Craig Tara Holiday Park

I have travelled to Craig Tara Holiday Park in Ayr on a yearly basis for the last four years and watched it go down hill faster than an avalanche. I can honestly say the first year I went (2004) I loved it, came home with lots of good things to say about the place but since then I have been a lot less enthusiastic about it. After a poor holiday last year I had to give returning some serious thought but as they have done every year before my fiancées ...
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Craig Tara Holiday Park is situated just outside of Ayr which is a city just over 30 miles outside Glasgow. No matter whether you are approaching from the north or the south the easiest way to find Craig Tara is to follow the sign posts for Prestwick airport, from there on in the park is signposted. The park has beautiful coastline views from where it sits but as you have read from the rest of my review ... more

I have travelled to Craig Tara Holiday Park in Ayr on a yearly basis for the last four years and watched it go down hill faster than an avalanche. I can honestly say the first year I went (2004) I loved it, came home with lots of good things to say about the place but since then I have been a lot less enthusiastic about it. After a poor holiday last year I had to give returning some serious thought but as they have done every year before my fiancées mum and dad went ahead and booked for the following year. As our holiday approached this year we tried to put last year out of our minds and be optimistic about this years holiday, all telling each other that it would be as good as we made it and that last year hadn’t really been that bad but we were kidding ourselves and really we should have prepared ourselves for what lay ahead rather than try to look forward to it.

Arrival:
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On arrival the first thing we noticed was the lack of people waiting to check in and this left us worried straight away. The first year we went we were all ushered through to one of the show bars to line up in massive cues waiting to check in, the second year we checked in at the front lounge but still had to cue for ages, last year although the cues were no where near as bad we still had around a quarter of an hours wait, this year we just strolled in, went straight to the desk and picked up our keys. This by the way has nothing to do with the time of the year we travelled because give or take a couple of days it has been the same time each year. On arrival you get a map and your keys to the caravan or chalet you will be staying in and enough passes for everyone in your party to get them entrance to the bars at night and the swimming pool, this is all they cover and you have to pay and pay dearly for everything else!

Our caravan:
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Our caravan this year was the one saviour of the holiday. Last years caravan although supposedly of a higher calibre was an absolute disgrace where as this years was fairly new and quite clean well with the exception of the condom wrapper under the mattress of the bed I intended to put my son in. The kitchen was clean and all the utensils were there, the table and stools in the living area were at least stable unlike the wobbly legged ones we had last year and the caravan was slightly warmer although the weather was very similar, I guess this must have been because it was newer and maybe not as many draughts got in. Our caravan was situated in Carrick village which for me is one of the better parts of the park, quite central but away from the noisiest parts although this year there weren’t enough people at the park for it to be noisy anyway.

Things to do for the kids:
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My four year old son is very easy to please as a lot of kids his age are so for him it was still a great holiday despite the lack of things to do. We knew from previous years that the variety of things for the kids to do was not great but this was saved by the daytime shows and activities in one of the show bars however this year the shows and activities were few and far between the reason for which we were told was the fact that the park wasn’t busy! Like that’s our fault. We have paid our money and expect to get treated the same as others would at busier times otherwise they should just stay closed until peak season. Besides the shows or lack of them as the case may be there is a small area sectioned off with a few kiddies rides and the worst kept crazy golf park I have ever seen, a couple of bouncy castles and go karts which this year were no good to my son as they had taken away the two seater kart so I wasn’t able to take him on and you have to be eight or over to drive them yourself. Outside of this area there is a fairly decent play park although it is unattended so the older kids tend to run riot through it making it difficult for the younger ones to play peacefully. Then there is the dreaded amusements which I will go into in greater depth later, apart from that unless you get good enough weather for the beach or want to spend your entire holiday at the pool then you have had it. I will also go into more detail about the pool later.

