Golden Sands – Mablethorpe (Golden Sands Holiday Park)

Member Name: Shazzy

Product:	Golden Sands Holiday Park
Date:	26/08/01 (1807 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Kids have fun so parents can relax, You'll never have to leave the camp if you don't want to

Disadvantages: Too much like a package tour, Lacking in any real atmosphere

Located along a lonely stretch of coastal road, Golden Sands dominates the landscape with its endless rows of near identical caravans, all situated with almost scientific precision, almost like a council estate on wheels. Not an inch of space is wasted here, and as you watch the holidaymakers arrive through the main gates on a Saturday, you start to understand why. As car after car pours in past the Haven flags, it would be easy to believe that half of the population of a small town had descended upon the camp.

As luck would have it, or not as it turned out, we didn’t have to queue to check-in. We’d rented our caravan privately so were able to go directly to the owner to obtain the key. However, what we didn’t realise was that the caravan was sited on the ‘South Park’, where there are only privately owned caravans and few facilities, rather than the ‘Main Park’ where the fun and games can be found.

Ok, we’d paid less than those who book directly through Haven so we weren’t complaining. A short walk across to the main park wouldn’t hurt us. You’re probably nodding in agreement out there, but before you relax too much, let me tell you that a short walk becomes very tedious when taken many times a day. Especially when there is only one route, and unless you find rows of almost identical caravans stimulating, it’s boring. What started out as a short stroll on day 1 had, by day 3, become a bloody annoying waste of 15 minutes.

The kids also hated being this far away. They’re young and want to be where the action is. That’s why we’d come to an all-action park after all.

Go-karts, minigolf, water flumes, trampolines and amusement arcades were all out there waiting to be enjoyed. And did they enjoy them! Or did they?

This is Haven. You’re expected to have fun, and to be seen to be having anything but fun would be something of an embar
rassment. The fact that the minigolf is dated and worn becomes something we pretend not to notice and come what may, we WILL enjoy knocking those balls into holes!

Even on returning a 6-seater family bike that’s too heavy to pedal with adults onboard, and after several mix-ups with the bookings at the bike hire shop, we still smile and take things easy. Nothing to get upset about here – we’re on holiday!

We put up and shut up and we smile, an attitude that the management is largely dependent upon for the smooth running of an all-action camp of these proportions. The laid back attitude of the average holiday maker helps ensure that you’ll most likely have a peaceful holiday without having to experience irate guests who may perhaps head butt you if you say the wrong word. These are family holidays, not Ibiza.

The site is situated directly opposite one of the best beaches I’ve experienced in this country. A 200 yard or so expanse of dunes separates the clean, sandy beach from the road running directly in front of the camp. There are several paths leading through the dunes, the main one being at the far northern end of the camp. This is the only path that is suitable for those with physical disabilities that limit their movement. The other paths have wooden steps which haven’t been up kept as well as one would like, and as some of the lower steps are missing, they can be difficult to navigate for even those who would normally be capable of climbing steps. However, if you don’t have a problem with the dodgy steps, these paths are probably the most inviting to follow as they’re sand paths, whereas the main path is cement and stone.

Our first attempt at ‘going to the beach’ was a complete failure. Being a spontaneous family, Ex-Partner, Adult Son and I decided to go see the sea at 9.30 in the evening, after popping down to town for a hamburger. We hadn’t found anywhere to
sit and eat so the beach seemed like a good place at the time. Off we went, on the least used path of them all (opposite South Park) into the dark dunes without so much as a torch. We figured we’d follow the dogs because if they didn’t fall down a hole, we wouldn’t either. As we got further along the path, dark turned to pitch black. We couldn’t see the dogs, let alone follow them and we still couldn’t see the sea. We considered stopping there, and just enjoying the quiet, but my determination to see the sea won over reason and we pushed on. Eventually we realised that we were lost. We’d been walking for half an hour and could still only glimpse the dark expanse of sea against the slightly lighter sky.

Ok, I’d seen the sea, we could settle down and eat our burgers. Cold they may have been, but the hike through the loose sand had made me hungrier than ever. Mmmm…. I was just about to sink my teeth into the juicy meat when I dropped the darned thing! Smack! Right into the sand! I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry!

But never mind, these things are sent to try us, and the next day we set off in a more normal late-afternoon fashion to see the beach properly.

It was beautiful! Miles of very fine, soft, clean sand. Dogs are allowed on this part of the beach, but luckily, most dog owners seemed to be responsible types that clean up after their animals. Our dogs loved it. Our kids loved it. The dogs loved running and play-fighting in the sand, especially when the tide was out and there was lots of hard-packed wet sand to dash about on, and the kids loved playing and running with them. They loved splashing along the edge of the water, running away from waves and rolling in the sand. Yes, both dogs and humans found a little paradise on this beach.

Sitting on the beach on our last evening, the sun hanging low and heavy over the dunes, casting the last of it’s long, warm rays along
the beach, I had no doubt as to the aptness of the name Golden Sands.

Back at the camp, the evening entertainment is starting to come alive. The caravans start to empty as their occupants descend upon the Family Entertainment Center.

Those with very young children (under 8) find refuge in The Falcon Club where the entertainment is of the kind that only parents of the very young are likely to endure, perhaps even enjoy. The kids are engrossed by the Haven reps who dress themselves up as lions, magicians and clowns, and we all know that the happier the kids are on holiday, the more relaxing it is for us grown ups.

