The Breydon Water Yare Village Experience (Breydon Water Yare Village Holiday Park (Great Yarmouth, Norfolk))

Member Name: werewolf2

Product:	Breydon Water Yare Village Holiday Park (Great Yarmouth, Norfolk)
Date:	09/10/06 (2448 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: plenty to do for children, friendly staff

Disadvantages: went during Finals week, not within walking distance of Gt Yarmouth

NAME OF LOCATION: Breydon Water Yare Village Holiday Park, one of the Park Resorts, near Great Yarmouth.

BACKGROUND: My boyfriend Robert and I wanted to go on holiday with his best mate Richard and his girlfriend Michelle so we collected tokens from my parents’ Daily Express for their holiday offer.

ATTRACTIONS:
Outdoor Pool – closed whilst we were at the caravan site in October. No opening times known.

Indoor Pool (at sister park Bure Village) open Mon-Fri 9am to 10am Adults only then 10am to 4pm and 6pm to 7.15pm are open sessions, with Wednesday open session from 10am to 7.15pm. It is also open Saturdays and Sundays but we only went for a week and didn’t get chance to use this facility. Please note that private swimming lessons are held between 4pm and 6pm most days and on Sundays 9am to 12pm.

There is also a mini arcade on Yare Village, which was open 11am to 8pm daily (sometimes longer).

Fish and chip shop (which I never found on the map or on the site) open Friday, Saturday and Mondays only between 5pm and 8pm. This could have been on the Bure Village site

We thought there should have been a little shop on the site but we didn’t find it and this too may have been on the sister site, which we didn’t get chance to explore due to other attractions off site.

Waterside Bar and restaurant – open 5pm to late Monday to Friday but on our first visit there it shut at 9.30pm, which I don’t count as late. This was a nice quiet bar with a few arcade games (sport mainly), a pool table (at a £1 a go) and a large screen which had a music channel on it one night and football another. We did not use the restaurant as we had taken our own food.

Show bar – open from 6pm until later for all evening entertainment. We went the first week of October which unfortunately happened to coincide with Finals Week – where the winners of each talent show, dart competition, etc return for the Grand Finale to judge the ultimate winner in each class. As Richard was not interested in watching these talent shows, we did not visit the show bar much during our visit. Robert did see part of the entertainment show that followed one of the talent competitions but then sullied my evening by being ill (too much drink!).

There was bingo from 7pm but I never took part in this, as we were usually still having our evening meal or getting ready to go to the Waterside Bar.

Crazy golf, tennis courts and a five a side pitch with basket ball arena for the children were available as well as a children’s play area but unsure if any carried an additional cost as we didn’t have any children with us, to utilise these facilities. There was a post office, launderette, soft playroom, hire shop, and shower block for the tourers on site. The map was very useful and reception staff were very helpful in giving directions to the caravan and to Great Yarmouth itself. They also helped Richard find a model shop for his radio controlled Monster truck!

TRANSPORT: We used our own cars to travel down to Great Yarmouth and there was just enough space outside our caravan to park both vehicles. We needed our cars, as we were not in walking distance of any local attractions and we even drove as far as Potter Heigham and Wroxham one day.

PRICE
It cost £9.50 per person for a caravan holiday in low seasons Mar-May or September-November. We chose 4 holiday parks and 4 dates giving our first, second etc choices for both. We chose our holiday parks all in the Great Yarmouth area and got our first choice holiday park and first choice of dates with a free service charge week i.e. we didn’t have to pay extra for gas/electricity. We were charged for entertainment passes £3 each and linen charge (sheets/pillow cases) £2.50 each.

This came to a total of £60 for the four of us (not including petrol/diesel or food).

The site offers Bronze, Silver or Gold caravans and I am unsure what we got, due to our offer. However, the Daily Mirror (October 7th) states that half term week prices for 2 nights starting October 28 2006, are £99 at Breydon Water based on a Bronze 2 bedroom caravan accommodation, which sleeps up to 6 people.

The company offers 2, 3, 4 and 7 night self catering holidays in caravans, chalets and lodges and there is a Sparky’s Krew a children’s club for 5-11 year olds and for teens, The Mix is available at selected parks.

GOOD POINTS
1. Very helpful staff
2. Clean caravan, with a microwave, gas cooker with electric ignition and 3 bedrooms (1 double bedroom, 1 twin bedroom, 1 with a single bed and bunk bed) and the option of making a bed up in the living room i.e. an 8 berth caravan).
3. Duvets were provided for each bed
4. Two bars to choose from – one to get away from the children
5. Near to a Roman fort and is actually within walking distance from the caravan site.
6. The Redwings Horse sanctuary is a short ride away along Beccles Road and is free admission.

BAD POINTS
1. Although the caravan was clean, someone had left a bag of rubbish outside the caravan door and it had split open, which we needed to move.
2. The shop and other useful faculties we may have required were not on our site. However, this is balanced by the fact that our site had all the entertainment facilities so we didn’t have to walk down in the dark to them.

AFTERWARDS
Go home and plan where to go next year!

MORE INFORMATION FROM

Breydon Water Holiday Park, Burgh Castle, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk NR31 9QB (Tel 01493 780357). Park Resorts Tel:0871 200 6200 or visit park-resorts.com

Directions: from Gt Yarmouth on the A12 towards Lowestoft go straight over 2 roundabouts, then take the exit sign-posted Burgh Castle. At the bottom of the slip road get in right hand lane and turn right at the lights (signposted Diss and Beccles). Continue on Beccles Road for 1.5miles and after 100 metres on the dual carriageway turn right (signposted Burgh Castle and Belton). At the mini roundabout turn right onto Stepshort, continuing on this road and Bure Village (the sister park to Yare Village) is on the right, continue on for a further 600 metres and Yare Village is on the left and is the last holiday park on Butt lane.

Once you have got your bearings it is easier to get to Gt Yarmouth by turning left onto Butt Lane, then right onto High Road, follow it round a sharp right hand bend and then turn left onto Market Road. At the roundabout (where the cheapest petrol/diesel station we found), turn left onto Gapton Hall Lane, then follow the A12 to Great Yarmouth and/or follow signs for Town centre or Sea front.

Summary: a great cheap holiday park in an interesting part of Norfolk