Bluestone Resort — Attraction in Martletwy

I’m afraid that this will be a very confusing review, but this is the strangest holiday I’ve ever been on, and it’s a shame as I desperately wanted to give Bluestone a good review, however the best way I can sum up our stay, is that Bluestone is a fantastic facility with absolutely dire customer service.||The good-||The resort itself is very clean and visually appealing. Our lodge was very nice, but did need some maintenance (I get that things get damaged with families constantly staying there, and ours was just at the point where it ought to close for a week and have things put right). The three main locations (Serenedome, Hive and Blue Lagoon) are all excellent in terms of what’s there, the latter is probably due an update within a few years. I think whoever designed and built Bluestone did a fantastic job.||However, the bad-||The website and app are pretty terrible to use ahead of your trip. A lot of things are not clearly explained, its actually easier to go onto YouTube and watch a family review the place to see how things work.||We arrived on a Monday, we had been camping for five days ahead of our stay, and were on our last set of clothes. We arrived, very excited, to our accommodation, and found there was no laundry facility within the lodge. No problem, I asked a staff member where the laundry was. “Oh, because we’re part of a national park we don’t have one.” Ok, surely this is not the first time anyone ahs needed to wash their clothes, what do people normally do? “Dunno…”||So our first night was spent with me driving to Narbeth, parking outside the Nisa for several hours and spending a fortune washing our clothes in one of those outdoor laundrettes on the car park.||Despite the fact that the park caters exclusively to children (seriously, if you’d mistakenly booked here without a child with you, you’d feel incredibly awkward on day 2), none of the staff appear to know how children work.||When you arrive, you are asked to download an app and use a digital welcome pack. The vast majority of the activities weren’t on the app, so this was fairly useless. The one thing that did work on it was ordering a food delivery to the lodge, but strangely this requires you to registers a completely new account to the one you’ve used to log in to the app…||On day 2 they have a welcome session where some of the staff explain the activities on offer. Some of these sound quite exciting, they make no distinction between the activities that are free, those you need to pay for, those you need to book a place for, its all really unclear.||One of the activities was ‘Power Hour,’ I asked what this was, they said it was a bit like a disco in the Hive, where they have music and disco lights, and facepainting. My 4 year old loves facepainting, she was beyond excited for this. We went to guest services to sign up for this, to be told that you just have to turn up for it. When we arrive, we ask where the facepainting is “let me just check…” staff member calls up on the radio, then goes “We’re not doing it today, we haven’t got anyone to do it.” Anyone with a child can probably predict how my 4 year old daughter took that. After I’d explained to her that it wasn’t happening, she played happily in the Hive, then with five minutes to go, I took her to the toilet. On the way there, she pointed out, a staff member doing face painting. I asked her why we’d been told that it wasn’t taking place, she mumbled something and said I’d have to go to reception to get a token. I go back to reception, pay £5 for a token, and ask what was going on. “Sorry, we thought we didn’t have anyone to do it but then we did.” For £5, the facepainter literally blobbed some paint on the side of her face, it was awful. The Power Hour then finished.||A real cheap shot was the ‘Fairy Breakfast.’ My daughter was overjoyed at the thought of eating her breakfast with the fairy character. We signed her up, £14 for her place. Steep, but I think she’ll enjoy it. Guest services say “how many please?” Well, just my daughter. We are told that its mandatory to book an adult space. I challenge this, it feels really cheap and unfair to make it mandatory that an adult has to attend with the child, and then charge that adult for a space for an event that’s not for them. If I take my daughter to soft play, they don’t charge me for a place. It gets worse, the adult ticket was over £16. In then end I didn’t want my daughter to miss out so I paid over £30 for this event.||My wife went, the breakfast for the children was like a cooked full English breakfast. She didn’t eat any of it, and according to my wife most of the other children didn’t either, and a great deal of food was thrown away, it seemed very wasteful for somewhere that lauds their green credentials. The fairy characters didn’t interact much, they did a song and dance on the stage while the parents fed the kids their full English!||On the last evening, there was a goodbye show at 7pm in the Serenadome, but there was to be a parade at 6:30 from the Hive. We got there just before 6:30, the staff said that the parade “usually” started from there. We waited and waited, they got on their radios and said “It definitely starts from here, sometimes it’s a bit later. 6:55 rolls around, still no parade. At 7 they admit that there’s not going to be one, we should just go to the Serenedome. When we get to it, the show has started early. The goodbye show consisted of a band, who weren’t terrible but not a professional show, and the Pembrokeshire Firespinners, who in fairness were excellent.