My Pontins experience

I fully appreciate Pontins won't be to everyone's taste. It's not for the Bluestones or Centrepark types. It is the no frills of holiday packages. But hey what's wrong with that? For those like me, on a budget it's the go to holiday choice. My belief is whilst the kids are young and we can get away with doing holidays on the cheap we're going to lap it up and bloody enjoy it!! 

 

This is not a sponsored post, it is my own experience of Pontins in Brean Sands Somerset. I appreciate everyone's experiences and expectations will be different. We paid £160 for the basic accommodation, 4 night stay in high season - July 2015. We booked 5 months in advanced after receiving an email notifying us of sale prices. 

Things I would like to applaude Pontins for: 

* The hard working and enthusiastic blue coats, who are on call all day and night. There's no doubt they work dam hard. They all multi task and get involved with every aspect. Their job descriptions are such a varied and large list! From dancers, singers, photographers, comedians, bingo sellers, kids entertainers, event organisers and customer service operators delaying with complaints and issues. You make the Pontins experience and you have my vote blue coats, well done. 

* The food, basic but good and a wide choice for all tastes. A self-serve-type diner which allows you to control your serving size and gives you plenty of choice. Value of money 10/10 the breakfast being my favourite choice!!! 

* The activity schedule throughout the day and night was extensive. You could easily make the decision to spend your whole stay on site and find something to do in all weather conditions. With inflatables, leisure activities, bike hire, face painting, competitions and so much more! 

* 3 outside park areas, which were always clean and kept well maintained. My kids loved spending every dry moment they possibly could running wild on the playground equipment. Kids are more than happy with the free entertainment! 

Like everything in life there is room for improvement. The things I believe could of been better or need attention: 

* The kids club took place in the bar (due to refurbishment taking place, but during high season Is poor timing) it was squashed and totally impractical. 

* The swimming pool changing rooms are in desperate need of a refurb they are unsuitable and border line not fit for use. 

* The 'Fun Factory' - Main hall, isn't big enough to accommodate the amount of people staying on site, by 8pm it is full to the brim with people fighting for chairs and tables! At my guess there were twice the amount of people to chairs ratio. This puts a downer on your stay as everyone wants a chance to enjoy the entertainment. 

* The main gate whilst manned, didn't have any security procedures. for me I would of felt, at the very least, car registrations should be recorded. This gives parents some confidence of security on the site. I feel the site wasn't at all secure or exclusive. 

* Adventureland - Such a brilliant area for all ages and weather conditions but it's let down by only having 1 member of staff available to man the front desk, undertake all the activities (such as face painting which proved extremely difficult with the amount of children) and even first aid. 

* The showers in the apartments are none exsitant. I think I've got wetter in a rain shower. Whilst you don't expect 5* luxury and you are paying for basic accommodation, being able to stay clean during your time away is vital, a top priority and essential! 

We as a family will be holidaying at Pontins again and we recommend it for the value of money and the range of kids activities and entertainment. Here's the link for more info: http://www.pontins.com/holiday-parks/brean-sands-holiday-park/

I would also like to take the opportunity to recommended some of the trips out we as a family enjoyed: 

*Brean Splash - a fantastic versatile water park great for all ages, this was the kids favourite place of the hol. http://www.brean.com/splashnew/index.html

* Brean play - a new and modern soft play, great for those wet days and for waring the kids out a treat!! What kids don't love soft play?! http://www.breanplay.com/home.html

* Noah's Ark Zoo Farm - whilst a little on the expensive side, we enjoyed a whole day out here. My opinion of this attraction is that it is very professionally run and intermit. All animals are very well looked after and their surroundings are very well designed and thought out. There is such a lot to see and do here. But it is a weather dependant attraction. I especially liked the elephant enclosure and the elephant talk. The kids favourite was the huge soft play area, bloody typical! 

http://www.noahsarkzoofarm.co.uk 

So that's my holiday round-up, if you would like anymore information or have any specific questions please do get in touch :) 

My issues with the summer hol's

** Child care ** 

I have two options here i either rely on friends and family, which is the cheaper option

Issue - it runs the risk of being let down last minute (through no fault of their own) therefore resulting in complete chaos! 

Or 

Holiday club / paid childcare. which the kids totally love because they get to do cool stuff that they can't do at home like gluing shit to tables or tredding playdoh in the carpet but it comes at a high price! Issue - Is it actually worth while going to work once you've paid the child care costs? Or are you out of pocket? 

** Out with routine and in with chaos **

That carefully constructed routine is out the window within a matter of days. The bed time routines, waking up routines and even eating routines are all turned into unintentional chaos. No matter how hard you try and stick to your guns the holiday doom takes over! 

