One particular very incredible opportunity that we we're recently given, was the opportunity to review a holiday park in West Bay, Dorset through the UK holiday-park operator, Parkdean.
A bit about Parkdean..
Parkdean are a UK based self-catering Holiday Park operator with 24 sites: fifteen in the South West of England, six in Scotland, two in South Wales and one in Norfolk. They offer a range of accommodation, including caravan holiday homes, lodges, apartments and chalets, which are available for short breaks and longer holidays throughout the year. For our stay in West Bay we stayed in one of their 'Seahorse' caravans.
Accommodation
Our caravan home for the four nights that we stayed, was spacious and had everything we needed, except for a bath mat that we'd somehow forgotten to bring. The friendly staff even took one of the beds out of the second bedroom for us whilst we were out so that we could pop E's travel cot up in there. And they even supplied us with a baby gate so that we could have the caravan door open. The only criticism I have of our accommodation was that our mattress was incredibly thin and every night felt like we were sleeping on a bed of springs. But that really was our only criticism. 4/5
Location
The holiday park is set just a few minutes walking distance from the beautiful West Bay beach. Waking up to the sound of seagulls reminding us where we were was rather lovely! It's about 45 minutes away from Sea Life (which is brilliant for children!), if you're going to go to Sea Life I recommend buying your tickets from Parkdean's reception as you can get them there for half the price. About an hour away you'll also find the ruins of the historic Corfe Castle. And again, an hour away from West Bay is the beautiful Sherborne castle and ruins. (If castles are your thing, like they are ours!) 4/5
West Bay - 5 minutes walk from Parkdean Holiday park
West bay beach
Swanage beach - about an hour away
At sea life - 45 minutes away.
It's around an hour to the stunning ruins of Corfe Castle
Amenities & Entertainment
The holiday park has an on site shop where we could pop in to top up our essentials. As well as an outdoor children's play park AND an indoor soft play area. It also has a brilliant indoor swimming pool, with a smaller shallower pool for babies and young children. We had a lot of fun swimming, E has become such a keen swimmer lately and it was great fun for him to go swimming with both Adam and I. 5/5
Entertainment was on all day long with a mix of shows tailored to different age groups, including toddlers. Sid the seagull and Lizzie the lizard are the main stars for children and their shows always kept children captivated. Kids would be up dancing with them, hugging them and interacting with them - it was lovely to see. 5/5 Food & Drink
We ate at the on site restaurant for dinner twice and once for breakfast leaving with happy full bellies each time. The food was all very reasonably priced and there were lots of options for kids and those on a vegetarian diet like us. There was also a nice little bar attached to the restaurant area where we often would chill out and have a drink. 5/5
Staff & Atmosphere
We found all of the staff incredibly friendly, helpful and eager to go out of their way for us and for other people staying at their park. It's the small things like saying good morning, opening a door and sharing a smile that really made us feel welcome. 5/5
Overall experience
We had such an enjoyable, memorable family holiday that we will always keep firmly in our hearts. Pretty much everything about our stay exceeded our expectations. And we would absolutely stay with Parkdean holidays again, on the condition that our mattress was just a little bit thicker next time! :)
Thanks for an awesome holiday Parkdean!Our holiday video:
*****Click here to find out more about Parkdean West Bay.lWe did not pay for our accommodation in the park for the purpose of this review, but all of our views are honest and completely our own.
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