Solway Holiday Park, Silloth, Cumbria

...we stayed.

Solway Holiday Park is situated in Silloth Cumbria (about 22 miles west of Carlisle) which is small village with a population of around 3000.

If you want a town with lots going on then Silloth is not for you, it has a lovely large green and a great sea view although it is not a beach. It also has cafes and the odd take away along with some little shops and of course a Spar (everywhere seems to have a Spar). ...
.../>
The park itself was quite easy to find I got the directions from greenflag. As we drove in through the entrance the reception was quite well sign posted, when we booked we were told booking in time was 4pm (which I thought was a bit late but thought we could probably use the facilities before then). As it happened we set off later than expected so with the hold up on the motorway we didn't get there until about 3.50pm.

... more

I have just come back from a week in the Lakes and have decided to try and have a go at reviewing the place we stayed.

Solway Holiday Park is situated in Silloth Cumbria (about 22 miles west of Carlisle) which is small village with a population of around 3000.

If you want a town with lots going on then Silloth is not for you, it has a lovely large green and a great sea view although it is not a beach. It also has cafes and the odd take away along with some little shops and of course a Spar (everywhere seems to have a Spar). Near the green is amusements which also sells refreshments.

The park itself was quite easy to find I got the directions from greenflag. As we drove in through the entrance the reception was quite well sign posted, when we booked we were told booking in time was 4pm (which I thought was a bit late but thought we could probably use the facilities before then). As it happened we set off later than expected so with the hold up on the motorway we didn't get there until about 3.50pm.

I went to reception for the key etc along with my eldest; we were given the key and some passes to get into the swimming pool and the over 18's bar. (not that we went there having children) Our chalet was just opposite reception and all the facilities which I thought was quite handy although I wondered if it would get noisy at closing time.

************* Accomodation ***********

There is a part of the park for touring tents and caravans.
Then there is 10 accomodation choices 7 chalets and 3 caravan types.
We opted for a 3 bedroom chalet with its own private hot tub. (so this is the only accomodation I can comment on).

The chalet had a fair size kitchen with a cooker (the oven door didn't close properly), which was electric , a fridge with a small ice box/freezer thing and your usual utensils that would be needed plus cups, saucers mugs and glasses although there were no wine glasses.
The cooker was hard to use as we were not used to an electric one but it didn't help that the door didn't close properly at the top so the first meal that was cooked ended up taking longer than it should and the food that was on the bottom was a bit burnt.

The lounge was also a fair size with table and chairs, 2 couches (we were told one could double as a bed and 2 other chairs. There was also a fold up table and some fold up chairs if needed.

The first bedroom had a double bed in, one bedside cabinet, a chair, a wardrobe and a dressing table. This room was quite crowded and difficult to move around in, we had to move the bed so one of the wardrobe doors could open properly which meant my hubby had to climb over the bottom of the bed to get into bed. (The chair wasn't really needed).

The second bedroom had two single beds in and a chest of drawers in the middle of them and a wardrobe, this was quite roomy.

The third bedroom was quite small with bunk beds and a cupboard.

The bathroom was a fair size with a toilet, sink, bidet, bath with an overhead shower.

Outside the back was a fenced off area for us with a hot tub and a little table and chairs.

***************** On site facilities ******************

An animal farm
An all weather outdoor football pitch
Childrens outdoor playground
swimming pool with a hot tub (couldn't get near as the same people stayed in it) and sauna
gym (cost £3)
tennis courts (2)
an indoor ball pool play area and soft play area
kids club (I think this was for 5 - 10 year olds)
amusements
over 18's pub
Irish bar (never saw it open)
Entertainment in Nags head bar which served bar snacks
Take away
Bistro.

The Nags Head sold bar meals which were the same as the Take Away. I wasn't too impressed with the food, it didn't help that we don't eat meat.

I can only comment on the facilities that we used.

******************* The menu ***********************

From what I remember it consisted of

Baguettes ( tuna mayo,, cheese and ham)
Pizza (cheese and tomato, mushroom, ham and there was another which I can't remember)
chips
garlic bread (a demi baguette (not sure but presumed this was a baguette cut in half with garilc butter on))
chicken burgers
chick wick burgers (or something like that but not sure what they were)
Jacket potatos.

The bistro had a few more dishes
fish and chips
garlic mushrooms

I will point out the menu is from memory so it may have more items, I just know there was nothing else that wasn't meat on it.
The prices were, I suppose what you expect in a place like this. We bought 2 cheese baguettes, 1 tuna mayo baguette and 1 large chips from the Take Away for just under £11.
Another night we ordered from the bar 2 cheese and tomato pizzas and 2 lots of chips also just under £11.

******************** Entertainment *****************

This seemed to start at 7.30 with children's entertainment, which lasted about an hour. Two young girls worked very hard playing games such as musical statues, musical bumps and other games which involved doing things when the music stopped, they also did a childrens bingo when we were in there one night. At the end of the children's hour they brought out Felix the cat and the children could give it a hug if they wanted and have their photograph taken.

At 8.45pm bingo tickets went on sale, not sure if it was played every night but it seemed to be advertised a lot. It wasn't always straight forward bingo sometimes it was card bingo or stand up bingo.
Once the bingo was finished it was either karaoke, a quiz or a singer on. Over the week there were 3 singers on and 2 quizzes.

****************** The Amusements *******************

There were a wide range of machines including trying to grab the teddies, gambling machines, shooting machines and a skiing machine. There were 2 pool tables and an air hockey table - these required a £1 deposit for the equipment.

******************** The Indoor Play Area ***************

This was a room which had a ball pool for the younger children and a few toys plus some soft little rocking toys.
Then there was the main ball pool with some holes and tunnels leading to the big slide and also a big soft slide going into a different part of the ball pool.
At one side of the room there was a football table.

******************* Childrens Outdoor Play Area ************

Consisted of a slide - but not one with just steps, you climbed up to a platform area.
2 swings, something you went on and it went along a 2 kinds of wires, some walking chains and a cllmbing frame area.
The football pitch was just outside the play area as were the tennis courts.

********************* The Swimming Pool *********************

There was nothing fancy about the pool it was a normal pool but had a little paddling pool as well and off the main pool was a hot tub. At the side of the main pool was a sauna (we didn't go in as you had to be over 18 to use this).

********************* The Animal Farm *****************

This was at one end of the holiday park it had shetland ponies, goats, deers, horses, peacocks, chickens hens and ducks. It was fairly muddy and hard to walk round with a trolley but enjoyable as they let you walk very close to them and feed them carrots it you wanted to. My oldest wasn't impressed when we went on the farm walk and the chickens and hens were running round near her!

The service was great I hadn't booked a high chair when I booked the holiday but decided we needed one so reception sorted it out for me as soon as I asked and it was £2 cheaper than if I had booked with the holiday (which was through Hoseasons).
Unfortunatley on day 2 the toilet and the sink wasn't draining properly so my husband went to report it and they said they would send someone round as soon as they could, it was sorted quickly from outside and we had no more problems.

This was a medium sized holiday park so it wasn't too busy.
All in all we had a great holiday but it could have been spoilt by an incident that luckily happened on the last night (meaning the holiday was at an end anyway so it wasn't spoilt). 2.30am when everybody was asleep in our chalet my husband and I were woken up by people talking quite loudly then a SPLASH was heard............ some !!!!!!!!! had only climbed over the fence pulled back the cover on the hot tub and were in OUR hot tub! They soon did one back over the fence and in their haste left a T- shirt and 2 pair of socks behind. Not a nice end to the holiday as my husband couldn't go back to sleep then!!

 

...less