What do I need to know about a PGL family holiday?

[BlowDryRat]

I've given up hope on being allowed my much-anticipated summer holiday abroad and have booked a week with the kids at PGL Barton Hall. I haven't ever done PGL before but it seemed like minimal mental effort or cooking. Is there anything I should know before I go? It's me and 2 DC aged 8 and 11.

Following. Also - do they work well for early teens (13-14)?

Did you find good availability, @BlowDryRat?

Yes it was fine. I looked at Barton Hall and Osmington and they both had availability.

Can’t help with any up to date info but boy what a blast from the past that is! I worked at Barton Hall in 1997!

Sorry, no it was Boreatton Park. Ignore me 🙈

Rowdy was it?

I am a brownie leader we have done lots of trips to PGL (but non as a family)
Compared to the trips where we cater and organise activities PGL is also a holiday for leaders.

All the catering is done for you in buffet style restaurants, activities to keep kids busy most of the day and the evening. As leaders we love joining in lots of the activities with the girls.

If your kids enjoy adventurous activities they will have an amazing time. And either a relaxing time for you or having fun ad making memories with the kids.

Our parents love pictures of the smiles on the kids faces they have such a great time.

We are booked end of July, hoping we can go ahead within restrictions

Feel free to PM me any questions

We went to Barton Hall a couple of years ago for a family week. Loved it! Not a relaxing holiday by any means but no mental load for me, other than what clothes to wear (depending on the days activities). We were just talking about at dinner this evening. Lots of lovely memories.

If it's this summer how will the catering work? Atm the moment you would have to be table service only ...even better!
We have done similar in France. Ours was basic accommodation and good basic food. Plenty of it.
Actives/ groups were age based. I thought it worked well as my DC were in different groups and that helped them mix.
As PP said, not a restful holiday but relaxing as I didn't have to plan or organise anything. I'd go again

Sounds good. Physically tiring is fine; we're all sporty. I just don't want to have to think about organising activities or food for a week. Otherwise I come home needing another holiday!

We've done lots of youth hostelling so as long as the accommodation is clean and safe I'm not bothered by luxury.

We did a PGL family break at Barton Hall about ten years ago, along with a single mum friend and her two boys. Five kids in all, between 8 and 13.

I can honestly say it was the most fun (and possibly cheapest) holiday we ever had! Everything was planned out, so we didn't need to think about what to do today, and the activities were amazing. No opportunities to spend money, either, which kept the costs low. It was so fun to let your hair down and do things like trampolining, leap of faith, high ropes and quad biking, that are usually left for the kids. Some of it was actually quite challenging - my 8yo DD and I hauling each other up some high bars left my legs shaking - and my pelvic floor did NOT appreciate the trampolines. Raft building and racing was as crazy and wet as you'd expect.

Take lots of old clothes and some shoes you don't mind getting drenched/muddy. Also, leggings or joggers and long-sleeved tops (not cropped) that are comfy under a harness.

Loads of stuff in the evenings - bar, karaoke, discos etc. It all felt very safe, and the kids basically roamed free (with a few ground rules...) while the grown-ups recovered with a beer or two.

The accommodation was very basic (think youth hostel bunks) but clean and comfy. We were in the main hall, and my friend and her boys were in a little cabin-type room in the grounds.

I loved the food - very school canteen, but absolutely fine. The most amazing coffee that we downed by the gallon.

We had one "day off", so we took a boat trip to Dartmouth, which was a nice change of scene (and I think most of the kids were free).

Have an excellent (and exhausting!) time!

@Brownieleaderaa I've loved the look of PGL. DD13 is sporty and adventurous, whereas I am less so. How would that work? For example, is it OK if she does more adventurous stuff and I can watch from the side?

My relative was a PGL instructor for a while and her main comment was the food was a bit meh! But that’s more because the ate in week in, week out.

I’d love to do it but my eldest is prob a bit old now. If I did do it, I’d make sure I took snacks just in case!

I did Barton Hall a few years ago with my 6-7 year old. It was great. Pool was lovely, staff lovely.
Food okay.
You’ll have a great time.

Oof I went to dalguise twice when I was 11/12 or something. It was really fun but now I'm more used to 5* luxury I don't think I could stay in those rooms or eat that canteen style food.

@bonfireheart Hi not sure how to link you so hope this works.

I would give PGL a call to check but I am sure that would be perfect and you can take lots of pictures as memories. As Brownie leaders we pick and choose which activities we do some of us do lots others do very few, you may find once there you want to have a go at a few, but fine if you don't. It is an experience adventurous kids don't normally get, we really enjoy seeing the girls face fears and the satisfaction they get when they complete something.

I don't know how they put the family groups together but your daughter will probably be in a group with other families / children - may be worth a phone call to PGL to check this out, they are normally quite helpful.

We are at the Isle of Wight site at the end of July, girls really looking forward to it now we know we can go.

We did a 5 day/4 night PGL family holiday on the IOW. It was when the kids were year 8 and year 6, which is six years ago now. We had a really good time. I liked the fact that I didn't have to think about anything! The timetable, the activities, the food were all laid out for us. It was quite full on! The accommodation is pretty basic and the food was kind of good quality school dinners. But it was fine.

Our children were at the slightly older end of average that week, but by not much. We lots of activities with just one other family (most other groups were a bit bigger) who had children exactly the same age. Our older daughters became friends and stayed in touch and are very close now, despite living a couple of hours away - they are planning a weekend together in Brighton this summer!

@museumum - also a blast from the past for me. I went to Boreatton Hall as a kid and loved it - my friend won it as a prize for going on ITV's Finders Keepers and took me!

I have never heard of family PGL trips, I thought the whole point was to let kids go wild without their parents.

Re-animating the thread to say that the DC and I had a brilliant time last year. I wouldn't hesitate to go again and in fact DD is going by herself for a week this summer.

IIRC there were two activities in the morning and two in the afternoon. The DC all jumped in the pool in-between and it was fully supervised so I could have a sneaky nap on a sun lounger. We did the early evening activities and there were later activities too but I was we were generally too knackered and had an early night.

The accommodation was basic but clean and comfortable. There was a good selection of food and no one ever went hungry. The DC somehow still managed to spend a fortune on ice cream from the on-site shop but it was very hot!

The adults generally joined in but could just watch if they wanted to. The staff were absolutely brilliant, coached my kids through abseiling etc. when they got a bit scared and had such phenomenal levels of energy. It was impressive! The DC quickly made friends and had a blast.

DD saw the posters for parent-free holidays and has been asking ever since if she could go. DS didn't want to 'go on holiday with strangers' so it's just her for the week at Marchant's Hill. They've got a sale on so it was something ridiculous like £400 all-inclusive for 7 nights, which works out cheaper than day camp for the week.

Must-packs:

• Old trainers/water shoes
• More than 1 swimming costume
• Old clothes that are easy to move in