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Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Original poster

How to make Haven more enjoyable?

58 replies

Shnowfairy · 08/01/2023 20:25

We’re deciding between several Haven holidays or one holiday abroad this year. Haven is obviously loads cheaper and our then 4 year old absolutely loved it last year, but me and DP were bored to tears and desperate to get home within a few days.

We’d go to a much bigger park if we do wind up going this year and we’d have the car this time which will make things easier, but does anyone have some tips for enjoying it as adults?

OP posts:
BigBangSmallBang · 08/01/2023 20:33

Well it depends what you enjoy doing on holiday. With children this young holidays are not always a holiday as you have to do all the same jobs as at home just with a different view. We quite enjoyed swimming with ours, sitting on the beach, paddling etc. Also quite enjoyed a bit of sight seeing, things like boat trips, eating out etc

BettyOBarley · 08/01/2023 20:37

What did you wish you were doing that you couldn't do?
Tbh holidays with young DC are the same wherever you go, they're never centred around us adults unfortunately!
We went to a Haven type place last year that had a playground right next to the bar, so the kids could play while we had a few drinks and could keep them in sight - that helped!

Skinnermarink · 08/01/2023 20:38

Wine.

Skinnermarink · 08/01/2023 20:39

But a PP is right, ‘holidays’ with kids are just like that really! I still enjoy the change of scenery and doing different things with the kids.

CantStandMeow · 08/01/2023 20:42

We stopped going to Haven and went to Eurocamps (or Similar) instead. All the fun stuff of Haven for the DC including kids club but with the added bonus of being abroad so lovely French wine and food etc.

Laquila · 08/01/2023 20:42

Honestly, it's easier to entertain kids on holiday at somewhere like a Haven park than at a lot of other places! But you might like to have a look at similar places abroad, maybe the Belgian/Dutch Centre Parcs, or Duinrell, or Brittany/Normandy holiday parks?

Bluelightbaby · 08/01/2023 20:43

I just use haven for the cheap accommodation, go out every day !

Mrsjayy · 08/01/2023 20:44

Do Monday to Friday or a long weekend you will get through it better, I know haven isn't great but kids do like it but you need to go out and about as well as staying on park, so pick somewhere you fancy visiting and then look for a haven, and go back to the van at night time put the kid to bed and have a wine or 2.

Timeforabiscuit · 08/01/2023 20:45

What did it for us was being near really beautiful scenery, having the upgrade to a lodge as the sofa was more comfortable in the evening. Also having a dishwasher was a luxury we don't have at home. Making sure all the meals were ready meal type things, so the week was as low hassle as possible.

Also arranging some more adult friendly day trips, so we got to see/do something we wanted.

When they are young holidays are kid centric, but keeping them amused/worn out with seaside walks does wonders :)

TyneTeas · 08/01/2023 20:46

When mine was that age, we just resigned ourselves to our enjoyment mostly being watching DC enjoying it.

and a pitcher of beer helps the Anxious the Elephant Show go down

Original poster
Shnowfairy · 08/01/2023 20:52

BettyOBarley · 08/01/2023 20:37

What did you wish you were doing that you couldn't do?
Tbh holidays with young DC are the same wherever you go, they're never centred around us adults unfortunately!
We went to a Haven type place last year that had a playground right next to the bar, so the kids could play while we had a few drinks and could keep them in sight - that helped!

It was a bit disappointing that there were no restaurants on site to eat at and the park was just a slide and some swings. Neither of us drink alcohol, maybe we should have started😂

I hear the adult entertainment in the evening is supposed to be decent at these places though!

OP posts:
Unicorn2022 · 08/01/2023 21:00

Lalandia in Denmark is a lovely break for kids and adults and Legoland is right next door. It's cheap to get there from Stansted to Billund and free bus from the airport.

My kids also loved the Butlins just for tots breaks at that age.

Original poster
Shnowfairy · 08/01/2023 21:01

Some good advice here, thanks. I went to Presthaven last year so that could be a huge contributor to why we were so bored. There was only one restaurant on site which charged £24 for a not-very-tasty burger and chips, we couldn’t leave the site because we didn’t have the car, we went for 10 nights and the main park was under construction. It was also very grey and cloudy most days (july) and the only activities were a tiny softplay, a pool, a go kart track and an arcade. I’m looking at Hafan y mor and another large park in Yorkshire this year, I’m just dreading turning up and it’s as awful as last time!

