My family and I were invited to Woolacombe Bay Holiday Parks. As they claim to be the best holiday park in Devon and, as avid parkrunners, we were delighted to accept a couple of nights stay. Once I had established that it was indeed walkable from Woolacombe Dunes parkrun that is!
Three Parks of Entertainment and Facilities for One Price
The selling point for Woolacombe Bay Holiday Parks has got to be their three for one! You stay at one park but can utilise the entertainment and facilities across all three parks during your stay. Plus the parks are really close to each other!
This really does add up to a lot of entertainment across Woolacombe Bay, Twitchen House and Easewell Farm. Offering something for everyone in the family. You won’t really need to go and explore off the campsites if you do not wish to!!
Some of it is included in the price and others additional. Also some need booking in advance too! There are less activities on Fridays and Tuesdays as check in days. This was not great for us as we were only staying two nights (and did indeed arrive on a Friday).
Different Accommodations Across Woolacombe Bay Holiday Parks
Woolacombe Bay Holiday Parks offer different levels of accommodation across the three different parks. Did you want a luxury lodge, with sea views, electric charging and a hot tub? A woodland feel or a more basic campsite to explore from.
Plus staggered check in times are utilised dependent on the accommodation – great for not causing long queues!
Dog Friendly
Woolacombe Bay Holiday Parks are dog friendly with “bars” (with water) and a dog bath station. Obviously also having accommodation where your dogs can stay. However, personally I think Twitchen House would be the best place for them to stay for lovely walks in the onsite woodland.
Wi-Fi and Signal
Wi-Fi is provided but was not great – this may be just the switch off distraction you want, or even need, for your family. This is different in some of the accommodation such as the Lodges however.
We managed enough on our own Network’s signal and have different providers.
Indoor Entertainment at Woolacombe Bay Holiday Parks
Live entertainment was a mix of acts including – musicals, panto, cabaret, magic show, and talent shows. Of course there is also the usual children’s entertainment and cash Bingo (for over 18s).
Other indoor entertainment includes:
- Gym is £6.00 for 3 sessions
- Arcades – with plenty of children’s step stools.
- Cinema – charges apply, cheaper early morning shows
- Pottery painting – with a range of sizes and prices. You can even add a magnet to it for an additional £2. There is such a fantastic array of products – for fans of all manner of things! Plus they sell delicious milkshakes there too!
- Make a bear party – Sunday 10:30am and Thursday at 1:30pm.
- Pool tables
Outdoors
As well as being one with nature with plenty of outdoor adventures and activities.
- Bungee trampoline min weight 20kg (3 stone)
- Segway Safari – £25.00
- Climbing wall min 110cm – £7.00
- Tennis is free with a refundable cash deposit
- Play areas
- Full sized golf
- Disc golf
This is especially true at Twitchen House which has a Woodland Trail and Explorers:
- Pond dipping
- Wildlife Homes
- Fire Lighting
- Fireside Stories
- Nature craft workshop
- Ranger ramble
- Bug hunt
- Explorienteering – like a treasure hunt but with adventure! Fun for all ages and FREE!
- Survival bracelets – fun for all ages, £9.
- Shelter building
Additionally at Twitchen House there’s live music under the canopy.
Pools
A variety of swimming pools (indoor and out), with water slides in season. The outdoor pool is open 16th May-7th September.
Note you will need £1 for lockers.
Unfortunately when we went to look at the indoor pool at Woolacombe Bay Holiday Park it was already all closed up and dark 10 minutes before it was meant to be. Opening is 8am-8pm. We could see that there was a pool to swim in and another with children’s play equipment. Pirate features are on 10am-5pm.
Water Activities at Woolacombe Bay Holiday Parks
Twitchen House has a splash pad area (which is actually the outdoor pool with like a lid on it!!).
- Lake paddleboarding
- Lake kayaking – all 12 years and 137cm min
- Waterwalkerz min age 5 – £7.00
- Also available was the wave surfer. This costs £30 to use and needs to be booked. With a minimum age of 8 and height of 110cm.
- Spa – dry and UV saunas, steam rooms, indoor Jacuzzi, heated tile loungers, cool plunge pool, foot spa, and ice fountain. £15
- Sun Shower £2.50 (on a 3 for 2).
The Beaches
With good views of the sea from the site and easy walks down to the gorgeous sandy beaches. However, getting back up is slightly tougher!
There is a second option of walking with a pushchair on Sandy Lane Road from Woolacombe Bay – however there is a warning about it being very narrow. Honestly, it wasn’t very pleasant navigating it in a car so I am not sure I would have wanted to do it with small children!
A bus or taxi is also an option and personally one I think would be best if your children are not going to be able to walk back up – or at least on the way back up.
Twitchen House has more of a variety of beaches to walk to – but it’s not much further from Woolacombe Bay.
Sapphire Caravan at Woolacombe Bay Holiday Park
Our family stay was in a Sapphire 3 bedroom caravan at Woolacombe Bay Holiday Park. This meant that our check in was from 2pm. However, we were invited to use the facilities from noon. Unfortunately, we were unable to arrive until just after 4pm.
