Marvellous place to take the children for A REAL FAMILY HOLIDAY (Butlins (Minehead))

Member Name: C. Eddy

Product:	Butlins (Minehead)
Date:	23/08/08 (210 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A safe, clean site, good facilities and shops, comfortable accomodation, plenty to do for everyone.

Disadvantages: Occasional noise from a few late night revellers.

Butlins Minehead provided a great background for our week's holiday with our grandchildren.
I had read very poor reviews and was almost afraid to take up our booking in late July 2008 but I need not have worried. It was great for all of us.
We had Silver Plus accomodation which was clean and had everything we needed. 2 nice young people arrived part way through the week and asked whether they could hoover around and do a spruce up job in our chalet!! We had been keeping things tidy but this was a welcome bonus and quite unexpected.

The 3 early small pool sessions for toddlers were very good and when the hour was up and the swimming centre opened to everyone else at 10 a.m. we could drift into the bigger, wave pool with the wonderful 'Lazy River' round the edge, which is about 4 feet deep and has a current flowing so you can chat and hold little ones as you circle gently round. There were also 2 aquacise/exercise classes, again before the pool opened, so all was peaceful. The lifeguards were constantly on watch and there were more of them than I have ever seen anywhere else. Made us feel very safe while we swam with our little ones.

We self catered and the shops on site were not overly expensive and were open long hours. The smell of fresh rolls and so on in the mornings was very good!!

The pubs were good and the staff obliging. One had karaoke rather often and its customers, keen to perform, were not very tuneful so we avoided that one. Good food at the other one and a secure play area for children while they waited for meals and when they had finished eating. Good deals and not over priced.

There is an excellent hire shop which charges very reasonable prices for pushchairs, mattress toppers, fluffy towels ( £2.50 a week), bike helmets, bikes of all sorts and sizes etc. etc.

Gardeners kept the grounds and flowerbeds pretty and lawn mowing stopped while holidaymakers walked by so there was no worry about flying bits hitting anyone.

The 'Sleeping Beauty' pantomime was very professional. The Redcoats were always smiling and helpful even when off duty. The archery classes were fun and safety was stressed at all times.

On changeover day it was busy, with airport type trolleys trundling about and some visitors were thoughtlessly noisy late evenings, but neither of those things really disturbed us or the children and anyway were not the fault of Butlins or its staff. I did miss my big pillow so had a quick shop in Minehead for one.

All told, we had a good holiday. I would be more than happy to go to Butlins again and have been recommending it to my friends as a great place to take children and enjoy a break yourself at the same time.

Summary: Great time was had by all of us aged one to 64 years. We'll go again.