The first Pontins holiday camp was opened in 1946, and there have been a total of 31 Pontins locations, ranging from the very grand Barton Hall to the small and friendly St Mary's Bay. At one point they even had adult only camps.

However the cheap package holiday has hit Pontins hard, and there are now only 8 sites remaining. These are:

* Blackpool
* Bean Sands
* Camber Sands
* Hemsby
* Pakefield
* Prestatyn Sands
* Southport
* Wall Park

As Camber Sands was the park I visited most recently it will be this complex that I will be focusing on in this review.

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Preamble
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When I was a child package holidays abroad were way to expensive for the average family, so we had our holidays in the UK. One of the places we all enjoyed and went to time and time again was Pontins.

I enjoyed the experience so much that when my eldest son born I wanted him to have the same kind of memories as I did so I took him to Pontins on a regular basis. In fact, we were such regulars at one complex that the Bluecoats were almost part of the family.

After a break of several years, I decided to take my youngest two on a four night break to Camber sands, while their older siblings were visiting their Nan.

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Booking
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Bookings can be made by post, phone (0870 604 5602), on-line at www.pontins.com or in a travel agent.
As I had a Nectar points voucher entitling me to £25 off any holiday at Lunn Polly I opted to book my break there. I chose the cheapest possible accomodation (we only used the chalet to sleep in after all), which was a budget one bedroom chalet. We needed this to be on the ground floor, as my son is disabled. Normally their is a £5 surcharge for this but it was waived as my son has a blue badge. Bed linen cost an extra £10.
The booking process was completed in about 10 minutes and the total for our stay was £105 including the discount.

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How to get there
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Pontin's Camber Sands is set at the outskirts of the village of Camber. As I travelled by train I can only really give instructions on that method, but there are details on road journeys on the website.
The nearest train station to Camber Sands is in Rye. You will then need to either get a taxi, or brave a bus journey with all your luggage. I've used both methods and the taxi will cost approximately £7.

A word of warning though, taxis in Rye are few and far between, expect a wait of at least 30 minutes especially at school home time.

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The Setting
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Camber Sands is set in the Sussex countryside, there are sheep everywhere. As well as the countryside there is the beach across the road.

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Arrival
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On arrival you need to show your booking papers to the security guard on the gate, who will then direct you to reception. Now for budget accomodation you should not be able to collect your keys until 4pm, when you would collect them from the upstairs ballroom.
However, when I asked for help getting my son up said stairs the very nice lady on reception went and collected them for me, which meant that I got into my chalet about an hour earlier than expected.

With my keys I received a welcome pack, which contained a time table of activities along with a handy booklet of money off coupons. ( I actually got a bonus here as the previous occupants had left their book of vouchers in the chalet).

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The Accomodation
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There are three classes of accomadtion at Camber Sands.

* Budget - 1 bedroom accommodation with double bed settee, twin, single or bunk beds featuring;
• Colour TV
• Lounge area and fully fitted kitchen
• Private bathroom with bath

Check-in from 4.00pm

Bed linen is not provided with budget accomodation, but can be hired for £10.

* Classic - 1 or 2 bedroom accommodation with double bed settee, twin, single or bunk beds featuring:
• Private bathroom with shower
• Colour TV
• Lounge area and fully fitted kitchen
• Bed linen

Check-in from 4.00pm

* Club - 2 bedroom accommodation with double bed settee, twin, single or bunk beds featuring:
• Separate check-in
• Combined colour TV and video
• Digital channels
• Lounge area and fully fitted kitchen with microwave
• Bed linen and towels
• Free daily newspaper
• Free electricity
• Private bathroom with shower
• Complimentary bathroom pack

Check-in from 2.00pm

As I stayed in budget I can only give my opinion on that class.

The chalet was small and basic, there was one bedroom with two single beds, this was where the children slept, a lounge area with a sofa bed (not the newest or most comfortable, but perfectly adequate) and a portable TV, a kitchen area with cooker,fridge and kettle. Finally there was a small bathroon with a bath.
Electricity is paid for by purchasing cards from reception, I went through about £2 worth.
The chalet was clean and resonably well maintained.