Surf Village
Accommodation was clean, with a well thought out theme and colour scheme. It was in Surf village and so there were lots of nods to surf boards. Even the bookshelf was shaped like a surfboard!
Surf village was nice and quiet and we were not disturbed by entertainment or anyone returning to their accommodation late at night.
There was also a lovely patio area and BBQ. Unfortunately it was not the weather for using it.
The Caravan Itself – Sapphire at Woolacombe Bay Holiday Park
The Sapphire at Woolacombe Bay Holiday Park was a spacious caravan with a large kitchen/living area. Complete with a big table and chairs for a family to gather for meals or board/card games. Additionally there was a small coffee table with pouffes to sit on.
The living room also had a DVD player, as well as the TV. Perfect for those wet out of season visits.
Perfect for families as everything was stress-free cleaning – with easy to wipe clean sofas and laminate floors. Especially good for small children! However, there was no-where to hang coats apart from the backs of chairs – not good in wet weather. Additional the door from living area to bedrooms didn’t shut properly – mildly annoying but not really a big deal.
Kitchen
Equipped with a small dishwasher and good size fridge freezer, as well as the usual things you’d expect in a caravan – microwave, oven, kettle, and toaster, and so on.
A well-stocked kitchen items but no baking tray nor washing up drainer.
Other things to note that were included in the kitchen were:
- Cutlery
- Plates
- Bowls
- Sharp knives
- Scissors
- Can opener
- Corkscrew
- Grater
- Peeler
- Tongs, fork and spatula for the BBQ
- A double bin and bags – this made it so much easier for sorting recycling and waste.
- The recycling and bins were just opposite our caravan too.
- Broom, dust pan and brush and mop
- Good sized mugs
- Tea pot
- Egg cups
- Washing up bowl
- Big glass (salad) bowl
- Pyrex bowl and lid
- Pyrex measuring jug
- Glass juice jug
- Glass oven dish
- Two types of glasses
- 3 saucepans of varying sizes
- Colander with handle (we are now buying one of these!!)
- Frying pan
- Oven gloves
- Cooking utensils
- Cleaning kit – with bin bags, dishwasher tablets, tea towel
Additionally, there was a bottle of wine, apple juice, tasty shortbread, fudge and crisps. Personally I do not think there should be wine – as some people do not have it for religious reasons. Maybe it’s because I no longer drink and felt that this would be part of the cost of the holiday.
Bedrooms
The master bedroom was big enough to walk around the edge of the bed, had plenty of storage and an en suite bathroom. This comprised of a toilet, sink and shower. A TV was also provided on the wall. Personally I found the bed to be a little firm for my liking.
The two additional bedrooms had two single beds with a tiny cupboard in between them. Above one of the beds, in each room, was more storage. One of our 6ft teens pushed two of the single beds together to make a double. Although, this resulting in him having to climb onto the bed to get in the room.
In order to reduce washing there were signs to put on beds that hadn’t been used.
Bathrooms
We all had towels provided, there was toilet roll in each bathroom, bins in both and heaters were throughout the accommodation – including in the bathrooms. However, there was no soap provided and I think this would have been really useful thing to have on arrival.
Additional Items
You could add the following chargeable items:
- Highchair £15.00 each (maximum 2)
- Bed guard £5.00 each (maximum 4)
- Travel Cot £15.00 each (maximum 2)
Food at Woolacombe Bay Holiday Parks
Luckily there is a Nisa local shop onsite as off-site supermarkets are quite far away. We went in around 6 minutes to 8pm when they were closing. Opening is 8am-8pm every day. The lady serving was very kind and told me to take my time. She made sure that I definitely had everything I needed and made sure I knew that there was no rush.
Additionally there is an onsite restaurant and also food can be delivered to your accommodation for free!
- Adult breakfast was £8.95 for a vegetarian breakfast up to £11.95 for a large English breakfast. There is also baps & sandwiches and kid’s breakfast available. Served between 8:30-11:30am.
- Other options include beans or egg on toast and pancakes (with maple syrup or Nutella) – from £5.50.
- Beachball Breakfast is £7.00 a pancake breakfast and exclusive activity book. Whilst being joined by Billy and Betty Beachball. Saturday and Tuesday at 9:30am.
- Main meals from under £12
Conclusion of our Stay in Sapphire at Woolacombe Bay Holiday Park
This was definitely a well thought out caravan in a lovely set of parks. Would definitely recommend to families who like a lot of entertaining. It was also perfect for attending Woolacombe Dunes parkrun. We had a great time and I have discovered that you can camp at Easewell Farm for Halloween weekend (half term) for as little as £17 for 2 guests over 2 nights!!
My family and I received a couple of nights stay in a Sapphire at Woolacombe Bay Holiday Park in return for this review. All words are honest and my own. No other financial incentive has been given in exchange.