Things to do for the adults:
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I have always seen holiday parks as fun for the kids through the day and good entertainment for the adults at night, which this park used to provide I might add. Now however the entertainment or lack of it is a thorough disgrace. Two years ago we were treated to showaddywaddy and paper lace as well as an entertaining circus which provided balancing acts, fire eating and comedy of a high standard, as well as great music and dancing from the on park entertainers known as the funstars. This year however we were forced to play prize bingo or listen to an endless rabble of local singers who couldn’t actually sing. Worse still there were shows advertised which never took place and sometimes the show bar you expected to be watching them in wasn’t even open. There are two show bars on the park, the bonga wonga show bar and the Atlantic show bar. The bonga wonga is usually used mostly for kiddie’s entertainment and the Atlantic for adults however there is no age limit on entry to either. On our first night there we took our seats early in the Atlantic show bar which was just as well because early into the first act we were told to point out any empty seats not being used as the bonga wonga bar had been closed and everyone in it was heading our way. This was clearly because neither bar was full and it made economical sense for them to run only one bar and tough luck to those who had chose the other. On our third night it happened the other way, we had barely taken our seats when it was announced the Atlantic show bar would shut in ten minutes and could we please make our way to the bonga wonga bar where we found it impossible to get eight seats together although we had been seated comfortably earlier awaiting the show to start. We also now had no idea of which entertainment we would be watching as we hadn’t planned to be in the bonga wonga club at all. (By the way for the younger readers of this paragraph showaddywaddy and paper lace were very popular bands once!)

Places to eat:
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One thing you would usually expect to find in a place like this is a variety of places to grab a bite to eat; well here it is very different. You have a burger van which was only open for a short period usually between 10.30am and 4pm, you have a fish and chip shop inside the complex which served very poor meals at very expensive prices, £6.00 for a fish supper for instance which I may add contained a medium portion of very greasy chips and a good but small solitary piece of fish, then there is burger king which I have to admit I enjoy but you couldn’t eat them every day because you would not only get bored with it but you would need to re-mortgage your home to pay for it. Other than that there is a van selling Chinese food outside the complex during the evening. This van was run by a couple of Chinese guys every year until now but not surprisingly is now run by a couple of locals who work for the park, just like the fish and chip shop which I forgot to mention used to be a harry Ramsdens in previous years. So the long and the short of it is make sure you take plenty of food and cook for yourself or if you have transport take a trip into Ayr city centre where there is plenty to choose from.

The pool:
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The pool is fairly impressive to look at from the spectator’s vantage point but get into it and see it close up before you make up your mind. From first glance the pool appears to be very inviting and fun, the fun part is correct with many small slides and three different levels to visit it is a fun pool include the two large flumes and at last you have a good point to this park right? .......... WRONG! On closer inspection the hand rails on the stairs are rusty, there’s broken tiles on the sides of the pool and incredibly there is even chewing gum both floating around the water and stuck to the bottom and the sides of the pool. As well as the chewing gum when you are in the pool you can clearly see that no amount of chlorine is going to keep this water clean. All in all it is a very nice pool very badly looked after.

The private beach:
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There is a private beach owned by the caravan park which I visited four years ago, since then we have not had good enough weather to take a trip to the beach however this year we had a very nice day and decided we would give it a visit. I can tell you this is yet another part of the park that has been let go badly, where before we had lay on the sand and allowed the kids to play this year we would not have let a dog play on this beach. There were old nappies, condoms, broken glass and other rubbish everywhere along what had once been a very nice stretch of clean sand. Amazingly in the reception there is a huge poster suggesting that all holiday makers should make good use of the private beach, I can only assume they mean as a dumping ground. This is a Haven holiday park but I am lead to believe it is a franchise trading under Havens name. If there is anyone connected with Haven reading this then stop them using your name before they turn it bad!

