Is it really that long since I wrote something? Sorry friends, I'll write again soon I promise, whe...
Is it really that long since I wrote something? Sorry friends, I'll write again soon I promise, when I get a free minute........
Member since:24.08.2002
Reviews:39
Members who trust:31
We selected Haven Park at Golden Sands, Mablethorpe as the venue for the first week of our annual holiday. We wanted something a bit different for our holiday, and looked at a variety of venues. We chose Haven because of the price; it was a lot cheaper than Butlins, Centreparks and the like. And we chose Mablethorpe because of its proximity to the beach, and the fact that it was en route to the second week of our holiday in Kent. We also got a good deal at this park (read on).
***TO BOOK***
You can book through a travel agents, book by telephone (0870 242 2222), on the internet (www.havenholidays.com) or by calling your chosen park direct. I logged on to the website and asked them to send me a brochure. As much as I like the internet I find it reassuring to look at a brochure and compare locations. Haven have 21 parks throughout Britain (sorry, none in Ireland). The parks fall into 2 broad categories either All Action Parks with huge range of facilities and entertainment (GoldenSands is one of these), or Lively Parks with less to do and probably a bit quieter. On the website you have to enter your personal details (name address etc) BEFORE you can check availability. You then select your park, and then your preferred date(s). It will then give you the types of accommodation that is available. You can then either go back and look at another park, or confirm your booking. I found the website quite slow when it was looking at dates and accommodation. Broadband users might be better off here, but it was still slower than other sites I visit. After I confirmed my booking I printed out the confirmation and I also received a confirmation in the post within a couple of days.
***OFFERS***
The do a lot of special offers from time to time, there are also discounts for booking on line, booking in advance, and there are other offers depending on when you intend to pay for your holiday. There are too many to go into detail here. We booked in January and took the offer of book before the end of February and pay in full now, available on selected sites (Mablethorpe was included), available for certain dates (not English School holidays – but as the Scottish holidays are different we were able to make use of this), available only for certain accommodation types, resulting in a HALF PRICE holiday. We paid £194 for a 6 berth caravan for 1 week in July, self catering, entertainment and linen included (their sister company British Holiday the entertainment passes are EXTRA and can add quite a bit to your bill).
***THE BROCHURE***
The brochure itself is quite a glossy brochure with details of what is included in your holiday, the types of accommodation, what is on the site, and places
of interest to visit nearby. There are about 4 pages devoted to each site. While the pictures appear to glamorise the park, the information is fairly accurate.
***THE ACCOMODATION***
Some of the Haven sites have half board accommodation, and some have chalet type accommodation. At Golden Sands it is all caravans and all self catering. The caravans are divided into several categories. They have the Olympic Range with Gold, Silver and Bronze. These are the most spacious caravans and are 12 feet wide. These all have microwaves and the gold has a video. The other (cheaper) range is the star range with 3 and 4 star, with the 3 star being the older models. Only the 3 star will accommodate pets. There are 2 bedroom (sleep 6) and 3 bedroom (sleep 8) in all models. There are also a number of caravans adapted for disabled holidaymakers. All caravans are supposed to have a fully equipped kitchen, fridge, cooker, colour TV, shower, WC, free gas and electric. We had a 4 star 2 bedroom model.
***BEFORE WE GOT THERE*** About 10 days before the date of our holiday we got a nice letter welcoming us to the park and giving us some last minute advice. It also included a voucher offering us £500 off a caravan should we choose to buy one while we were there and another leaflet offering us an upgrade on our caravan for £40. I thought, let’s see what is available so I phoned only to be told that there were no upgrades available and there hadn’t been for several weeks. So why did they send this to me? There directions to the site were pretty good and we found it OK (I was navigating!), however the instructions failed to tell us that there was in fact 2 entrances to the park, yes, they were pretty close together but as we were coming from the north we did not enter by the one that had all the signs to the “check in”, we wondered about the site for at least 10 minutes before we found were to go.
***CHECK IN***
If you have a Gold caravan you can check in at 1.30pm. If you have a Silver Caravan you can check in at 2.30pm. The rest have to wait until 4pm. We arrived at the site at about 3.30pm, and found the check in at 3.40pm. There was already a large queue forming. I went to join the queue and daughter and hubbie went and watched the Punch and Judy that was just starting. At precisely 4pm (not a second earlier), the check in started. By this time the queue stretched all of the way round the room and out of the door. I got my keys in about 15 minutes. I feel so sorry for the people who arrived at precisely 4pm as they will have had to wait until 5pm to get their keys! WE then went to the linen store for our linen, for which we had to pay a £10 deposit.
