Post-holiday lessons learnt, hints and tips!

Packed car-not ours! (Photo credit: XPeria2Day)

After several reminders to my dear children about  their packing, I actually only needed to find DS2's second pair of socks, the others amazingly did as told, so I stuffed each pile of clothes into a sports bag (I finally let go of my compulsive urge to iron recently, realising it was pointless  with my boys - the clothes looked crumpled again after five minutes of wearing anyway! Now I only iron select items and my ironing pile no longer resembles Mount Everest) and gathered together the rest of the packing. 

Approaching the packing like a game of Tetris, I managed to get everything in including four fold-up chairs, 3 boogie boards, six bath towels and six beach towels, three large sports bags of clothes and toiletries, a box of food and necessaries, a box of alcohol (to be shared with our friends who were also going!), a picnic basket, two bags of shoes (one was just for me!), and all the blankets, cuddly toys and pillows that the kids wanted to bring!

I'm pleased to report that DD did not disappear under a pile of belongings and I didn't forget anything essential.

Upon arriving at the site, discovered that they had managed to put our friends in the same area as requested earlier in the week, only three caravans down, so a great start. We have visited many different Park Resort sites over the years and must say we have always found the staff friendly and happy to help. They encourage guests to name members of staff who shine and this scheme really works to create a great customer service - credit given where credit due.

Our caravan was clean and spacious with a large living room and a second toilet, much needed with a large family! The layout of this caravan was better than some of the other ones we've stayed in - the doors didn't bash together if you left them open, the bathroom was roomy and there seemed to be more storage and handy hooks everywhere for towels, coats and even dressing gowns!

This time, I remembered to bring a bath mat (soggy carpet or wet floor in the bathroom isn't pleasant!), loo roll (you can get it at the site shop but everyone is always dying to go after the journey so better to bring your own!), tea towels, a hand towel for the bathroom. When we arrived, it was raining and had been all day so, even though we took our shoes off, the entrance quickly became wet and dirty and I wished I had brought my much-loved slippers!

We ate our evening meal on site, expecting not to be cheap but it wasn't horrendously expensive either, and let the children have a small, set amount of money to use on the amusements. Our policy is "once it's gone, it's gone" and make it clear they will not get more - ours tend to stick to the 2p machines so their money lasts longer! They still have fun and most machines deliver extra prizes like key rings or sweets to make it more enjoyable. Whilst they played on the machines we watched the entertainment and allowed them one drink of choice. Once their money had gone, they joined us and we all ended up having a boogie on the dance floor with the free entertainment.

The following day was rather cloudy, so we decided to make Sunday the beach day as the weather was forecast to be better, and headed for the pier so the kids could go on the rides.






After a confab with our friends, we decided the wristbands would be the best option. Even thought they were £10 per child, they could go on all the rides as many times as they wanted and wouldn't be pestering us for money or leaving us faffing about with tickets. There were plenty of benches to sit and watch them and later when DS1 was less enthusiastic about going on more rides (he did the dodgems ten times over!), put him in charge of DD and retired outside for some sunshine and a drink.

Lunch wasn't too pricey either, £2.50 for a kids meal (drink not included), and a good selection, and we ate on the pier whilst the sun broke through the clouds and the water lapped below us. After lunch we walked to the very end of the pier as a way of letting the food go down before the kids went back on the rides!

At 5pm the wrist bands ran out, so we walked back to the caravans in the sunshine with an ice cream in hand, the children looking tired but happy.

The clouds were clearing nicely so we offered beans on toast or ham sandwiches for tea which we had brought with us and they played football outside until the sun set. There was a band playing in the evening at the clubhouse so we headed over to take a look but didn't stay long as the kids were so tired. It kept our spending to a minimum! (We sat outside after putting the kids to bed as it was still warm, drink in hand from the supply we had brought!)

We woke to glorious blue skies on Sunday as promised by Mr Weatherman, so, after breakfast from our supplies in the caravan, everyone helped carry supplies to the beach - even the little ones took buckets and spades.
Setting up camp in a good spot, we made ourselves comfy in the fold-up chairs and watched the kids enjoying themselves. We had fish and chips for lunch (not cheap but the portions were enormous so everyone shared) and had brought our own drinks and sauce to keep costs to a minimum. There was the obligatory ice cream in the afternoon but the rest of the day was cost free. Obviously, the weather ensured a relatively cheap day out and in this country you can never rely on it, but we always seem to get at least one day of good weather.
I was glad I had packed the boogie boards as the older boys used them a lot, and although finding room in the car for the buckets and spades was tricky, it saved spending more money when we got there and kept the younger ones amused.

So, a great weekend was had by all, and after adding it all up it came to about £350 (including the caravan) which I didn't think was too bad - prices for caravans alone in the summer are going for the same amount for a lower grade caravan. Holidaying in the UK can be very costly and we always feel it's not worth it as you cannot guarantee the weather so I would advise looking for last minute bookings when the weather ahead looks good, or keeping an eye out for special offers. Caravan sites know people aren't going to book if the weather is poor so they try hard to entice you to go! Try to bring as much as you can food, drink or entertainment wise, then you won't have unexpected costs, and have contingency plans for free activities if the weather misbehaves. We had discussed bringing wellies and coats if we weren't lucky so we could still go to the beach!

Happy holidaying!

Disclaimer I was not paid to write this post and all the views are my own