Holidays on the Coast - Summer Holidays advice

costalotta

Hi,

Me and my partner are looking to take our 6 year old daughter and new born baby away for 3-4 nights during the Summer Holidays.

First starting point was Center Parcs and Butlins. Centre Parcs was extortionate and then read about paying extra for activities once you are there. Switched to Butlins and the Hotel was over £1,000 for 4 nights, the Apartment was £848. Seemed better as a lot, not all, of the activities were included.

Looking for somewhere that has entertainment and close to the sea for my 6 year old. Swimming and may be some fairground rides if possible during the daytime and during the night some family entertainment as she likes dancing and singing.

Does anyone have any recommendations for areas such as Sussex, Hampshire, Kent or surrounding areas and Devon.

Tried Pontins last year and it was absolutely terrible.

Thanks for any advice.

Syman

for what you want,(beach, funfair, entertainment and activities) Butlins is going to be the only one i can think of with all three.

Haven, would be the next option, followed by park resorts. Both offer activities, and entertainment, neither to my knowledge have funfairs on site.

adviceforall

Haven have a park called Church Farm in Pagham West Sussex. Its a nice kept park, based around Pagham Lagoon and not far from the beach. In Littlehampton you have harbour park for a day out with fair ground rides etc. You can also do day out to Bognor Butlins. I know lots of private owners at Church Farm that you can book with for a lot cheaper than going direct. Plus you know what sort fo caravan you have,where on park it is and most have lots of extras. If you want any contact details please ask.

Tigsteroonie

Some Havens have funfair rides, but not as many as Butlins and they are chargeable (whereas they are free at Butlins).

YORKSHIRELASS

My boys absolutely loved Haven, everything is set up for kids and we had many happy holidays there. It is not cheap in the school holidays but if you look at the price of a holiday cottage (where you have to provide the entertainment) then you are getting a lot more for your money. We never had any problems with the cleanliness or standard of the caravans we hired and the facilities on the sites were always good.

Sorry if people take offence but in my opinion all Haven type holiday parks do attract people who go there with their children or grandchildren with the intention of drinking and partying while someone else looks after their kids - or the kids run riot unsupervised. We saw this regularly happen in the entertainment venues on an evening or during the day. We learnt to go with the flow and not let this bother us, our kids were having a good time and that was all that mattered.

The biggest drawback we found with a static caravan is that the baby has to sleep in a travel cot in the lounge, there is usually not enough room to set up a travel cot in the bedrooms. Something to think about.

Ah many happy memories ... bet they still remember Bradley Bear and Rory the Tiger.

gamston

I went to a Haven in sth wales only went there because daughter wanted to see dolphins, they call it Quay west now, it was awful, felt as if every place you went on site they just wanted me to open my wallet and tip out the money, left me with a bad memory


for us we always went to Horburne Torbay, think its called Horburne devon Bay, it was everything we wanted, Kids club, adult entertainment, Beach is 10-15 min walk, Beach is lovely, used to walk into Paignton a couple of days, (nice walk)
lots of things to do (if you have a car)
lots of Caravans advertise letting, so no need to use Horburne,
you do have to expect 2 bad weather days,

artichoke

If you can wait until towards the end of the Summer Holidays ie 25th August onwards - those dates will be available in the next round of newspaper holidays - Sun and Daily Mail / Break Free

You would probably be able to get a Haven, or other such caravan holiday on the South coast...


I would look at the haven website and see if any of the sites / facilities / locations appeal to you.

We went to Haven Allhallows end of August last year - it has an open air pool and weather was scorching that it was good. Not sure what it would be like in bad weather as the outdoor pool was the main attraction.

We have been to Coombs Haven also - that has massive water slides which appeal to my kids.....

they all have slightly different offerings in terms of types of pools / slides / flumes / toddler splash pools..... so you need to look in detail on the website...


some are in walking distance of beaches some are not..

art

13Kent

You can hire a privately owned caravan at a Haven or Butlins site usually cheaper than booking directly, some vans have space for a travel cot in the bedroom as one bed sometimes slides under the other leaving enough room. With a private van you know what you are getting and can book one that is suitable for your needs.

Try this site https://www.directholidayhomes.co.uk/uk

Tigsteroonie

13Kent wrote: »

some vans have space for a travel cot in the bedroom as one bed sometimes slides under the other leaving enough room.

Haven maintenance will come and remove one of the single beds from a caravan bedroom if you ask. That's what we used to do to accommodate a travel cot. But you cannot fit it into the main bedroom with a double bed, no.

13Kent

You can in some 2 bed vans, but not usually in the 3 bed ones.