Butlins, Minehead Review

Overall Rating

self catering apartment more than adequate.
Fantastic pool.

The Redcoats are British because they have to communicate constantly with guests however almost all the catering, housekeeping and cleaning staff are Eastern European, many with extremely limited English.

A family of four (children 10 & 11 yrs)

We chose to go self catering and from the feedback of other week long guests, it was absolutely the right choice. If you opt for a Breakfast & dinner stay you are at the mercy of very cramped accommodation, Eastern European staff who don ' t understand simple requests for towels or toilet rolls, dubious housekeeping (one couple only had their room serviced twice instead of daily) and strict mealtimes offering poor quality, badly cooked food.

Back to the self catering. If like us, you get allocated an apartment in Butlin ' s ' Plantation Quay ' section (and even better ground floor), you will not be disappointed. The apartments are reasonably spacious with good kitchen areas and a small lounge section that you will not use often as most of the time, there is something on around the camp. The electric shower is to die for, fantastic water pressure, instant hot water and an extractor strong yet quiet enough to stop the mirrors from misting.

The accommodation

The units are single glazed however the area is so quiet (probably noisy on ' Hot Weekends for 18+), that we slept undisturbed all night. My only gripe would be the actual beds. All, including the double, are metal camp beds with shockingly poor quality mattresses and wafer thin quilts. Unless you like slleping on the equivalent of a plank of wood, I would recommend taking your own quilt to soften the mattress. The kids didn ' t seem to mind though of course by bedtime, they were so exhausted I suspect they could have slept on a bed of nails! The mattress also had an odd covering a bit like hospital beds which crunched when you moved. Having said that, our beds all had fresh, immaculate linen and we were given fresh quilt covers mid week. Carpeted throughout except for bathroom and in decent, clean condition.

Butlin ' s don ' t have tv remotes which is a good idea and does encourage switching off between use. Also you are provided with two key cards. Once you get in, one of them goes into a slot that operates all the lights " again, great energy saving. Our card keys failed on the first night and at eleven at night and Reception unmanned until 9 the next morning, it was frustrating having to locate a security guard who messed up and had to finally let us in using a Master entry card. Plenty of car parking close to all apartments and very little vehicle use means you can check on your car within 90 seconds walk.

Self-Catering

Like all sensible mums, I over packed. There is a grocery shop on site (opens 8 am) however prices are hugely inflated (a tin of Heinz ravioli is £1.25, Lambert & Butler cigarettes priced at £5.60). Don ' t panic and don ' t bother taking stocks for the week " there is a very good Tesco just 2 minutes drive away). It is in walking distance but pointless wasting your holiday lugging grocery bags around. There are fee charging cash machines onsite and the grocery store offers cashback however there is a free cashpoint at Tesco.
I would recommend taking enough for the first 24 hours plus essentials like a tea towel, washing up liquid, scourer, kitchen roll etc. The fridge has a mini ice box at the top which was a bonus. The toaster is cheap rubbish but it was lovely to grill freshly cut bread hot from the Tesco bakery. We bought chips from Finnigan ' s but avoided the rest of their offerings after discovering that their fish/chicken is reconstituted mushy sort of paste heavily bread crumbed and deep fried to crematorium standards.

Food outlets

As I said, Finnigan ' s chips are okay but the rest of their food is vile (nothing like the Finnigan ' s quality we are used to). The Bake ' n Bite is fab opening very early and tempting you in with reasonably priced croissants, pastries, bacon butties, pasties etc plus great coffee.
Burger King seemed extortionate (over £16 for 2 kids meals, 1 adult meal and a burger).
The New York rollover hotdogs are okay at £2.75 but the pancake booth is definitely the winner " pig out (and you will) on savoury and sweet pancakes " huge choice, freshly cooked in front of you and a very large portion.
We didn ' t try Pizzahut and neither did many others as it always looked empty. Perhaps again, the inflated Butlin prices put many guests off.

Evening Entertainment

There are two main entertainment venues during the evening, REDS and Centre Stage, the latter opening earlier and geared more for families with little kids. REDS is open til 11/11.30 pm and we enjoyed every night there. A word of advice, always get there early or send the kids to bagsy a table " it is always packed and latecomers will be left standing all night.

There were some great acts and if it ' s on, do so the Redcoats V for Variety show " it is really worth it and Circus Hilarious was possibly the funniest, sharpest stage circus I have ever seen. My son loved the Wrestling Mania (he ' s 10 yr) and the Abba Tribute is believable. REDS always starts (approx 7pm) with interactive game shows inviting up kids to win prizes (get your kids to stand at the front and not be shy!).

Beers offered include Tetley ' s and Carlsberg ( £2.90 a pint or 4 pints in a jug for £9.99). Large glass of wine is £3.95. Soft drinks quite costly similar to restaurant prices. A word of warning, the security staff on REDS doors randomly check handbags so sneaking in your own booze could result in confiscation or entry refusal!

Daytime activities

Butlins is traditionally a family venue and is very much geared towards 10 yrs and under. Having said that, my children enjoyed the fantastic pool, free archery and fencing every day, arts & crafts where little kids were not allowed and the free funfair (10 am " 5 pm) everyday.
There is a 10 ft robot called Titan who performs everyday for about 6 sessions in the main Pavillion " don ' t be fooled, ' he 'is highly entertaining and performs a very clever audience interactive show.
Slot machines and slot machines, they will drive you crazy! The Sports Arena offers pool table play at 30 minutes for a fiver " we booked an hour and with the overhead Sky Sport screen, hubby also got to watch the USGA.

Staff

At this sensitive time where there are so many Brits who would happily work for minimum wage, it was a sore point for many many guests that Butlins, a flagship Brit tradition does not support British jobs for British workers. We realised half way through our week that a lot of the foreign workers turned their name badges around " just an observation that stood out.
There were plenty of Redcoats milling around and all of them with inexhaustible smiles and cheery dispositions. One told me they too work for minimum wage so hats off to them for their spirit and sheer stamina.
Bar staff are very friendly and work at a decent pace.

We didn ' t go off site however the beach is literally 100 steps away on the other side of the entry road and the sands looks lovely.