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The general staff
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I found most of the staff friendly and helpful, although you do not generally have much contact with them.

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The Blue Coats
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Pontins are famous for their entertainment staff, ie the bluecoats. And many of the bluecoats have gone on to become famous. In fact I have a photo somewhere of myself and "Uncle Shane" - now better known as Alfie Moon.

Most of the enterainment, for both adults and children is laid on by the bluecoats (although the children's entertainers are no longer known as Auntie and Uncle). In the most part these are young hopefuls, trying to get their first foot on the showbiz ladder.

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For the Kids
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There are several "clubs" for the children, although I found they were generally all rolled into one.

There was a large soft play area for the younger children, adjoining this was a room filled with a large screen video display showing popular childrens dvd's and a number of playstaions for the children to play on.

During the day and very early evening activities were laid on in the downstairs ballroom. This included a fancy dress competion, cutest child competion, various games (with small prizes) and the highlight for my then 4 year old, the chance to meet and have your photo taken with the various characters.

The characters were:

* Captain Croc - the original and most famous of the pontins characters.

* Chuckles the Monkey - My sons absolute favourite

* Zena the Zebra - My daughters favourite

* Florence the Ostritch

* MegaMix Mick - Aimed at the older age group

* Action Pack Jack - Again aimed at the older at group.

* Postman Pat - I beleive from looking at the website Pat has been replaced by Dora the Explorer.

The official camp photographer was there to take pictures of the children with the characters if you had no camera to do so yourself. Although there is no longer a photographers booth for you to browse the photos taken during the day as they now use digital cameras.

After the bingo had finished in the upstairs ballroom, the children were taken upstairs for party time, which involved dancing to some classics (anyone remember Agadoo and the Wig Wam Bam) and some new songs such as the ketchup song. Then at 9pm the children were led off the ballroom to the very traditional crocodile march.

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For the Adults
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Being on my own with two young children I did not get to see much of the adult entertainment. However bingo was held nightly, and there were various acts and adult competions after the childrens party time.

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For the teens
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For the teens there were various competions, for example disco dancing and pool. Just outside the main reception there was also a bungee type construction, and this was where they all tended to hang out.

* Many of the teens actually joined in the party dances and enjoyed them.


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Amentities
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On site there were:

Londis : supermarket style, resonable prices, also used by the locals.

Character Store : sold lots of different souvineers with the characters on. Prices ranged from reasonable (caps were £1.50) to the extortionate (one cuddly toy was over £30)

Trick n Treats : situated in the upstairs ballroom, sold novelty items and sweets.

Hire Time : Hired out bikes etc.

Casey's Whistle Stop: Sold bugers, and KFC style meals.

DownTown Diner: in the upstairs ballroom, sold hotdogs, milkshake, popcorn etc. (hotdogs were a very reasonable £1)

The Queen Vic - A traditional pub, obviously having 2 young children in tow I could'nt actually go in there

The Fun Factory - What we used call ballroom where the evening entertainment and bingo takes place

Lunar's Bar - Childrens entertainment during the day, turned over to the adults at night.

Amusement Arcade

H20 - Swimming complex, again I did'nt get the chance to sample this. :-(

Off-site:
Across the road from the complex is a beautiful sandy beach. One of the best beaches I've come across.

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Accessibility
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This is my main gripe, the majority of evening entertainment was up two flights of stairs. Although the bluecoats were always on hand to help me carry my son up, it would be nice if they istalled a lift.


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So how does it compare to what I remember?
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Although some of the magic is still there, I feel Pontins is now to commercial and less personal. They've tried to become too trendy, where it's the actual untrediness that we all enjoyed as kids.

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And the big question??
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Would we go again??

Well I'm planning to take my son to Wall Park next year, so yes we would go again. The children enjoyed themselves from the minute they got up until they went to bed. And in my books thats what counts, whether they had a good time.