OP posts:
Xrays · 08/01/2023 21:01

We go to Haven every year. Our Ds now aged 10 loves it. (He has autism and routine is important to him so he recognises the caravan style as “fun / holiday”). Our dd aged 19 also still loves it so much she still comes along every year - we get the nicest accommodation we can afford, usually a 3 bed platinum / gold type van. We’ve been to loads of different sites but our favourite is Caister - it’s a nice balance of being quite a large site but got the best beach (we found Seashore just down the road a bit rotten beach wise; although the swim park is better). We tend to go out a lot though, like someone upthread said we use the van as a base like a hotel but we don’t expect to stay on site all the time. Most days we drove out and about. We also liked Greenacres in Wales. We went up Snowdon and did Llama agility (!) all sorts of things. It is what you make it really!

BettyOBarley · 08/01/2023 21:02

Oh that's unusual that there was no restaurant on site for a Haven, I wouldn't have liked that either..
Which one was it?

If you go on the Haven website you can do a virtual tour of each site so you could look for one with better facilities. There's usually a couple of sites in each region.

Not sure of the entertainment as we avoid that like the plague tbh! 🤣

Xrays · 08/01/2023 21:03

Yeah we never go in the entertainment at night, that just isn’t our thing at all but we’re all different! We tend to go for a walk on the beach and then watch films / play board games etc at the van.

Original poster
Shnowfairy · 08/01/2023 21:03

Unicorn2022 · 08/01/2023 21:00

Lalandia in Denmark is a lovely break for kids and adults and Legoland is right next door. It's cheap to get there from Stansted to Billund and free bus from the airport.

My kids also loved the Butlins just for tots breaks at that age.

Ooh thanks, I’ll look at that now. I don’t suppose you know the name of the euro camp near Paris? I liked the look of that but can’t remember for the life of me what it was called.

OP posts:
thenotsoeviltwin · 08/01/2023 21:04

Skinnermarink · 08/01/2023 20:38

Wine.

Came on to say exactly this

AreOttersJustWetCats · 08/01/2023 21:06

Surely you make your own fun? Plan trips to the local sights and beauty spots. You don't have to stay on the park site!

Unicorn2022 · 08/01/2023 21:06

The Paris one is La Croix du Vieux Pont

mycatsanutter · 08/01/2023 21:07

@Shnowfairy hafan y mor is quite big , we normally go every year but the prices seemed to have jumped up this year so will have to see . I wouldn't go for 10 days thou , we go for 3 . Swimming every day , park , our son plays football with other kids , go to the beach , do a few activities , arcade and entertainment every evening .

HarryLimeFoxtrot · 08/01/2023 21:11

If you go to Billund in the second half of August, then the Danish kids are already back at school.

My DC loved Lalandia. How about Efteling? They were still happy there even as teens.

BettaSplenden · 08/01/2023 21:15

I've been to a few haven sites. The presthaven one is by far the worst haven sites I've been to. I won't be going back there. Nothing around there to do and the site was poor quality compared to other places.

If looking at Yorkshire then Blue Dolphin supposed to be good. Thornwick Bay is really good. Plenty to do on site and off site there's stuff nearby including some nice food places.

I'm also one that does Monday to Friday hols where possible. The weekends are expensive and personally I don't think they add much to the holiday as usually they're busier.

AliasGrape · 08/01/2023 21:21

Oh Christ we do a long weekend in Presthaven with extended family every year but I don’t think I could survive 10 days at that one.

Having the car will definitely help - Talacre beach is nice and there’s a lovely chippy and a great bakery there. Plus you can explore other bits of north Wales.

We had a longer holiday last year at a haven in Dorset, which was lovely.

As a PP said, we use it for cheap accommodation and the back up of knowing that there’s swimming/ soft play/ arcade/
kids disco etc to entertain DD if the weather is awful. We don’t use any of the site restaurants - food is bad and overpriced (and I got food poisoning at presthaven first year we went! That was definitely not a fun weekend).

Tend to book a swimming slot for early in the morning, and then head out for the day - in Dorset we tended to go to the beach most days, have a nice lunch whilst out and about, then back to the site in the evening, give DD her dinner in the caravan and maybe head to the kids disco or something for the first hour, then back to put her in bed and DH and I had some nice easy food and a few drinks.

FirstnameSuesecondnamePerb · 08/01/2023 21:27

We did lalandia pre covid.
It was good but jesus the cost of the onsite restaurant was mind blowing
Dh had a small steak, I had ribs and dd had a child's hamburger. £90! There was an onsite food shop but my ideas of avoiding cooking soon went out the window!

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