Cheapest UK destinations for a last-minute holiday cottage this Easter

If the four-day weekend and longer, brighter days are tempting you into a UK break, you can still bag a holiday cottage bargain – as long as you avoid the most popular hotspots. 

The cheapest region for an Easter break is Shropshire. A cottage holiday there costs a whopping £400 less on average than a week in the most expensive region – the Outer Hebrides. 

We’ve crunched the numbers on more than 14,000 one, two and three-bedroom properties still available to rent from the UK’s biggest holiday cottage providers. Here we reveal the best-value locations for Easter. 

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Where are the cheapest holiday cottages this Easter?

If you book now, you’ll pay an average of £800 for a week’s cottage stay in England, Scotland or Wales.

Shropshire is the cheapest last-minute destination for a holiday cottage – at just £675 on average. And if you’re looking for a one-bedroom cottage, that price drops to just £590.

There you can hike through the scenic Shropshire hills (an area of outstanding natural beauty) and explore the county’s timbered towns: foodie Ludlow and Shrewsbury, with its wonky Tudor buildings.

Herefordshire and Durham/Tyne and Wear also offer average prices of under £700 a week. Expect spectacular stretches of coastline in the latter: Tynemouth is a favourite in our survey of the UK’s best seaside towns. 

The Scottish Borders – famous for its rolling green hills and ruined medieval abbeys –  is Scotland’s cheapest region, with plenty of properties still available at £700 on average. That’s £371 cheaper than the Outer Hebrides at the other end of the scale (£1,071 per week).

In Wales, you can enjoy the forests, lakes and waterfalls of Bannau Brycheiniog (the Brecon Beacons), with cottages available at £732. That’s more than £100 cheaper than the tourist hotspot of Snowdonia (£846 per week).

Want to book with the best? The Landmark Trust, Classic Cottages, Sally’s Cottages, National Trust and Rural Retreats are all recommended providers in our survey of the best and worst holiday cottage companies 

The cheapest last-minute holiday cottages

The priciest hotspots for a last-minute cottage break this Easter

Which areas have last-minute deals on cottages?

You won’t pay through the nose for a last-minute booking, according to our data. Prices are roughly the same as when we started our analysis in September last year. 

We track thousands of holiday cottage prices for peak booking periods to identify when and where you’ll find the best deals.

And you can still find some regions with deep discounting for last-minute properties. 

The Outer Hebrides may be the priciest region we checked, but prices have dropped by 15% in the past six months. Holidaymakers who book now will pay almost £190 less, on average.

Prices have also fallen in the Scottish Borders by more than £100. 

Try playing around with your check-in dates and comparing prices on different sites to bring prices down further. See more tips on how to save on UK holidays.

Where are the cheapest cottages with hot tubs?

Cottages with hot tubs are in high demand. The best prices are available in Mid Wales, where a decent number of cottages with hot tubs are still available. They cost £965 a week on average – £230 more than a regular cottage in the same area.

It’s still a bargain compared to Devon, where a cottage with a hot tub will set you back £1,174. 

Our research

We compared the prices of 14,133 one, two and three-bed cottages still available for a week’s stay from or around 29 March from the UK's three biggest providers – Cottages.com, Holidaycottages.co.uk and Sykes. 

We’ve only included regions with at least 30 cottages still available across the three companies. There was insufficient data to include Northern Ireland.