Overview
Bluestone is a holiday resort in the beautiful Pembrokeshire, Wales with nature and adventure at it’s heart. The accommodation is mostly wooden lodges surrounded by trees, a lake and there are 500 acres explore. We loved the setting! There are lots of activities and seasonal events on offer, and plenty of things to do indoors or under cover. We went when it rained most of the time but it did not dampen our experience! We visited mid-week in March 2023, as a family of four with a 3 and 1 year old. We thought it was fantastic value for a family holiday. Read our review of Bluestone, Wales below!
Accommodation Review at Bluestone, Wales
There are a range of accommodation options. We were on a budget so we opted for the cheapest lodge. The standard Caldey had sold out so we booked the adapted version which is predominantly the same (normally for people with limited mobility but I checked and it was OK for us to book). Our accommodation was great – I was expecting it to be quite basic, but it felt clean, spacious and modern. The only thing I was less keen on was having a wet room – a bath would have been much better with little ones! The Caldeys either have a bath (with shower), shower or wet room. You have the option to express a preference for which lodge you have on site for a fee. We paid £340 for a Mon-Fri break in a Caldey Adapted Lodge in March 2023 – total cost breakdown below.
Toddler/baby friendly: All lodges and cottages have a high chair and travel cot but take cot linen with you. We took our own travel cot with us as we are used to that one!
Our lodge was no 45 Bartholomew Rise, which was near the Lake and the Village. This was a great location for us as we could pop to the village shop and play areas easily, and it was a quick walk to and from the lake for the Winter Lights trail (which we did just before bed time). The lake is also the start of multiple walking routes.
Where to stay & How to get around
The options for getting around the resort are:
- Golf buggy
- Bikes (your own or hire)
- Walking
- Land Train
We chose to hire a golf buggy seeing as we did not know where our lodge would be on site and I had heard it was a hilly site (which was true!), but it is hard to picture from looking at the map. A lot of the entertainment and activities are in the Serendome, The Hive and The Blue Lagoon (swimming) which are at the top of the hill. The site slopes down towards The Village and the Lake, which is another hub that has a small convenience store, a coffee shop, playground, restaurants, pub, and the spa
I am sure the different areas on site have their pros and cons but if you are hiring a golf buggy you can be anywhere on the site as you can get around easily. If you are not getting a golf buggy, bikes would be a good idea if you can manage some hills. If not, you will be walking and/or using the land train. It is a car free site (except to drop/collect luggage and blue badge holders). The land train runs between the Blue Lagoon and the Village every day (except Monday and Friday) every half an hour across most of the day. This is reasonably regular so you could definitely get by using this and on foot. However, if you can afford a golf buggy I would do it – it definitely added to our experience! Our golf buggy cost £120.
Tip: Take lights, bunting, balloons, etc with you to decorate your buggy! I wish this had been on my radar before going as I definitely would have taken something. Also, if it is rainy take a towel to keep in the buggy to wipe the seats dry.
If you are not getting a buggy or bikes, and want to avoid potentially having fairly long walks to the Serendome (and surrounding) it may be worth expressing a preference for a lodge close to it. You will probably make more journeys there than to the Village. Whilst we were there, they were constructing some new lodges right next to the Serendome which look great!
Entertainment & Activities Review at Bluestone, Wales
Free activities included:
- Swimming at the Blue Lagoon
- Soft play and inflatable play in The Hive
- Water play, sand play, play areas, foam pieces play in the Serendome
- Walks into the woods and around the lake. The walk to Camp Smokey had lots of fairy houses and other things to look at. An inexpensive activity is toasting marshmallows at Camp Smokey. We bought 10 marshmallows for approx £3 with wooden skewers. Next time I would try and take my own!
- Play areas in/around the village
- We did a mid-week break and the seasonal circus show and wonder workshop were free to book. However, someone informed me that these activities do incur a cost at weekends and during school holidays. The Winter Lights trail was also free.
Paid for activities
There are lots of activities to choose from – water sports, climbing, sky walk, bushcraft, archery and more! Take a look at them all here.
The activities we did
If you have young children you will find there are loads of free activities for them. The soft play in the Hive was one of our favourites! It is so big and our two loved exploring it. We enjoyed all the play in the Serendome too. The kids loved the swimming. I would say the pool could do with a bit of a refresh, but it had a baby pool, wave pool, lazy river, flumes and jets so lots to do!
The only paid activity we ended up doing was bowling (£25 for 30 minutes). We saved this for the last night and it was a great way to finish our trip! We had meant to do the Sky Walk Mini activity (also paid for) but we missed the days it was on. There are so many activities, so next time we would like to try more!
Seasonal Activities
There are five different “seasons” or themes across the year which have their own events. We went to Winter Lights where they had the circus show, light trail around the lake, and the wonder workshop (storytelling and craft activity). The theme is now Myths and Legends and has a pirate show! This is great to keep it interesting if you go multiple times.
The circus show was fun and interactive – good for all ages. The wonder workshop took us into some magical rooms straight out of Willy Wonka with very cool activities e.g. Ada coloured in a fish, scanned it in and it started swimming around a virtual fish tank. I wish we could have played in this room all day! We then carried on into another amazing room for some interactive storytelling. This whole event was unexpected and fabulous!
We LOVED the winter lights around the lake. It was interactive and wonderful!
Visiting the Local Area
We did not go off site on this visit, but if you would like ideas check out our previous toddler friendly Pembrokeshire holiday review (not staying at Bluestone, Wales) but we visited surrounding places including Folly Farm, Tenby and Dyfed Shire Horse Farm!
Costs breakdown Review at Bluestone, Wales
Mon-Fri Break March 2023 for a family of four:
- Acommodation (Caldey Adapted): £340
- Golf Buggy Hire: £120
- Bowling: £25 for 30 minutes
- Food: Usual food shop apart from top up food from the local shop including lots of welsh cakes! We would like to try some of the restaurants next time but were trying to save £!
- Marshmallows at Camp Smokey: Approx £3 for 10 marshmallows
Total = £488 + usual food shop and petrol
Bluestone, Wales honest review…Would we recommend?
We would absolutely recommend Bluestone as a great value family holiday. If you have pre-school children be sure to make the most of the Monday-Friday breaks. However, the weekend and school holidays look to be a competitive price. We are really looking forward to visiting again! We are keen to try some more activities, explore more of the walks, and try a different season!
Thank you for reading!
Thank you for reading our review of Bluestone, Wales. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions and enjoy if you are going! Please share with anyone that might be interested.
I have a lot of photographs on our Instagram “Bluestone” highlight, if you would like to flick through more images. We have also made a reel which you can see below or on Instagram:
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