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Holiday parks were more simple affairs when I was a child in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Every year, my parents, sister and I went to stay in an array of static caravans, armed with as much beer, wine and cheese as our Audi 100 could reasonably hold. My parents would recline on foldable chairs under a sun umbrella, while I spent my days running around a kids’ club – where the ‘activities’ extended to visiting the local pool and playing kiss chase.
This kind of of primitivism wouldn’t cut it today. Holiday parks across the UK now offer everything from infinity pools to ‘zorbing’ experiences, hot tubs to sea scooters.
As a fully fledged adult, I’ve now been to plenty with my partner and her young son. And, although there are some genuinely glorious holiday parks out there, the standards can vary wildly between the sumptuous and the simply sub-standard. Here are my rankings, from the very best to the very worst.
Family-owned and with just two parks under its ownership (both in Derbyshire), Pinelodge offers my absolute favourite holiday park experience. Tucked away in the dales, its Darwin Forest hideaway is spread across 47 acres of woodland, meaning its 137 sleek timber lodges (many of them with Scandi-chic hot tubs and saunas) are very well spread out.
The staff really encourage guests to explore the surrounding area, which includes the ever-graceful Chatsworth House and a slew of sleepy villages. Activities inside the park include archery, zorbing, sea scooters, woodland cycling trails, a spa and a fitness centre.
What really makes Pinelodge top of the pile, though, is that it has perfected the art of creating a place where kids can make a lot of noise, but there’s still an atmosphere of peace and quiet. That’s something approaching holiday park alchemy.
Dutch-owned and quietly expanding in the UK, Landal is often unfairly overlooked. Its 23 parks are well designed and feel greener than many rivals, and they are frequently better value than Center Parcs – plus, the pine-built lodges at many of the parks hit just the right Dutch notes of rustic cosiness. My favourite so far in the collection is the secluded 320-acre Kenwick Park Estate in Lincolnshire, which has a good range of activities for both adults and kids; we let our youngest head off for some archery lessons while we took a dip in the hydrotherapy pool.
A one-off park – often dubbed Wales’s answer to Center Parcs – Bluestone gets so many things right, including a smashing activity offering and a strong family focus. The Blue Lagoon water park is a major draw, while the site itself covers a whopping 500 acres of a former dairy farm, all lying within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.
For an adventure-accented break, this is one of the very best in the UK, with a climbing wall, high ropes course and a range of water sports on offer. Most of the activities cost extra, but some are free to use, such as the water park and play areas.
The woodland lodges and terraced cottages are utterly charming accommodation options, but the best element of a stay here is how free you feel to explore beyond the park gates; it’s effortless to book a kayaking trip where you can take to the waters and float down to the pretty nearby village of Solva for ice cream.
A giant of the UK holiday park scene, there’s been an increasing amount of customer dissatisfaction in recent years over the high prices for a holiday in one of Center Parcs’ five resorts scattered around the UK. Yet, despite the noise, nowhere can really compete with the sheer variety of accommodation and activities that Center Parcs has on offer.
It pays to choose carefully as each park has a different feel. The Woburn Forest park is wonderful for nature, for example, with Muntjac deer in residence who may stroll right up to your patio.
But my pick for the best park goes to Longleat in Wiltshire – chiefly because of its lovely pine-fringed parks that lead to the secluded lodges, the pony rides and aerial adventures for kids, and an excellent sports plaza for adults where you can try your hand at pickeball or stick to squash.
One of the smaller holiday park firms on this list, Waterside is predominantly based around Devon and Cornwall, with sites in Bowleaze Cove, Chesil Beach, Osmington Mills and Tregoad.
Waterside offers probably the most roomy and deluxe caravans of any holiday park in the UK; they’re all at least 12 feet wide, and come with high-spec flat screen TVs, double glazing and kitchens equipped with everything you could feasibly need.
The Osmington Mills site is probably the best for grown-ups or families with older children, while the Chesil Beach site is definitely the prime option for younger kids, coming with a splash pool and huge indoor soft play area with a climbing wall, aerial runway and basketball hoops. It’s far from the cheapest option on the list, but you’re paying extra for those very desirable south-west coastal locations.
Forest Holidays leans hard into tranquillity: think hot tubs, trees and stylish cabins designed for grown-up escapes as much as family breaks. The facilities are deliberately low-key (don’t go expecting huge water parks), but it’s a fine option for couples and multi-gen groups wanting peace and nature.
There are 13 invariably wooded (the name is literal) locations across the UK, all with log cabin and treehouse accommodation to choose from. I loved the hot tub (which comes as standard across the board with Forest) which I soaked in during a break in the Delamere Forest site in Cheshire. Here you can also enjoy easy access to the Roman walls and the Tudor-style ‘rows’ of Chester which all kids love to scamper around.