***OUR ACCOMODATION***
Our caravan was situated in quite a convenient spot, it was close enough to the main area for it not to be a trek, and far enough away for the noise not to bother us. Some caravans were miles away! The caravan was clean and apart from a small tear in the fabric of one chair was in good condition. The fully equipped kitchen was a joke, I checked the cupboards: 4 dinner plates, 5 saucers, 4 bowls, 6 cups, 6 glasses, 6 tea plates, 4 knives, 6 forks, 4 spoons, and 3 teaspoons. (FOR A CARAVAN THAT SLEEPS 6!). I had to make my morning slice of toast under the grill, haven’t done that since, well, never! The main bedroom was spacious with lots of storage. The second bedroom had 2 single beds and some storage, no room to swing a cat, and the beds, well it is a good job that my daughter is 7 as the beds are not very big. She actually fell out of bed 3 times as the beds are so narrow, 24 inches wide to be precise. The main living area is spacious with lots of sitting space, a small TV (no teletext), and some of the seating converts to a double bed. The shower/WC room is reasonably spacious too. The caravans are fairly close together but you don’t hear everything that goes on next door. I felt a bit sorry for the people in a caravan nearby as they had 2 giant bins just outside their bedroom window. On arrival we were issued with a map of the site showing where everything was and showing the location of the caravans. One day when I was bored I started counting them, I got to 500 and gave up as I was only half way across the park. On the day of checkout you have to be out by 10am.
***FACILITIES***
The brochure said 2 pools with flumes. The indoor pool was small, the outdoor pool was small too. On a site with over 1000 caravans I would have expected something bigger. While we were there part of the indoor pool was closed off as there was loose tiles. And the flume on the outdoor pool was never open when we were in the pool. The indoor flume ( a bit tamer) was open some of the time. The outdoor pool was heated and on a warm summer day was just wonderful. Don’t forget the sun cream though! There was swimming lessons available for a small charge, but we did not make use of this. At certain times there were also other water activities like scuba, but this was restricted to the 6 weeks of the English school holidays, the brochure did not tell us this though. There was also outdoor sports facilities, minigolf, go karts, and adventure playground (daughter loved this!). On one day there was professional football training from Leeds United coaches.
Indoor there was mini ten pin bowling ( a bit naff), pool tables,, snooker tables, and loads of games machines and gambling machines of all sorts. They were everywhere. There was a soft play area for little kids and my daughter just fitted into the size range. There wasn’t much here to challenge her but it would be great for very small kids and ideal for a wet day (we didn’t have any!).
When you arrive you are given a brochure or guide outlining all of the entertainment/activities for the week. There is kids clubs / activities everyday. There is the Paws club for the under 4’s (with a parent). They meet in the morning at 9.30. Can’t comment on these activities. Then there was the Rory’s and Bradley’s Fun Time and Tiger Club. This is for the 5-11 age group, however children under 8 must be accompanied by an adult. They had a variety of activities, such as a scavenger hunt, kite making and other fun things. Then there was the T-Co club for teenagers. Each of these clubs met for about an hour to an hour and a half each day or twice per day.
In the evening there was usually Bingo and then some form of entertainment for the rest of the evening. There were 2 entertainment venues, one was more geared towards family entertainment and the other was more adult. We only went to the former. The evening started off which children’s entertainment including some Rory entertainment (the bear). Children were invited to the stage to take part. However there appeared to be a lot of favouritism of certain children during the week. One boy was up 4 times during the week and it was the second week of his holiday. A bit unfair we thought. They also held competitions such as disco dancing and a talent competition. On the whole my daughter thought that the week was fantastic. She was totally entertained every evening. Then there was either a show of some kind, there was a magic show one night, a live band another cabaret. This would go on until the early hours of the morning, but we never stayed up that late. There were also a few ‘big name’ acts on, and these are widely advertised, but we discovered after arriving on site that they are not on all the time, but just for the peak 6 weeks. These acts include: Cannon and Ball, Joe Pasquale, Bradley Walsh, Bobby Davro. You can buy tickets for these acts for the really expensive price of £3.50.
***SHOPS***
There is a small gift shop on site selling the usual seaside souvenirs and other items like buckets and spade, swimwear. I was quite surprised that everything was quite reasonably priced and took a few gifts back for family. Another shop on site is a convenience store, selling foodstuffs. Some items are quite reasonably priced but other items I found quite pricey. There is a bakery with freshly baked bread. The French sticks were simply scrummy, and we made a picnic most days with these. Sweet shop, can’t remember what it was called, but my daughter always wanted to go in. A bit pricey though.
***EATING OUT***
Harry Ramsden’s Fish and Chips, eat in or take away, quite good but boring. 3* Pizza and Pasta, pity the pizza bases were not freshly made, salad a bit boring 2* Quayside Bar and Diner, a pub style establishment, varied menu, freebies for the kids, special meals (Indian night, Chinese night, Sunday Lunch), some items good value, ate here 3 times during the week 4* Easy Eats, within the Falcon Room where the entertainment is there is a takeaway offering burgers, pizza etc, a bit pricey 3* Others: Hot dog stand, Kebab stand, didn’t use. The opening hours for most of these establishments were in the Guide issued.
