Billy Butlin’s resorts have been round for almost 90 years providing that UK seaside candyfloss really feel to hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers, however some drained elements of the Minehead web site want drastic consideration
In summer time 1996, as a four-year-old baby, I visited Minehead’s Butlin’s resort with my household and a few buddies. We stayed in a chalet with an exhilarating cable automobile working above.
Whereas I used to be far too younger to recollect each side, my dad and mom took many footage and as a teenager it was clear I had a beautiful time, with swimming, amusements and leisure on the core of my enjoyment. Quick ahead to 2025 and remarkably, historical past has repeated itself in a couple of manner. In Could I spent the week in sunny Minehead with my in-laws, my husband and our very personal four-year-old daughter.
I used to be excited to get caught into every part Butlin’s has to supply and was equally trying ahead to seeing my little woman’s face gentle up at each flip, certainly one of life’s little pleasures. After a 4.5 hour journey from Kent to the north Dorset coast, the method to Minehead was stunning with beautiful surroundings and a picturesque shoreline to marvel.
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A web site of contemporary, outdated, and £23m funding
However as we arrived on web site, it appeared Butlin’s is scuffling with its look. As we drove in, outdated residences with rusty railings greeted us, with a consultant even acknowledging the “grotty half” of the location as we have been directed to our lodging in a extra prestigious part of the venue.
We arrived on the West Lake lodge complicated – the location’s latest type of lodging which opened in 2015. As we opened to the door to our residence, my preliminary disappointment light – it was fashionable, clear and spacious and got here with a quaint terrace overlooking the lake the place geese and geese would frequent freely on the garden.
It was a whole shock to say the least, after a grubby trying entrance threatening to dampen my spirits. It is protected to say my daughter was ecstatic on the open area and the liberty to discover the second our suitcases have been set down with vast open paths good for scooter and bike using.
These lodges have been comfy and I’ve nothing however good issues to say about them – however different extra primary choices appeared extremely rundown, with prison-like rows of deserted residences sitting reverse us. Astonishingly, when exploring the location, I even got here throughout the identical model bungalow I stayed in all these a few years in the past, with the identical pink and yellow patio tiles on the entrance. I can solely hope the within has been renovated regardless of an ailing exterior.
Is Butlin’s Minehead fully rundown?
In brief, the reply isn’t any. It is not all unhealthy information to anybody considering a vacation right here. The positioning, in 2024, obtained a £23million money injection to renovate 400 residences, with a spokesman for the vacation agency confirming to the Mirror that simply over £20m has already been spent on enhancements.
The areas the place you possibly can see the cash has been invested is the Skypark, which is spectacular and was an enormous draw for my four-year-old. The two.3million splashed on this exterior web site has seen no stone left unturned, with interactive video games, a seesaw for disabled kids, and sunken in trampolines together with lights and a tender flooring all through. It is even break up throughout two websites so older kids have more difficult tools to discover, whereas the children can get pleasure from sensory-based play at their leisure with colour-coded areas reflecting completely different feelings.
A brand new altering locations rest room on resort has additionally opened together with a brand new conservatory space within the Beachcomber Inn restaurant.
The Studio 36 area has additionally seen a few of this cash spent – and is now the primary place for headline present acts. That is alongside the Centre Stage the place we watched nice exhibits such because the Snow White pantomime and the Peppa Pig present. Mister Maker, a Cbeebies kids’s presenter, additionally headlined a Butlin’s occasion present at Studio 36 – with each present we watched being incredible from begin to end, with hordes of youngsters entertained all through. That is an space the place Butlin’s excels, and no different UK vacation parks will come shut.
Whereas Butlin’s did affirm 400 lodging items have been overhauled after a flooding incident in 2023, it did say there’s a wider refurbishment plan ongoing on web site.
Butlin’s remains to be good worth for cash
We had paid for the half-board eating choice which meant we may go to the Ocean Drive restaurant day by day for breakfast and dinner and primarily fill our boots on the buffet. There was even an ice cream parlour inside which served as an important bribe for getting my daughter to eat her dinner.
Whereas the meals was pretty good, the setting itself was rundown and drained – with low-cost and nasty canteen-style tables and chairs filling the venue. And to make issues worse, a few of them weren’t clear. A fast moist wipe of one of many chairs revealed a grimy glaze, virtually like that they had not been cleaned for a while. The view exterior the window was additionally extra rundown residences staring straight again at us.
As is evident by my expertise, there are excellent parts peppered with some disappointing facets that want pressing consideration. What struck me probably the most is far of the location seems to be prefer it has not been touched for many years, with a now mammoth and expensive process to attempt to deliver the whole complicated as much as the identical normal. Minehead opened in 1962, over 60 years in the past, however with competitors in Britain from the likes of Middle Parcs and Haven, there’s a lot to be achieved to enhance the general really feel of the vacation park.
The principle tent, the focus of all Butlin’s websites at Minehead, Skegness and Bognor Regis, is likely one of the huge areas that would do with a bit of glow-up in locations. However regardless of this, the large arcade, bowling, eating places, and central space the place spontaneous Purple Coat exhibits are placed on proceed to attract within the crowds. My little woman was delighted by all of those enjoyable, energetic and vibrant facets.
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So how a lot does it price to remain right here? The reply in brief is it varies, nevertheless it’s extraordinarily finances pleasant. If you happen to’re after a primary area – the usual rooms vary from £24 per particular person in Could and might sleep as much as 5 visitors over a four-day interval. For anybody on the lookout for a contact of luxurious, Consolation Plus residences display a slight leap in worth with £58 for a four-night keep – with housekeeping and early check-in included.
West Lake chalets, seaside lodges and Bayside residences all vary upwards from £85 per particular person to £145 per particular person primarily based on Could 2026 costs on the time of checking.
Free actions at Butlin’s
The swimming complicated was good, and stays an enormous plus of the Butlin’s web site as it’s free to make use of as typically as you want. It comes with indoor and out of doors swimming pools to discover, together with flumes and exhilarating slides for thrill-seekers. Likewise the out of doors and indoor funfairs, that are freed from cost and actually do make your break good worth for cash, saving dad and mom a small fortune on the rides that always rack up a reasonably sum after a few hours.
My verdict
In all, I can not faux that Butlin’s wasn’t an incredible place for my little woman. And plenty of kids appeared to be of their factor all through. As an grownup, and a mother or father, I additionally had an important week and loved a change of surroundings and a few nicely wanted household time.
It was extraordinarily finances pleasant, and we spent far much less in per week right here than we did on a brief weekend in Middle Parcs.
I’d return to the identical lodging once more, and can be open to exploring different websites in future. However on the subject of Minehead’s total look I’d like to see the results of all of the funding in years to return.
