Has anyone been to haven holiday parks?

[newlysinglemummy]

if so what is the evening and day time entertainment like for kids and adults?

A bit chavvish, but if you leave your snob hat at the door then they are okay.

I have just booked a holiday to Devon Cliffs today. We've been before and while not my ideal holiday, the kids love it.

went to Devon Clifs last year but didn't go to any of the "entertainment" (use that term loosely ) as none of it appealed.

We did Butlins the year before which was better IMO

been to Haggerston Castle and Hafan Y Mor Haven parks, but like Tommy never fancied the entertainment, so can't really advise.

We're going to Devon Cliffs in June, any particular words of wisdom/warning Geepers or Tommy?

i have been to two and the dc's loved them.

don't go with your in-laws

thanks Tommy , noted.

thanks Tommy , noted.

Haven vary massively. Some are horrible, some are lovely. Devon Cliffs is good, although we found it too huge, and very over-crowded in the entertainment areas in the evening, which is chavvy but kids love it .

Best we've been to is Church Farm, Chichester.

Don't know about the ones already mentioned , but do not go to the lakeland one.
We went and it was disgusting, I will say just one thing the evironmental haelth officers came as there were so many problems. it makes me shudder just thinking about it.

it is, as the name suggests, very hilly and everywhere was an uphill trek. The swimming pool changing rooms were a bit chaotic (we only went once as was too stressful getting all 5 of us dressed and in there . What I found about the entertainment area was that it was very loud - I only went once in the evening to get some chips from BK and I thought it was unbearable.

Having said that, the accomodation was lovely and there were some great things to do around there - you must go to Crealy's - it was really good for wet and fine days

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Thanks Tommy, useful to know! Are they very fussy about you having the "entertainment/facilities" passes just to get into the BK area?

thanks for the warning about the lakeland one

We've been with Hoseasons as they are dog friendly - not as commercial as Haven and just tended to do the 'have your photo taken with the park mascot' type things.
Entertainment varied from camp to camp - from the gods awful to the really quite good

yes - and it's no fun to have to walk all the way back to your caravan to get your passes just to buy some chips I can tell you

(I'd forgotten about that particular annoying bit of the holiday!!)

thanks for the heads-up, useful to know.

Hafan-y-mor is dreadful in my non snobbish opinion. I agree with wisdomrequired.
Only went to the "entertainment" once and it involved a host who looked like Jeremy Kyle doing rude things with a ballon and various "volunteers" from the audience. It was supposed to be a quiz evening!!!There was no mention about the adult nature of the show and very many children in the audience who were being targeted to persuade their parents to buy various items of flashing, plastic tat.

oh gosh i have to say i have been on holiday abroad and seen similar shows like the adults and ballon thing... lol

I'm looking for a holiday park to go to as close to london as possible as going with a friend and will have 3children in total.

I'm doing one of this sun holidays as am broke at the moment... any recommendations?

can't help with the recommendations, as I've only stayed at two, one in North Wales and the other one north of Newcastle. It's worth checking out the reviews of individual camps on www.tripadvisor.com .

kiddiz - I liked the woods, beach, lake and swimming pool at Hafan Y Mor. What did you hate? Was the accommodation awful?

Maybe we were unlucky ...our accomodation was adequate at best. I love that area of Wales which was why we chose Hafan-y-mor. When we went the place was heaving... the pool was dreadfully over crowded and filthy. It was the beaches and location that made the holiday bearable.
The dreadful bit of my first post was in response to op's question about entertainment which was, imo, dreadful!!!!

the chichester one (church farm i think) was a really good one.

i prefer smaller caravan sites personally, not too loud

rye has a nice one, small and quiet, full of bird watchers, not haven though.

check the pitch sizes, they cam be small

tc let me know if you have a free afternoon down there, not that far from fil

Rockley Park, lovely!
Perran Sands, filthy and shit.

We have been to Primrose Valley twice (nice large flagship park), and Reighton Sands (small park and very run down) both in Yorkshire on the coast. We are going to Primrose Valley again in May and are all looking forward to it.

Doesn't any holiday encompass pester power? Our kids have the money in their own hands for the day/evening, and are then much more careful spending it. I am also very stubborn so they know not to bother nagging.