Activities are fairly understated – nature walks, kayaking and cycling – but the pared-back approach is great for a quieter, more relaxing holiday. Thrill-seekers, however, may wish to look elsewhere.
There’s just two Potters resorts, one in Essex and one on the Norfolk/Suffolk border. It’s a small outfit, but delivers a class act, offering what it claims to be the only all-inclusive short break in the country.
The Hopton site, on the most easterly point of England and close to the venerable seaside town of Lowestoft, is the home of the annual World Indoor Bowls Championships, which gives you some idea of how sedate the place feels.
This is as close to upmarket as holiday parks get in the UK. Think of it as more of a self-contained village with bungalows that are tastefully furnished in the style of a mid-range cruise cabin, and a very credible range of activities including clay pigeon shooting, badminton and archery. For accompanying children, there are VR headsets, an assault course, a climbing wall and adventure golf. It’s exceptionally good value – especially given you won’t go anywhere near your credit card for a drink the entire time you’re here.
Hoburne dates back to the 1920s, when a farmer called John Berry converted his land in Hampshire into a holiday park with old railway carriages as chalets. These days, there are nine parks scattered around the south and south-west of England. The price point is firmly mid-range; much pricier than Pontins, but well below Center Parcs.
The park on the edge of the New Forest at Bashley is particularly worth a visit, and the soft furnishings of the lodgings and genteel vibe will make any previous negative holiday park experience feel light years away. There’s a nine-hole golf course here and some original woodland activities for kids, including the opportunity to build a bug house and toast marshmallows (don’t get the two confused). The W12 brasserie serves up some very palatable Korean BBQ-style chicken wings, alongside the expected loaded fries and nachos.
With 40 parks around the UK, Haven sits in a similar bracket to Parkdean: reliable, mass-market and family focused. The best locations, particularly along the North Norfolk and South Wales coasts, can be genuinely enjoyable, but the experience is heavily dependent on which park you pick.
We lucked out by visiting Haven Holidays’ Hafan y Mor site. I would challenge any child not to be thrilled by journeying through the mountains on the nearby Ffestiniog Railway: powered by steam engine, this is the oldest narrow-gauge line in the world.
Our caravan was thoroughly pleasant, with a surprisingly big kitchen and a view overlooking a pretty pond. The downside was perhaps the worst pizza I have ever eaten in my life at the onsite Pizza Deck – though things improved the following night with some good noodles at pan-Asian eatery Chopstix.
The St Minver site in Cornwall has an outstanding location, in the grounds of a manor house and with easy access to the beaches at Polzeath, Daymer Bay and Rock
With a whopping 65 parks, located from Lizard Point to Inverness, Parkdean’s sheer scale is both its strength and its weakness. With dozens of sites, the quality varies enormously. Some coastal parks feel fresh and well-run, while others feel overcrowded and underwhelming.
My most recent experience at a Parkdean, the St Minver site in Cornwall, wasn’t too bad at all. The location is outstanding, in the grounds of a manor house and with easy access to the beaches at Polzeath, Daymer Bay and Rock. However, our caravan was rather tired-looking, and the wi-fi patchy – though this was alleviated by the (apparently) ‘awesome’ sand art sessions, which the youngest member of our party embraced.
The first holiday I ever took was to the Butlin’s in Bogner Regis, so I have a strong personal affection for the place; particularly for the helter skelter, which, at age four, was the most exciting thing I had yet seen in my life. It’s still a British institution, but one with a dowdy reputation similar to Soreen malt loaf and Mecca Bingo.
Yet, for families with young kids, Butlin’s still delivers on big-name entertainment. Upcoming at its three resorts (there are still Butlin’s in Skegness and Minehead, as well as Bognor), are The Masked Singer, wrestling and a stage version of The Dinosaur That Pooped.
The accommodation varies wildly, from freshly refurbished to distinctly budget. The staff are almost maniacally cheerful and there is a knowing touch of kitsch to the whole thing. The fact that the Bognor site is surrounded by a chain link fence did, however, give me dreams that revolved around The Great Escape at times…
12. Pontins (various locations)
Pontins has been going since 1946, and feels stuck in a time warp – though not in a charming, nostalgic way. The ageing chalets, threadbare entertainment and patchy upkeep make this the most tired-feeling brand on the list.
While the adult-only weekends have injected some life, it’s still hard to shake the sense that you’re paying for yesterday’s holiday model. My last experience of visiting a Pontins was to its Pakefield location on the Anglian coast. On a site formerly used to house workers from the nearby nuclear plant, the cultural highlight was a miniature replica of the Brussels Manneken Pis (the urinating boy) statue. The park closed permanently last year. The statue’s current whereabouts are unknown.
