Un-fashionable pastimes becoming trendy breaks
I'm just in the middle of writing an article about canalboat holidays...
... in which I'm arguing that the new surge of interest in domestic holidays - brought about by environmental concerns over flying and the increasingly horrible airport experience (delays, strikes, security, et al), coupled with the rise in the number of short breaks we all take now - has meant that canal boat holidays are no longer considered to be a pastime of the 'tired & retired', but instead are becoming trendy.
The shiny Mercedes 4x4 disgorging a large middle-class London family, plus all their bikes, into the rented narrowboat moored alongside ours a couple of weekends ago (when we spent a few days on the Grand Union canal) was anecdotal evidence of that. And I notice there have been a couple of travel pieces about canal holidays in the Times recently, backing that idea up.
But it's not just canals. The resurgence of interest in traditional UK holidays has made several things 'trendy' again.
There's a fantastic new generation of stylish hotels and B&Bs breathing new life into the traditional British seaside holiday - think how fashionable Cornwall (or "Rick Steinwall") has become in recent years!
Farm holidays are back in vogue - take a look at the Featherdown Farms brochure for the very definition of middle-class aspirational family holidaying!
Camping (especially at music festivals!) is fashionable again. That range of designer tents with cows printed on them probably helped! It certainly triggered a spate of 'camping is chic' articles last year.
and they even say, (sometimes using photos of retro-styled aluminium Airstreams or refurbished horse-drawn gipsy wagons to back it up) that caravanning is becoming trendy
NO
I'll go along with the rest, but that is one proposition too far!
Caravanning has never been, and will never be fashionable. Period.
k. Rant over. Back to the article.
... in which I'm arguing that the new surge of interest in domestic holidays - brought about by environmental concerns over flying and the increasingly horrible airport experience (delays, strikes, security, et al), coupled with the rise in the number of short breaks we all take now - has meant that canal boat holidays are no longer considered to be a pastime of the 'tired & retired', but instead are becoming trendy.
The shiny Mercedes 4x4 disgorging a large middle-class London family, plus all their bikes, into the rented narrowboat moored alongside ours a couple of weekends ago (when we spent a few days on the Grand Union canal) was anecdotal evidence of that. And I notice there have been a couple of travel pieces about canal holidays in the Times recently, backing that idea up.
But it's not just canals. The resurgence of interest in traditional UK holidays has made several things 'trendy' again.
There's a fantastic new generation of stylish hotels and B&Bs breathing new life into the traditional British seaside holiday - think how fashionable Cornwall (or "Rick Steinwall") has become in recent years!
Farm holidays are back in vogue - take a look at the Featherdown Farms brochure for the very definition of middle-class aspirational family holidaying!
Camping (especially at music festivals!) is fashionable again. That range of designer tents with cows printed on them probably helped! It certainly triggered a spate of 'camping is chic' articles last year.
and they even say, (sometimes using photos of retro-styled aluminium Airstreams or refurbished horse-drawn gipsy wagons to back it up) that caravanning is becoming trendy
NO
I'll go along with the rest, but that is one proposition too far!
Caravanning has never been, and will never be fashionable. Period.
k. Rant over. Back to the article.
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