Last week we went on our first ever family holiday, eek!
Having already dropped the dogs at their holiday home (bye bye Lily and Lou Lou), we set off for Wales.
We were very excited and couldn’t wait to get going!
We had a really straightforward journey, stopping en route for lunch and arriving at Bluestone Wales just after 3pm.
WHAT IS BLUESTONE?
Bluestone Wales is a large resort of wooden lodges (and some traditional stone cottages) set in the stunning Pembrokeshire National Park. With its own village, shops, a grill, pub, bakery, spa and a play area, it could be mistaken for a cute seaside village.
Set a short distance from the central hub of the village is the Adventure Centre and the Blue Lagoon swimming complex. There is a bus running up and down site, but we never seemed to time it right to be able to catch it.
There truly is something for all the family at Bluestone; from the outdoor play area, soft play at the Adventure Centre and organised activities like messy play and Baby/Toddler sense. Older children can be entertained with climbing, archery and even ravine crossing! For the whole family there is the swimming pool, with wave machine, rapids, flumes and also a lovely separate toddler area (with a little slide). The setting is beautiful and there are many walks on site. Or if you prefer you can hire bikes and explore a little further.
OUR LODGE
I had obviously looked on line at the Bluestone site beforehand to see what our accommodation would look like. Even so, I was really pleased when we arrived at our lodge. It was a fabulous detached Gateholm Lodge in Preseli View; with three bedrooms (one double and two twins) which could sleep six. There was an en-suite (with a shower over the bath) attached to the double bedroom and a separate bathroom (with just a shower) off the hallway. I know some of the accommodation only has showers, so if you have little ones it might be worth checking you have a bath in the lodge you book.
Family bathroom
En-suite
The double room had double doors opening onto the patio area, which was complete with picnic table. We didn’t spend any time out there, but if we had visited during warmer months, I think we would have lived out there as it was so peaceful.
Linen and towels were included and the lodge really did have a luxury feel, the lovely heated towel rails helped! Each bedroom had a wardrobe (with hangers), chest of drawers and at least one bedside table. So there was lots of space to stash your things.
The interior of the lodge was very clean with modern fixtures and decor. To make the most of the views the living/dining area was upstairs, with the bedrooms and bathrooms making up the ground level. The living space was open plan with a fully equipped kitchen (dishwasher, fridge, small freezer compartment, cooker, microwave, extract fan), dining room with a large wooden table big enough to seat six plus room for highchairs, and a living room space with two three seater leather couches, coffee table and TV. One highchair and travel cot was standard in the lodge, any additional ones could be hired.
The dining area proved to be Baby’s favourite place to do a spot of her own blogging.
The view from our lodge.
Left for us on arrival was a small kitchen starter pack with a tiny bottle of washing up liquid, 3 dishwasher tablets, a cloth, a sponge and a tea towel.
We had just settled in and I received a text from my friend Katie, to say that her husband had forgotten to pack one of their daughters cases. Relaying the story to Mr Hubby, I saw the colour drain from his face, as he admitted he had forgotten to pack BOTH of Baby’s cases and consequently ALL her clothes. After the little bit of stress and a trip to Tesco, we were sorted for the night and spent the following day buying her a new wardrobe in NEXT! Silver linings!
DINING
You can obviously make the most of the kitchen and cook meals in your lodge. Before you arrive you can select your shopping and have it waiting in the lodge for you. The village shop is handy for anything you have run out of, but is not the place for a bargain. Or you can drive to Haverfordwest and stock up at the Morrisons or Tesco (a 20 minute drive).
On site you have these options of places to eat;
Millers Bakery – We stopped in here when we arrived before we could get into the lodge at 4.30pm. They do a lovely cup of tea and Baby approved of the milkshakes. You will find everything you would expect from a bakery, with a little indoor seating area and a larger area outside.
The WildWood Cafe – is part of a wooden treehouse in the adventure centre. For light bites, jackets, burgers, sandwiches and is also the venue for the ‘Once Upon a Time’ themed dinner shows.
Camp Smokey – A rustic woodland diner at the bottom of a ravine. This place looks amazing, however due to the weather conditions it was not open when we stayed.
Carreg Las – For fine dining in your posh togs.
The Knights Tafarn – This is the onsite pub in the centre of the village.
Baby perusing the menu!
We were pleasantly surprised by both of the meals we had in here. Great quality ingredients too. The children’s meals were huge – that is Baby’s sausage and mash! You can even get a dessert to take away…. just saying…
The Fish Shack – A waterside cafe in the Blue Lagoon Water Park.
Takeaway delivered to your lodge – There will be a £3 delivery charge if your order is below £20, but they do deliver drinks too.
Caffi Môr – Situated in the Well Spa, ideal for a drink and light snack between treatments.
The Farmhouse Grill – Offering a grill menu and a Sunday carvery.
ACTIVITIES
- Adventure Centre – This is fantastic and includes soft play, crazy golf, a bouncy castle, climbing walls, arcade machines and a giant tree house. There are also rooms where activities such as messy play take place.
- The Blue Lagoon – This swimming pool is fantastic. There are flumes for older children (over 1.1m)/grown ups and a special shallow toddler pool with a mini slide.
Photo courtesy of Bluestone
- Bear in mind the wave machine is quite full on if you are holding little ones! Our favourite thing was the lazy river that took you outside the building, along the back and then back in. Obviously it was freezing when we went, but I thought I would just see how Baby coped (keeping our shoulders well under the water). I needn’t have worried, from the moment we burst through the plastic curtain and were hit in the face by the icy blast, Baby was in her element. So much so, I had to go round seven times! I didn’t mind though as the look of pure elation on her face each time the cold air hit us was worth it! There was an outdoor decked area with loungers, which you could access from the lazy river.
