A few weeks ago myself and some other Shoreditch mums took our 6 toddlers down to Pontins in Camber Sands. It was a cheap holiday in down season, meaning that we pretty much had the resort, wind and rain to ourselves. I’ve been to Pontins many times for ATP weekenders back in the day, but this was my first time doing it as a mum.
We had a run of chalets along an entire ground floor row, so the kids loved racing between everyone’s identical ‘houses’. The idea being that we would dine together and then calm the little ones down in their own space, but this also meant we mums spent the evenings on WhatsApp. Rock n Roll!
Our first day was a rainy affair, so we drove into Rye and headed straight into a cafe for hot drinks. Then we took the kids on a soggy tour of the town walls, culminating in a visit to a very boggy playground on the field below: cue much slippage in mud in the mizzle. On a plus note the swings were great! And there were some fun interactive smiley faces with embedded sounds to play with.
Photo courtesy of Lily Lam.
On Sunday we braved the wind to visit Camber Sands, but had to retreat inside before too long because the toddlers weren’t having any of it, despite the lucky find of a kite in the dunes. We were turfed out of one cafe for being too rowdy (honestly, toddlers, how dare they?) but ate chips in the friendlier place next door.
Sadly the Pontins bouncy castle was not on offer, so we spent the afternoon in the soft play centre, trying to avoid the arcade machines and racing around the giant hall on the upstairs level, where I once saw the likes of Yoko Ono, Peaches and Bat for Lashes. Whenever I ask Snarf what his favourite bit of the day was he invariably says ‘running around’ and they had a ball in the huge open space.
We had big plans to take advantage of the swimming pool but as always it seemed like too much drama, however the little ones loved having the choice of so many playgrounds on their doorstep, forcing us to race around the chalets after them. And they loved feeding the gulls (chuck a chip, watch them appear like magic from nowhere!)
So, Pontins, basic, a bit downmarket, but fun nonetheless. We are already planning our next destination en masse…
Categories ,Arcades, ,ATP weekender, ,Bat for Lashes, ,Bouncy Castle, ,Camber Sands, ,children, ,Family, ,Holiday, ,Holiday Park, ,Mumlife, ,Off Season, ,Peaches, ,playground, ,Pontins, ,review, ,rye, ,shoreditch, ,Sussex, ,Toddlers, ,Weekend, ,WhatsApp, ,What’s App, ,Yoko Ono
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