Pontins - Hemsby (Pontin's)

Member Name: martial_loh

Product:	Pontin's
Date:	12/08/01 (2562 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap

Disadvantages: Lack of things to do when the weather plays up, Too geared towards the very young

Having just finished exams I was told by my parents that we were going away for a week - just for a break. I was glad at the time, but when I heard where we were going......I wasn't so eager to leave my home!!
Pontin's in Hemsby was the destination for a 5 day excursion.. The journey getting there was a long 4 hour drive, with nothing but cows and trees to look at out of the windows.
Well, the scenery wasn't Pontin's fault... but they could have chosen a better location to situate a holiday resort! Hemsby has a very small beach. It is fairly clean, but the sun doesn't really shine a lot and this results in some yucky sand..

The actual resort is not too bad. Since we were staying at the "Popular" option (the cheapest), you have one "large living room", which extends into a metre-squared kitchen (really!) and there is one bathroom and one bedroom. The beds are lumpy and the sofa-bed-transformer is also rather uncomfortable. I resorted to sleeping on a mattress on the floor - this allowed me to wake up without a back-ache!!

THe bathroom was large enough, although the lack of a shower was quite annoying. Even a hose pipe would have sufficed!!! You have a toilet bowl, a bath tub, a wash basin, and a little heater. Things that would have been appreciated (little things - someting you'd expect - even at low prices!)include more hooks for hanging clothing and some form of a floor mat/ floor drain - we had to go and purchase a mop to clear the splashed water we made on the floor!

THe facilities - the swimming pool was really small - only 25 metres long - and half of it was shut off because it was "dirty". Surely a little rope placed across the watr cannot stop the dirt from diffusing to the rest of the water?? I had the feeling that the life guards were rather lazy - not wanting to bother with watching the deeper end - so they shut it off. The pool was generally dirty, although my dad di
d say that it was cleaner after 2 days of us staying there.
The good points of this resort is its adventure park for little children. This area is very good for the little ones. Swings, slides, climbing frames -all are present. There are many activities for them to take part in - especially in the entertainment nights, where the youngsters are invited to come up on stage and dance around! I wouldnt really recommend leaving a child in the entertainment area, because it really stinks of booze and cigarette fumes.....not really ideal for a healthy kid?
THe arcade-stall section is really old. All the games are out dated, but at least the prices are low, to reflect the low-appeal that thte games have..
The snooker hall is very small - only 4 tables, which are quite difficult to reserve (due to numbers). The Hire shop, allows you to get various equipment, from microwaves, to bicycles - the prices are sometimes questionable, but generally they are reasonable.
THere were several short tennis courts (4) that were constantly wet thanks to rain.. and also a quad-bike mini range for kids.Most of these facilities were not in use due to weather problems..

The main disappointment of the holiday was due to weather problems - rain and wind dominated the 5 days that I spent at Pontins, but the fact that there was nothing for me (as a young adult/teenager) to do was quite annoying... What I'd like to see is more facilities geared towards a wider audience, so that Pontin's might appeal to more than just the young kids..

One good thing about Hemsby, is that its situated near some interesting towns - Norwich, Ipswich and Great Yarmouth - I suppose if you want to check these places, out ,then Hemsby would be ideal for you.. Just dont expect great weather..or a great deal to do, if you go to Pontins when the weather is crap.

Summary: