Sometimes, thankfully not too often, life in our house gets a little bit too much to bear. These are the times when we grab for the Butlins brochure, work out how soon we can afford to get away, and then run for it as fast as we can, as soon as we can.

We live in Nottingham. The nearest seaside town to us is Skegness or Skeggy as us common people affectionately call it.
Skegness is about 80 miles from here. It is a traditional seaside town and the motto or slogan for Skegness is 'Come to Skegness.....Its bracing!'. Having had the pleasure of visiting Skegness on many occasions, including October and early spring, I can tell you that 'Bracing' is a nice way of saying...Bloody freezing!

3) They have a half board option.
When I am at the point where one of these breaks is desperately needed, I don't want to have to spend half the holiday tied to the cooker, trying desperately to satisfy the children. The food is in with the price, so apart from the odd snack or two, I don't have to delve into that precious spending pot to feed the hungry brood.

Butlins in Skegness is situated on the A52 between Skegness and Ingoldmells. Five minutes down the road you can find the famous Fantasy Island complex with its mega market and huge rides and rollercoasters. This is a great place and I would recommend you pay it a visit.

BOOKING

CHECK IN

When we go to Butlins we tend to go half board and we usually select the standard accommodation. For that we get a double bedroom and another room for the kids with a set of bunk beds and a single.
The bedding is on the beds when we arrive, which is a plus. I hate having to make the beds before we can use them. I wouldn't describe the accommodation as spacious, infact they are a little cramped and there is not a lot of room to move.They are not actually much bigger than one of the double bedrooms that you would get in a spacious caravan.
They are clean though, and the bathrooms are large. There are big mirrors for make up times, and the showers have lots of hot water and non slip bottoms, which I like to see.
There was plenty of wardrobe space and bedside cabinets too.
You get a kettle and cups and a welcome pack that gives you enough tea and coffee to make one drink.

We were allocated a time for dining. The food itself was good and the menu was varied and gave us lots of choices. There were meals for vegetarians and salad selections for those health conscious visitors. I found that although the dining room was very large and beautifully decorated, it actually felt really cramped with so many people packed into it at one time. In the summer season there are other restaurants open to accommodate the large numbers of people who want to eat there, but off season the choice is more limited.
The first time we went we were given a breakfast time of 10am. I was not happy with this. I am and always have been an early riser and would eat breakfast much earlier than that at home. I appreciate that some people like to lie in when they are away and the 10am breakfast for them was ideal, but for my family this was far too late. I would have had to buy snacks to keep the kids going until we could get into the restaurant.
I have to say that after complaining, we were accommodated on the first sitting, but I do feel it would have saved everybody's time if we had been asked when booking what time we wanted to eat.

Evening meals were three courses, a choice of starter, main course and pudding. The kids thought it was great. We had the same waiter all the time we were there and this meant that they get quite chatty with the kids, which adds to the experience in my eyes.

THE STARLIGHT PAVILION

There is a post office, a bookmakers , a hairdressers and a doctors surgery all on site too.

OTHER ATTRACTIONS

Sunsplash........ Sunsplash is Butlin's indoor swimming area. I was going to say pool but it is so much more than that and it is all free so as you can imagine my kids spent a lot of time there. There are waves and bubbles and all sorts of splashes and sprays that makes this a wild water experience. There is a mega bowl, which for those of you that don''t know, is like a huge plughole that spins you around and around before plunging you into the water below. There are two flumes and also one of those canoe runs that catapults you around the area in a boat, shooting you around and around and then shooting you out at the end.
The best bit for me is the volcano that sits in the middle of the area. Climb up the steps and get inside. You will find yourself in a deep jacuzzi, a hot bath, that definitely helps take away the stresses and strains of the morning after.
The splash is open from 10am to 5pm and then after there are special sessions for ladies only and adults only.

On top of all this there is also the sports area, the Go Karts and of course the beach. Butlins has its own beach gate straight out onto the beach. My only problem with this is that they open it too late (After 9am in the morning) and they close it too early (Sometimes we found the gate locked at around 5pm).
I like to walk before breakfast and after tea and I was disappointed that I could not walk on the beach at times that were convenient for me.

Entertainment is provided for the children during the day by Butlins's famous Red Coats.There are opportunities for painting and drawing, football and the more traditional seaside games and sandcastle competitions.
It is at night however that the camp comes to life and the Red Coats show why their jobs are so coveted.
There are various pubs and clubs on the site, some that allow kids in, some that don't.
They open at 7am and they close around 1am.
People start queuing to get in at around 5pm and by the time the entertainment starts the place is already packed.
I love the entertainment at Butlins and you definitely get a lot for your money. I hate the venues themselves. The aisles are way too small and they do not allow room for buggy's or wheelchairs. The fact that they get so crowded means that people tend to get a bit fed up of someone squeezing past them every few minute and so very often you end up with lots of grumpy people and lots of spilt beer.

The swinging Shillelagh.....Adults only pub...Little entertainment, but no kids allowed so its a place to hide when you need a break.

Put this with the entertainment on offer all day in the Skyline Pavilion, and I hope you can see that there is a lot of choice at Butlins and infact there is so much to do that evenings at Butlins are as lively an affair as you want them to be.
At all venues there are Red Coats who's jobs are to make sure that you and your family have a great time. In my opinion they do a good job.

Facilities for disabled guests are really good and well signposted too.

Booking out of season is of course a lot cheaper and you can get some really good deals. We took the whole family...All 5 of us for 3 nights for £240 Half Board.
I would recommend that you visit the web site and play around with whats available and see what sort of deal you can get.
On your third booking you become a premier member and you get extra discounts and you can book in a couple of hours earlier when there is less of a queue.

Despite the fact that I have told you a lot of the things that I could see improved on this camp, I have to say that as a holiday package you get an awful lot for your money. The camp is clean and well maintained and the entertainment is out of this world. There is something to suit all ages and tastes, even those picky teenagers.

You can camp and caravan on the site too, so if thats your thing you might well get the best of both worlds as again all the entertainment is thrown in for the price.