We love hostelling because, unlike budget hotels, so many offer outdoor space for kids to play in, either around the hostel itself or very close by. Sometimes it’s right on the doorstep — at YHA Chester Trafford Hall the chalet accommodation opens on to a beautiful walled ‘secret garden’ and orchard. On the other side of the wall is an oak wood that is carpeted in snowdrops in late winter and bluebells in spring. Many YHA hostels now have campsites where you can immerse yourself in nature while staying in a comfortable bell tent or camping pod.
Hostel gardens are havens for wildlife — bats flit around YHA Beer on summer evenings (ask to borrow the bat detector) while house martins swoop from the eaves of YHA Brecon Beacons. At YHA Coniston Coppermines we saw an adder warming up in the sun.
Even the smallest gardens lend themselves to blowing bubbles or doing some outdoor drawing. Others contain enough flat open space to fly a kite or play ball games. At YHA Manorbier last summer, our daughter played three-hour-long, Lioness-inspired football matches with friends she’d made in the campsite.
Many hostels have extensive wooded grounds where kids can have a forest school experience. At YHA Borrowdale we explored the dripping, mossy, ferny environment of a temperate rainforest, and at YHA Coniston Holly How we admired a majestic monkey puzzle tree. YHA Ilam Hall, a Gothic mansion near Dovedale in the Peak District, is surrounded by 84 acres of National Trust parkland. There are grottoes and hidden staircases for playing hide-and-seek, and the Paradise Walk along the sparkling River Manifold leads to a bridge well-suited to Pooh sticks.
For coastal adventures, another well-located hostel is YHA Port Eynon. A former lifeboat station at the tip of the Gower Peninsula, it’s right at the water’s edge; you can see the tide rise as you play board games in the lounge and spot seabirds as you do the washing up. YHA Manorbier is a stone’s throw from the Pembrokeshire Coast Path and the dramatic rock arches of Church Doors Cove, while YHA Coverack is right by the South West Coast Path.
YHA Swanage has limited outdoor space, but it’s only a short walk up the hill to magnificent Durlston Country Park, which covers 320 acres. There is a network of trails punctuated by animal sculptures and outdoor musical instruments; a colony of guillemots; a belvedere cafe from which we spotted dolphins; even a sea-water swimming pool blasted out of the rock at Dancing Edge.
And there are so many hostels where you can walk straight out into the countryside from the door. Some of our favourite walks have been from YHA Borrowdale up to the awe-inspiring scree slopes of the Honister Pass, from YHA Beer through the mysterious overgrown world of the Hooken Undercliff to Branscombe Bay, and in and out of islands of golden gorse from YHA Penzance to the sub-tropical camellia gardens of Trengwainton.
Adults can needlessly complicate matters, and I’ve come to realise that we don’t have to pre-plan lots of activities to have a great trip. Kids are curious and imaginative — they just need space, and nature.
Thank you, YHA!
Jenny Lunnon
Do you have any fond memories of YHA? Maybe a trip you took when you were younger? Or a getaway you went on with loved ones? We would love to hear them! Please share them with us via our social media channels. We look forwarding to hearing from you!
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