21 October 2017

October Half Term Fun at Bluestone


Last week the family and I were invited along to stay at Bluestone in Wales for the October school half term holidays. We had visited Bluestone back in June of 2016 for the other half's birthday and the kids couldn't wait to go back and get stuck in to all the activities.


So what is Bluestone? It's a lovely family friendly national park set in South Wales which offers self catering log cabins and cottages throughout the year. It has everything you need on site from shops and restaurants to a massive swimming pool and adventure centre so you don't even have to leave during your stay if you don't want to. It really is lovely so read on to find out how much everyone enjoyed themselves.


Our drive from Fife, Scotland to Bluestone in the South of Wales can be a little bit of a journey however the kids love a road trip and 8hrs in the car actually passed by reasonably quickly. We stopped at lots of services on the way down and chatted about how we'd spend our week at Bluestone.


Finding Bluestone was easy as it's well signed posted and if you have a sat nav (like we do) it takes you straight to the door. Upon arrival it was nice to see an efficient queue system set up for cars to easily drive up to the reception windows, check in, get the key to your log cabin with welcome pack etc and then just drive right in to find your home for the week. Bluestone operate a one way system and cars are generally only allowed to drive the resort on Monday's and Friday's as these are check in and check out days. At no other time are cars allowed (apart from disabled) and this works really well.


One of the perks the kids love about exploring Bluestone is that you can hire a golf buggy or bikes and tour the resort that way. Last year we hired a golf buggy and this year we did the same. You honestly don't have to though but it works wonders when you have small kids with tired legs. I'd recommend pre-booking your golf buggy as essential especially during busy peak times as they go quickly. Booking any transport, activities and events can simply be done by logging into your holiday reservation on the Bluestone website and paying online. This is how I did it last year and this year and it's super easy. You can of course call the dedicated booking helpline if you prefer.


Once we found our accommodation and unpacked the other half dropped the car off at the parking lot and picked up our golf buggy. We then decided to visit the onsite grocery shop for some essentials and let the kids play at the fabulous new play park in the village since they had spent so long in the car. When it started to get dark we jumped back on the buggy and headed home via The Chippy to pick up some tasty fish and chips for dinner. All of the Bluestone accommodation is of course self catering but there are plenty of venues on site you can visit for a tasty treat.


Our accommodation was clean and modern and perfect for a family of 4. It had a large open plan kitchen, dining and living room with 2 bedrooms off to the side plus a wet room with toilet etc. It's all we needed for the week and we were very happy with it. Whilst eating our fish and chips I decided to check out activities for the kids from the documents included in the welcome pack and was glad to see a whole host of possibilities. Logan was super eager to do the 4x4 Safari again and I noticed they had a creche for 0-3 year olds so thought I could pop Harlow in there for a few hours.


Each day of our stay was filled with some activity or another but to give you an idea we visited the Blue Lagoon swimming pool (exclusive guest only access from 9am to 12pm), attended the Shadow Puppet Show, booked Logan into Bluestone Buccaneers, went on forest walks to visit Camp Smokey, visited the Adventure Centre, played crazy golf, Logan did the Sky Trail and climbing walls, played on the bouncy castle and played the games machines in the Adventure Centre. It honestly would have been a challenge to get board here as there's just so much to do.


When I booked the kids into the Shadow Puppet show I was slightly terrified that Harlow wouldn't sit still and would be a complete diva throughout! However I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the Shadow Puppet show it completely interactive for the kids and adults with lots of dancing and games so it was a brilliant success. I'd highly recommend this for the kids if you're visiting Bluestone.


On the Thursday afternoon of our stay I booked Harlow into the Woody Wild Creche for 3hrs and also booked Logan into the Bluestone Buccaneers for 3hrs at the same time. This meant that the other half and I could enjoyed a lovely forest walk in peace without the kids moaning of being tired or having to carry someone. Harlow loved the creche and Logan thought the buccaneers was fantastic. It's for ages 4-7 years and I'd highly recommend this activity too. The staff that took this group were all dressed up as pirates and really got into it which the kids loved. Tons of fun.


The evening before we left we decided to visit the village and let the kids play at the park again for one last time. I had noticed on a few noticeboards that there was going to be some Halloween events so we hung around to see what was going on. It was actually really good as there was a good few Halloween themed games for the kids and we also welcome the Halloween parade that had walked down from the Adventure Centre. It was a lovely last night and everyone had a great time.


Everyone loved their stay with Bluestone and even after having been last year there was still lots and lots still to do and see this year. When Logan turns 8 he'll be able to go back and do so much more activities as there's Sky Wires, High Ropes, Archery, Crossbow and Laserclay still to be done. I'm not sure we'll ever get fed up of visiting this place!


We received a free stay at Bluestone in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

4 comments on "October Half Term Fun at Bluestone"

Mummy Cat on 23 October 2017 at 09:14 said...

looks like such a wonderful time!! x

Unknown on 23 October 2017 at 09:40 said...

We loved visiting Bluestone Wales, it is such a brilliant place for little ones. We would really like to explore more of the national park on our next visit.

Susan Mann on 23 October 2017 at 17:10 said...

This looks like a brilliant place to visit. My kids would love it and I've never been to Wales before. Looks like there is so much to do x

Tattooed Tealady on 23 October 2017 at 22:24 said...

Bluestone has been on our too-visit list for ages. I think it looks like the perfect family getaway xo

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