Rockley Park -Haven

[whateverheather]

Has anyone been to Rockley Park in Haven ?

Booked it and read reviews but I wondered if any mumsnetters had experienced of it ?

I Booked the 3 kids passes for activities and I'm hoping to use spa facilities. Is the beach on the site good ? Was it a good idea to buy passes?

I appreciate if anyone can shed some light. Thanks x

From memory (we went there about 7 or 8 years ago) the beach is just a narrow strip of shingle.
There is a Royal Marines base next door and there were a few helicopters landing and taking off during the day.

I went in May but it was just me and my friend, no young children.
Yes the beach is quite shingly, tho there is a small playground there and a coffee shop. There's a mix of sand and shingle I think, we went to have a look, rather than have a day on that beach. There was a lot of beach activities advertised; again, we had no kids.
There's a regular bus from the camp to Poole, buy a weekly ticket if you use the buses, works out much cheaper.
The site was very clean, we were upgraded in our caravan for some reason and it was fab. The chip shop was lovely but got very busy about 7. The shop was reasonably priced and had a good selection of stuff to buy if you're cooking in your accommodation.
We used it more as a base to travel the area so I can't say what facilities for children were like, and also we went in term time so very few kiddies were there. I imagine it'll be somewhat busier now!
Hope you have a lovely time!

Caravans are nice. Entertainment and facilities are not to my taste. There were people who were drinking from first thing in the morning whilst their young kids pumped money endlessly into arcade machines. Yes, I judged.

It'll be 4 years since we went with a 3 and 4 year old but we loved it.

Didn't leave site as nice walks in the nature reserve kids liked the clubs, went end of September sun every day sat at the beach which was plenty for us, by the cafe it's lovely sand but water is very murky it's mainly a water sports area.

Pool not massive didn't do the passes as the kids were too young

I understand it's a nightmare peak season but I'd go back

The beach isn't that nice. It's in the harbour, so beach is shingley and it's quite muddy. I second the idea of getting bus to Poole and going to the beach there instead. It's much nicer. If you want a quieter section of beach don't go to sandbanks, try a little further along at flaghead chine.

Entertainment and facilities are not to my taste. There were people who were drinking from first thing in the morning whilst their young kids pumped money endlessly into arcade machines. Yes, I judged.

Oh gosh this seems to be the common theme at every caravan park we go to, some worse than others, we are not into
The entertainment either. I always go home feeling I'm quite posh compared to some of the people staying after caravan holidays and that's saying something !

whatever I know what you mean. The DC have a ball, though, and for that price it’s an easy win with them.

Does anyone know whereabouts on the park the ‘Prestige’ caravans are (probably the older ones rather than the ‘newer’ model)?

It’s a nice clean park in a pleasant area. It’s easy to avoid the arcade machines, we were never into that sort of thing either, but we loved Rockley Park when our two were little.

From memory they did zorbing, little power thingies in the water, archery, ropes maybe? and I’ve forgotten what else. We booked the activity passes and it saved a fortune on the individual prices. I do remember that you had to sign up in advance for stuff and sometimes there was only them doing it which could be good or not depending on the activity.

If there’s anything else you want to know, I’ll try and dredge it out of my memory 🤣.

I take the kids to these places with my mum as my best childhood holidays were at Butlins despite also having wonderful overseas holidays as a child and adult.

Dh doesn't do such holidays but the kids love them

Thanks for all your replies, I'm looking forward to it, the kids are so excited, and that is the whole point of going away so my kids can have amazing times and memories,

I like being away from the concrete jungle that is London and being by the sea, tho the beach at Rockley Park doesn't sound nice, only realised this after the booking . I was under the impression it was a sandy nice beach.

My "wealthy" friend thinks I'm a loser for going on mini breaks and at shock horror caravan sites, then I think "Yh I'm a saddo for looking forward and enjoying these trips " but it's what we can afford this year and it may not be an abroad holiday but it's still away from home and a break ?

Weather forecast says it's predicated rain weekend we are going ! Any suggestions what to do there when it's raining ?

Dorset resident here though DS now adult. Tank museum very good and all under cover. When are you down here?

We're coming to Poole next weekend 2nd August x

Your friend sounds horrible! We've never been able to afford expensive holidays and have always done caravan or lodge breaks. It's fun! Yes it does attract a rougher element (there's no nice way to put that, sorry!) but just enjoy the parts you want to and leave the rest.

I wasn’t overly impressed (maybe because of the 7 days we were there there was two helicopters landed and took off again at 6.30am on 5 of the days - we were the closest caravan to it) but the kids loved it. The pool was nice and the play area was good.

twisted

Thanks for your understanding, after I booked I read it was next to a military base so worried that may ruin it a bit

You could always make it fun for the kids to spot aircraft and helicopters! I'm sure they will be governed by flying time rules so won't be able to fly too early or late at night.

We stayed at a park near Scarborough that was close to a military base. We did hear the planes most days but they never woke us up or disturbed us.

We loved watching the helicopters come over it shouldn't affect you