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Friday 22 June 2018

Adventure and Activities at Bluestone Wales **REVIEW**

Have you seen our recent post about our family holiday at Bluestone National Park Resort? If not head over and check it out here. You may notice I mention all the activities there are too do, however there is so much to do I wanted to make a separate post to tell you all about it rather than squeezing it into one post.


If you haven't heard of it before Bluestone National Park Resort is a fun and unique family holiday destination that's set in the UK's only coastal National Park  and within a 500-acre woodland! As well as the beautiful scenery and cosy lodges Bluestone has over 100 indoor and outdoor activities to keep you entertained during your stay! 

I wanted to talk you about a few of the activities on offer that we enjoyed during out stay or thought sounded particularly great!

Free Activities -

You may be wondering just how much all these extra activities may be about to cost you however the truth is Bluestone can be as cheap or expensive as you want to make it. There are lots of free activities to enjoy on resort too so here are some of our favourites.

The Blue Lagoon. 




The Blue Lagoon is the Bluestone resort swimming pool, however it is so much more than just a pool and was somewhere we visited several times during our stay (and the kids would have gone more if we had time!). Entry to the pool is free within the cost of your holiday and is open 9am until 5pm every day. 9am until 12 midday is guest only swim whereas 12 until 5pm the pool is open to guests and the public who can pay to use the pool. We were worried this might make the pool busy however we visited during the morning and afternoon and never found it crowded or busy. 

Inside the pool you will find a hole host of things to entertain every member of the family. From the main pool complete with a wave machine (which seems to happen every 20-30 minutes) and lazy river which whisks you away around the pool and even outside where you will find a secret little pool to relax in whilst enjoying the British sunshine! There are also four flumes to ride with a varying degree of speed and thrill. 

The Adventure Centre. 



The adventure centre is a huge indoor space within Bluestone that houses a variety of free activities for kids of all ages. Inside you will find a miniature crazy golf course, bouncy castles and two soft play and climbing areas. One if for younger children around 5 and under, the other is for older kids and James who is 8 had loads of fun exploring the bigger with (which you can see part of in the picture above). There are plenty of slides, tunnels and climbing opportunities to tire little ones out before bedtime of shelter from the rain. 

Within the adventure centre you will also find a café serving food and drinks and a small arcade area with some classic "teddy grabber" style machines and some 10p and 2p slot style machines.

Feeding the ducks at the lake.



At the heart of Bluestone just passed the village you will find a beautiful picturesque lake brimming with wildlife. You can walk the entire way around the lake and its such a peaceful and stunning walk. We saw ducks, ducklings and loads of interesting bugs and insects.

Paid Activities - 

Alongside all the great free things to do at Bluestone there is a whole host of activities available to book and pay for during your stay. James and Evelyn took part in a few of these during our stay and so I wanted to share a few of our favourites here -

Nature Art.



James and Evelyn love arts and crafts and they were delighted to find so many arts and craft style activities available at Bluestone. Nature art really stood out to us as they seem to get so much into the 2 hour long activity. The guided age for this is 4 -7 years, as it is an unaccompanied activity that your children do without you the minimum age is 4. However James is 8 and really enjoyed nature art so don't be put off by the 7 year age guidance. 

During their time with the rangers on this course they got to make masks (that you can see in the picture above), make a woodland picture complete with stick frame and they also went on a woodland walk to explore and make clay faces on the trees. The rangers were amazing especially with Evelyn who was feeling especially nervous about us leaving, after five minutes with the rangers however she was waving us off and ready to enjoy some woodland fun. The rangers really are such a credit to Bluestone and amazing with the kids. Our lodge was right near the lake and we could hear them doing their little ranger chant whilst out with the rangers and it was absolutely adorable! 

Games Night.

What kid doesn't love the idea of getting to stay up late and be play games!? James and Evelyn were super excited when they found out that is exactly what they would be doing during one evening of our stay. On the Wednesday evening we headed down to the adventure centre at 6.30pm to meet the rangers. They took the kids off and spent a whole evening playing games, dancing around and just generally allowing the kids to have fun and burn off all that energy. As its an unaccompanied activity it gives parents the evening to do as they please, perhaps a treatment at the spa or evening a romantic meal out at one of the many restaurants on site. The games night finished at 9pm! 

Nature Detectives.



Nature detectives was one of the activities we got to enjoy together as a family. We were pretty lucky to get a beautiful sunny day which was perfect for this activity. When we arrived the kids were given a little talk and then asked to get on their detective gear which is provided by Bluestone. It consisted of a hi-vis jacket, detective hat and utility belt. We were then led out into the woodland to discover and find bugs and insects of all kinds, kids are provided with a pot to put all their interesting finds inside! 

Once everyone has found some bugs the ranger asked everyone to place the bugs into Bluestones very own bug hotel to keep them safe, the rangers were great at helping the kids identify the bugs and talk about them and what they do. After all the bug hunting we collected up some flowers, leaves and twigs to make out very own leafy flower crowns so we could all look the part too! The activity is for children aged 4+ and children do need adult supervision on this activity. 



Tournament Field.

There are so many activities available at Bluestone we definitely couldn't fit them all in! If you have older children, teens or grown ups who love to join in the tournament field for activities such as axe throwing, archery and even laser clay shooting! 


4x4 Off road Rangers

If you have any young petrol heads in your group who would love an adventure on there very own 4x4 then you can head on down to the driving range and do some off road driving. Climb inside your very own open top miniature 4x4 and drive around the specially built safari range. The track includes narrow roads fenced in with fallen logs, hills, different levels, reversing bays, rickety bridges, willow tunnels and even a see-saw to drive over.



As you can see there is such a huge range of activities to do and this is just a handful of all the amazing things there are to do! So whether your looking for a relaxing break or a thrill seeking adventure holiday Bluestone have you covered! 

Once you book your break you will be able to view, access and book/pay for any activities you like the sound off. Most activities have a variety or days and times available so you can pick one to suit you. Every activity on the website clearly states what age it is suitable for and any costs involved, it will also tell you if it an unaccompanied ac

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5 comments:

  1. This looks amazing! We have always wanted to go to blue stone!

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  2. This place looks amazing. I hadn't heard of it before, but will be looking into it in the future as it sounds right up our street.

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  3. This looks like a fantastic place for a family holiday. I know mine would love that indoor play area it's so big and looks like great fun!!!

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  4. We love Bluestone, we've been a few times now, its such a lovely place. I did clay pigeon shooting with my husband last and i won!

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  5. Bluestone Wales sounds like a fab place to head to with the kids, totally love how close you can be with nature there.

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