- Outdoor play area – Set in the centre of the village, it features tunnels, rope bridges, swings and slides. Baby wanted to investigate as soon as we arrived.
There are also countless outdoor and indoor activities, all of which are detailed here. We booked Baby into a messy play session, which cost £7 (for an hour). We don’t really do much messy play at home so we were keen for her to give it a go. There were a few different stations, with a variety of messy play things on them, cake making ingredients, jelly and custard, paint. However, Baby just wanted to do the washing up!
- Meet friends! We were so lucky that when we stayed two of my lovely blogging friends where there too. It was so lovely to have a tea party with Hannah, Katie (Dave!) and their lovely kiddos. I also briefly met Michelle and Emma in passing during our stay.
HANDY EXTRAS
- Bluestone offers a pre-bookable baby sitting service. All the staff are experienced, trained and CRB checked.
- There is a crèche in the adventure centre, so you can have some adult time if you chose to.
ADULT ACTIVITIES
- The Well Spa – Situated in the heart of the village the Well Spa is equipped with a range of thermal rooms and you can book a massage or another treatment before relaxing in the plunge pool. More details on our spa experience coming soon.
GETTING AROUND THE SITE
Reading up before we arrived at Bluestone, we knew you could hire bikes or a golf buggy to get around. We opted to see how it went and not pre-book anything. Everywhere is easily walkable, but there are lots of hills, BIG hills. So it is definitely something to consider if someone in your party has a mobility problem.
MAKE SURE YOU PACK
- Cling film/Kitchen roll
- Salt, pepper, oil, ketchup etc
- Bin bags (you get two, but we used more)
- Toilet rolls (you are given one toilet roll per bathroom)
- Cleaning spray
- Children’s cutlery/plates
- Washing up liquid and dishwasher tablets (we coped with what was in the starter pack but depends on the size of your family).
- Tea/Coffee/Sugar and all your usual supplies/food
- Extra towels if you plan to swim
- Cot bed mattress
ACTIVITIES NEAR TO BLUESTONE?
There is so much to do on site that you don’t really need to leave. However, we had a recommendation to visit Tenby, so on our last full day we headed there to explore. It is less than 15 miles from the resort, so you don’t waste time travelling. We fell in love with the beach at Tenby and I wrote about that here.
Other local attractions are Folly Farm, which has a vintage fun fair, zoo animals, indoor and outdoor adventure play. Anna’s Welsh Zoo also looks like a great place to visit.
WHERE THERE ANY NEGATIVES?
We had such a fabulous holiday, however there were a couple of small things that could have been better.
- Travel cot – We were told there would we a travel cot as standard in the room. After a good search we discovered there wasn’t one in our lodge. I called the customer care line and was told it would be in a wardrobe (which it wasn’t), then they agreed to send someone down with one. As you cannot get into your lodge until 4.30pm and Baby’s usual bedtime is 6pm, we were keen for it to be delivered. I called another two times to be assured it was on it’s way. The final time I called was after 6pm, so I had to call security. It was delivered around 6.30pm, by which time Baby had started to melt down. There was no mattress, which we needed in order to use our monitor, so the lovely man that dropped it off went to get us a mattress pad. This did mean that it was 7.30pm by the time her bed was ready for her.
- Stair gate downstairs – There was a stair gate on the bottom (and top) and the stairs. The one on the bottom was retractable. Unfortunately. it wouldn’t pull out and so couldn’t be used. I am sure it would have been fixed, but we didn’t find time to report it.
- Cupboards – As the parents of a VERY inquisitive toddler, we spent a great deal of time telling her to get out of the cupboards, moving crockery and holding cupboard doors shut. For us, it would have been wonderful to have child locks on the doors. However, I do appreciate this wouldn’t be an issue for the majority of people. It just meant for us, we were constantly chasing after her.
- Plug sockets – In the same vein, there were lots of exposed plug sockets. It would have been fabulous to have plug socket guards in place.
- Nappy bin – There was no outside bin so all dirty nappies had to be kept in the lodge and then walked to the bin park a few seconds walk from the lodge. We did spot a burst nappy bag and strewn nappy one morning. I imagine someone popped it outside their lodge and an animal attacked it. I know lots of outside bins would potentially spoil the aesthetics, but it would be handy for parents of younger children.
- Swimming – There were a couple of rules that didn’t affect us, but could affect others visiting. Bluestone insist on a child to parent ratio of 1:1 (for all children under four) when swimming. Baby is an only child, but there are many circumstances where this could be an issue. Also all children under 4 years old are required to wear a swim nappy even if they are fully potty trained. Baby isn’t potty trained yet, but I can imagine trying to wrestle her into a swim nappy if she had been potty trained for any length of time might be a challenge.
OUR VERDICT?
We loved it! There were a few small issues (highlighted above) but nothing that would have prevented us from enjoying ourselves. The staff were friendly, the onsite food was great and there was lots to keep us all occupied. The site wide wifi was a great bonus. It is very hilly, so if you have mobility issues or children of a young age, you might want to hire a golf buggy. Even though this would have been nice, it didn’t take us that long to get anywhere, even with Baby insisting she walked… We all know a tired toddler walk is not a quick walk! Especially when she insists on pushing her pram…
We had a lovely first family holiday and we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Bluestone to anyone looking for a fabulous UK break.
We would like to say a massive thank you to Bluestone for inviting us!
Disclosure: We were given a four night break in return for an honest review.