Bluestone is a resort set in the Pembrokeshire National Park. It’s somewhere I’ve always been interested to visit since having children, as it’s perfect for families, with lots of outdoor activities and closely to lots of seaside towns and attractions. So when an email popped into my inbox inviting us to stay, I quickly replied with a ‘yes please!’. My mother in law lives about an hour away from the resort so it worked perfectly for us to combine a trip to visit her with our trip to Bluestone!
We arrived at Bluestone after dropping into Aldi at Carmarthen on our way (as Carmarthen was en route from my in laws) and doing a shop for the week. (I would highly advise doing a food shop before if you’re planning on cooking at all during your stay as the shop on site is more like a corner shop, stocking essentials but not enough for a weeks food shop!). We arrived at about 4:30pm as this was the check in time for our lodge. The resort is car free, so you drive down to your lodge, drop your bits off then park it up in the car park.
The lodge was lovely, albeit topsy turvy, the living space was upstairs with the bedrooms downstairs. It was well equipped for families with a travel cot, highchair, stair gates and children plates, bowls and cutlery, all in the lodges as standard. When we arrive we noticed the stair gate at the top of the stairs was broken, we called guest services, went off to park in the car park and by the time we arrived back someone had been in to fix it.
Our lodge was 3 bedrooms, although we did only use 2 as the boys shared a room. The master bedroom had an ensuite bathroom and there was also a family shower room. I was really impressed with the shower there, usually when you go to places like this the showers are pretty pants, but the shower there was better than our one at home! The beds were comfortable and the lodge was nice and warm. The only thing I didn’t like about the lodge was the sofas were quite uncomfortable and the seat on one was almost threadbare.
After reading a few reviews of the resort we decided to fork out the £95 to hire a golf buggy to get around the resort. It was really expensive, but well worth it to see the smiles on the boys faces (all of them, even the biggest!!) and because the resort is set on a hill, dependent on where you’re staying within the resort you may have a bit of a trek to get to the village centre, or up to the Blue Lagoon Water Park.
The first night we bought pizzas for, as we didn’t want to have to rush out. After we’d eaten we decided to pop out in the golf buggy for a little explore of the village. When we parked up we noticed the signs for the Winter Lights Festival, so we went and explored that. It was a beautiful woodland trail lit up by some amazing little light displays. Oliver absolutely loved it, there were some interactive displays which he really enjoyed. We headed back to our lodge afterwards, all feeling ready for our beds.
We woke the next morning to bright blue skies, so we decided that it would be a good day to head down to the seaside. I’ve seen so many people on Instagram visiting Tenby, so that was where we decided to head to. It was the cutest little seaside town, with some beautiful little shops and a gorgeous beach. We had a mooch around the town and then walked down and had a run around on the beach. On our way back up Oliver was keen to find somewhere that sold ice cream, so we found a nice little ice cream shop where we all enjoyed some delicious ice cream!
When we got back to the resort we popped into the village centre, there’s a lovely play park there and Oliver spent about an hour running around there with my husband. That night we decided to try out the Farmhouse Grill. You can book in advance, but we forgot so we arrived at about 5:30pm and only had to wait about 10 minutes in the bar area before a table was available. The food was all delicious, my husband and I were both really pleased with our respective meals.
The next day we decided to spend the day in the resort, so after breakfast we jumped in our golf buggy and made the trip up to the Blue Lagoon water park. We had forgotten to bring swim nappies with us, but thankfully they supply them for you if you ask at reception when you arrive! Oliver had a whale of a time in the water park. They had a lovely fenced off section for smaller children, with shallow water and lots of bits for them to play with, Oliver would have stayed in that area alone for hours! We also loved the lazy river and wave machine. When it got to about the time Henry usually has a nap I went and sat on one of the deckchairs at the side of the pool and we both enjoyed a little snooze in the sunshine whilst the boys were swimming around!
After swimming we went back to the lodge via the village coffee shop (Ty Cofi) where Oliver and I enjoyed an ice cream and hot chocolate. It was the prettiest little coffee shop inside with gorgeous decor. That afternoon we went back to the lodge for a bit of a lunch and a rest and after that we went down to the lake with Oliver’s scooter for a little scoot and walk around. He had a great time racing other people on their bikes and spotting ducks on the water. The lake was the perfect size for a quick wander around with little legs. That night we enjoyed a takeaway pizza from the Oak Tree restaurant which was absolutely delicious.
On our final full day at Bluestone we decided to visit Folly Farm. I had heard lots about it through Instagram, and it looked like the perfect day out for the boys. The drive to the farm was less than 10 minutes from the resort. It was the best farm we had been to, Oliver had such a wonderful time. There was a really big outdoor play area, a huge variety of farm animals, as well as a variety of zoo animals. The whole place was clean and well maintained and the staff were all very friendly. It’s definitely somewhere we will revisit when we’re next in the area!
That evening we decided we would have fish and chips from the takeaway in the village for our tea. They were delicious and the portions were very generous! We had planned on visiting the Winter Lights Festival that evening, which was a big event they hosted on the a Thursday and Sunday night, but both boys were so tired that we ended up having an early night and packing the house up.
On Friday we left at about 10am as the journey home was about 4.5 hours (it actually ended up taking 7 hours due to detours and stops!). We really had a lovely time at Bluestone, we only scratched the surface on the Bluestone experience and if we ever go back I look forward to trying out everything else they have to offer!
