Butlins Minehead – An Honest Review From An Ambassador

Regular readers will know that we didn’t have the best summer this year. With Husband having three weeks leave we had planned a full on Summer of family fun. It was supposed to start with Monday to Friday at Butlins in Skegness. A week of sunshine, donkey rides, swimming and ice creams. Sadly it was not to be, Rosie caught chickenpox just days before we were due to go and then kindly passed them on to her two Sisters. After the lovely people at Bulins postponed our break twice, husband had to return to work minus a holiday 🙁

Having already reviewed Minehead and Bognor I was terribly sad to not make it to Skegness. The brand new Splash Waterworld and spa appealed to me whilst Husband had fond childhood memories of the beach and wanted to take the girls crabbing. However, not a very confident driver I didn’t fancy driving 4-5 hours alone. Mum and Dad offered to come to Minehead as it was closer to where they needed to be on Friday but unfortunately Dad didn’t make in the end so it was just Mum, me and the girls but we did enjoy some quality girls time.

After weeks of beng stuck inside, we instantly relaxed and switched into holiday mode. Minehead offers a traditional British family holiday, complete with buckets and spades and a beautiful sandy beach. Just what this family needed:

Honestly the beach was gorgeous. Last time we went to Minehead we enjoyed a Christmas break but it was bitterly cold. This time we were in our shorts and tshirts racing up and down the beach fetching water for a moat. It was bliss! I did offer to take the girls outside the resort for some day trips but they didn’t want to leave. There really is so much to do, you don’t have to go anywhere else at all.

As usual we enjoyed time at Splash WaterWorld, had a go on some rides and saw a few shows. The Circus was really amazing and I Can Cook was fabulous even though the girls walked out crying 🙁 Both were devastated not to get picked and they didn’t even get to try any of the promised shortbread as all the greedy people got in first grabbing handfuls of the stuff.

They did of course get to see their favouites….Angelina Ballerina and The Skyline Gang. Daisy is the skyline Gangs newest little fan. Dressed ready for bed with a bottle of milk I thought she would sleep through it but no. She sat there waving, squealing excitedly and clapping madly. It was very sweet and she made everyone around us smile. Poppy was also very daring this time and was doing backflips on the trampoline:

This time because of the beautiful weather we got to enjoy plenty of time outside and wonderful ice creams from Scoop the ice cream parlour… we can definitely recommend a visit there. The play parks were particularly relaxing too (we might have even enjoyed a nice cool shandy whilst watching the girls play….very nice). Oh and the bouncing pillow (which wasn’t there last time) was amazing fun:

The staff were all friendly and approachable from the minute you checked in We even had balloons and treats delvered for my Birthday. Thanks again Bulins! The redcoats were amazing (especially the lovely one who gave Rosie the confidence to get up on the boucy pillow) even the very nice cleaner who helped me find Rosie’s missing shoe went that extra mile! Nothing was too much for any of them.

We stayed in a three bedroom gold apartment (separate review to follow) and enjoyed the premium dinning package. This time round it had expanded to give you the choice of eating at the Deck or yacht Club. Both lovely restaurants. After trying them both out we decided we personally preferred the Yacht club for breakfast and the Deck for dinner. There is so much choice in both even for a very fussy vegetarian like me. I particular enjoyed the pasta and wok stations…I’m getting hungry just thinking about them mmmmmm!!!

We took so many photos but here’s a few more:

I’ve been very fortunate and have thoughly enjoyed being a Butlins Mum Ambassador for the past two years. We had never considered Butlins as a holiday destination before the opportunity arose but have since enjoyed several breaks at two out three resorts. We’ve had a midweek Christmas special at Minehead and two weekends in Bognor Regis staying at the shoreline and wave hotels.

Overall we prefer Bognor Regis. We love the shiny new hotels there and the fact that the under 5s area is inside. We also find Minehead a little too commercial (trying to sell merchandise at every show). I would have loved to buy my daughters a little Angelena Ballerina at her dance class but all 3 girls wanted them so it would have cost almost £40 – there would have been huge fights if I had just brought the one so they went without. Plus the journey there makes the girls and me carsick too. Its awful once you leave the motorway. Not a great start to your holiday. That said though we really enjoyed ourselves on both occasions.

Being an Ambassador has been a fabulous experience and we can honestly say we would definitley recommend for a family break. Hopefully we will get to Skegness soon.

A very special thank you Butlins from the whole family.