Anyone been to Haven Holiday Park in Ayr (Craig Tara?)

ashleyrossuk

I went to Haven in Ayr this year (May) with my 3 year old son.

I wasnt totally impressed with the park.
My son loved it.
Good Park
Soft play area (free for under 5's)
Free pool (which is REALLY good fun)
Nice shallow area for the youngers in and small flumes for them, and bigger flumes for the older children.

We went half board and the food was lovely, my son got a bit carried away the first night and after the second course, threw up in the middle of the dinning room.

We stayed in a chali, which didnt have a living room which was a bit annoying.

Right near the beach which was clean!

Obvioulsy drink wasnt the cheapest, but that is expected.

Went to one show and one session on the kids club which seemed quite good for the kids (if unlike my son is not terrifed of Rory the tiger and friends)

Overall the holiday was good but quite expensive the buy in the park.

havekidsamskint

Hi,

I've been to Craig Tara, also Berwick, Haggerston & Primrose Valley.

I find that the holidays are great if you have young kids, mine are 2 & 5
but Craig Tara was probably the one I liked least (I've been back to all the others again)..
The staff were not the brightest sparks.
The pool & other facilities for kids are great, lots of green space for footballs & stuff.

The shop is OK for bits & bobs but do your shop in the supermarkets in Ayr before you get there or it will cost you at fortune. Oh and take a bank loan if you want to eat in the Burger KIng:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

All said, if I got a really cheap deal I would go back again.

PS Moneysaving Tip.

I got the internet price from Haven and then called a travel agent & got them to verify the price then asked them for a discount. It worked

ailuro2

We first went to Craig Tara when dd was around 3yo. The park itself was as described, the gold standard caravan was great, double glazed, proper central heating, beds made up for arrival,even had a proper hoover so you could clean properly.:D

Then we went to a British holidays caravan park (Haggerston castle) ,booked Gold standard, we were disappointed to find panel heaters instead of CH, single glazing,no hoover etc which for October short break is a tad chilly.

So we went back to Craig Tara last year , had booked Gold standard, only to find their gold standard is now the same as British holidays.no proper heating and have to make up your own bed on arrival.And the actual double bed was still made up and stank of smoke, obviously left by previous occupants, had to wipe down the bed with antibacterial wipes to get rid of the smell:shocked:
Won't be back.

Have also been to Bronze standard caravan, smoke stained roof and rattling windows.Don't even think about it.

p.s. 2.90 for a copy of Smirnoff ice is pushing proces for drinks a bit much, although the entertainment is good for kids who are easily bored,I suppose. All in all the caravan is cheap but you end up spending lots of money on everything else.

We have now after years of searching found https://www.templandcottages.co.uk have been there twice.Doesn't take Tesco vouchers but is nice,clean,lots of room for kids to play, free videos and books to borrow for wet days, and lots to do in the surrounding area.40 miles drive from Kilmarnock, 12 miles north of Dumfries.

fluffynit

Ended up booking a week at the Gadgirth Estate Lodges near Ayr, so looking forward to it.

fluffynit

ailuro2

Probably worth the extra money, I hope you have a great time.

Remember to let us know how it is.

Heads of Ayr farm park is still in the vicinity and good for 2 and 4 y.o.s:D

denise38

Glad you booked to go somewhere else. I hated it!!! Last time we went was in October and the caravan was freezing with small children wasn't really safe to leave gas fire on.
Also as it was so near the end of the season we couldn't buy crisps in the bar and vending machines were empty they were abviously running it down.
Daugter cut her foot on a broken tile in the pool and they couldn't have cared less!!
To top it all the seagulls used the caravan as a runway early in the morning . Woken by the noise of them running about on the roof.
Prior to that we have been in a chalet and have always had issues regarding cleanliness!
Safe to say we won't be back to that particular park.

truly1

Went to Craig Tara last October, chalet was basic to say the least - OH suggested it was like WWII pow camp. Facilities OK but limited, half board reminded us of schooldinners - smell of cabbage was pervasive.

ailuro2

I forgot about those flaming seagulls...our dd thought somebody was trying to run across the roof,until we explained it was only seagulls.:rolleyes:

johnmcn

I went last year and was unimpressed,like a previous poster said avoid the shop as its bloody well expensive ..well come to think of it everything was from beer to the rip off burger king..

I prefer a wee park down at gatehouse of fleet called http://www.auchenlarie.co.uk/ no rides or burger kings but very reasonable bar/retaurant prices and has enough for the kids during the day.

Trix

Just spent 3 nights at Craig Tara with my OH and two daughters (8 & 12 years old). We booked before reading some of the horrible reviews we read on the internet so were dreading it.

We stopped in a self catering Siver Apartment (classed as luxury) and were pleasantly surprised. Apart from a strange smell in the apartment when we got there (bit like a wet dog :eek:) which was sorted with regular spraying of air freshners for the first day, it was clean and tidy. There was an underbench fridge and seperate freezer, full size cooker and a microwave, and a table that sat four in the kitchen area. In the living room there were two 2 seater settees (one a bed settee) and a tv and radio. The bedrooms had wardrobes and dressing tables and enough room to walk around the beds. The bathroom seemed to be newly fitted but only had a shower not a bath.

When we arrived one of the single duvet covers was ripped all along the top and the hallway light wasn't working. We reported them when we went down to the entertainment area that night and they were both sorted by the time we got back.

The Krankies did a show the first night we were there and were much funnier than I remembered! The rest of the entertainment was pretty good but not always well organised (big gaps between things happening and not advertised correctly). I was a bit annoyed that out of the two entertainment areas (Bonga Wonga Beach Club & Atlantic Show Bar) they both had bingo on at the same time which, if you didn't attend, meant you either didn't get seats or got seats in the worst viewing places for the entertainment that followed.

The pool was great for my eldest with quite a few slides and shoots and pools on different levels, but not so good for my youngest who uses a wheelchair so we only went once. The water sports (aqua scooters, aqua blasters, wave rider, sub sea explorer and aquajets) are only on from 9am - 10am and were fully booked all the time we were there so if you want to do them, book on arrival!

You do have to pay for other activities, but we didn't think it was excessive (for example it was £1.50 each for crazy golf, £3 for the go karts and £4 for the bungee trampolines) The mini fair has things like tea-cups and cars which were about the same as you would pay anywhere. There were an unbelievable amount of arcades there so I was glad my two weren't really interested in that sort of thing!

Prices for food, drink and gifts were standard holiday park prices so no shocks there either.

That's all I can think of for now, but we enjoyed our time there and agree that the Heads of Ayr next door is a great day out (£22 for a family ticket). We were there for around 3 hours but could have spent at least another 3 hours there.

The holiday we had was supposed to be £399 for the 3 nights which I wouldn't have paid anyway and would have been disappointed if I had paid that, but I got the break for £79 so for just over £26 per night, we had more than our moneys worth