We visited Craig Tara on the Ayrshire Coast on it's season opening weekend in March 2004. We had booked in September 2003 and we paid £88 for 3 nights half board accommodation. That was for all four of us not each! My family consists of Myself & my husband Paul and our 2 children Jacqueline aged 5 and Alistair aged 3. We wanted somewhere we could relax without worrying about the children shouting and laughing and making a mess.
Accommodation Our accommodation consisted of chalets very similar to those in the 80s comedy show hi-di-hi except bigger inside. Ours was a 2 bed chalet with an entrance hall with 2 bedrooms and a showerroom
off. There was no lounge area or kitchen area which was only very slightly inconvenient as we had nowhere to sit together and play. There was a television in the main bedroom with a combined video player. The rooms were very clean and nicely decorated. The furnishings co-ordinated with each other and the decor. The beds were comfortable. Our room was a double bed and the children had a single bed and bunks so you would be able to have a third child in there comfortably. The showerroom was basic but adequate and clean. It was about a 3 minute walk from accommodation to the main entertainment. Enterainment There are many areas of entertainment. Fantastic swimming pool with excellent changing facilities. The pool is on 3 levels wih shutes and steps of all shapes and sizes. It was the most impressive pool I have seen. The kids loved it and it was included in the price. Ten pin Bowling (small cost) Very basic 3 lane bowling. Good fun. The lanes have seen better days although I have to say that to me that was an advantage as I wasn't worried if Alistair was a bit rough with his ball. There was a ramp for the kids to bowl the balls down. In the same complex as the bowling there was a kids play area wjth balls and shutes etc which was great fun and fully supervised and free. There was an indoor crazy golf which I didn't use but looked good. (small charge) In the main entertainment complex, there were 2 very large entertainment lounges. Entrance to these was included in the holiday price.The Atlantic bar which was a cinema in the afternoon and adult entertainment in the evening with a disco and bingo. The children were allowed in although we didn't go in as the Bongo bongo bar with the childrens entertainment was fantastic. During the day the Tiger club activities were held in here and these ranged from 3 years to 15 years and all sorts of activities were available and they changed daily. In the evening, the entertainment was again tiger Club orientated with a disco. There were appearances by Rory the Tiger, Anxioux the Elephant and Greedy the Gorilla. Bradley Bear even showed his face once. There were security guards on the door that stopped children escaping if they disappeared off the dance floor without you seeing. This bar closed at midnight but the Atlantic was open later. I am not sure how late but Ithink it was 2am. Within the same complex as the 2 bars is a large amusements arcade and a Burger King. Food The main dining hall was very much like a large school dinner hall with with a self service restaurant serving a selection of menus each evening as well as a choice of breakfasts in the morning. The food was very acceptable and the atmosphere perfectly casual for the kids. It didn't matter if they wandered around and were even able to help themselves to drinks. Breakfast and dinner were included in the price. It was excellent value. There was a sandwich bar/coffee shop but we didn't use it. It was small and busy. There was also an Italian restaurant which was unfortunately disappointing and expensive. The food was quite poor and the staff were obviously still very unsure of what to do being the opening weekend.
There was a beach but it wasn't very clean. There were rock pools though which housed little crabs which were fun for the kids.
There was an excellent outdoor kids play area with seating around the edge for supervision. There were various other activities which I cannot review as we didn't use them. They included Gokarts Trampolenes Pitch & putt
The staff were very friendly and the organisation of the site was very good although I wish someone had told us that the clocks had gone forward as we were an hour late for everything on the Sunday morning and didn't realise until Lunchtime!
I would definately go again.
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Jul 2nd, 2004
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