A bit of this and a bit of that

I’ve just downloaded the photos of our trip to Butlins and knocked up a quick video to show friends and family what a great time we had. I must say, it was a pleasant surprise; I didn’t really know what to expect, and we ended up having so much fun with loads of different activities we could take part in. There are different things aimed at all ages groups, with entertainment throughout the day and throughout the evening. There were also some great surprises, like finding chocolates and wine waiting for us in our apartment, small things like the ability to borrow DVDs for free from their library to watch when everyone was asleep and the impressive selection of food that was available for breakfast and dinner. Do you have cereal for breakfast? Toast? Fruit? Yoghurt? Pancakes? Kippers? Bacon and Eggs? Sausages? Hash Browns? Well, you could have anything you wanted, or mix and match what you wanted, or all of it if you could manage. Dinner was even more impressive with so many choices to pick from you didn’t know where to start.

Arthur was in heaven, there’s no other word for it. He was getting up early every morning to make sure we were up and about before anything started. His favourite area was “Bob’s House” as he called it; an entire area devoted to kiddies, with a giant Bob the Builder standing outside. They had a mini fun fair in there, with live shows depicting stories about Bob and his friends. He even got a photo with the gang. Here are the photos, check out how much fun he had:

It wasn’t just Arthur who was having fun. Butlins in Skegness have a huge pool packed with slides and rapids and all sorts of fun water fun. We spent a good proportion of our time there, jumping in the bubbles, sliding down the slides (it was Arthur’s first time in a big slide) and messing around in the wave pool. It’s probably the biggest pool I’ve been to in the UK and definitely one I’d recommend if you’re after any water fun. But the fun didn’t stop there, there were loads of things to do all around the complex, from crazy golf to panning for gold, from slot machines to video games, from live shows to entertainment for the kids. Arthur even joined a circle class and got to rotate plates and clown around.

The one thing we didn’t get the opportunity to try was the Spa. Yes, there’s even a Spa at the complex offering massages and all sorts of treatments. There was a pregnancy package I had my eye on for Camille, and would have booked her in, but as it was our Father’s Day trip, Camille preferred to spend the time with me. I would have liked her to enjoy the luxury of it, but was quite pleased she preferred to spend the time with me and Arthur. So we went to the fun fair instead, rode a carousel and went bowling.

There were so many different things to do that we didn’t even leave Butlins to explore Skegness. I wouldn’t have minded a walk on the beach, but we just didn’t find time for it. Again, there were all sorts of live shows that we chose not to go to, just because we had to choose, and always chose something that Arthur would have enjoyed more.

I just wanted to say thanks to the team down at Butlins and FuelmyBlog for setting up the trip for us. It was a pleasure to try out Butlins and we’ll certainly be going there again in the future.