||I am just cherry picking some of the lowlights of poor communication, blasé staff members, disappointments and general poor organisation that were literally present at every thing we tried to do at Bluestone.||I’d booked two bikes and a trailer for our stay at a cost of £90. I don’t own a bike, but on attendance the staff said “you need to present a helmet to us before we can give you the bikes.” This would have been absolutely key information to have beforehand. You can’t hire a helmet, but they will sell you one for £25. This really needs to be a huge pop-up on the website when you book, but the website is outdated and difficult to navigate. I ended up paying more and taking a golf buggy instead.||The food onsite (bearing in mind that once you’re on site, you don’t really leave) is nowhere near worth the money. You’re paying restaurant prices for cheap pub-grub. The delivery food was of better quality and roughly priced what you’d pay for a takeaway elsewhere.||Camp Smokey was out of action while we were there, with no prewarning. It looked like a few of the other facilities were too.||What’s really frustrating is that Bluestone is such a nice place, we really wanted to enjoy it. We needed a relaxing holiday after a very stressful summer at work, and genuinely it felt like spending a week at work, dealing with problem after problem after problem, and trying to stay positive. We (as a family) made it a good holiday regardless, but there was always that undertone of being constantly ripped off and receiving poor service by staff that either don’t care or are genuinely clueless as to how they come across.||When I’ve seen what the prices are for Bluestone within the school holidays (we were able to go a week later due to a later start date at school for our daughter), If I had paid what other families must have paid in the summer holidays, I would have been livid. They are selling a magical family adventure on a par with Disneyland, the staff should be providing that. Instead you’re getting a nicely presented Butlins.||Despite this incredibly negative review, I would actually really like to return to Bluestone, but to do so I will have to see reviews that show that the service has improved significantly. I think that in the current cost of living crisis, rising prices and economic issues, customer service has to be immaculate, because we are all being ripped off more and more every day. A lot of businesses can’t do much about the rising costs, but good service costs nothing, and from a consumer perspective, there’s nothing worse than feeling ripped off, and the business already has your money, they’re going to provide the bare minimum service or worse, and there’s nothing you can do about it. If the staff don’t want to be there or don’t want to take their job seriously, I’m afraid that eventually those jobs wont exist.||My overall impression of Bluestone is that it was built with a vision that it is not...

Lots of family fun things to do, with hefty prices.||Based on a family of four (2x adults and 2x kids (age 10 & 13). Overall we enjoyed our stay and would go back, however next time would be better prepared. Advice: Bring toilet roll with you and make lunches at your logde.||ACCOM:|We have just got back from our stay at Bluestone, staying Mon-Fri in Augustus Way 2-bed (4-berth) lodge. The accommodation lodge was really big and pretty nice to be fair, a little tired in places perhaps, but if you're spending your time outdoors I see the lodge as a place to rest in between activities. The lodge was clean and tidy, maybe a little basic if you're planning on cooking meals. So what's included in the lodge? You get a basic cleaning set consisting of 3x dishwasher tablets, washing up liquid (plenty), dishwashing cloth, 1x tea towel. The bathrooms had 4x medium towels, 4x hand towels and a bath mat. the sinks had hand wash soap, and only 1x toilet roll!!! I would recommend brining more toilet roll because their own ones literally only had like 40 sheets per roll.|You also get an ironing board, iron, clothes horse/rack, hoover, 4x saucepans, 1 oven tray and a grill tray, a measuring jug and a casserole dish, with all the expected cutlery & crockery for 6-8, utensils etc.|You are only allowed to take your car to your lodge on your first and last days to drop off/pick up bags. The site resort is then car free, with buggies & bikes being used mostly.||THE HIVE: Indoor Play|Free to enter. The soft play area and indoor play areas are also free and you can stay for an unlimited amount of time, but that is where it ends. Everything else in the building has a charge! It wasn't too busy when we went luckily, but I imagine it can be quite busy when its raining perhaps. |The Adrenaline zip ride costs extra, as does the climbing wall and the leap of faith jump. You cannot book these activities before your stay... they are booked at the front reception in the Hive and are based on a buy-a-token scheme for use on any of those 3x activities. These tokens are not able to be used anywhere else on Bluestone and must be used in the Hive. The tokens are £16 each!!! So with my 2x children wanting a go on the zip line and climbing wall, it was £64, and took about 20 mins each to complete. So expensive!! I would not pay to do those activities again, they are totally not worth it. There are also 2x table tennis areas in the Hive and they wanted £4 to borrow a paddle and ball. The free indoor play area was enough to tire our kids out for a couple of hours, consisting of a variety of towers, tube slides, ball court, and inflatable course.