Thornwick Bay or Reighton Sands? Or neither?

[MurderBot]

Looking for a cheap 3 night stay near a beach in August, yorkshire coast or within a few hours drive of Middlesbrough. Son is 10, not interested in evening entertainment and would generally prefer somewhere quieter with nice views, but do like the idea of there being some activities (mini golf, archery?) on site in case we can tempt him offline. Looking at finding a private caravan on one of the Haven or Parkdean sites maybe? Thornwick and Reighton look like they might be smaller than Primrose Valley but dithering over reviews. Does anyone have experience of either recently or have any other suggestions?

If you're thinking private don't forget you'll need to buy entertainment passes separately if you want to do the activities on site so factor that into your budget.

We've booked Cayton Bay for half term - I've not been before but the kids love Parkdean for their activities and entertainment.

I meant to say, Cayton is quite a busy park, I think thornwick and reighton are quieter, primrose is quite big as well.

Thanks @cheesychipsontheoche - I think I did read about Cayton being busier, but I'll check it out anyway! I went to primrose about 30 years ago, I suspect its changed since then 😂

Primrose Valley is busier but as more of it is spread out, it never feels that busy and we’ve been in peak Summer season. There are two pools, for example, restaurants at different ends of the park and lots of outdoor activities, kayaking, climbing wall, bike hire etc. Personally, we love it and the access down to the beach is brilliant. We love a walk into Filey and pretty much abandon the car once we’re there. The bus stops right outside too, so you could disappear up to Scarborough for a day.

Blue Dolphin is a lovely, small site and is again close to Filey. We have only been in October, so not sure what it’s like in peak season, but it had a nice feel and clean accommodation.

Thanks @Namechanged4obviousreasons, something else to think about there!

I have been to both plus Primrose Valley. Thornwick Bay is quite a small park but the pool was fab and it's in a nice location, can't remember much about the beach access. Reighton Sands is lovely and has a good outdoor pool if the weather is good. Can't comment on activities as we normally just use Haven as a base and explore the local area, love it down that way as there is so much to do. We were at Primrose Valley last October and I agree with previous poster that as it is a large park if you have a caravan in a quiet area like we did you don't always notice how busy it is! Primrose Valley has a good large pool too though did prefer the one at Thornwick Bay. I have a child with ASD so always pick a caravan in a quieter bit of the park as far away from the entertainment as I can as we don't go to the entertainment apart from the arcade. We had a path next to our caravan which led down to a lovely beach. If I was going back down that way Primrose Valley is where I would choose as there is so much to do such as rides, mini golf, more restaurants etc.

We have a van on thornwick, it was a really small site but they have added a lake and more vans now, it is still smaller than primrose and Reighton (we have a van on Reighton too) the views are beautiful at thornwick and it's my fave site we have a van on