I know I’ve been blogging quite a bit recently. I also know that I’ve actually rather a backlog of posts, and so I apologise for drowning you in multiple posts a day, but any chance I get near a keyboard, I’m going to be banging them out.
Today I’m whisking you all the way back to a windy weekend in February, when I loaded up the three children and bump I had at that point, and headed for Bognor Regis and Butlins. The plan was for dp to stay home and deal with the kitchen floor – iirc correctly he instead spent the weekend suffering from a ricked back 🙁
We, however, had a great time.
The run to Butlins was not good. It involved the M25 and the Dartford tunnel on a Friday afternoon. I did begin to worry that we wouldn’t arrive in time for a meal 🙁 In the event it was fine, and I was very very pleased to pull into the somewhat busy carpark right in front of the hotel, and stagger in to check in. From the start it became apparent that all the staff go the extra mile to help you out – and they all do it with a smile. I would have to say that the staff are Butlins greatest asset, you never get that sense that they are doing you a favour as you occasionally can in hotels, instead they are all real ppl, doing a job that they seem to enjoy. Which makes the stay that bit more pleasant.
There was a very nice chap who helped me fetch the luggage from the car and whisk it up to our room in the disco lift. The ladies on the front desk (who as far as I could tell never sleep!) explained how I needed to book a time for our meals, and showed us the DVDs that you can borrow free for a £10 deposit. We did a lot of that 😉
Because the one drawback to Butlins is the amount of stuff on offer. An odd drawback you might think, for my children found it slightly overstimulating almost, and I managed that with frequent DVD sessions in our room on the excellent large TV. It made the weekend rather more restful for me – although removing cooking and washing up helped a huge amount with that.
Our highlights? For me, the breakfasts. I really really liked not having to get up, sort everyone else out before I got to sit down with food. And I particularly liked the granola and yoghurt things. Although chasing them down with hash browns and fried eggs worked even better 😉
For Smallest, I think it was the funfair. It turned out she really really really likes carousels. But only if she can ride on the horses. First time we went on we were in one of the carriages as it was thought she wasn’t tall enough – after that we measured her carefully and discovered she was big enough to ride in front of me. Which we did a couple of times, though I struggled to get on and off.
It also turns out it’s quite difficult to take pictures of your child sitting in front of you when you’re using a camera phone and on a moving horse. Ah well.
I should have had videos to share with you too. But I gave them to Small to edit into a montage, and he managed to create a devastating computer crash that we’ve yet to recover them from 🙁 I still live in hope.
Big enjoyed the dodgems. And the two ppl bikes. Turns out that if you’re in the Ocean hotel as we were you get a free voucher for a family bike hire – we used it on our last morning. That would be one of my tips, check all the leaflets and guides carefully so you don’t miss out on that sort of thing like we very nearly did.
For Small? I think he enjoyed the funfair. He certainly enjoyed the room and the large TV and the DVDs. We worked our way through several, including Astro Boy, which he really enjoyed. (I preferred Avatar tbh.) And on the Sunday we went offsite and met up with a couple of twitter friends of mine and he hit it off with one of their sons, which never happens. Must do something about getting them together, at least virtually, if I can.
So, do I like Butlins? I do. I’d definitely recommend the Ocean Hotel. The family rooms are fantastic – with a little room off the main corridor with a separate TV. The main room area is generously proportioned, and has TV and coffee making facilities and a little fridge, ideal for those middle of the evening snack times. I found it a definite respite from our day to day life, although if I’d known how close I was to giving birth, I might have thought twice about driving quite so far away from home on my own. But I didn’t know, so we got our weekend away. And next time there will be four children, so I think that means we’ll have to try a different type of accommodation – don’t think the hotel rooms go up to 6!
ps the balloons? And Bob? Bob is a stage show. Smallest loved it. We had to bribe her away from it with a green worm we won in one of those grab machines. And the balloons – there was a lady making balloon animals, or flowers or swords on our last evening meal in the restaurant. So as you can imagine, we ended up with one of each. Entertainment and sustainance. Fabulous.
Disclosure: As a Butlins Mums Ambassador I receive two free Butlins stays, on condition that I blog and tweet. All opinions remain, as ever, my own.
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