***OTHER FACILITIES***
Launderette (£3 for a standard wash, £4 for a large wash, £1 for a dry) Reception open daily 9am to 6pm for questions/ problems. Never really used them Security, there 24 hours. We were issued with our entertainment passes when we arrived there and we were supposed to show them when ever we went into the main area. We were only asked for them once. However it was reassuring to see the security guards patrolling the park particularly at night.
***IMPRESSION OF THE PARK***
My first impression was a lot of caravans, a lot of people, and why is there such a high fence. There was a high fence around the main area with the entertainment etc. We were told it was for increased security. Yes it would mean that unless you had a pass you could not get into that area, (not quite correct), theoretically your children should be safer while playing the sport, adventure playground etc. But it was a *****y pain at times. From our caravan it should have been a 2 minute walk to the swimming pool. But we had to take a rather long walk round to go in the ONE entrance. One day I decided to do a little bit of washing. I could see the laundrette from my caravan. It should take me 5 minutes to get there. The guide states, tokens available in the laundrette. I walk to the laundrette with heavy bag. It takes forever as I have to walk all round the park to get to the other side. I look for token machine. Sign saying, tokens available from reception. I walk all the way back almost to my caravan, to reception, it is 29 degrees C and it is 2pm! I get my tokens and walk all the way back. What could have taken 5 minutes ends up taking me 20 minutes. And the washing machines were pretty naff to as my daughter’s clothes, juice, ice cream and grass stains were not cleaned effectively.
The park could be so nice, grassy areas, plants, but it is a bit boring. They were painting quite a few of the areas while we were there but in my opinion it should have been painted long before July, peak holiday time, one day we walked past and the smell of paint made me feel ill.
***STAFF***
There is obviously a large number of staff on the park all doing a variety of jobs. We found them all without exception to be very friendly and helpful. The ones that we saw the most were the ‘Funstars’. These were the ones involved in the entertainment, from the Tiger Club to calling the Bingo. They always seemed full of energy and life, and my daughter loved them.
***OTHER THINGS TO DO***
We took the car out of the park once. That was because I needed a break from the noise. Golden Sands is situated across the road from miles of lovely beach. We were lucky with the weather and spent a couple of days on the beach. There was also a frequent bus service from the park into Mablethorpe. You could walk it if you were energetic. In Mablethorpe, a typical English Seaside town, are the usual seaside shops, arcades, funfair, fish and chip shops, supermarkets, and my daughter’s favourite, a donkey ride. In the other direction out of the park within 5 minutes walk is a Seal Sanctuary. We saw several rescued seals, and other animals like, parrots, peacock, pony, fox and owls.
***VERDICT***
We had a great holiday, or at least my daughter did. She was thoroughly entertained and there was lots to see and do. And if she is happy then we are happy. I have to admit that it was not my cup of tea but then I knew that before we went, and we were looking for something a little different. Would I go again? If I was given it free then definitely. If I was to pay, then probably not. Would I go with Haven again? Yes but only when my daughter was young, I can’t see there being much to keep her happy when she was a little older, but I would choose a different site in a different part of the country.
As said before we paid £194 for our holiday, if there had been 6 of us it would have worked out at £32 each per week, not bad value really. If we had taken the top of the range van and paid full price it would have cost us £593 for a 3 bedroom caravan.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Been to 2 Haven sites, Hafan Y Mor and Caister. Not had any probs self, though agree that some of the sites are tired. I think that with Golden Sands, they are doing what they did to Cayton bay, running it diwn to relegate to the lesser branded Park Resorts label. Shame if so because Mablethorpe has that odd ingredient missing from so many resorts nowadays, Charm!"
sammyjoe 02.05.2004 12:52
great op - we recently come back from devon cliffs haven resort which we booked through the sun newspaper offer - and very glad we did too because i would hvae been sorely disappointed to have paid ny more than we did
brightspark 17.10.2003 11:52
Great opinion, but sorry have to disagree!!!
Golden Sands USED to be a brilliant site, but that was a few years ago. I have just returned from a week camping there and was most disappointed!!
It was a good 20 minute walk from our tent to the main site, which, as I had been informed there was a road train I wasn't overly concerned about. Unfortunately the road train only ran from 10.30 till 6.30!!!! Not much help as the kids club started at 9.30 and the evening entertainment didn't start till 7!!!! It made it very difficult to get my 5 and 2 year old's to and from the main park, especially in the evening when they got tired.
It didn't matter during the day as the kids clubs where not much good anyway, and my son soon decided he's rather not bother with them!!!
As for the service... Well maybe I won't go there, except to say they where extremely short staffed and the staff they did have must have needed new batteries, they moved so slow!!!! not just in the bars either, all the outlets where as bad.
I was so disappointed as I remember Golden Sands to be so good, but next year I will be trying Thorpe Park instead.
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: Excellent staff, very friendly and helpful. Good entertainment Disadvantages: Can be pricey if you like the amusements. Lots of energy needed for the hills.
Aug 3rd, 2003
very helpful by (97%):
helpful by (3%):
