Last year, on a whim, I went online and followed one of those adverty-type junk emails in my inbox. It was for a UK holiday company called Butlins. They had some special offers so I booked a holiday starting a few days later at Butlins Skegness. Here's an account of how my family found the experience.
A little info about Butlins: Billy Butlin formed the company in 1936 to provide affordable holidays to families with young (and older) children, with Skeggie being the first resort, and the famous Redcoats were born. They boast a friendly atmosphere, family entertainment and plenty of facilities to keep everyone amused.
Entertainment: There is a variety of entertainment for the whole family at Butlins, with shows on every day and evening at both their venues; Reds and Centre Stage. There is always a pantomime and when we went to Butlins the panto was Dick Whittington. The kids and adults alike enjoyed this production and for those not interested in the panto, there was a performing Circus also arranged on that day and time. (This was actually a bit of a disappointment, as both were worth watching in my opinion.)
There are also discos for the younger ones, live shows such as the School show which was hilarious, and comedians, organised for every evening. We went out every evening despite having three young children at the time, and didn't feel at all out of place, as there were lots of other kiddies, pushchairs etc, and it was the kind of atmosphere where you didn't feel like you ruined it for everyone else if you had a screaming toddler in toe!!
For older ones (over 18s) there are also lots to do, Jaks is there which is an over-18 venue, and snooker clubs available at all three sites. Butlins also has several over-18 only weekends organised throughout the year.
Facilities: There is an outdoor funfair which is free but we didn't actually go to this as it poured down the whole time we were there!! There is also Splash swimming pool with indoor and outdoor pools and fun stuff e.g. slides, which is also free. There is a cinema with one free showing which was also free but beware of the queues.
There are lots of kids clubs for different age groups, i.e. Under 5, 5-8, 9-12 and 13-16, with a range of daily activities organised and for the little ones there is a lot to do too, with Noddy, Billy Bear and suchlike.
There is also go karting, trampolining and sports facilities; though as it rained we didn't see these either.
Accommodation: There are a wide range of accommodation types to suit your family, from standard to deluxe, depending on your budget. You can choose either self-catering where you will get an aprtment with a kitchen for cooking your meals, or Half-Board where you get basic ensuite accommodation but have your breakfast and evening meal provided.
We stayed half-board and received meal tickets to take to the restaurant in exchange for our breakfast and evening meals. Breakfast consisted of a range of cereals, toast, full english and kippers, and drinks of tea, coffee, fresh orange etc where you helped yourself. Breakfast hours were 8:30am-10am. Evening meal consisted of 'stalls' each serving a different meal, e.g roast dinner, foreign cuisine, salad, kiddies meals, vegetarian etc; and a variety of puddings too, hot cold. Drinks were the same as for breakfast and you could also purchase wine should you wish.
There is quite a lot to do off-site too (in Skegness anyway) which included the seaside (though it rained) and the nearby Ingoldmells market.
My only gripe with Butlins was that we stayed for a week and found that most of the shows were repeated at the weekend that had been shown through the week; but I guess this is to cater for those who only stay for half-week.
The price was very reasonable as we got a special late deal and paid about £200 for our family to go, though this would double if you paid full price.
www.butlins.co.uk
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
Advantages: Great fun, lots to do, well themed, brilliant location, very atmospheric Disadvantages: Expensive on site, get fat from all the drinking and junk food.
Trixie_Firecracker 12.05.2005 (12.05.2005)
·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Butlins
Advantages: Lots to do, great fun family entertainment, good standard of accommodation Disadvantages: Limited choice of food outlets for self-catering guests
very helpful by (94%):
helpful by (6%):
