Caravan / holiday parks

You don’t have to stay onsite OP, we just use it as a cheap base.

So you’re blessed with a negative mindset and you hate sight-seeing? What could possibly have gone wrong?

As PPs have said, you’re not doing it right. Caravan holidays with toddlers are brilliant if you lower your expectations, wrap up for the weather, only do lunches out, eat ice cream every day, do day trips and keep a bottle of wine in the fridge for after the kids are in bed.

This sounds lovely. Could you PM me the holiday park name Op?

and this

This

I don’t think the caravan is the problem, it’s your perception of the town. If you went to this town and stayed in a hotel, or air bnb, would you be any less bored? Or would you just be sat around in there as well, complaining that it’s too cold to go to the beach and you don’t want to be “tromping around” the town.
The issue is not the caravan, it’s the place you’ve chosen to go to. You clearly didn’t do much research beforehand to see if it would be somewhere you’d enjoy, and now you’re complaining.

I think with toddlers you might need a more all singing all dancing caravan park to be honest. The Woolacombe Bay ones have loads of things to do including great indoor and outdoor heated pools, soft play I think one of them had bowling. Kids entertainment etc. I mean, from memory, most holidays are a bit shit with toddlers because they need watching and entertaining all the time so you can't relax, they don't travel well, can be picky eaters etc.

I tend to actively seek out quieter parks but my kids are older and into surfing, eating out etc so it's just a base for us.

You don't sight sightseeing or shopping, your not willing to take your toddler on a hike, you don't like to play on the beach. What DO you like to do op?

Give it a week and you'll be back at your desk/lathe/shop counter and you'll be longing for all day to do as you please with your family around you.

Only boring people get bored

Good book
Buy good coffee
Play board games or cards
Nice walks
Find out what is going on around you like food festivals, museums, cinema, music venues.

Or sit around being negative. It makes everyone else love spending time with you and makes their holiday a joy too.

So what do you usually do on holiday with a toddler?

Mine liked a walk to the park, an ice cream, dinner in the pub, arcades, faffing on the beach, playing outside the caravan.

Toddlers aren’t the most exciting holiday companions but I don’t see how being abroad would change that necessarily, you just have to be more creative.

Sounds like your issue is being in this country rather than the caravan per se

We're in a Haven now and dont get the passes either.We're staying in a Gold and its a mini home from home.

Seriously it’s your fault you’re bored. Go to a walk. Make your own entertainment.

Can we help with suggestions of places to go nearby?

I stay at a Parkdean Resort site on the East Yorkshire coast twice a year with my dog. The site is friendly, clean and well managed and only 5 minutes walk to a lovely sandy Blue Flag beach which has a very long stretch on which dogs are allowed. I've taken my existing dog and my previous two dogs and have had some lovely relaxing holidays. The weather has generally been very good but even when it hasn't been, I've still gone on long beach walks at least once a day. The rest of the time I read, sometimes I have a nap, sometimes I watch rubbish TV.

It's bliss just to relax and not have time constraints. It's not everyone's cup of tea
but it's always suited me and my dogs. Other holiday makers leave in the morning, go off exploring and return late afternoon. You have to make your own entertainment on a caravan holiday.

I'm on a beach caravan holiday now! We've done national trust places x 2, a steam train, an animal sanctuary, a Roman villa and the one rainy day we went to a horrible arcade place with slot machines which the kids loved. Beach for just an hour or so in the afternoons. Had some amazing meals out at some seafood places (one with a Michelin star). I've had a lovely time.

Not being funny OP but you sound like the dull element of the holiday, not the caravan or the site.

You don’t want to play on the beach, you don’t want to go sightseeing, you don’t like the weather, you can’t relax and read and that’s the kids fault…..

Kids don’t need sun / warmth on a good beach.

Get buckets and spades. Make castles. Make big birthday cakes out of sand and decorate with shells and seaweed. Dig a speedboat in the sand for them to sit in. Dig a network of channels and have them run back and forth to pour buckets of water in.

Play ball.

No castles or country parks nearby? They usually have child centred activities during the holidays. National trust places are good, or English Heritage. Steam trains, boat rides. Would be helpful if we knew which area you were in.

@Slightyamusedandsilly
"Overseas it'd be a lot warmer, so there'd be a lot more sitting round, in the sun (or shade) enjoying extended lunches etc. Not as fun in the cool UK."

So nothing to do with a caravan holiday then? You're basically unhappy because you're holidaying in the UK, as opposed to abroad. In which case you'd be just as bored in a UK hotel or holiday cottage. The title of your thread should have reflected that.

Agree. If you're worried about being outed OP, you could get this thread deleted or namechange and post a new one asking for toddler friendly things to do in whatever area.

Out of interest, is this your first holiday with a toddler? I just wonder from the comment about being able to relax into it if they weren't there. If so, don't feel too shit- it's a learning process a lot of us go through! I still enjoyed holidays when mine were that age, UK caravan breaks at that. But it's very different to a holiday where you can sit and enjoy leisurely anything, and you have to be in the mindset for that really. There are worse things than learning that lesson on the cheap.

Did the kids Complain about the cold pool ?

Tell us where you are staying (nearest town) and maybe a local MNetter can give you some ideas of what you can do.
(Unfortunately with self catering and a toddler it's a case of same shit, different location).