Apart from the lack of sun, the UK is very expensive, Brian, in comparison with most of Europe, even with the euro exchange rate being what it is, and not always as much fun. At least you can get decent food and service when you go elsewhere.
Everything in the UK and especially around London is just too much hassle. I'm being polite as actually I think its all total utter c**p.
For instance a day trip to Leeds Castle from London by public transport - ?8 return by train, total ?16 plus ?5 return each for the shuttle bus, total ?10 then ?32 entrance fee for 2 people. Grand total ?58. And thats a fairly local day trip to an historic house that someone may consider doing. Not us unfortunately so thats ?58 less spent in the UK.

At Xmas we went to the London Aquarium. What a load of tat. Loads of posters of fish but not too many, er real fish.

At Easter we thought we'd take our child to Battersea Park and Zoo on Good Friday. The park website suggested free parking. When we arrived they'd changed their minds and were seeking full charge which was circa ?20 for over 4 hours. We stayed 2 hours and drove home, the whole trip cut short, already costing us over ?20 for parking, cups of tea and entrance fees.

I'll bore you a little more;

Our trip to Sussex at the weekend cost us ?95+?16+?20+?20+?12+?20 = almost ?180 for one night in a reputedly decent but modest hotel, two modest pub meals and a short boat trip. It took us a whole day beforehand of trying to get accommodation before we left as everywhere was booked up for days and we had to wait for a no show. It then took us over 4 hours to get there because of the traffic rather than the usual 2. Most of that was spent getting down to Purley. Had we been a little more intelligent we would have risen at 4am for an earlier start. Silly us.

We looked to fill up with petrol half way but all the petrol stations we were directed to had closed down so we were down to our last ml of gas when we stumbled upon a BP garage. When we got to our hotel they tried to palm us off with a damp room. We managed to get another but the feeling of them trying to rip us off rankled. The TV didn't work, the electricity went off the next morning and there was a row amongst the kitchen staff so the manager had to step in and cook the breakfasts, which was abysmal quality. All in all we had a nice time but frankly our experience of holidaying in the UK is reminiscent of Fawlty Towers - too much like hard work.

We also looked at a holiday in the Western Isles this summer - we love the area- but 10 days of independent travel plus b+bs would be IRO ?800 for two adults and one child - totally prohibitive. Getting a ?59 Eurostar ticket to Paris is a little more attractive and holds more promise of a good time than staying in the UK. The only thing I would rate highly for comfort and value is the Youth Hostel Association and thats probably the way forward for us in the UK.