Haven would be a great place to take kids, but we always book a bit out of season, and usually save up the tokens in the Sun newspaper, so we usually get a great cheap deal.
The Place
Haggerston Castle is set back off the A1 in Northumberland. The site is 7 miles away from Berwick upon Tweed. It is also North of Alnwick & Alnwick Castle &Gardens which is efianately worth a visit. There are a host of things to do in the area as it lies on the edge of Northumberland National Park, and is close to Bamburgh, Alnwick, Berwick and Holy Island. You are also within driving disatnce of sections of Hadrians Wall - Also well worth a visit.
The Site
It has the usual array of family friendly entertainment, and that silly bloody tiger. The games arcade is pretty sizeable, and noisy as hell. The site itself is big, and we were located very far away from the "Centretainment!" which was a relief! LOL!
There is a stables and horseriding facilities at the site, as well as a great boating lake, swimming pool (both indoor and outdoor), fishing and a little 9 hole golf course.
There is a takeaway, and a fantastic Chinese Restaurant is located along a pretty, short walk through the site.
The Accomodation.
We have never had a problem with the acomodation at any Haven, and I think we may be in a minority!! There is just us two, and we usually end up with a caravan in the quieter areas further away from the cenre of the site, which suits us well. The caravan here had 1 double bedroom, and one twin bedroom, which we never even went in. There was a big lounge, and spotlessly clean kitchen and a a tiny yet immaculate bathroom. There was a fully working gas fire (we needed it as it was October, and bitterly cold!) and the lounge and bedroom areas had obviously been well cleaned before our arrival.
One thing I will mention was the shower. Althought it was clean, it was flippin rubbish! Despite trying anything and everything we could think of, it was barely more than a trickle, and clap cold. On complaining at reception, they did send a handyman to fix it while we were out, which made it warmer (nowhere near hotter) and not any more powerful. So just be aware that the showers are generally a bit, well, crap.Other Stuff.
We only ate at the site once. There was a supermarket on site, but the prices were astronomical, so we went to Berwick to the Co-op there! There was also a great little pub that served food and was very cosy, just a bit further along the A1, but because it was on the A1 and probably about 2 miles away, only one of us ever had a drink at one time cos it was too dangerous to walk back!
Otherwise, we had a fantastic stay, in cheap but cheerful accomodation and it was great value for money.We have also stayed at Prestatyn Sands which was absolutely ABYSMAL and I wouldn't reeommend it to a homeless person, and Lakeland in Cumbria, which was almost as good as Haggerston Castle!
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Oct 7th, 2006
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