Haven - which site?

[Mumofone1xx]

Hi, I have never booked a Haven holiday but would like a little getaway with my 8 year old DD in Easter or May holidays. I was thinking Northumberland / North East area for a few nights. Have seen so many mixed reviews - Haggerston, Berwick, Seaton Sands, Thornwick? Not sure if my DD is too old to enjoy these either as havent been to one before so only know from seeing them online. But liked the idea of an indoor pool with UK weather :)

Any advice or suggestions would be great! Or other ideas of places to stay. Thinking beach holiday or maybe even up to Edinburgh

Love Haggerstone. Thornwick is ideal if you want to visit different places such as Bridlington/Filey/Scarborough.

We have been to quite a few Haven sites over the years, not the ones you mentioned though. Activities vary in price.
You will need to download the my haven app to book your activities. If there is something in particular she wants to do, book these as soon as you can, or you wont get to do them. Swimming sessions are 1 hour and fill up quickly, so you will want to book your timeslots asap. We left it late last time we went and only managed to get one session, so it wasnt worth paying the extra.
They also have started charging extra if you want to park by the caravan.
It has put us off Haven tbh. When we first started going, renting a caravan was one set price and the pool and entertainment were included and you could park outside your caravan, no problem. All other activities were on a first come first served basis and it was so much better. You could do things spur of the moment.

Always dirty and uncomfortable vans. Really unpleasant

Seaton sands is on a bus route (takes quite a while!) into Edinburgh or you can drive up to Wallyford park & ride for the train.

We absolutely love a caravan holiday, we have been on around 12 haven hols in the last 3 years. We have come to the conclusion that we're much better booking a privately owned caravan on a Haven site. The Haven caravans are just not clean enough for us, they have being going downhill since we started going. We have booked a private caravan at Thornwick Bay for this year. Thornwick Bay is lovely, we went last year. The site is only a 10 min drive into bridlington, where there is all of the typical sea side stuff going on. There is a huge council run leisure centre, which has a huge swimming pool with massive slides and a kids play area. The swimming pool was much better than the one on site at Haven.

Ohh I've been looking at Thornwick Bay and that's the top of my list! Can I ask how you book privately? 😊

Thornwick Bay is lovely, I would definitely recommend. We booked a private one through the website uk caravans for hire. If you Google private caravans for hire in Thornwick Bay it brings up lots of different sites with available caravans on site. We always like to book a gold caravan with a washing machine, and you honestly get so much more for your money booking privately. I just looked for one that had some good reviews.

Hope this works, this is the one we've booked

www.ukcaravans4hire.com/caravan/North-York-Moors-Coast-Grange-The/Thornwick-Bay-Holiday-Village-Holiday-Accommodation-10938-1184985.html

We went to Seaton Sands a couple of years ago. I paid for the basic level caravan and we got a complimentary upgrade to the nicest one! Have to say, the top level ones are really good based on that experience.

We enjoyed it there. I’ve been to Haven a few times over the years, and the kids always had fun!

Was looking into this for next summer but disappointed about the swimming sessions! What happened to being able to go and swim whenever you please, and stay as long as you like? Having to book in advance? What if you aren’t sure of your plans, it’s supposed to be a holiday!

The swimming is a pain, you have to book 4 weeks in advance. You're only allowed to book 14 sessions (1 session is for 1 person), if you have booked for 3 nights or 14 nights it's still only 14 sessions! And then once you get there is always fully booked so you can't just book it there (this is during school hols). We were only booking the play passes for the swimming as my dc don't like the entertainer, that's why we've just booked a private caravan and just go swimming locally. Oh and the swimming pools and changing rooms are pretty filthy too! Last year at Primrose Valley it stunk and had used nappies/plasters on the changing room floor.

Oh that’s gross!
It would be 2 adults and 4 kids so we’d hardly get to swim much over a whole week! How sad, used to love holidays there when my eldest was tiny!