Lyons Robin Hood Holiday Park — Hotel in Great Britain

We stayed at Lyons holiday park in Rhyl a few weeks ago now, and I thought I would sit on my opinion a short while so post holiday endorphins wouldn't get in the way of an honest review. I want to begin by saying upon arrival we were welcomed with friendly staff, everything we needed to stay in our static including keys, information booklets and wrist bands. It was all straight forward and no messing around. We drove around to our caravan to find it was a very good spot and inside was rather modern looking. The children soon ran inside (this staycation was a surprise) picked their beds and unpacked. Rooms are a good size, especially the living room and bathrooms. I don't like to feel squashed into somewhere, and you definitely don't get that feeling. The beds were made up with white linen which is a nice and clean sort of choice for caravan beds used often. Our kettle was broken, but this was promptly replaced by a lovely lady coming to the static and replacing it with a brand new one. When we came to the crockery though, I had to wash it through as only the top plates, first glasses and cups to see in the cupboards had been washed. The cutlery were somewhat questionable too, so I just gave everything a good clean before we settled in for the evening. Check in is at 4, I would have preferred a 2 o clock check in, but that is just down to personal preference. On site there is a launderette, bar which serves food and pool table, amusements, shop (stocking basic things like milk, tinned goods, sweets, chocolate and cereal etc) reasonably priced, swimming baths and gym ( 3 pools, one very shallow, one shallow 1m to 1.5m and the other with children focused decor and a large tap with a power jet.) In the swimming baths there are only 2 cubicals in the changing rooms and about 20 lockers in each male and female rooms. There is also a disabled accesable changing room. Pools are monitored by 2 Life guards. The park has on site entertainment in the evenings of singers and games for the children. Some sports games in the day time including archery, we didn't actually make use of the kids clubs but that is only because we were so busy sightseeing, and driving to local beaches. The park is in within walking distance to Rhyl, and a short drive to prestatyn. We spent time in Llandudno, which is a staple in our family. We really enjoyed our stay, and actually added an extra 3 more days to our stay whilst we were there. We stayed in the same caravan so that was convenient, especially as there are 7 of us. We stayed in late June early July and really enjoyed our stay. Especially the children, who keep asking us to go again. Check out is 10 am but we actually checked out the day before so we were not rushing around on the morning. Again this is personal preference, and because we are a large family. I would like to add that staff are lovely, some really stuck out to us and we wish we had taken some names to add to this review. Out of everyone there was just the one member of staff in reception who needs a bit of an attitude adjustment, but you get that everywhere these days. I have awarded 4 stars because the crockery being dirty was a bit of an annoyance, as it made me want to give the full kitchen a clean which after a full drive was not what I wanted. All in all though, we had a great time. I would just make a suggestion of bike hire, and the park is so large it would have been nice. Thank you Lyons, we are planning to come...

My first visit to Lyons Robin Hood wasn't the best unfortunately.

After being told we could arrive early and use the facilities, there was nowhere to park when we arrived as other guests had the same idea. To be honest, though, we didn't have long to wait before we received the text confirming our caravan was ready.

The caravan initially looked clean. However, after opening the fridge / freezer, we were greeted with a horrible fishy smell with dirt in the fridge. It took 3 times to clean before we could think about placing our fresh food in the fridge. We then opened the freezer, and at first, we couldn't get the drawers to open as they were thick with ice. When we did eventually manage to open them, they were covered in crumbs.

The floor hadn't been swept very well, and there were stains on the dining table. We had to clean everything, especially higher up cupboards and shelves as it was thick with dust.

We stayed in a Platinum 6 berth for 4 days from a Monday and were sited along the main road. The noise from passing cars wasn't too bad, but the noise from the golf club building site across the road was really bad. You could feel the caravan vibrating and shaking when diggers were moving at 7.30am.

Despite it being half term at home, it wasn't in Wales and it was classed as off peak. The outside food vendors were only open on the Monday. We were not advised as to how to book swimming or any other activities and had to work this out ourselves. Despite the activities programme confirming that evening entertainment would be in the Foresters Show Bar, it was actually held in the smaller sports bar with much less seating and on the one evening we wanted to see what was going on we couldn't get a seat or table.