Issue - wild unruly children 

** Spending goes through the roof ** 

On days-off during the holidays we as parents are obliged to take kids on days out (something to write about in their school journals if nothing else) 

Issue - during school holidays prices of days out are extortionate!!! You need to re-mortgage your house for one trip to the zoo nowadays :( 

** Everywhere is busy and over run with children ** 

Yea I get this is an obvious one but it's also so frustrating!! Supermarkets, cafe and soft plays are all rammed this time of year. There's no getting away from kids

Issue - my own children drive me insane without others adding to it! There's no where to hide. 

** Unpredictable British weather ** 

During the 6-week break we can encounter all times of weather conditions therefore making it impossible to organize days out. Going anywhere is a military operation with wellies, raincoats, sun hats and suncream. 

Issue - it's Sod's law you forget the one thing you need as you try and second guess the weather and obviously get it wrong!! 

There is always the option of staying at home on safer territory. 

Issue - the kids will climb the walls whilst you get cabin fever. No one is a winner here either. 

Things I've learnt to be ok with now I'm a mum

Some days your gunna sleep all day and sometimes you'll feel like you're wasting the days away. But you'll come to realise there's nothing more important then sleep, like nothing!! And it's never a wasted activity. 

Most days you won't get around to mopping the kitchen floor. But it's not that bigger deal as you will get round to it, one day, perhaps when the kids have grown up and left home!? Give yourself a break. 

You will often start the day with good intentions (like dieting) but these will often be forgotten about by lunch time. But there's always tomorrow or the next day. 

Sleep is the most important thing in the whole-wide-world and you will choose it over everything. Including Eastenders, eating and showering. 

Ironing is something you done once upon a time way back when, before the second baby, when you slept and did house work, religiously. Clothes that actually do need ironing were obviously invented by a man. 

5am will never be anyones fav time of the day, ever! No one 'chooses' to get up at that god awful time. It is the torture hour. A time before even Granny Murray!  

Kids tv is the best invention in the whole wide world!!!! The amount a mum can get done during a one 5min episodes of Bing is record breaking. And Mr Tumble will be your best friend. 

As a mum it's the small things you'll learn to appreciate most, like peeing in peace, a sneaky mars bar or a 2 min flick through Facebook, in silence. Bliss. Who needs champagne and pandora?! 

The longer you spend preparing a nutritious meal for your little darlings the harder it is to accept when it's thrown on the floor or spat out! Hence why smilies and fish fingers were invented. 

You learn to lower your ambitions and aim's, no longer will you want to look like something out of TOWIE, instead you want to look human-like and not twice your age. 

Your goals are to get through the day and survive. No longer are you concerned about the latest fashion trends or who's going with. 

Friday nights are all about the pizza, gogglebox and a bottle of cheap strawberry cider before collapsing in bed by 10pm. Gone are the clubbing days and the dirty kebabs at 2am!! No thank-you..! 

But mostly you'll realize life isn't all about you anymore. Your needs and goals will change and the things that make you happy are priceless and invaluable. And not from Top Shop or in a little white box. 

You'll also realize that you'll never be, a size 8 again or that care-free spontaneous person you were at 20 and you'll probably never have any real actual amounts of money, ever. But that's ok. We, as parents accept it all. Even though we go into it without actually signing anything or agreeing to any actual terms. Parenting the unspoken contracts. 

#LittleLoves

Week commencing:

1st June


Read:

The Mommy Life - I wanna see you be brave. 

I came across this amazing heartfelt post, its a topic close to my heart and one I always find so hard to express. But reading other bloggers brave and open posts, encourages me to confront my demons.
Thank you Susan Pajaro for this.  

Watched:

A brilliant insightful documentary, well done channel 4.
It highlighted the importance for early diagnoses and the support needed for families. This programme proved there is an awful lot more that should be done. I could relate to some of the issues raised as my brother has ADHD, growing up we didn't see him as being any different but it was a
difficult battle with school etc.

Wore:

A dress!! shock horror. it was allot shorter then it looked on the hanger. This dress was my bargain of the month from eBay, I won it for £4 and it was brand new with tags still on that said £25. You cant grumble at that.

I wore it to my friends baby shower meal, I had so much fun, who knew baby showers could be so much fun.

Heard:

Some very sad news about a girl I know. I'm still at a total loss for words.

My post Taken far too soon

Made:

As many of you know I'm not crafty and I cant bake or cook but every now and then I give it a go. So this was me giving it a go at making a cake. I liked this disaster up to Brummy Mummy of 2 - Wicked Wednesday

and lastly:

I used this quote in my post  - Sorry to my friends

Its such a lovely quote :)
 

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