Total Non-Stop Fun On A Haven Holiday

After a week of being well and truly back in the swing of work life I could seriously go for another trip away right about now.

But seeing as how that ain't happening anytime soon, I've taken to day-dreaming about the amazing time I had over the Easter holiday, when I stayed in an amazing caravan (full details here) at Presthaven in North Wales.
(find here)

Now I'm not going to pretend that the weather was amazingly warm, sunny and glorious or say that we spent hours every day having picnics on the beach or BBQs by the caravan.

We really didn't.

~ We were in the UK

~ It was the beginning of April

~ We were on the coast

It was freezing, it was rainy, and oh my goodness, it was windy

(so windy in fact, my son burst into my room on the first evening and asked if the caravan would blow away!)

But do you know what, we had a blooming brilliant time and we didn't even set foot off of the caravan site for the entire trip.

There was really no need to because there was just so many things to do.

When we first arrived and had unpacked, whilst the boys were making dens under their beds, I spent a little time (with a much needed cuppa of course) looking through our little "what's on" booklet and found that every day there were loads of activities on offer for the boys to take part in.

There were things such as football clubs, archery lesson, different pool based activities, arts and crafts - so, so much to keep them happy and entertained.

But of course, with me being the total unorganised so-and-so that I am, many of the things I wanted to book were already all full up.

I've since realised that booking on-line before you actually arrive is the best way to ensure you get the kiddies on everything they want, and without having to endure the long (often very long) "booking station" queues and I'll certainly make sure I do this next time.

Many of the bookable activities also have an added extra charge to them, which is often not very much but, especially with bad weather, having a £4 half hour Roller Disco session could prove to be money very well spent to help break up a monotonous, rainy day for a kiddie.

But as I said, we didn't get on any of those added extras, partly due to the sheer volume of people wanting them and partly due to the weather...

...the High Ropes for example was closed for the duration of our stay due to the strong winds...

...much to the boys disappointment as they were desperate to get up there...

...but we still found plenty of things to do on the site, and all of which were included in the price of the holiday.

Bonus

The first thing we discovered was the little play area - no matter where we go, my son always seems to seek out a park of some sort - and we spent quite a bit of time there

It provided quite a nice little stop off between walking places around the park actually - no complaints about popping to the shop if on the way back they can have half an hour whizzing down the slides

Genius

We also had a morning of fun in the swimming pool - even I ventured onto the slide - and then ended up giving my son and his friend quite the giggle when I was apparently "the slowest person ever to get to the bottom"...

...I blame the water pressure and not my big bum for getting wedged between the plastic...

However, the slide fun (and thankfully, laughing at Mum) were pushed aside when the lifeguards lifted the barriers and - yes during the first week in April - the outside pool area was opened

I was no way brave enough to even dip a toe into the water, but the kids were all straight in, squealing with laughter as they were pulled around the circular pool by the current of the water whilst being squirted from the jets of the fountains.

Absolutely crazy

It was beyond freezing - but they had a ball.

And to be honest I can imagine it being really quite pleasant during the height of the summer months, but at this time of year...no...I'm far too chicken for that.

So what else did we get up to...?

Hmmm well, we did have our amazing caravan to enjoy and take advantage of didn't we, and that's exactly what we did on the more wet and wild weathered afternoons.

We popped on the fabulous fire...

...cracked out the calorific goodies, slobbed out on the huge comfy-cosy sofas...

...and watched an array of DVDs that I brought with us...

Well, when you have the facilities, you have to test them all out don't you - even the TV.

And a nice bit of relaxation is required from time to time...

But when we woke up on our last full day at the resort to no rain - still plenty of wind - but the wet stuff seemed to be holding off a little, relaxation was the last thing on our minds.

We wanted to get outside and do some exploring so we decided to head down the little trail at the edge of the park and visit the beach

It was so lovely and the boys really loved charging up and down the sand dunes, regardless of the chill or the dark, cloudy skies

It really was pretty and peaceful - I think we could have spent most of the day exploring.

Then, as if all of this wasn't enough, we took a little walk each evening (in shorts despite the rain because, "We are on holiday aren't we Mum") to the club where the Haven Funstars provided lots of high-energy, fun-packed entertainment for the children

There were quizzes, discos, competitions - everything to keep the little ones happy - and there was a bar of course, which I'm sure helped to keep the adults happy too...

And then after spending "a few" pounds in the amusement arcade...

...we then usually headed back to the caravan to climb into our PJs, enjoy a few cartoons whilst we ate crumpets with jam and drank cups of tea before scrambling into bed.

However, if we were more night-owl than we were, we could have stayed in the club longer, as the comedians/singers etc all came out to entertain the masses once the kiddies shows were over.

Entertainment a-plenty

But it was bed time for us.

Whether you want to spend any extra pennies or not I found that there are so many great, fun things to do on a Haven holiday without ever having to leave the resort, no matter the weather.