Our Stay At Bluestone, Wales


On the 12th of December early morning, we got ourselves ready and the car packed ready for our stay at Bluestone, Wales with a friend, Seri and her two kids, Ish and Aish. My partner had a busy week at work, so he was unable to come with us. We all fitted in a 7 seater car, squished with all of our bags under our feet and on our knees. It took us 3 and a half hours to arrive, with one stop at Aberystwyth, we didn't find the journey too bad - all kids were well behaved and super excited by asking the same question many times; "Are we there yet?". We finally arrived, and they couldn't wait to see what Bluestone was and where we were staying.

We did notice there weren't many signs around, but we used the sat nav on my iPhone which made it easier. The closer we got, we started seeing some signs and from then on it was pretty easy to find. When we arrived, we were behind a Que of cars waiting to check-in. It was our turn to check-in, and I was welcomed by a friendly woman who took my name and explained everything to me about our stay and showed a map and where about our lodge was.

You aren't allowed to take your car on site. However, you are allowed to take your car on site to your lodge to drop off your belongings and then you should take your car to be parked at the long-stay car park. If you are disabled or need a car for any other reason, you can keep your car on site. Otherwise, there are buggies to hire for the number of days you are there (you can not hire for any less time). We decided not to hire a buggy as there were too many kids and we weren't that far from the village or the Adventure Centre, so we walked every day. We didn't know we could take the car on site to drop our belongings off, so we ended up carrying all of our bags and suitcases from the car to the lodge. There was a man on the same path as us who kindly helped us carry one case and suitcase, which we really appreciated.


We weren't able to go into our lodge until 4.30pm, so we decided to visit the Adventure Centre to pass some time. Inside there is a huge play area for children that is free of charge and a cafe on the first floor. The Adventure Centre holds some of the events that happen during the week too such as Kingdom of the Elves and other things they do during the week. We sat down in the cafe to have a hot chocolate and a cookie each, the kids were really excited to go down to the play area. It was much bigger than I thought and it actually looked pretty cool!

When it was time to go to our lodge, we were all really excited. It was quite dark, and it was hard to find the lodge due to it being so dark and so little lighting. However, we did find the lodge in the end as the map was pretty helpful. The door to enter the lodge were around the back, and the picnic doors were at the front. I was overly impressed with the size of the lodge inside. The lodge is very modern with an open plan kitchen diner and sitting area. There are two bathrooms, one with a walk-in shower and another with a bath and shower. There were four bedrooms, two bedrooms with a double bed each and the other two were twin single beds. Each lodge comes with a travel cot and a highchair. I decided not to use the travel cot as Freddie usually co-sleeps with me. But the highchair was really useful, and he loved sitting in it looking around being nosey.

 { The sitting area }
 ( One of the twin bedrooms )
 { Another part of the sitting area }
{The double bedroom}
{ The Kitchen }

For our first evening, we decided to go out of Bluestone and do our shop for the week. We decided to visit Bluestone on a budget, with it being so close to Christmas, I didn't want to spend so much on going out for food at the restaurants. We spent around £60 in total, and that made our meals and snacks for the 5 days we were there.

Tuesday
We all got up around 8.30am, and I think that was because of the blackout curtains (love them!) and because the kids took a while to settle due to the excitement of their first night at Bluestone. We decided to go check out the special character breakfast, only to find out that we had to book - oops! So, we ended up buying a hot chocolate and cookie again. The breakfast with characters was booked up all week - so I suggest you book events before arriving or on your arrival.

We spent most of Tuesday at the Adventure Centre. There are sofas for parents/guardians to sit on while the kids go off to play (more information about the Adventure Centre below). After a couple of hours, we decided to head off back to the lodge for a bit before going down to the village to watch the light show in the evening. As we were going back to the lodge, the weather wasn't good - we got wet! But it soon stopped before we went to watch the light show. The light show was brilliant, and the kids loved it. After the show, there was a disco in a gazebo next to the restaurant at where the light show was which had some good entertainment for the kids (and adults too!). We went for food at the restaurant after the disco, which was lovely. As we were on a budget, we decided to only order a main meal.