Those with older families are most likely to climb the stairs to the second floor where the Galleon Club is located. This club is very popular, and if you’re not happy to play bingo at 7.30 in order to get a good seat, you won’t see the stage. As the music is very loud, it’s impossible to hold a conversation so unless you want to spend the evening looking at the faces of others watching the stage, a good seat is a necessity. After half an hour of bingo there’s a short break before Hi Five take to the stage. This is the resident band who, although talented to some degree, aren’t great and there’s no audience participation. You’re not expected to dance, you’re expected to watch them. Luckily, they’re only on stage for about an hour, then there’s party dancing.

All on the dance floor now to learn the macarena and any other modern version of the funky chicken you can think of. All jump to the left, one step forward, wiggle your bum, turn around, jump to the right, clap! Yes, got it!! The kids love it anyway, and so do quiet a few of the mums. Well it beats just watching everybody else.

At 11pm there’s always a cabaret of sorts. I won’t go into what was on offer in form of cabaret as none of what I saw impressed me much, but I suppose it beats wat
ching TV for yet another evening.

There’s also a quiet pub type area for those who would rather talk. This is downstairs, has excellent handicapped access, and was my favourite area of the Family Entertainment Center. I enjoy good conversation so this suited me much more than the canned entertainment upstairs, and the fact that they served decent pub food was a bonus.

Food is also available from both The Falcon Club and The Galleon Club, but only of the fast-food variety. If you do like burgers, and I do (when they aren’t served with sand), these ones are good!

Speaking of food, Harry Ramsden has an outlet on the Golden Sands site. We didn’t actually eat there, but Daughter No. 2 bought a bag of chips that she threw away because they were, in her opinion, too dry to be edible. Perhaps she was just unlucky, but her experience put us off buying a meal there.

Next door, there’s a bakery that sells pizza. Given that pizza is one of my all time favourite foods, it was inevitable that we’d spend an hour of so gathered around the caravan dining table with a couple of pizzas between us. We’d ordered in the morning and looked forward to it all day, but after everybody had eaten a slice and nobody had made any of the expected ‘yum’ type noises, I realised that they all felt the same way as me. It was awful! The most tasteless pizza I’d ever come across. Even worse than some of those frozen cardboard tasting pizzas that you find in the local freezer shop. At £6.95 each I’d expected something more.

For those who intend to prepare their food themselves (I’m not a fan of this on holiday, I do enough cooking otherwise), there’s a shop on site which, while not offering a huge range of products, does stock most of the essentials, along with a decent selection of wine, spirits and beer. The prices are reasonable too.

While some families like to be on the go al
l day when on holiday, I prefer to relax and unwind. Most of my days were spent sitting around the table outside our caravan, sometimes alone, sometimes with one or more of the family. Daughter No. 1, who’s 15, also spent most of her time around the caravan as the daytime action that was available didn’t appeal much to her age group, and she enjoys peace and her own company in much the same way that I do. Daughter No. 2 however was out and about most of the day and after spending her own savings, made a decent sized hole into mine too. It isn’t THAT cheap to enjoy this camp. Apart from the pool and the T-10 club (for 12-16’s), nothing was free. 4 minutes for £1 on the trampolines goes quickly, and even 10 minutes for £3 on the go-karts is gone before you know it. All of those facilities that are ‘available for a small surcharge’ suck the money away quicker than you might think, so make sure you take more than you think you’re likely to need.

There’s also pro-football coaching and a scuba-diving school that takes in pupils on a first come first served basis, but again, there’s a surcharge.

Of the free facilities, the water flume was the clear favourite. There are two pools, one inside and one outside. The inside pool is quite shallow, so my bunch didn’t like it much as they couldn’t really swim and play in the way they wanted, but for those who can’t swim, or are weak swimmers, it’s an excellent alternative. Daughter No 2 couldn’t get enough of the flume in the outside pool which is the larger of the two.

The T-10 club was a flop with my girls. They didn’t like the ‘package tour’ style of it, and gave up after the first day. It may have been better had they persevered, but both felt they were almost forced into participating in activities that were of little interest to them.

For younger children there’s also the Paws Club. I
can’t tell you anything about that, but the kids seemed to be having fun every time we saw them with Rory the Lion. In my experience, it’s easier to entertain young children than teenagers so I suppose that’s understandable.

The launderette is open 24 hours. The queues are long during the day, so we went late evening. Surprisingly, even at 10pm, most of the machines were still in use. I’d planned to buy my detergent from the machine on the wall, but unfortunately it was empty. If a kind lady hadn’t offered me her detergent, I’d have had a wasted journey, so it’s wise to take your own with you.

All in all I’d say that this camp had a general air of disrepair. Much of the paintwork was fading and flaked, the flower baskets were wilted and unkempt, and the whole place generally looked like it would benefit from a complete face lift. But the kids don’t mind that kind of thing too much, and if you’re happy to accept that other parents will allow their kids to play in the flower beds and throw their litter anywhere other than the designated bins (of which there were too few), then you’ll no doubt enjoy yourself in the knowledge that the kids are having fun.

I’d spend a week at Haven again, but I wouldn’t bother returning to Mablethorpe. I’m sure there are better sites out there. But like anything else, it’s only as much fun as you make it yourself.


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