We had a cheap and cheerful holiday last week to Great Yarmouth in Norfolk and out caravan park was on the sea front, a short drive from all the attractions. Our favourite attraction of all was the pleasure beach, situated at the far end of the sea front attractions.


There is relatively good parking near the pleasure beach, with pay and display roadside parking costing £3 for 4 hours and £5 for unlimited time. Once at the pleasure beach, you can choose to pay for your rides in several ways, either by buying tokens or a wristband. A wristband costs £10 for small children and £16 for older children and adults. Tokens cost £1 each, but if you buy a £25 bag of tokens, you get 30 tokens. Most basic rides cost one token, but the bigger rides are 2 tokens, and the really popular roller coaster and log flume cost 3 tokens each.


A lot of the rides are really old nostalgic rides, and the best ride in the park has to be the old wooden roller coaster. Two men have to push it to get it moving, and there is a man seated on the coaster who contols the speed and helps it alsong if it gets stuck, which it did when we were there! I think the man who has the job of riding the coaster all day has the best job in the world. Wooden coasters are of couse, the best, and this one has some really good drops, as well as stunning views of the sea.


The log flume is only for the brave on a cold April day, and was mainly running empty when we went. There is a splash zone, where passers by can get soaked if they are not watching what they are doing!


There are some really good kids rides, such as the Victorian snail ride, which takes its riders gently through various fairy tales, as well as the horses, which bob up and down along the track. There is a 3d funhouse, where visitors have to navigate wobbly floors while wearing 3d glasses and watching the pictures on the walls come to life. There is a great car themed monorail, which gives excellent views of the whole pleasure beach and the sea.


My kids loved the snake slides which only cost one token for unlimited rides. The three slides were all different. It was hard to get them off! They also loved the old fashioned go karts, which sped along a wooden track a lot faster than I expected.


The pleasure beach has a good range of places to buy food, and the food is reasonably priced and very tasty. The hot dogs are yummy and the chips are perfect. The stands also serve hot and cold drinks too and the staff are very helpful. The pleasure beach has a range of carnival games and a small arcade.


I was delighted to see that all the rides and public areas were clean and tidy and well maintained. There was no graffiti or rubbish anywhere, which surprised me.


While Yarmouth pleasure beach is nowhere as big or brassy as Blackpool, I really loved it. I enjoyed the old fashioned rides, as well as some newer ones, and felt it had a good mix of rides to appeal to all ages. Indeed, the youngest in out pary was 4, and the oldest 65 and we all really enjoyed ourselves, and didn't feel that the £25 was an unreasonable price to pay.