Nothing beats a proper English brew - around one in five UK adults take their favourite tea bags with them on holiday

It’s widely known that Brits love a holiday, whether it’s an exotic trip to the Maldives, a ‘fly and flop’ to the Costa Brava or a cosy staycation on the coast, but a survey has now revealed how much Brits love their home comforts – in particular, their favourite cup of tea.

A new survey of over 2,000 UK adults commissioned by Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity (GOSH Charity), has revealed that nearly one fifth (19%) of UK adults take teabags with them on their holidays, with the biggest culprits being the Silent Generation (people born between 1928 and 1945) with teabags squirreled away in over a quarter (26%) of their suitcases.

It’s not only teabags which travel around the world with Brits; the survey also revealed that 22% of UK adults take their slippers with them on their holidays too. Slippers were again popular with the Silent Generation (26%), but perhaps more surprisingly, the survey showed that over a quarter of Generation Z respondents (26%) would also make sure that slippers were on their packing list as well.

Brits’ love of home comforts shows that home really is where the heart is. The survey backed this up with two thirds of UK adults (66%) saying that their home is their ‘happy place’, and the place that brings joy, comfort and wellbeing to their lives.

For many families, Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) is home for significant periods of time while they undergo life-changing treatment, making those small comforts even more important as they go through one of the toughest times in their lives.

Six-year-old Arianna was diagnosed with high-risk stage four neuroblastoma in November 2021, after complaining of back pain. Soon after being transferred to GOSH, Arianna started on eight rounds of high-dose chemotherapy. She then went onto a UK clinical trial, before heading into high dose chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy. After having her tumour removed in 2023, Arianna has recently finished treatment and rang the end-of-treatment bell this January.

To help Arianna feel as brave as possible while she went through her intensive treatment, she always made sure to wear her ‘Wonder Woman’ costume, which was one thing she was never without.

Abi, Arianna’s mum, said: “Arianna has always loved Wonder Woman and always wanted to wear her outfit to go into treatment or having an operation that required general anaesthetic – it gave her a boost. We were never without it. We also loved coming into hospital with our family photos of Arianna and her sisters, and her lovely photo fluffy blanket that a friend gifted.

“Arianna is our Wonder Woman simply because of how amazing she is. The treatment that she has gone through, and she was always dancing and laughing – her personality never changed and she always had the biggest smile.”

And now, through its first ever multi-year partnership, Omaze is offering the British public a chance to win their dream home and new ‘happy place’ through its Million Pound House Draw in the Cotswolds. The five-bedroom Cotswolds countryside retreat is worth over £3million and is available to enter now.

Omaze has pledged an incredible £10million for GOSH Charity through multiple house draws over the next five years, with the partnership raising money to help build a world-leading new Children’s Cancer Centre at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).

The Children’s Cancer Centre will be a new home for the hospital’s dedicated experts to deliver new breakthrough therapies to transform children’s cancer care and save more lives. It will have new inpatient wards, intensive care units, new operating theatres and a cancer day care centre where children can receive their chemotherapy treatment, meaning the hospital’s specialist teams can all work more closely together in the same part of the campus. Alongside the clinical services, the Children’s Cancer Centre will also feature a new hospital school and outdoor spaces including a roof garden, to make sure children can still be children while they are going through their treatment.

Liz Tait, GOSH Charity’s Director of Fundraising, said: “As we’ve seen from this research, home is the ‘happy place’ for a lot of people in the UK. GOSH already provides a home-from-home environment for seriously ill children and their families, but the hospital now needs a new home for children’s cancer care and other crucial services.

“That makes our partnership with Omaze feel very fitting – the prize draw gives people the chance to win their dream home, whilst at the same time raising vital funds to help the hospital get theirs for children with cancer.

“Despite advances over the last few decades, cancer is still the biggest killer of children aged 1-14 in the UK and we need to do more for the five families who receive a childhood cancer diagnosis every single week. We’d encourage everyone who can to enter and to help us beat childhood cancer once and for all.”

Omaze is one of the Founder Partners of the transformational project, and GOSH Charity will benefit from Omaze’s updated donation model, which enables it to increase its guaranteed minimum donation tenfold, rising from £100k to £1 million per house draw.

Omaze’s latest prize draw will see one lucky winner getting the keys to a newly renovated five-bedroom Cotswolds stone house, offering wonderful views of the idyllic Cotswolds countryside, as well as a cash prize of £100,000. The 4,700 sq. ft property comes mortgage free, with all stamp duty and legal fees covered and the owner can decide to either live in the house, rent it out for a supplementary income or sell it to become a cash multi-millionaire.

Draw entries for the Omaze Million Pound House Draw, Cotswolds are available now at omaze.co.uk The draw closes on Sunday 25th February for online entries and Tuesday 27th February 2024 for postal entries.

For full terms and conditions, see www.omaze.co.uk. No purchase necessary to enter. Over 18s and UK residents only.

-ENDS-

For more information, please contact: 

Grace Waters, GOSH Charity press office

Grace.waters@gosh.org

Notes to editors:

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc.  Total sample size was 2097 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 29th - 30th January 2024.  The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults (aged 18+).

About Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity (GOSH Charity)

Great Ormond Street Hospital is one of the world’s leading children’s hospitals with the broadest range of dedicated, children’s healthcare specialists under one roof in the UK. The hospital’s pioneering research and treatment gives hope to children from across the UK with the rarest, most complex and often life-threatening conditions. Our patients and families are central to everything we do – from the moment they come through the door and for as long as they need us.

Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity needs to raise money to support the hospital to give seriously ill children the best chance for life. The charity funds research into pioneering new treatments for children, provides the most up to date medical equipment, funds support services for children and their families and supports the essential rebuilding and refurbishment of the hospital. You can help us to provide world class care for our patients and families. For more information visit www.gosh.org.

About Omaze UK: https://omaze.co.uk/pages/about-omaze

Omaze offers the chance to win once-in-a-lifetime prizes whilst supporting incredible charities. Since its UK launch in 2020, Omaze has raised a total of £28,505,000 for the following charities: Teenage Cancer Trust, British Heart Foundation, The Prince’s Trust, the NSPCC, GOSH Charity, Cancer Research UK, Alzheimer’s Research UK, RSPCA, Blood Cancer UK, Cornwall Rural Housing Association, Global’s Make Some Noise, Hackney Foodbank, Dogs Trust, Well Communities, Marie Curie, RNLI, Holt Youth Project, Glaven Caring, Macmillan, FORCE Cancer, Breast Cancer Now Kensington & Chelsea Foundation, and NHS Charities Together.

Omaze is listed on the Fundraising Regulator’s register of approved professional fundraisers in the UK and is committed to upholding good fundraising practice.

Omaze is listed on the Fundraising Regulator’s register of approved professional fundraisers in the UK and is committed to upholding good fundraising practice.