||THE HIVE: Glowzone Bowling|Generally ok. If you're expecting a full size 10-pin bowling alley, this is not it. It is a scaled down version with a smaller pin-on-string and small ball the size of a grapefruit. Still, it was fun for the family, we all had a good time and enjoyed to blue light glow atmosphere. We booked a double slot, so we got around 45 mins of play, which got us around 1 and a half full games. If you play before 7pm, you can use the adjoining NRG cafe/bar to get snacks/beers.||THE HIVE: NRG Cafe|Expensive!! We thought we'd get lunch here whilst the kids played, for 2 adults and 2x kids, lunch cost £58!! The kids had fish finger sandwiches, and adults had jacket potato and a flatbread, each with drinks. There isn't a great choice there, but I would not use again due to the expensive pricing. I would recommend going back to the lodge and making a sandwich for lunch.||SERENDOME:|Not much to do in here for free, some really small play areas for younger kids only (a play zone for toddlers, a sand play area with a tower, a small water play area and a soft brick zone for toddlers). Our kids are 10 & 13 so we did the skywalk high rope course (paid activity which was booked online before arrival). This activity was 1-hour long, where the brief took 15-20 mins, which left some time to get around the course. The course had 10-12 people on it and proved difficult moving around as you were told to only have 3 people on each platform. Our kids did manage to do around 75% of the course, and they challenged themselves on difficult crossings. This activity was worth the money paid, but I would have liked a longer time on the course.|The rest of the Serendome has a small theatre that only had small kid activities (up to the age of 10 maybe) which only ran on certain days, there is also a bar, a cafe, some food stalls, a teddy bear shop. It is a covered outdoor place so you will be dry but we did find it cold on occasions (April).||TOURNAMENT FIELD: Archery and Axe throwing.|We did pay for these activities upfront again before arrival. Each one of these activities took around 40mins. It is of course outdoors, so if it's raining like it was for us, you will likely be wet. There is a very small covered area over your head so we didn't get soaked, but with some wind you will get cold very quickly. The Archery was the better of the two activities. Once you get over the excitement that you're throwing an axe, it's pretty boring to be fair. A lot of waiting around because only one 1 of 10 people can throw at any one time (safety), and then its 40 mins of doing the same thing. After about 4 rounds of doing the same thing we asked to end the experience and move on.|BLUE LAGOON:|By far the best free thing to do which is included in the resort price. We did this twice during our stay. Yes there are broken lockers and wet floors in the changing rooms, but nothing different to what you would see in most indoor pool areas. |The pool itself is quite small, but was really warm and had regular wave machine intervals and different water blasts happening to keep you on your toes.|There is a lazy river that goes outdoors for part of it, and 4x flume/slides. One of the bigger slides also has micro pools to stop and rest in along the way which are outdoors, which is amazing if the sun is out. There are two jacuzzi/hot water bubble areas too, and two small children play areas separate from the main pool.|When it's not busy, there is no time limit on your sessions, so you can stay as long as you want. When it is busy, they will start to use coloured bands to limit numbers in the pool. ||RESTAURANTS: We ate at the Farmhouse Grill and the Oak Tree Italian. At the time of booking our stay, it was recommended that we book in advance (£5 per person deposit) to avoid disappointment of not being able to get in or long waits for a table. On one of the days we wanted to change our plans and eat somewhere else because we were far away from the village area and were unable to do this without losing our £20 deposit. A cancellation is only able to be made 48hrs before which is unfortunate. |Food wise, there is plenty of choice and the food was ok. The prices weren't too far off what you'd expect in other dining restaurants outside the resort.|There is a pub in the village area that does do food and entertainment, but we didn't know about this until we arrived. We would have liked to have gone there but were unable to cancel our other table in the restaurant.||BUGGIES/BIKES:|For us, it rained. The buggies have no protection from the rain, so everyone is wet, the seats are wet and there is nowhere to park undercover. |The hills in Bluestone Resort are monstrous, so a lot of people ended up pushing their bikes up the hills. |We ended up walking everywhere between the lodge, village, the hive, blue lagoon and serendome. At any point it took no longer than 15-20 mins to get anywhere, so buggies and bikes are not necessary in my opinion.||CONCLUSION:|Would I stay again... yes.|What would I do differently... | - Bring food to make lunch at the lodge in-between activities to save costs.| - Bring toilet roll| - Bring Laundry liquid to wash muddy clothes in the bath... there is no laundrette onsite.| - Take a look outside the local area to explore.| - Don't get...