Wednesday
We had kind of a lazy morning and lunch at the lodge before heading out to the Adventure Centre for The Kingdom of The Elves at 2 pm. We were greeted by a happy elf which the kids loved, and we were given some rosy cheeks (the kids loved that too!), we were then given some information about the event before we entered. The kids absolutely loved the Kingdom of the Elves (post coming soon). They had put a lot of effort into making the kingdom look so magical. After we had been around the Kingdom, we stayed in the Adventure Centre for the kids to play in the play area.

Thursday
On Thursday we did the same as we had done during the week, going to the cafe at the Adventure Centre for a hot chocolate and cookie, we then let the kids play. Later on, we went down into the village to get a few bits at the shop, and we got the kids a small gift each for behaving so well and something little to remember Bluestone. We also went to visit Santa's Lodge, which was roughly £8 per child (if I remember rightly). The lodge was really pretty and so magical. The story Santa told the kids was a brilliant story, mainly about not judging people by their skin colour or how they look, etc. They were each given a few minutes to talk to Santa, a picture taken and a given a gift. They then went to Mrs Claus' kitchen to make their own chocolate bar (post coming soon).
We decided to head back to the lodge and have our very own early Christmas party. We asked the kids to go into their rooms and play, while my friend and I got everything ready. We had brought our gifts down with us for us to open there. The kids absolutely loved it. A few hours later we decided to pack our things ready for check-out at 10 am the next morning.




Friday
Check out was at 10 am and we had made sure most of the things were done the night before. However, there were still some things that needed cleaning/tidying and packing. I always panic before I check out somewhere in case I forget something. We took everything to the car and checked out by 10 am. We packed up the car and decided to head off to the adventure centre one last time before we left because the kids had asked too.

Overall: I would really recommend a stay at Bluestone if you ever want a break away at Wales. There is a choice of a 3 (Friday-Monday), 4 (Monday-Friday) or 7-night stay. Although I planned a budget stay, if I had more money then we would have done more activities. At the lodge, there will be a paper of list of activities that are on, which you will then need to book at the booking office down at the village or in the Adventure centre. You can also book online (which is advisable) before or during your stay. If I had been more prepared, then I would have explored Bluestone a lot more than I did. There are also some beautiful areas you could visit out of Bluestone if you wanted to explore even more. 

There is a swimming pool at Bluestone called Blue Lagoon, we couldn't go swimming because we didn't have enough adults for the amount of children (5). The events we attended were very well prepared, and a lot of effort had been put into them, which makes it even more worthwhile. I would love to visit during the spring or summer to see what other events and activities they have. But, if you are looking for somewhere fun and magical to stay during Christmas, Bluestone is perfect. 

Keep an eye out for more posts to come. This post will be updated as new posts get posted in the next few weeks (and a video!).

Here are a few more photos of our week;


























 





*We were kindly invited for a 4-night stay at Bluestone, Wales in return for an honest review.

14 comments

  1. The Bluestone looks so spacious and nice for a family weekend away! Your photos a wonderful and this place looks so amazing for children. Love the park and holiday festivities.

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  2. I have heard so much about Bluestone and I know that is a popular favourite among bloggers. It looks like a great place to visit!

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  3. I've seen quite a few reviews on bluestone and they have all been good. Looks like you had a fab time x

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  4. Looks a great place for families with younger children - Do they cater for 10+ ages? What a pity about the swimming - that would have been where we would have ended up staying all week.

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  5. It looks like a great place to visit. I love all your pictures, such great memories were made.

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  6. This looks and sounds like an amazing place to visit with the kids I know my 6 would thrive and love it here

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  7. It looks like a great place to visit and that you and your family had a great time! x

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  8. It looks like great fun there and the accommodation although basic looks clean and tidy. Love the rosy cheeks ;-)

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  9. The bluestone looks like a great place for fun and family xx

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  10. I haven't heard of Bluestone but it looks great and The Adventure Centre looks like the place to be! It would have been great to have got your keys a bit earlier than 4.30pm though being dark at that time - perhaps something for the general manager of the property to work towards...?

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  11. We really loved Bluestone when we went in 2014 - thinking about heading back there in the future

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  12. Wow looks like you guys had a fun stay! Although I was expecting the lodge to be little more cosy. Every time I hear the word lodge, I think of wood and a fireplace and lots of blankets and snuggles!

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  13. I've never been to Wales! Looks like you had a lovely time.

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  14. Looks like you had a nice time. We've been thinking about Bluestone wales for 2017

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