Disclosure – we were given a mid-week winter lights break at Bluestone for the purpose of this review, but all words and opinions are my own.
A few weeks ago Steve and I did something that I’m not sure we’ll be able to top.
We were invited to go on a 4 night break to Bluestone, and we kept it a secret from the children. So we picked them up together after school on the Monday, and kept them guessing as to why the car was jam packed full of our stuff.
It was only once we were halfway there that I told them that they weren’t going to school for the rest of the week. And they then guessed almost straight away where we were going and oh my word I’ve never seen them so excited.
We’ve been to Bluestone twice before and it is somewhere we all absolutely love. The first time we went was in May 2017 and we fell in love with the laid back atmosphere and the freerange philosophy. Then we went for a Kingdom of the Elves break in 2018 which was such a different experience but in all the right ways.
Nerys has asked every month since then when could we go back for another holiday so she was thrilled to be surprised with a trip at the start of this year.
You can arrive at Bluestone any time after 11 am and use the facilities on site, and then you can check in to your lodge from either 3pm or 4.30pm depending on what type of lodge you’ll be staying in. We drove over after picking the children up from school so didn’t get there until around 5.
If you can get there earlier it would be worth it, partly to make the most of your time there and partly to avoid the queues at the check in points that we were caught up in at 5 o’clock.
Once we got to the desk though it was plain sailing and the staff were just as friendly, welcoming, and helpful as we remembered.
We got our keys and welcome pack and then headed off to find our lodge.
Now, we did have a bit of fun trying to find our lodge in the dark, mainly because I have no sense of direction. What we did find a big help over the course of our stay was the map on the Bluestone app. You put your lodge details in and it then gives you directions from where you are back to your lodge, and it updates as you go using gps.
We were staying in a Tenby connect lodge in Castle Close, and we were excited to get in and check it out because we’d never stayed in one of those lodges before.
The Tenby lodge was lovely, with most of the living space downstairs and then the master bedroom and ensuite shower room up on a mezzanine floor.
It sleeps 6, between the master double bedroom and 2 twin bedrooms. This particular lodge was a ‘connect’ one, which means it’s attached to another Tenby lodge and you can open a door between the two to make it sort of like one huge lodge. This would be perfect if you were going with a big group.
We did find it a bit noisy having neighbours in the lodge attached to ours (the sound really does travel between the lodges) but it wasn’t really a problem.
We had 3 full days at Bluestone and didn’t leave the resort once.
There is so much to do on site that we really don’t feel the need to go anywhere else, but I know if we didn’t live by the sea at home we would probably want to get out and explore one of the nearby beaches at some point.
Our favourite thing to do at Bluestone is visit the Blue Lagoon so we spent a few hours each day of our holiday there.
The children are both quite confident in the water now and they really love the lazy river and the wave machine. Nerys was big enough to go down the slides this time, but decided against it. Rhys on the other hand couldn’t get enough of them and kept dragging Steve up for another go on them.
One of the great things about going to Bluestone in the winter is the surreal feeling of going outside in the lazy river into the cold and the rain. It was actually hailing at one point when we were out there and it’s just such a bizarre experience!
When we weren’t at the pool we were either in the Adventure centre or the new Serendome.
The weather was really wet and windy most of our stay so it was brilliant to have these places to visit and let the children run wild out of the rain.
The Serendome was a brand new experience for us, it was still being built last time we were there, so we were really excited to go and check it out.
We were all really impressed with it. Steve said a few times that it made the holiday for him, it was just a perfect finishing touch to the resort.
The Serendome is basically a big umbrella, so it’s open to the elements on the sides but the huge dome that covers it keeps out the rain on wet and wild days.
It’s a brilliant way to be outside without being out and exposed to the elements, although you do need to make sure you wrap up warm if you’re visiting in the winter months because it does pretty much feel as cold under the dome as it does outside.
There’s a fab mix of things to do in the Serendome.
It’s free to get in and there’s a sand play area and water play area which are both so much fun and amazing for sparking creative play.
There’s also the imagination garden which my children both loved. It has these big blue shapes and cogs and things that you can use to build basically anything you can imagine.
We also found a little play park area with swings and a little slide, and another space with garden games and giant lego blocks to build with.
If you get peckish while you’re there there are a few different places to grab a bite to eat and there’s even a bar which looked like it had a great selection of ales and cocktails on offer.
For children who are a bit more adventurous you can book a session on the go carts that whizz around the dome or a climbing session on the Sky Walk. What’s really great about this is that there’s a mini skywalk option for younger children and those who don’t fancy going quite so high up in the sky, and there’s also a wheelchair friendly course so almost everyone can have a go if they fancy it.
The go carts and the Sky walk do cost extra though, and it’s often worth booking these kinds of activities in advance.
The thing I was most looking forward to on this break was seeing the winter lights, so I was gutted to find out that on the first few nights we were there they weren’t on as the weather was so bad.
We held out hope though and luckily on the Wednesday the wind died down and the rain cleared for long enough for the show to go on.
The winter lights trail starts at the entrance to the woodland walk down by the lake and, honestly, you can’t miss it.
When you’re in the village there’s a big notice projected on the side of one of the buildings pointing you in the right direction then as you get closer you can see the main path to the woodland walk lit up in rainbow colours.
Once you’re in the woods the magic really begins.
We went when it was properly dark outside and it was so beautiful to see all these different light displays leading through the woods.
There were giant butterflies and flowers up in the trees, fish with moving lights in an underwater themed display and of course the magical fairy houses.
We probably spent about half an hour making our way around the trail taking it all in.
Everywhere you looked there was something else to see, so even though there were quite a few other people there it never felt like you were waiting to have your turn to enjoy a part of it.
At the end of the trail there was a little area set up with fairground mirrors and a few games where you turned handles or pressed buttons to make things move on the screen which the children really enjoyed.
The last day of our trip we checked out of our lodge (you have to check out by 10am) and then parked the car up in the long stay car park. The weather had really cleared through so it was dry and the wind had dropped down so we took advantage of the extra time on site to wander round the village and visit the lake.
The resort was so quiet, I think most people do tend to head for home straight away after checking out, so it felt like we almost had the place to ourselves.
We played in the park in the village for a bit, popped into Newton stores for a few treats and then walked down to the lake.
We’d brought Nerys’ walkie talkies with us so we split up and walked different ways around the lake, talking to each other. The children had a great time and it was really nice to get some fresh air and stretch our legs before leaving.
We had such a wonderful holiday all in all, and I am thrilled that we actually got to see the winter lights; I’d heard all about them from friends who had been before and the whole thing absolutely lived up to my expectations.
This is one of the things I really love about Bluestone, no matter what time of year you go there is something different to experience that makes the trip extra special.
After our last trip I wrote about the perfect time of year to visit Bluestone and now, having visited during the winter lights festival, I’m still just as undecided about it as I was then!
It all depends what you want from your holiday I suppose, but honestly, I think any time of year is the perfect time to visit Bluestone.
