Families with school-age children often find the choice made for them: a weekend fits into a long weekend without needing time off work, while a full week usually means using proper holiday allowance and lines up best with the summer break. Retired couples or those without school-term constraints have more freedom to choose either, depending on mood and the time of year.

August's bank holiday sits at the tail end of the school summer holidays, so it tends to be the busiest of the three by a clear margin, effectively the last big weekend of summer before term restarts. The May bank holidays fall outside the school holidays for most, so they draw a different mix of visitors, more retired couples and those without school-age children, and tend to be marginally calmer as a result, even though they're still busier than a standard weekend.

You can find out more via Yorkshire coast staycations.

Wildlife and colour are the specific draw many people underrate. Migrating birds pass along stretches of the East Yorkshire and Norfolk coast through September and October, and hedgerows and coastal scrub turn properly seasonal colours a few weeks before inland areas catch up, thanks to the milder coastal microclimate. A pair of binoculars is a better packing decision for an autumn coastal trip than most people think to bring.

Get the full picture at Lincolnshire coast holidays.

Spring itself is a good season for a coastal caravan holidays or countryside break, arguably underused compared with summer. Days are properly lengthening by May, hedgerows are at their best, and the coast still has some of the calm of the off-season without the risk of a genuinely wintry day. A walk along the front near a park like ours on the East Yorkshire or Norfolk coast in May usually means decent light until early evening, without the peak-season crowd that arrives from June onwards.