Bluestone Pembrokeshire: 2 Families, 5 Kids and 2 Lodges
by Take the Family
8 September 2008
“We had heard a lot about Bluestone, the new generation holiday village in Pembrokeshire, the whole build up to the site opening, and the slightly alarming early press reports in its opening infancy, so we were eager to find out for ourselves the reality. We were two families with a total of 5 children between us ranging from 3 months to 41/2 years, and had chosen to stay in two adjoining Caldey Lodges.
The rain was beating down as we arrived at the gates at 11.30am, we had already registered online so the check in procedure was quick and painless. We had a few hours to kill before we could gain entrance to our lodges and as too wet to explore the site by foot we set out by car. We headed straight for the Blue Lagoon, the water park attached to Bluestone, easily accessible by foot or bike, but with the number of children and the amount of rain, the car seemed far more sensible. Amazingly Bluestone is heated by the burning of woodchip and perennial grasses grown by local farmers in the nearby energy center – a first for the UK.
Showing your key-card gets you a free pass into the complex and free towels. It is also open to the public at certain times, but reserved exclusively for Bluestone residents on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings. The first day was incredibly busy, probably due to the weather as thereafter it seemed much more relaxed. The children all had a fantastic time and our collective 4 year olds were just tall enough (1.1m) to venture onto the big slides – one loved it and the other wasn’t so keen to return. Having previously stayed at Center Parcs Longleat I couldn’t help but compare the two – there are more slides at Center Parcs and lush greenery, but I don’t remember the waves being quite as good as those at Bluestone or the loungers being quite so comfortable. When the sun came out the whole dome was filled with brilliant sunshine, in fact there were times when I felt I needed my shades. The staff were incredibly good and the pool was very carefully supervised. Wandering youngsters were not allowed to enter the pool without an adult, any incidents were dealt with very efficiently and cleaning staff very helpful and polite.
By 3.20pm we were given the go ahead to drive our cars on to the site to unpack and explore our new surroundings. The rain had obviously helped the vegetation as everything was very green and not nearly like a building site as we had been led to believe from recent press. There are various styles of lodges which blend effortlessly into the stunning surrounding Pembrokeshire countryside. A rather steep road cuts through the middle of them, winding its’ way down to the village at the bottom which was a rather treacherous, yet exciting, training ground for those who’s stabilisers had only very recently been removed!
The high ceilings and heavy dark wood furniture of the Lodge gave the place a very contemporary feel. All the furnishings were of high quality and the kitchen very well equipped. There was a plasma TV with a digi-box and a DVD player, a huge relief for those Olympian and Cbeebie fans. The only real glimpse that we had of recent construction were a few dusty finger prints on the ceiling beams. Our 2 bedroom adjoining Caldey lodges (semi-detached) mirrored each other and it would have been useful if there had been lockable interconnecting doors between the two for both night time socialising once the kids were in bed and day time too-ing and fro-ing.
The village was picturesque with a stream weaving in and out of pastel-coloured stone cottages. The shops (a bakery, general store, clothes shop, gift shop and art gallery) were as you would expect, expensive, but perfectly fine for the essentials or treats, such as local meats and produce. Also a good choice of restaurants and a local pub with great food were situated in the center and unlike Center Parcs, where you can feel somewhat imprisoned, here you are encouraged to get out and explore the local Pembrokeshire countryside. We found ourselves eating fish and chips on Tenby South Beach one evening and ventured up to Whitesands near St Davids to watch the surfers and body boarders, as well as taking full advantage of our free passes to Oaklands Theme Park next door.
I indulged myself in a de-stress aromatherapy body massage, which took place in a converted lodge by the lake due to the Spa not quite being finished at the time of our stay (but was due to open imminently). It must have been a good one as I was unable to move for the rest of the evening and was in bed by 9.30pm, leaving my husband to escape off to the pub, (truly like a home from home), but I would have liked to experience the whole spa.
We had taken our own bikes, although were presented with free bike hire vouchers on arrival, possibly to compensate the spa not being open. However, the car-free site, seemed rather busy at times with the minibus running up and down frequently and golf buggies zooming about here there and everywhere. This is one area that needs addressing further and the mere introduction of separate walking, cycling and driving lanes on the main routes would be sufficient.
We will definitely return to Pembrokeshire and I suspect we will return to Bluestone – hopefully when the snowdome has been completed. There is even talk of inviting more families on the next trip. Although still in its infancy Bluestone will get better and better as time goes on as its wheels become better oiled. There was so much of Bluestone that we didn’t utilise partly due to the age of the kids and partly because there were so many other options in the surrounding area. I think it rained for the majority of our 4 day break, but we still found loads to do.
If you have any questions about Bluestone, please do post in our forum and we will endeavour to answer them all.
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