Aaron's Blog

During the Summer holidays this year, we went on our first proper family holiday (i.e. went somewhere that didn’t mean staying at a family members’ house!). We ended up going to Butlins in Minehead and we all loved it and didn’t want to leave. Kelly managed to get a discount on the price for a 3 night stay from a Friday to a Monday only about three weeks before, so we were all excited about going!

I was able to leave work at 3pm on the Friday, so I drove home and we loaded up and left. It took roughly two hours to get there and when we got the key card for our apartment, we found out that we had been upgraded to the next level of apartment for free, so that was a good start. It took us a while to find a parking space and our apartment, and then to unload the car, but we were very surprised at how nice our apartment was. It was spotless and the furniture looked brand new and of very good quality.

So once we had unpacked, we headed out to try and find something to eat. We ended up at one of the pubs on site and sat outside and ordered our food.  Unfortunately, we then had a nightmare as we had to move inside due to Seagulls attacking people with food and then it took over 1 hour and a half for our food to arrive. It was shocking to be honest. Needless to say, we were all starving, especially Ben and Aaron. Eventually we got our food and it wasn’t very nice at all, which was a real shame and a bit of a nightmare start to the holiday.  Once we had finished that up, we went for a walk around the place and ended up at the amusements where we spent a long time. It was getting very late by this time and we were all tired out, so we headed back to our apartment and tried to get some sleep. This was a nightmare also, as there were hundreds of Seagulls around and they were jumping on the roof of our apartment (we were on the top floor) all night, and squawking all the time. The boys slept OK, but Kelly and myself only got a few hours sleep!

The next morning we decided to go swimming in Waterworld and this was great.  They had waves and a river type section with a current to pull you along. The boys enjoyed it although Ben, as usual, didn’t go in very much as he doesn’t like water at all.  Aaron seemed to love it. We then spent the rest of the day at various shows and a lot of the time at Bob The Builders Yard which was an undercover area with several rides for children. Ben and Aaron absolutely loved it in there and we must have spent hours in there over the 3 days! Foodwise on the Saturday, we bought some pasties and rolls etc (which was a lot cheaper!).

On Sunday, we went swimming again first thing and then did the shows, amusements and, of course, Bob The Builders Yard. We had also booked in to the Circus for 7pm that day, and it was a great show, even though Aaron got a little bored and noisy half way through it! We had fish and chips for lunch, which was the best meal we had during our stay (even though it was a little pricey as usual). We then had baguettes for tea as we needed something quick and easy before the Circus show. Once again in the evening, we found ourselves in and around the amusements (mainly the 2p machines!) before trying to catch a show and going to bed quite late again.

On Monday, there were no shows on due to it being the changeover day but we had seen loads over the previous days including Wrestling (my favourite!), Bob The Builder, The Skyline Gang, Ultimate Steps, part of the Stephen Mulhern Show (which was ridiculously busy so we had no seat and had to lean against some railings until we couldn’t lean anymore!), Crazy Dunkers (twice – excellent!) and Mike The Knight. We spent the first part of the morning packing, as we had to be out of our apartment by 10am, and then loaded the car up and handed in our key card. We then had a few hours until we had to leave the premises so we went and had an Ice Cream Sundae from the Italian Ice Cream place, which was lovely, and then back to Bob The Builders Yard and then to the fairground. We also had one last walk around and a quick go in the amusements before heading back to the car and parking up by the seaside at Minehead which was just opposite the resort. We spent the rest of the day on the beach and walking through Minehead before having chips for tea and then driving home along the North Coast. We didn’t get home until very late so we were tired out, but we all had a wonderful time and would definitely go again!  We would recommend Minehead Butlins to anyway, it was brill! 😉

Here are some (of the many) photos from the holiday.

[Show as slideshow]