In the last 18 months, we’ve taken our toddler son to Sandy Balls in Hampshire (dreadful - our supposed “luxury” lodge was filthy and the on-site facilities were mostly closed with no notice), Greenwood Grange (much smaller scale but wonderful), Center Parcs Longleat (catastrophic - our group all ended up with a horrid D&V bug which had to be from the pool based on how/when it presented) and Bluestone. As Bluestone was significantly cheaper than any of our previous breaks, we didn’t have mega high expectations but we were totally wrong - we’ve just rebooked for Bluestone next year as it’s the resort that our toddler has loved the most. He actually sobbed when he realised we were leaving! ||Our 2 bedroom cottage in the village was mega spacious and spotlessly clean. It was super well equipped too, including sharp knives and scissors, a proper cafetière, a dishwasher, a full range of recycling bins (top tier entertainment for a nearly 2 year old) plus a toddler pack with kids cutlery/plates, high chair, travel cot etc. The theming in the kids room was adorable and the bathroom layout was perfect for bathing little ones safely before bed - folding bath screen for easy access, no taps jutting out etc. The WiFi was fine too, as we were able to manage an important Teams call just fine, as well as streaming Hey Duggee/Bing on repeat via our own Firestick. ||Being in the centre of the village is ideal with a toddler as you are seconds away from the adventure playground and treehouse, coffee shop, restaurants, village shop and gift shop. The coffee shop opens at 8am every day so we would walk the 30 second stroll over to bring takeaway coffees and warm pastries back to the lodge for breakfast some mornings - a nice treat. ||Granted, it is a sharp uphill walk to the leisure facilities at the Hive and Serendome from the village (our young toddler couldn’t have managed the incline) but we hired a golf buggy to get about quickly. Not essential if you have school-aged kids I’d say but for pre-schoolers who tire easily and need to stick to rigid nap times, it’d be useful. ||We didn’t need to pay for any separate kids activities whilst there, as there was so much for our preschooler to enjoy that was free. The Serendome is toddler heaven - a huge sandpit with tower structures, a water play area and toddler-safe play park. Our lad would have happily spent the entire holiday there. The older children seemed to congregate in the Hive but there is an under 4s section of the softplay which is segregated. ||We ate at the Oak Tree Italian restaurant and the Farmhouse Grill as they served food that we thought our son would enjoy. The staff in both were lovely and super accommodating to kids and the food was fine; the children’s portions were super generous. Don’t expect in-restaurant soft plays and delivery robots like in Center Parcs - we just brought a bag of toys with us to provide entertainment at the table. ||The show at the Cloud Theatre kept our lad’s attention and although he was a bit overwhelmed, the entertainment team were mega enthusiastic and tried so hard to get the kids involved. ||Let’s be clear - the pool and spa facilities are a fraction of what’s available at Center Parcs. But we both commented that the Bluestone pool is a million times more toddler friendly, was far warmer and our little one enjoyed it much more. Plus of course we didn’t end up with 10 days of violent D&V after using the Bluestone pool - bonus. The Bluestone spa was also much quieter than the Center Parcs spa, which made for a more relaxing session. ||The upshot is that Bluestone will now be our go-to holiday while our son is small. Once he gets to 7-8 I daresay that he’d enjoy the breadth of activities at Center Parcs more but for preschoolers, it just can’t be beaten. ||Minor gripes:|The beds in our cottage were uncomfortable - a super firm mattress which had zero give. I’m told that you can request mattress toppers from guests services; we’d likely do that next time. |All the cupboards in the kitchen are at toddler height so there’s no way of preventing toddler access to food/plates/glasses, plus the oven is at child height. Some simple childlocks would make a big difference, plus a shelf to store snacks etc away from inquisitive hands. |I booked my spa treatment and thermal session months in advance but turned up to find that they’d moved my slot without telling me! Thankfully the appointment had been pushed back rather than forwards but still, annoying when you’ve carefully organised something around the toddler’s naptime. |We’d planned to swim on the Thursday but received a text to say the pool was closed for the afternoon - further enquiries revealed that a teenager had vomited in the pool. Some would be upset by the closure but hats off to Bluestone for actually closing the pool to clean properly and keep their guests safe. We suspect that we were so unwell at Center Parcs because they hadn’t cleaned properly after a similar incident. |The pool needs a bit of a facelift - the changing areas and lockers look particularly worn. The grout on the tiles in the toddler pool had also gone black in places. |They are clearly training a huge raft of new staff at the moment so every single interaction that involved a till or a computer was painstakingly slow. The staff were all delightful and charming, which offset this plus we were there out of season so fewer people were about. |*The resident swan is a bitey so-and-so - don’t be tempted to chance...