any one been to haven devon cliffs

fishingcinema

hi guys

i have finaly managed to book a 4 night sun £9.50 break to haven devon cliffs and im really excited :j and nervous as am taking my two little darlings aged just 1 and just 2

we are all booked up for the 24 sep fingers crossed for good weather although not too bothered if its not just going to be sooooo glad of a break away from home and its our first family holiday :T

found a link to the park
http://www.havenholidays.com/parks/DevonCornwallSomerset/devoncliffs/?linkname=HomepageFlashMap

but just wanted to know of peoples opinoins who have been here and also is there anything that should not be missed while we are there,and are there food prices on site/off site reasonable as im hoping to get out of cooking lol

any tips help advice would be greatly appreciated

thanks

Doozergirl

It's great for 9.50! I think it's Haven's flagship so they've made an effort with it

If you have a car then don't use the shop on site. There's a big Tesco less than 5 minutes away in the direction of Buddleigh Salterton. (You'll see the signs - you have to turn off that main road to get to the site).

Our favourite thing is going to Exeter and hiring bikes from Saddles and Paddles. You can ride for miles along the river, all flat. The kids love it You'll find loads of leaflets at the main reception area. The Donkey Sanctuary at Sidmouth is entirely free

Take the car down to the beach. It's fine on the way down, but boy is it tiring on the way home - steep slopes all the way!

sam84uk

We're going there for a week from the 22nd sept so may see you there fishingcinema.

Thanksfor the tips Doozergirl I was wondering if there was a decent sized supermarket in the area.

We'll be taking our 2 little ones who'll be 2.5 yrs and 10 months and I'm really looking forward to it. Only thing is we paid the full whack for ours but never mind and I'm sure it'll be worth it.

Let's hope for that Indian summer people keep promising us.

silver_ginger

We went there a few years ago and it was really nice. The beach and facilities are really good, and our caravan was really clean and comfortable ( I think it was silver).
If you want places to go for days out, I'd definately go to the seafront at Exmouth (only 5 -10min drive away), lots for the kids to do, although not sure what will be available during Sept and there's a great theme park called 'Crealy' just outside Exeter. It has stuff for all ages, so should be ok for your little ones.

rlc22

I used to go there when I was a little kid about 20 years ago! I loved it there.

Went more recently, but still about 6 years ago and absolutely loved it

kez1234

hi fishing i went there this year and it was really good the view from caravan was fantastic the beach is really good, we went on a boat trip which was also good overall a really good holiday

nutty1

we've no car, is there anything in walking distance

nutty1

sam84uk wrote: »

We're going there for a week from the 22nd sept so may see you there fishingcinema.

Thanksfor the tips Doozergirl I was wondering if there was a decent sized supermarket in the area.

We'll be taking our 2 little ones who'll be 2.5 yrs and 10 months and I'm really looking forward to it. Only thing is we paid the full whack for ours but never mind and I'm sure it'll be worth it.

Let's hope for that Indian summer people keep promising us.

hi, how was your holiday. we are thinking of going next year

sam84uk

Hi Kathryn,

Our holiday was great thanks, we even had a few days of sunny weather!

We didn't book through Haven though after we went through Haven last year to Perran Sands in Cornwall and we were mucked about a bit with the van. We paid for a silver van and the one we got was disgusting (infested with ants and had a strong alcohol odour) so we complained and had to pay an extra £20 to get a different van but the second one was much nicer. We booked through Newmans http://www.newhols.com/ who were brilliant. We had friends who also came on holiday the same week who paid £100 more than us through Haven for a gold standard sea view van but ours was much nicer. With Newmans you can pick which van you want to stay in so you know where you'll be situated and what kind of standard to expect. This was the one we chose http://www.newhols.com/property-details.asp?propertyid=160&arrivaldate=1/9/08&departuredate=8/9/08 it was gorgeous and had a beautiful view with a large veranda. It didn't seem like a caravan at all, it was much more comfortable and was like sitting in your lounge.

The park itself was great although it's very big and quite hilly. We didn't get round to swimming but I did use the spa which was excellent. If you book and pay before you go you can use the facilities for £10 (for 3 hours) rather than £15 (if you book when you arrive). We didn't really use the entertainment much so can't really comment too much, the little that we saw seemed OK. As mentioned previously there is a decent sized Tesco not far from the site and a family pub (The Clinton Arms) just down the road with Tea rooms/restaurant opposite.The beach looked lovely and was very clean.

The only thing we found was that the main attractions of the area were all around an hours drive away (the one's we were interested in anyway). There is a park literally outside the entrance of Devon Cliffs called World of Country Life which was very good if you have young children (lot's of farm animals to pet, goat walking although I think it was the other way around, a museum, indoor play areas, bouncy castles, big slides & nice outdoor play areas) and as mentioned my other half took the kids to the Donkey Sanctuary (it's free) which I think was about half an hour away (I was at the spa). We also visited the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth which was good (if you pick up a leaflet for here there are money off vouchers inside, we saved £5) and we also visited the Butterfly Farm and Otter Sanctuary near Buckfastleigh which was nice but quite small although there is a railway nextdoor which has Steam Engines on (I think it was the South Devon Railway but can't quite remember) so perhaps you could combine this.

Hope that helps and I hope wherever you go next year you have a lovely time.

Sam

sam84uk

kathrynt wrote: »

we've no car, is there anything in walking distance

I just noticed this post! Most of the stuff I posted about is probably a bit useless but I did notice a sign outside the reception saying that there is a bus service which runs into the park and into Exmouth (I think anyway) where you can get boat trips from. We intended to do the boat trip but never got around to it.

HTH