The amusements:
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Inside the main complex as well as the two show bars there is a large amusement arcade which you will no doubt find takes up most of your holiday time and money unless you get good weather. The arcade consists of 2p, 5p, 10p; 20p and 30p play machines so there is something for everyone’s level of play. The 2p and 5p play machines are the only ones kids are allowed to play but in my opinion you really shouldn’t be encouraging kids to play these things at all. I personally am not big into throwing money away in machines that are very unlikely to pay much out but I regularly had to visit the place to allow my son to play the video games and ride the simulators and other coin operated attractions as there was little or nothing else for him to do. During my time in the arcade I heard nothing but complaints about machines malfunctioning and people pumping small fortunes into machines which just didn’t seem to ever pay out. There were change machines on every corner of the complex although none of them seemed to work properly and the guy in the change booth could rarely be found so when you went to get change you had to get plenty to make sure you didn’t have to hunt the change guy down at a later stage. As well as the machines paying cash jackpots and the video and ride on machines there was also machines that paid out tickets which could be redeemed for prizes at the gift shop. Some of these ticket machines were good fun for the kids but I would not suggest collecting too many tickets till you see what prizes are available. In years gone by we have collected lots of tickets during the week in order to exchange them for one big toy for our son on leaving. This year however we luckily decided to see what they had so we knew how many tickets to aim for; the answer was not a lot. Although there were big cuddly toys and other things on display these could not be obtained by exchanging tickets but only by paying cash. The actual toys available were cheap plastic rubbish that could be bought for half the price it cost to win the tickets. The ticket exchange stall was another part of the park that only opened when it felt like it and on the day we checked out we saw a family hand over their tickets they had won to a family arriving because they hadn’t managed to get them exchanged due to the shop being closed. The amusement arcade is a huge money spinner for the park and they must be glad when it rains as everyone is forced into here to spend a small fortune.

The indoor fun park:
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This is undoubtedly the biggest disgrace in the park. In this so called indoor fun park there is ten pin bowling, remote controlled cars and a soft play area for the kids, we thought this sounded good but we were very wrong. We paid our £2.50 per person and took to one of the three bowling lanes only to find that no matter how you bowled each shot rolled in exactly the same direction due to the very obvious slope in the lane, we pointed this out to the less than helpful attendant who replied “ yeah they are all a bit squint” when we asked for our money back as we clearly couldn’t bowl on this we were told “ see reception its up to them” before leaving this area we had promised my son he could have a shot of the remote controlled cars but when we put our pound in it got stuck and nothing happened again we approached the attendant who gave us our pound back and told us not to try another as he was going to lunch and would look at them when he got back. So the one thing my son had been looking forward to wasn’t available because the attendant couldn’t be bothered to fix it.

The gift shops:
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There are 5 gift shops in total, two in the complex (one inside each bar) and three outside. The three outside actually appear like only one shop as they are open plan and all lead into each other but each part sells different things. The shops in the bars are clearly designed to rob you of as much money as possible whilst you watch the shows. They are full of displays of light up toys, sweets and popcorn to entice the kids to want, want, want. I made several trips to these shops to purchase juice, flashing toys and sweets for my son and I can tell you they were far from cheap. Some examples I could give you are; £4.00 for an average size tub of popcorn, £1.10 for a fruit shoot drink, and anything from £4.00 to £8.00 for very poor quality flashing toys. One of the toys my son particularly wanted was £6.50 but when I looked through them and tried them none of them flashed, when I asked the girl at the counter if she had any that actually worked she unbelievably replied “they are all just needing batteries because of everyone trying them. We sell batteries over there” so not only did she want £6.50 for the toy but she also wanted me to buy batteries for a toy which clearly stated batteries included. The shops outdoors are designed for people wishing to buy nick knacks to take home to family and friends or to keep to remind them of their holiday. Most of the stuff is actually quite good quality but again very expensive. The outdoor shops also sell ice cream, rock, candy floss and the likes. Along with the gift shops there is also a small supermarket which sells all the essentials you might need during your stay. As this is the only shop on the park it can basically charge what it likes and it does. sadly those with no transport have no choice but to pay. I chose to take the short drive into Ayr to avoid paying £1.45 for a loaf of bread and £2.00 for a 2 litre bottle of coke. The shops on the park are clearly no more than another way of milking every last penny out of their guests.

The staff:
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The staff were a very mixed bunch, I had dealings with a very helpful receptionist who when I was looking for info on things to do outside of the park was only too happy to go online and phone around various attractions to verify opening times and prices for me but on the other hand I also had dealings with a barman who found it a terrible hassle just to have to get the orders right. I asked for two vodkas one with ice one without and a can of coke, when the vodkas arrived both with ice I merely pointed out to him that I wanted one without and couldn’t believe the attitude of the guy. He turned to the girl working with him and said “will you get this guy a vodka with no ice and make sure you get it right or you will get it in the ear too” then turned to me and said “she’s getting it” and walked away. Thankfully the girl serving was much more pleasant and had seen his actions and had the courtesy to apologise for his actions and offered the drinks free. Although the receptionist and helpful barmaid were very pleasant people to deal with they were an exception to the rule as most of the others seemed to find the guests who without whom they wouldn’t have a job to be no more than a hassle to them with the attendant in the indoor fun park being the worst of all.

