Thursday 24 August 2017

Bluestone Wales Review *Part 2*

Better late than never, I'm back with part 2 of our Bluestone, Wales review. The days have turned into weeks and then a month or so passed since my last post, I have been crazy busy recently it's hard to fit life in! On with our 2nd post, you can check out the 1st post by clicking here

After a very restful night, we were having a quiet day, I had pre-booked dinner for later in the day so there was no need to worry about sorting food. My 2 absolutely love swimming and water so naturally our first stop of the day was the Blue Lagoon. The leisure area is open to the public so naturally this can get quite busy (even out of season and during school times I hasten to add), however there is a residents only time early on in the morning when it is a little quieter. To get to the Lagoon from our lodge (Preseli View) there is a bit of a trek, it's not mammoth but with 2 kids it does take I would say about 15 minutes. For obvious reasons I haven't got any pictures to share from the Lagoon itself but you can have a nose at some of the pictures on the Bluestone website to get a feel for it. I thought it was absolutely fab! The changing rooms are pretty clean and there are a generous amount of cubicles and family sized ones too which is a bonus, it does get busy at peak times but we waited only a couple of minutes to grab a family cubicle. The pool itself is heated to a perfect temperature so non of that take your breath away malarkey, it's a bit like entering a bath. There is a little toddlers cove set away from the main pool which is really lovely for the smaller ones, although that being said even Alfie enjoyed some quiet time in their too paddling away in the little rock pools and shooting some hoops. There is also a pirate area with a fun area to play in but we didn't spend much time here as the water is noticeably cooler. There is a wave machine that comes on around every 20-30 minutes, it's brill but beware where you position yourself as the waves can be quite choppy (as I found out!). There are numerous water canons and sprays which also come on which is fun. 


My favourite part, and I would say Alfie's has to be the lazy river. It takes me back to my teen years when I used to go to a popular leisure pool (Kettering Leisure Village for anyone interested, ha!) before it got shut down. There is nothing better than being pushed around by a gentle flow of water from the warmth inside the pool to the chilly Wales air outside, it was fab and we all loved it, I think I counted about 25 times we went round on one day!For those that are feeling a bit braver there is also a Jacuzzi outside, this is for older kids and adults mind so we didn't get the chance to try it out. There is also 4 water flumes to choose from (with height restrictions), Alfie was just not quite tall enough, he was quite disappointed that he couldn't try any of them out but obviously there has to be restrictions to a degree. My husband tested out a couple and seemed to have fun though. As you can see there is tons to keep everyone occupied, we spent alot of time at the Blue Lagoon!



After finishing at the Blue Lagoon (we must have been there over 2 hours) we headed back to the Lodge so little lady could have nap before heading to the Farmhouse Grill for some dinner. After Elarna had caught on some well needed zzz's wee changed and had a wander down to the little village area and play parks. The weather was actually lovely at this point with no rain and plenty of blue skies so I made sure I snapped plenty of pictures, the area around the lake is so lovely and we even spotted a little family of ducks hiding in the reeds.....don't worry we stayed well away and were very respectful of them, they were very cute. 




The green areas surrounding Bluestone really are lovely. I imagine there are lots of areas we didn't even discover during our short stay, in the warmer months I bet it is lovely to explore a bit more. If visiting though you must remember to take some comfy shoes for all that walking, I am so glad that I packed my converse style trainers as they are pretty much ALL I wore while I was there. Actual god send. 

The play areas near the village are lovely, lots for all ages to do with the usual play park equipment and although busy no problem with not having any play equipment spare. We spent a good 45 minutes here before dinner, we also had a little wander down the street where there is a little village store stocking the essentials, a very cute toy store, bakery, pub and restaurants all in one convenient place. The booking office is also situated in this area should you need to speak to a member of staff during your stay. All in all a very useful area situated conveniently for all staying at Bluestone. 







As mentioned earlier, I'd pre-booked our reservation using the handy online area meaning we could book any meals and activities prior to us arriving. These do get booked up well in advance so I'd recommend booking sooner rather than later otherwise you may be disappointed. I opted for the Grill as it looked family orientated with a decent menu to choose from. I had to pay a reservation fee and we had to arrive within an allocated time to ensure we got our seats. This was fine as we made sure we were in the area at the time but the allocated time to arrive was only something like 5 minutes either side so this is something to bare in mind if you are rushing around or trying to herd a troop of family members out of the door. 

So we arrived to the Farmhouse Grill about 15 minutes before our allocated time. We could see that the restaurant wasn't really overly busy but we still had to wait before being shown to our table, it was no biggy we just had a drink at the bar while we were waiting. We were shown to our table when we were meant to and the rest will be in part 3 of my Bluestone review!! Keep your eyes peeled for the next installment......

4 comments:

  1. It looks fab I've never been to Bluestone before #thatfridaylinky

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  2. I love bluestone we have been 3 times a fab place great review x Thank you for linking to #ThatFridayLinky Please come back next week

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  3. I really like bluestone, we've been three times, but I was disappointed last time that they'd stopped the free activities and everything has a price now. On our first visit the girls built a den with the hedgehog by Camp Smokey and played hide & seek with him etc, all for free. Such a shame they don't do this anymore as it's put me off going back. Thanks for linking up to #ThatFridayLinky

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  4. I really need to give this place a try. It seems everyone's been there this year 😮

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