The UK family walking holiday that even teenagers will love

There are family holidays where you spend most of the week trying to prise children away from screens and there are HF Holidays family walking breaks, where even the teenagers begin debating the merits of a ridge walk versus a riverside ramble over breakfast.

For more than a century, HF Holidays has built its reputation around guided walking holidays in some of Britain’s most scenic landscapes. But alongside the traditional adult walking groups, the company also runs family departures designed specifically for multi-generational groups, parents travelling solo with children and families who like their holidays active rather than poolside.

Selworthy, Exmoor

What to expect on a HF Holidays family walking trip

The first thing to understand is that these are not bootcamp-style endurance marches. Nobody expects your nine-year-old to stride across the Lake District like a seasoned fell runner. The family holidays are structured around manageable daily walks, plenty of breaks and guides who understand that children operate on a completely different motivational system from adults. Mention an ice cream stop, a castle ruin or a stream full of tadpoles and suddenly tired legs recover miraculously.

Most holidays are based in one of HF’s country houses, many of them handsome old properties in national parks or Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Think Victorian manor houses with boot rooms, drying rooms and large gardens where children can run about after dinner while parents finish a glass of wine in peace. Depending on the destination you might find yourself in the Yorkshire Dales, the Peak District, Northumberland, the Lake District or the Welsh borders.

The rhythm of the holiday quickly becomes part of the appeal. Mornings begin with substantial breakfasts engineered for walkers: eggs Benedict, haddock or full-English, plenty of pastries and enough Coco Pops fortify even the most reluctant child faced with an uphill climb. Days are then spent outdoors, with a choice of four different walks each day, so easier or more challenging routes can be picked depending on ages and energy levels.

One of the unexpected pleasures is how quickly children begin engaging with landscapes they would ordinarily ignore from the back seat of a car. A drystone wall becomes a balancing challenge. Sheep suddenly acquire personalities when they can be baa-ed back at. Streams invite throwing off socks and boots for paddling. Guides often weave local history, wildlife spotting and geography into the walks, so children absorb information without realising they are effectively being given an outdoor lesson.

The guides themselves are central to the experience. HF leaders tend to possess the sort of calm competence that comes from years spent coaxing nervous walkers over stiles in sideways rain. On family departures they also develop the patience of primary school teachers and the comic timing of entertainers. They know when to push on, when to stop for flapjacks and when a game of Pooh sticks is more valuable than reaching the destination on schedule.

– READ MORE: 15 beautiful beaches kids won’t believe are in the UK –

Selworthy, Exmoor

Why families love HF Holidays walking breaks

One of the strongest arguments for this style of holiday is the simplicity. Once you arrive, much of the logistical work disappears. Routes are planned, maps handled, packed lunches provided and transport arranged when necessary. Parents are spared the nightly ritual of trying to invent tomorrow’s entertainment programme from scratch.

The social side also forms a major part of the appeal. Children often disappear into packs remarkably quickly, particularly because everyone arrives with a built-in shared activity. By the second day they are usually racing each other across stepping stones or comparing blister plasters at dinner. Adults, meanwhile, find themselves chatting to people they might never normally meet: retired teachers, solo grandparents travelling with grandchildren, large multi-generational groups where if you make friends with one you make friends with them all.

Evenings have an old-fashioned charm increasingly rare in modern family travel. Rather than everyone retreating to separate hotel rooms with tablets, there might be board games, quizzes or families sprawled in lounges planning the next day’s route. Some properties still retain something of the atmosphere of a traditional rambling club, with boot rooms full of waterproofs and lounges with a shared jigsaw puzzle on the go.

Food is surprisingly good, with a three-course meal each day that must be chosen from the menu the night before. Menu choices become one of the daily activities with packed lunch menu cards to be filled in each day to ensure the right balance of snacks to keep everyone going, including the obligatory Freddo. The food is healthy and fresh with a salad alternative to a sandwich available.

Weather, of course, forms part of the experience. This is Britain. At some point someone will probably walk through drizzle. Yet many families find this becomes part of the fun. Children remember wading through muddy puddles far longer than they remember another generic hotel pool. There is also something satisfying about returning to a warm country house after a blustery walk, peeling off waterproofs and settling down beside a roaring fire with tea and cake.

– READ MORE: Your essential family guide to all 15 National Parks in the UK –

Antonia trialling Swarovski Optik binoculars on an HF guided walking holiday

Is an HF Holidays family walking holiday right for you?

The holidays work best for families willing to embrace a degree of unpredictability and outdoor adventure. If your ideal break involves lie-ins and long afternoons on a lounger then this is not the holiday for you. But for families wanting quality time together without battling to keep kids off screens, then these walking holidays work really well. Walking removes the endless negotiations of ordinary family life. Children who might spend entire weekends indoors at home somehow manage miles of walking when there’s a waterfall, a cave or an ice-cream stop involved. Parents, meanwhile, get conversation, scenery and the rare luxury of someone else handling all the organisation.

And unlike many family holidays where everyone returns more exhausted than when they left, HF walking breaks often leave families feeling reset. There is something about several days spent outdoors, properly tired by evening and disconnected from ordinary routines that sends you home feeling properly refreshed.

You may return home with muddy boots and damp waterproofs. But you’re also likely to return with children who know what a curlew sounds like, how to spell the word chough and who can identify foxgloves and who will have hopefully discovered that walking can actually be rather fun.