The good points:
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For as bad as the holiday was I have to admit there were a few good points sadly only a few. One of the good points I have already mentioned was the caravan which was fairly nice. Another good point for me was the centre bar which is situated in the middle of the indoor complex and has a few large screen TVs and a pool table. Although the prices in here were just as expensive as in the show bars it was a very nice atmosphere to enjoy a drink in and overlooked all that was going on. Along with this came the party for Rory who is the camps mascot. All the kids were invited to his birthday party and this was a fairly well run fun day for the kids but again at the end turned into another money making scheme as the kids were told to line up to have their pictures taken with Rory and then an announcement telling parents that these pictures were available to buy from the photo booth in the bonga wonga club at the price of £5.00 each for the basic sized photo or others were available at various prices. How can you let your kid have their photo taken with the parks mascot then tell them you are not buying the photo? So although there were good points they were greatly outweighed by the bad.

A guide to some prices:

Bookings – it is as good as impossible to give you a true idea of booking prices as they change so frequently and depend largely on the time of year you wish to travel and when you book so I will simply point you towards the haven website

http://www.havenholidays.com/Parks

Tokens for the kiddies rides - £1.50 per token with each token permitting one ride
Ten pin bowling - £2.50 per person
Go-karts - £5,00 for seven laps
Trampolines - £3.00 for 5 minutes
The pool – included in booking fees
Pool tables - £1.00 per game
Pint of lager - £2.55
House spirit and mixer - £2.45
500ml bottle of coke - £1.25
Fish supper - £6.00
Sausage supper £4.25
Bag of chips £1.50

My ratings:
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Caravan – 7/10
Kid’s entertainment – 5/10
Adult’s entertainment 4/10
Food and drink – 5/10
Private beach – 3/10
Cleanliness – 5/10
Service – 6/10
Overall experience 5/10

Where the park is should you still want to go:
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Craig Tara Holiday Park is situated just outside of Ayr which is a city just over 30 miles outside Glasgow. No matter whether you are approaching from the north or the south the easiest way to find Craig Tara is to follow the sign posts for Prestwick airport, from there on in the park is signposted. The park has beautiful coastline views from where it sits but as you have read from the rest of my review there’s not much else going for it.

To sum up:
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It has honestly been hard for me to write such harsh words about a place I once used to enjoy so much but I feel it’s only fair to let others know what to expect if they should be travelling here especially if like me they have enjoyed it previously. The park really has went straight down hill and instead of being a fun for all the family holiday it has fast become the holiday from hell. Very little to do, nothing comes cheap, if the weathers bad the holidays bad, show times that cant be relied on, bars that don’t stick to their opening times and a mostly unfriendly unhelpful staff. A few years back I would have and in fact did recommend this place to family and friends now I wouldn’t wish it on my enemy’s it really is a place better avoided. I have heard stories from people who have visited other haven holiday parks and have loved their time there but it is fair to say just from browsing havens website you can see that a lot of the parks have much more to offer than this one does. If you are still planning to visit this particular park then I would suggest leaving it to summer season so not only will the park be busy enough for them to put some effort into the running of the place but also the weather might be good enough for you to be able to find things to do outdoors rather than being trapped in the very expensive amusement arcade. Some of the caravans are situated with very good views of the coastline and this is the one thing the park will always have going for it but is that really enough to base your holiday decision on, I personally do not think it is. I doubt I will ever give this park another try now unless I hear good things about it in the future but it seems to me unless drastic measures are taken it will continue spiral downhill uncontrollably and its with this in mind that I advise everyone planning a holiday to here to think long and hard about other options in the area.

I hope this has been a useful review for you and that you will keep it in mind thus avoiding the disappointments my family and I had to go through.

Thanks for reading!

© thebigc1690 

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