I have to say that this is not at all the fault of the park though. The weather was atrocious and completely ruined the holiday. We had really intended to use the park as a base for seeing the local sites rather than using the park facilities I have to be honest, but the relentless rain and low temperatures completely thwarted our plans.
The apartment that we stayed in was Silver Half Board (Brig o'Doon), situated about 500 yards from the central complex. This stopped most of the noise at night but regrettably the walls are like tissue paper. My partner could hear the guy next door snoring! It was more rowdy at the weekend with the odd drunken couple staggering past, but I imagine the busier it gets…….
The chalet consisted of a double bedroom with TV and coffee making facilities (They provide coffee whitener so if you are a tea drinker take your own milk), a kids room with a single and a bunk bed, an entrance hall and a bathroom with walk in shower (These are pretty much how you see them on the Haven website's 360 degree photography). The chalet had 3 cupboards so there was loads of space for your luggage
etc. The décor was cheap, cheerful and clean. However the maid service with the half board only called once every 2 days and after getting sand everywhere - you really need a change of towels every day and a clean carpet.
Because we were half board and got meals in the Turnberry Gardens Restaurant, we didn't get the small kitchen and sitting area that was available in the other silver accommodation. This was a shame. For sheer comfort this would have made the chalet more accommodating during the rainy periods (Which were Sun, Mon, Tues, Wed Etc..!!!) - perhaps we wouldn't have returned home…who knows??
Upon arrival, I have to say that the staff on site were very helpful helpful and welcoming. We received our keys promptly with a welcome pack and a bus timetable. (I've heard that there can be delays in checking in if you turn up at the allotted check in time, we arrived 2 hours after this and got straight through.) We were shown a map and given directions to our chalet.
The staff at the Turnberry were really hardworking and pleasant. We were provided with a perforated card of tokens to redeem for meals. You could select a 3-course meal from the more traditional meal bar, a Chinese/Indian Cuisine section, a salad bar, omelette bar and pasta bar. The food wasn't Gordon Ramsey but it wasn't rubbish either (which is the feeling that you'll initially get because it served in a huge canteen-but with plenty of seating and plenty of room - so don't be put off) - the guy on the omelette bar is a complete star and his omelettes (made while you wait ) are delish! The place is pricey if you aren't half board however and I think if we had been paying the prices they were asking we wouldn't have been so pleased.
On the Saturday night that we checked in, I have to say the queue to the Turnberry was a mile long. We thought 'Jeez..we really don't want to do this every night.' But it was because a lot of people were receiving there token cards. Once you had this card on the following nights (like the Monday night check in Queue which was massive too!) you can simply walk to the front of the queue - have your card punched and go straight in. On the night we arrived only traditional meals were open too so that created congestion which, I think was a one off.
As far as the entertainment goes I really can't comment here. Although we have a 5 year old, we're very much into exploring the surrounding area so the weather being like it was we weren't able to do this. The Splashzone swimming complex was very, very popular with the kids however and our daughter got more than her money's worth out of the Jungle Gym area. There is also a large adventure playground bang in the middle of the park which was always busy. These were pretty much the only things that were free. Everything else had a price tag attached - so be prepared to part with a lot of cash!
The Rory the Tiger stuff was over priced and nasty, as this stuff always is, and was absolutely everywhere. Maybe because we were out of the park so much of the time, but we didn't see Rory once! (You get a timetable of events on arrival that we ignored so I suppose that it serves us right!) It does beg the question however…what is there to do on rainy days? Because we really weren't occupied. My idea of a good time is not filling slot machines and boozing.
The beach lies at the bottom of the park and I thought it was lovely to walk on and explore. It was covered in seaweed and some would call it dirty but it wasn't. It just hadn't been 'cleaned' by one of those huge diggers that take away all the seaweed so that it looks totally clear and pretty. (If your talking about dirty beaches take a look at Troon…it might look lovely but you can smell the raw sewage…not nice!) Beware Jellyfish! We found the hugest Jellyfish we'd ever seen that first night. It was pretty much the same in Ayr…I'm not sure had the temperature even been right we would have allowed any kind of paddling!!! Are these things poisonous?? The beach had lots of rock pools and our 5 year old really loved it.....you can't argue with that!
If you don't have a car like us then you will have to use the local bus service run by Stagecoach. There is an A4 bus every hour from 9.15am from outside the reception that goes to Ayr. This bus runs like clockwork and it's about 15 minutes to Ayr. Again, without a car, you are going to be making this journey regularly (It is £1.95 per adult one way into Ayr £3.30 return) so buying a megarider ticket is really worth it. They do the tickets in Zones. We initially bought the Zone 2 ticket (£15.50) because we wanted to get down as far as Culzean Castle and Girvan, but we'd needed the Zone 3 (£17.50). After some argument at the Bus station they did change it for us and we managed to get to Culzean. It might seem expensive to buy a ticket like this but even in the 5 days we were there we got very good use of it. Please note - Troon - The beach looks clean but stinks of raw sewage.(Not Seaweed….SEWAGE!)
All in all we are pretty bemused by this holiday. I can't help but feel had the weather been better we would have seen the whole park in a different light. What I will say is that it was our first experience of a holiday park and it isn't something that is for us. I think for the price people pay for accommodation that they could provide a whole lot more things to do within that price. We were given these passes on arrival that were never asked for the whole time we were there - so what's the point. If you are regulars of this type of holiday I'm sure that you will enjoy it.
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Advantages: Great for all ages. Fun and relaxing. great value. Disadvantages: noisy at night in adjacent chalets & not a nice beach. Bar quite expensive.
Moiraken 02.07.2004 (02.07.2004)
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Review of Craig Tara Holiday Park
Advantages: Everything at the park is within walking distance. Disadvantages: Took a while to find through a housing estate not signposted until you're close to it.
lindylou120 13.10.2007 (15.10.2007)
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Review of Craig Tara Holiday Park
Jun 20th, 2005
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