butlins minehead gold accomodation

Keeping_Positive

Just been to Minehead silver halfborad and was right inbetween skyline and food. Can remeber the name exept the area we were in was coded with a blue square.

Food not great but reasonable choice,kids lovedi t, I loved the stress free part with no shopping, cooking, washing up.

Accomodation ok except DDs did find that under the beds werent cleaned - dont ask why they have to go under the beds in the first place !!

Bit we didnt like was one night in the centre stage there was an ex e factor star. They packed people in so even if you got in early and got a table unless you were right at the front people just stood in front. Only one securtiy guard on in the room as well :mad:. Mentioned the fact it was full to the guard on the door who said we have room for another 500 :eek:. Other nights werent too bad but this was just before peak season.

spaceman5

FloFlo wrote: »

The hairy dog is nice but its not cheap for what it is. There is a small town centre which is ok for a walk. There is a railway station with steam trains, might be nice for the kids if they haven't been on one. Also there is a castle a short drive from Minehead, Dunsten castle, and a small village near it which was interesting to have a quick walk round.

Other than that there isn't much there outside of Butlins. We tend to spend our days swimming (Butlins pool is great), walks along the beach, and activities in Butlins - sometimes they have some nice ones where a zoo expert brings in exotic animals for children to see.

is it any good, i have been to dunster castle and that is pretty good:rotfl:

kippers

spaceman5 wrote: »

is it any good, i have been to dunster castle and that is pretty good:rotfl:

...So did we and we also had a lovey time.

Quite near to it (signposted) is Dunster beach which looked good for rock pooling. It had sand also and wasn't busy at all. It has a couple of little shops for an icecream etc but it was very quiet and nice for an afternoon. The carpark next to the beach was pay and display though.

We also found a small pretty park (on the right hand side of the main Minehead street as you walk away from the sea). The Sunday we were there they had a band playing on the bandstand. It also has a little cafe, it was lovely. However, there are no play things for the kids.

There is a pub also on the lefthand side (can't remember the name but it's quite big) that advistises that it has a play area at the back...this keeps the kids quite for a while while you sit and watch them play.

By the way, Minehead Butlins now has an ice skating rink which my DD's loved but they charge five pounds for an hour which i think is a bit steep....but as i said, my DD's really loved this.

FloFlo

Oh god not ice skating!! We went to the outdoor rink at Cardiff on Boxing Day, I was the only one who could skate and I'm sooooo rusty at it.

I found Dunsten castle much more interesting than Dunster castle (lol, it took me half hour of trying to remember the name to get Dunsten).

Keeping_Positive

I was the only one who could skate and I'm sooooo rusty at it.

LOL Thankfully either we just missed it or it hadnt opened when we went a few weeks ago. The last time we went skating I did half a lap before coliding with the barrier recovering for 10 mins then finishing the lap very sloooowly and going home to end up in the pub down the road. So a 46 mile round trip to end up round the corner!

blue_monkey_2

FloFlo wrote: »

Where are the silver sc, are they near the restaurant or the skyline? If they are near the restaurant with the standard I might as well stick with standard the only reason I wanted to upgrade was to be nearer the skyline.

When I intially called we was right at the back of the resort, furthest away from everything. We need BB parking so are now at the ones near the Skyline but if you want one of these (Plantation Quay) then call and ask them for it on your 'Special Requests' The Silver SC are furthest away. I can report back after we have been but it does say 'any requests' so there should be no reason why you cannot ask for it. Deluxe is quite a long way away too.

Another question, can you get to the outside pool there without going through Splash? Can you get to Splash via the outdoor pool if the door is open? (you can at Butlins) I am hoping that we are able to come back and forth to the pool in our swimming stuff as we are right next to it rather than have to go via their fiasco of a changing room system. It is the worst system I have ever come across in my life!!

blue_monkey_2

Butlins are really irritating me with the stuff you now have to pay for. At Skeggy we loverlooked the 3 bouncy castles, £2 a go for 5 minutes bouncing. The kids went on every day for a go. I said no.

And the rides, when we went it was realy quite so they were letting the rides go round for ages. When we got off the Mexican Hat (thank god, it was a looooong ride) a little girl in front of us had vomited everywhere, so we thought we would go on the paratroopers and the bloke had his long rubber gloves on there too.

Butlins Ride Ops!! Not so long on the rides, the kids get sick and the parents get bored!! And you have to clean it up. And that was a on a Friday lunchtime so hoping those poor kids were not going to have along jouney back in sicky clothes. Urgh.

blue_monkey_2

The thing about Minehead is the long and windy roads so it takes forever to get anywhere. You can go to Diggerland 30-40 miles away and you can get admission with tesco clubcard vouchers. We are going there the day before and doing a 2 for 1 in Holiday Inn Sat/Sun.

Gordie1975

Im quite familiar with Minehead....

They do a deal in the pool place(hotshots) £20 and you can play as much pool as you want all weekend, well worth it only if you play pool obviously.


It's sometimes worth asking for a free upgrade, if they have deluxe units spare, and you catch the person in the right mood, they may well do it for you.

If you like candyfloss, use the candyfloss vending machines in the skyline, they are £1 a floss rather than the £1/£2 a go from the shop/bar.

same goes for soft drinks buy from the machines/shops rather than bars,...and remember anything you buy from a food outet you are allowed into the bars, Burgerking/chip shop, soft drinks with your own special ingredient.:p

If you get any photos takes by Butlins photographer, keep our ticket you are given and try go before the last day to collect, as you could spend an hour in a que on the morning you leave.

If you want a Sunday lunch, the Hairy dog in town is the best i've ever tasted, but it is expensive, however it does have a good play area for the children.

Theres a wetherspoons at the top of town, some great cheap drinks and food from there.
The ship aground is at the harbour and is a proper old fashioned pub, quite often has traditionalmusicon there, blokes with Banjos and accordians.

Theres a market every Tuesday/thursday the the hobby horse carpark , but mostly selling cheap tat, but some bargain makeup there L'oreal for £1 !!! (the butlins dotto train goes by there).

The steam train is a nice ride, like stepping back in time.

Blue anchor is nice, dunster castle, watchet harbour, and their is a Tropiquaria, a small zoo place with climbing areas for kids, this also houses the Watchet BBC radio museum, full of old TV's radios transmiting equiptment, you name it, kind of like a junk yard inside, the stuffs probably worth millons, but is all just dumped ontop of eachother like a jumble sale.:rolleyes:



Anyway, thats my views on it all.:rotfl:

FloFlo

blue_monkey wrote: »

When I intially called we was right at the back of the resort, furthest away from everything. We need BB parking so are now at the ones near the Skyline but if you want one of these (Plantation Quay) then call and ask them for it on your 'Special Requests' The Silver SC are furthest away. I can report back after we have been but it does say 'any requests' so there should be no reason why you cannot ask for it. Deluxe is quite a long way away too.

Another question, can you get to the outside pool there without going through Splash? Can you get to Splash via the outdoor pool if the door is open? (you can at Butlins) I am hoping that we are able to come back and forth to the pool in our swimming stuff as we are right next to it rather than have to go via their fiasco of a changing room system. It is the worst system I have ever come across in my life!!

Not sure about the outdoor pool we never go in summer so haven't seen it open lol.I know what you mean about the changing rooms, pool is lovely but changing is a nightmare.