Visited the coffee shop once. The poor server was on her own. She had queues of people waiting to order and drinks were taking at least half hour to be made.

On the one occasion we visited the swimming pool we left early and feeling really dirty. The changing rooms are only small and only contained 2 changing cubicles and 3 showers. Not really a decent amount for the total people they allowed in per session. In the smaller shallow pool, the tiled floor was broken and covered by matting but you could still feel the unevenness under foot. Some tiles were also coming loose leaving sharp edges under foot. There were only 2 water features working, with the rest being broken.

Talking about sleeping, the 2 single beds are smaller than standard singles. There was no bedside cabinet and only a small cupboard for storage. In the master bedroom the double bed was incredibly soft and squeaked every time you moved. This room has bedside cabinets and a dressing table with mirror. It had a lot of hanging space and a shelving unit but would benefit from drawers.

The sofas in the lounge were comfy. We didn't need to use the sofa bed so cannot comment on that. The 32" tv was suitable for a short stay.

In the kitchen the hob didn't really work very well. Even on the highest gas marker, it took well over 10 mins to fry some frozen onion. A toaster, kettle and microwave are included. We didn't use the grill or the oven.

In terms of location, the holiday park is positioned between Rhyl and Prestatyn. It's a great location to explore and we left the site each day only returning in the evening to sleep.

I am not sure we will be returning to this particular park but did like...

We booked through a private rental and had no faults with our caravan it was beautiful. However the park had numerous faults. Upon arrival we purchased entertainment passes for £90 for Saturday to Saturday. At no point was we told that the swimming baths had to be pre-booked. We tried to ring reception 3 times to book our children onto a creative activity however there was no answer so we decided to walk over. It was only upon hearing a gentleman in front of us enquiring about the swiming baths that we found out that it was a pre-bookable activity and in order to book you have to queue outside the swimming baths at 9am to get a place for the following day. The receptionist was extremely rude insisting her staff would definitely have told us this upon arrival, I assured her we wasn't. My partner joined our holiday with his neice for 3days during our week there. He was told that he was unable to purchase a 3day entertainment wrist band, despite this being advertised, and instead as he'd arrived on a Sunday he would have to buy a separate weekend pass then another 3 day pass as holidays run Sunday to Sunday. This was not stated anywhere in the advertisement of wristbands. 4 days into our holiday we finally managed to get into the swimming baths, which you only get a 45 minute slot for, and its a mad rush. No bookings are checked, everybody runs in and the changing rooms become chaos. This is the same with leaving as you have 15 mins to get out of the pool and get changed ready for the next people arriving for their 45 minute session. The water slides are also not manned by staff. We used the swimming baths once during our week stay. We also had problems with the arcade. We asked a staff member where we could find a tub to place our 2ps in to be told "I dont know" and then the staff member walked off. Later on using the ticket machine it became jammed, I asked the same staff member if she could fix the machine for us to which she replied "I cant". I was then told to look for a staff member on the floor myself, which I did and couldn't find any other staff, when I returned and told her this she continously said said "I cant help you" without further explanation. I'll just point out that the tub for the 2ps are on the desk that this girl was working behind and this was the same staff member that had no idea where they were. In order to be able to secure a table for the evenings entertainment people queue up outside the bar area from 4.30/5pm. Bingo doesn't start until 6.30pm. Due to this we only visited the evening entertainment 3 times during our week as there is nowhere near enough tables for the amount of people on the park and people resorted to sitting on the floor area of the bar. On our last full day Friday our children went to the sports area to take part in an advertised free sports event only to be told it wasn't on when they got there. There is also a bouncy castle on site, this again however is not manned by staff and despite a sign saying 12 children limit it was over this and unsafe for younger children to use. Another problem we encountered was not being told the code on the barrier to enter the park changes every Monday, meaning the code we was given on the Saturday was useless 2 days later. The only positive thing I will say about this park is it's distance to the beach which is a 5 minute walk...