Our First Family Holiday
We really enjoyed our holiday at Camber Sands, with Parkdean Resorts last week. It was our first holiday for 5 years, and Henry’s first holiday ever.
We’d looked at holiday options for a few weeks, having talked about potentially going away for earlier in the year. Through we actually only booked our holiday 6 days before leaving. This was due to changing work circumstances for both of us and also the last minute knee injury I picked up 12 days before.
We planned our travel; a 3 hour drive, which included eating dinner/ a hot meal on the way. Arriving at Camber Sands at 5pm (checkin was from 4pm) on a Monday and had toast before bedtime. I was about to say, everything is planned around food now with a little one. But I think it's likely more a case of me desiring the food planning more than Henry.
The reception team were friendly; we only saw them at check-in and to check-out. Then made our way around to our caravan for the next 4 days. Laura and I were very happy with our decision to have an en-suite/ two toilets. Meaning we could set up Henry’s potty in one, and know we wouldn’t be tripping ourselves up in the night. The caravan itself was nice. There were imperfections: missing gate on decking steps, blinds not working, toilet lid not attached and door handles clearly reattached. But it was totally fine for use, and way better condition/ cleanliness than many of the reviews would have us believe.
We booked a few kids activities, which Henry enjoyed and the Troopers/ hosts were great. We even booked a couple more after seeing how much Henry enjoyed them. The three Troopers we saw each day remembered Henry’s name, said hello to him and remembered he liked Sparkle (one of the mascot characters). For a few of the activities there were 2-6 kids taking part, so we both really appreciated the effort and energy the Troopers put into hosting the children's activities. The activities we did included: Swimming (twice), Milkshake Morning/ Kids Club (twice), Tie-Dye T-shirt Making, Aqua Paddlers, Build a Squishy (with Sparkle).
The swimming and Milkshake morning activities were free, the others were an additional cost.
The staff across the site were all amazing, very relaxed, welcoming and ready to entertain. We enjoyed the luxury of staying outside of school holidays; Henry starts school next September! The spaces never felt full or busy. We got the impression some spaces were closed due to reduced numbers, this helped create better atmospheres for activities.
Though on two occasions it felt like you could miss out slightly:
The swimming pool only had one of two pools open at a time. So you either had the smaller pool with slide or larger pool without slide. Maybe not a major deal, but both pools were there and in rotated use. Just not both open at the same time. So a shame if you'd hoped to get the slide or bigger space.
The kids activities being in the main bar area, rather than the kids entertainment space (the Showroom). While this was mostly fine, and helped keep an atmosphere for the late afternoon activities. One evening we were sat near the door, where the security team were chatting to each other, and there was a lot of swearing. Now, in a bar that’s probably fine. But we were there, along with 75%+ of people in the bar area, for the kids entertainment. So that was a negative experience. This only happened once, but we did consciously sit away from the door after this.
My knee injury did hold me back on a few activities, as getting up and down is tricky, but there wasn't anything I 'couldn't do'. It also made the really short walk from the caravan to the entrainment complex more tiring than you’d think. But that’s just me getting used to using crutches. I did really appreciate that everything was close and a short walk, even from the furtherest caravan to the entertainment spaces.
We visited the nearby, literally across the road, beach. It was a beautiful beach, and again we felt the benefits of travelling during term time as there was hardly anyone there. We played, took photos, make sand castles, Henry fell over in the water (thank goodness we had a change of clothes in the bag). It was just a fun afternoon.
Also a big thanks to the lady that helped us up the stoney slope as we left. I just couldn’t quite get up the slope as the crutch kept slipping and sinking down the stones.
Henry loved meeting the mascot characters: Sparkle, Naarky and Lizzie. Which has since sent me on a Vinted search for character toys. I’m trying not to fall into a compulsive buying spree of toys Henry’s actually only shown about a 5% interest in.
During those late afternoon entertainment activities, Henry’s tired almost manic laughing was so joyful. It definitely felt like a family holiday, without some of the stresses I think come from having to be in the school holidays (and then everything costing more).
Henry also enjoyed spending time in the arcade; I do wonder how long I’ll get away with him just watching the demo screen on some rides.
While there were imperfections, they had very little impact on our stay. The effort of the Troopers and having everything on site are the two things that would 100% bring us back to a family holiday destination/ host like Parkdean again.
I really enjoyed having time away as a family. With hybrid working there’s always the option or thought to reply to a message or email. Physically being away from the laptop, and occasionally signal, meant we really did have a break from (while lovely) regular life. I really enjoyed and appreciated undistracted time with the two most wonderful people. We are hoping we can get one more holiday in before Henry starts school and everything becomes unaffordable.
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