Our Break to Butlins Minehead Resort Part 2 – The Preschooler Edition

One of the things I love now about being a Mum is seeing the wonder of new adventures and holidays through the eyes of your little ones. There is still a place (very occasionally!) for an adult weekend away and the lie ins and late nights that come with it, but there is also something really fabulous about seeing your children enjoy themselves on a holiday that is well-suited to their needs and interests. 

In Part One of our trip to Butlins Minehead, I talked about how great the accommodation was, and just how chuffed we were with the new chalets in the West Lakes Village. Now it’s time to talk about what we got up to during our 5 days away with Freddie and Sasha, as well as Adam’s parents. I can honestly recommend a 3 generational family holiday if you all get on (luckily we do!), as it gives everyone a chance to relax as there are is a high child:adult ratio! 😉 

This is a very photo-heavy post with a gazillion snaps, but I couldn’t not capture all the fun we had, both within the resort, and on the beach next to it.

After arriving and unpacking on the Monday afternoon, we all went for a little explore around the resort. Like Bognor, the Pavilion is the heart of the complex, housing a great many cafes and restaurants, shops, as well as the main stage where the family shows take place, plus snooker, bowling, soft play and the amusements. Freddie in particular remembered that the Pavilion at Bognor was similar, and got very excited when we first went in, explaining everything to Nanny and Grandad!  We spent a fair bit of time at the soft play whilst the grown ups had a coffee! Ideal when the weather was less then perfect on a our first full day. If the children are happy and relaxed, then so are we!

We caught the Thomas the Tank Engine show one morning, which was a big hit with both Freddie and Sasha, and helped keep them both amused whilst S had her face painted. There were loads of other shows we could have seen, such as Fireman Sam and Angelina Ballerina (who appeared at a character meet and greet before dinner outside our allocated restaurant one night, much to Sasha’s conflicting feelings of delight/terror!)

One of the great things about the Pavilion is that there is so much for little ones to do, especially when the weather isn’t great. The joys of a Great British holiday! Face painting like Sasha had done (Spiderman, natch), above, was only a fiver, and we found like Bognor, that the 2p machines were great fun for both adults and children alike!

A definite bit of nostalgia for our own childhoods at English holiday resorts!

My smiling, happy boy, super-excited at the under-5s indoor fairground, just next to the Pavilion! I loved the fact that this was separate from the main fairground, and meant that little ones could enjoy the rides without the possibility of bigger children being intimidating. 

Weeeeeeeeee!

Both children loved this mini ladybird rollercoaster, but they each wanted their own ladybird! The under 5s fairground is open 10 until 5, and until 8pm on Wednesdays. 

Being train mad, Freddie had several go’s on the mini railway, and roped Grandad in on this occasion! 

We must have spent a good half an hour watch the children go down this giant slide again and again. We didn’t mind though, as like I said before, we get so much pleasure seeing them both have a good time 🙂 What was great about the little fairground (and in fact, the big one), is that we hardly had to queue at all, and if we did it wasn’t for very long. 

Literally opposite the resort across the road was the beautiful Minehead beach. There’s what seems to be miles of golden, sandy beach, and safe waters, perfect for little ones to paddle in. 

We just had to get some new buckets and spades from one of the shops on site (Butlins has a great, very reasonably priced selection so you don’t have to take your own) and build a few sandcastles! 

It was a bit windy on the beach but our family enjoyed a good couple of hours there on the Tuesday afternoon before the rain came. Both Sasha and Freddie are big ‘sand lovers’ and would spend hours playing with the stuff! Unlike their sand-phobic Mum

So happy to be at the beach! It really is fab that the beach is so close to the complex, as you can just nip across for a short amount of time, before heading back for a rest, to see a show or join in an activity. 

This is how close we were!

You can’t beat teeny pairs of Crocs in the sand 🙂

My little lady, who practically had to have her white sunglasses surgically removed each bedtime whilst we were away!

Me and my boy (and me looking a bit wind-swept!)

A family snap of us at the end of our second day, before heading out to dinner. We were allocated a Premium dining plan, which meant we had breakfast and dinner included in one of the Premium restaurants within the resort. I can’t recommend spending that extra bit of money enough, but I’ll talk more about that in Part 3 of my write up, coming later this week!

There is still so much more to talk about, and more pics to show you about our final 3 days and what we got up to with our little ones. 

Stay tuned!

If you want to read Part 1 of our trip to Butlins Minehead and find out all about the wonderful Lakeview Chalets, click HERE.

If you’re interested in our previous Butlins break to Bognor Regis with preschoolers, then click HERE and HERE.

As Butlins Ambassadors we stayed at their Minehead resort for 5 days, 4 nights, mid-week term time free of charge, with a Premium meal plan for 6 people included. All thoughts and opinions my own though!