Well, it was mid-september, and we decided we needed a break, so being first time campers (I'd been camping when I was younger, with my parents and brother and sisters, but that was nearly 25 years ago, and now I had my own family), and having got all the camping gear, (frame tent, cooking stove, air beds, sleeping bags, etc), we decided to go camping in Ingoldmells in Skegness, (or Skeggy to most of us in Yorkshire!)
We searched the Internet for a place to stay, and came across a few sites, including The Skegness Leisure Water Park, which looked pretty good and reasonably priced.
We set off from Sheffield around 3pm, after having loaded the car up, (6 birth family frame tent with all poles, inner sleeping compartment and seperate ground sheet, cooking equipment, pots, pans, table, air bed, sleeping bags, suitcase, baby's travel cot and pram, my partner, our 6 month old daughter in her car seat and myself all squeezed in to our little ROVER 100, and I still managed to have a clear view through the rear window!)
We arrived in Ingoldmells on Thursday evening and wanted to pitch up our tent, it took us ages to find a site that would accept tents, for my partner, our six-month-old daughter and me. (We forgot our list with all the sites on, so ended up driving round for almost an hour)
Driving along Roman Bank, we spotted a sign for a site that accepted tents, so drove down to have a look.
We found it was Skegness Water Leisure Park, my partner said "Thats one of the sites I wrote down!!", so we drove in.
Its down Walls Lane, which is opposite Butlins Funcoast World.
We arrived at 6-30pm and had to go and ask at the bar for someone to site us, as we found the office closes at 5pm (also no new arrivals are accepted after 9pm due to noise restrictions and courtesy to others, and they DON'T accept single-sex parties of 3 or more persons, but DOGS ARE WELCOME), it took them about 5 minutes to get back to us and I found the staff very polite and helpful on arrival.
Their prices were very reasonable at a cost of £14 per night to pitch our tent (maximum 4 people and 1 car per pitch), this price did not include an Electrical Hook-Up, if you want EHU, it's an extra £3.50 per night.
The site is spread out over a lot of land, and you have an allocated pitch which has plenty of room around it, so you're not squashed in at all.
The site accepts caravans, motor homes and tents with Electric Hook Up available for all. There is also a large static area down to the bottom of the site, but they don't hire out Statics.(Though they do sell them!)
The campsite is very open, and gets quite windy, so it would be ideal to plant some small trees to give a little shelter.
There is also a ski cable, which is cable pulled-though it is currently out of action due to being modified.
(The cost of this is £10 for 13yrs & under and £14 for 14yrs & over, this is good value as everything you need is supplied and basic tuition is available in the cost.)
I do think the site ought to supply gas bottles that are already filled, as you only can buy gas by having a bottle filled up.
We were pitched at the bottom of a fairly steep banking and the ground was not quite even, never the less, we got the tent up and pegged it down, this was a little difficult as some of the ground was very dry and cracked in places, and a few of our pegs kept coming out!
Once we were sited, we walked over to the showers and toilet blocks which were just over the other side of the banking, opposite a lovely large lake full of ducks and very large fish, I think they were Carp, (there was also another lake opposite where we were sited, used for fishing.)
I found the toilets to be clean and tidy, with basic facilities such as toilet roll, bins, hand dryers, sinks, and heating which was kept on during the night, and private shower cubicles. The showers were strong and hot, but you did have to keep the button pressed in which was a bit annoying when you had an eyeful of shampoo, (I presume that was to save water.)
There were plenty of sinks and hot water to wash your dishes, though the washing up area had no draining facility, so drying pots was a bit of a fiddle, a laundrette room which closed at 5pm, that I think is quite early, considering most people are out for most of the day and plenty of taps for fresh clean drinking water so you weren't far away from one ( we forgot our water carrier but luckily there was a tap only a few feet away from where we were pitched!)
The location of the site from Ingoldmells is opposite Butlins on the A52 Roman Bank. It is quite a walk from the main Fantasy Island (1.3 miles, a good 30 minutes stroll) and the rest of the attractions. such as the massive Eastgate Market.
The beach is around 10 minutes away though.
Skegness Water Leisure Park has a lovely friendly pub on site called The Barn Inn, which is open while 12am over the weekend. I found it to be a very family friendly pub; everyone was so nice and polite as was all the staff. Despite the late closing time of the pub, the site overall was very quiet and very suited to families.
The site has a playground for older children with slides, swings etc, and is open until 10-30 pm.
On site there is also a shop where you can buy the basic essentials such as bread, milk, beans, pop, sandwiches and newspapers, all of which are reasonably priced as well considering its on a camping and caravanning site.
This site has been awarded a 3 star rating by the local tourist board, but I think it should be more like 4 stars as I was very impressed with the staff, the on site facilities and its location too.
We stayed from Thursday to Sunday, and you have to have vacated your pitch by 11am on the day you leave, but there is a fairly large car park that you are allowed to use until you leave the site.
If you are considering going camping in Ingoldmells / Skegness then please consider this beautiful site.
My partner and I would rate Skegness Water Leisure Park 8/10 overall.

Also a little tip, its not as easy as you think trying to find a site that accepts tents in Ingoldmells, so make sure you know where to go before you set off or you may be driving around for ages trying to find somewhere to pitch, like we were!!

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