A Break at Bluestone Wales
Last month we had the pleasure of an invitation to go and stay at Bluestone Wales in Pembrokeshire. I love Pembrokeshire and it's somewhere I have been keen to take my children to so we were very excited to go. Bluestone Wales is situated near Narberth in Pembrokeshire, around 12 miles inland from Tenby and in the national park. Bluestone prides itself on offering 'free-range family fun' and this sounded perfect for my outdoors-loving family. We're a family of four and our children were four and twenty-one months when we visited Bluestone.
On arrival at Bluestone you pick up the keys to your accommodation from a 'drive through' reception. We were staying in a Caldey Lodge, which sleeps 4. This is a chalet style wooden lodge with a large, open plan living space incorporating kitchen, dining room and lounge, a double bedroom, twin bedroom and wet room. It has patio doors which open out onto a small patio with a picnic table on it. You can arrange to have a welcome hamper delivered prior to your arrival, with all the essentials for your stay but we decided to go shopping instead. The Caldey Lodge was situated close to the large lake and was semi-detached. We didn't hear our neighbours but I did find it a little strange how close together the picnic tables outside each lodge were. Our neighbours' table was less than six feet from ours so it felt a bit strange sitting out at the same time as them, and with a curious toddler trying to see what the inside of next door looked like, it meant that I was very conscious of their proximity at those times. Our neighbours were really pleasant and didn't mind our nosy LM but I'm sure other people would have. In addition to this the sitting area was at the front of the lodge, with people walking past so we didn't really feel like it was 'our' space. The only other issue with the accommodation was the wet room. I'm used to showering my children as we don't have a bath but we do have a shower cubicle. Using a wet room to try and wash slippery pre-schoolers was difficult as there is no way to enclose them in a 'safe' space to get them showered and clean. LM was especially difficult. It isn't the best bathroom style for young children at all. A bath or shower cubicle would make life much easier. These two issues aside, the accommodation was great, really clean, in excellent condition and the kitchen was well equipped, making it easy to cook a range of family meals there, If you don't fancy cooking you can use the resort takeaway service or eat at one of the restaurants on site.
Here's a video tour of our accommodation:
Our accommodation was situated a short walk from the Village Centre where you will find restaurants, shops, the information centre and a children's play area. We visited this several times, whether it was for elevenses at the Bluestone Bakery, dinner at the Knights Tafarn, to stock up on supplies at the shop or to let the children burn off some energy in the play park. The Knights Tafarn was the only restaurant we used on site and we found their food excellent, the prices were reasonable and we all really enjoyed our meal with a good choice for both adults and children, excellent presentation and great tasting food. The outdoor seating area here was lovely although we decided to enjoy the indoor area for our meal. The Knights Tafarn has a range of evening activities too but sadly bedtime beckoned so we passed on those.
The Bluestone Bakery is the perfect spot for a daytime pit stop. We enjoyed coffee and cakes there one morning and found the food and drink excellent, especially the coffee (and I have high standards). It was a lovely day and it really was the perfect spot to sit outside at one of their tables and watch the rest of the park go about their day. I'd definitely recommend taking the time to visit if you go to Bluestone. We visited the grocery store a couple of times to stock up on essentials like bread and milk, it's worth mentioning that it closes at 7 and, if you are arriving late the chances are that they will run out of the essential fresh items. There is a handy dairy vending machine though so fresh milk should always be available. Often shops on holiday sites have vastly inflated prices but I didn't find that here, we were able to pick up some essentials on our first night at a reasonable price.
The Village is also home to 'Tree Tots', this was one of my children's favourite places at Bluestone. The park allows younger children to challenge themselves with chain bridges, cargo nets and tunnels, while the tiny ones can play on the playground attached. My two spent well over an hour on two separate occasions chasing all over this park accompanied by Ian and I. We all had a ball. Bud found it incredibly amusing when I nearly got stuck in one of the tunnel pipes! I avoided them after that! Seriously though, it's brilliant, with just enough to physically challenge my four year old and give him a massive sense of achievement at completing certain elements of it.
Our other most visited place at Bluestone was the Blue Lagoon Waterpark. Entry to this is included for all guests of the resort and it is open to the public too. We all loved the pool and went almost every day during our stay. There are a mixture of flumes and activities to keep older children (and big kids like Ian) entertained, alongside waves and a lazy river which Bud adored. This took you outside into the open air and back into the main pool again. The changing areas were great with plenty of family sized cubicles and there is also a well stocked shop, great for if you forget those essential arm bands or swim nappies. We encountered the Free Rangers here - dressed as pirates and engaging the children with lots of water fun and pirate behaviour - Bud was delighted with them. They are Bluestone's in-house entertainers who can be found at the Adventure Centre too, we didn't make it there, we just didn't find the time but find out what my friend Anna's boys made of it at In the Playroom. I wish we'd had more time as Bud would have loved the unlimited Crazy Golf there! Anna also writes about the Gold Panning Experience which is one of the bookable, paid activities available. There is a huge range of these available but we didn't really find one that worked for both of our children and we didn't want to split up the family to take part with just one child. I'm sure families without a young toddler like LM would find something for them to enjoy and there was a wide range that Bud would have liked I think.
Bluestone is very handily situated as a base for exploring Pembrokeshire and we had a few trips out to Tenby, Folly Farm, Pembroke and Saundersfoot. The area is quite compact and you shouldn't find anywhere more than a half an hour drive away. I'll be posting about Folly Farm soon.
We loved our time at Bluestone Wales, from the tiny frogs who swarmed the road in front of our accommodation every day, delighting the children, to the peace and quiet and amazing star filled skies in the evenings, it was wonderful. I'd recommend it for families who like to be outdoors and take advantage of all of the range of activities offered by Bluestone. If you're a family who wants to use accommodation as a base for exploring an area you might want to consider somewhere else, more inexpensive, as, to get the full benefits of your Bluestone stay I think you need to spend a significant amount of time on site. We would definitely return and I'd love to bring more of the family next time and stay in one of the larger properties I think. There is something for all of the family to enjoy at Bluestone Wales, it's a fantastic place to holiday.
If you would like more information, or to book a break visit Bluestone Wales, or follow them on Twitter or Facebook.
Disclosure: We stayed for four nights as the guests of Bluestone Wales and our accommodation was complimentary. All opinions are unbiased and honest.
