Events and Things to do in Bristol Reviews

Butlin’s Minehead West Lakes Chalets Review 2022

May 1, 2022May 1, 2022

We went to Butlin’s Minehead and stayed in the West Lakes Village during the Easter holidays. This is what we found.

Direct Link: https://youtu.be/prRf37M1thg

As a family, we first went to Butlin’s Minehead in February 2009. We had such a brilliant time, we’ve been back every year since – with the exception of when Covid closed the country down.

Minehead is easy to get to by car from Bristol. Public transport by train from Bristol Temple Meads to Taunton, then bus from Taunton to Butlin’s is also doable, making this a really accessible UK holiday location.

In the years that have followed our first holiday, we’ve stayed in most types of accommodation, from Gold apartments, seaside apartments, standard rooms to silver suites.

The type of accommodation we’ve chosen has been related to the type of holiday we want. Rooms are ideal for those who want a cheap base with a dining plan and to take advantage of all the activities and entertainment going. In the early days, we found it better to go for low-budget accommodation and go to Butlin’s more times during the year rather than splurging entirely on the accommodation.

But we’ve found that once children start hitting later teens – especially when they are neurodivergent – and are less keen on doing football or taking part in art activities, a better standard of accommodation vastly improves your overall holiday experience.

Luckily, one of my children’s unusual school holiday dates managed to overlap term time for most schools. This meant we could stay four nights in the West Lakes Village. Ordinarily, we simply couldn’t afford to stay in this part of Butlin’s because it is pricey and out of our budget.

So is West Lakes Village worth the premium prices you pay? Absolutely. The spacious Lakeside Chalet that we stayed in was easily as big, if not bigger than our two-bed flat in central Bristol.

The real draw is its location, which is in a quiet green spot towards the back corner of the resort, backing onto tranquil lakes. If you value your space and calm-down time, this accommodation is Ideal.

We had a chalet with two bedrooms, a master with en suite and a second twin room with separate toilet.

The open plan living space had two sofas, TV and DVD player, whilst the kitchen – complete with dishwasher – had a dining area with table and chairs.

The living space opened directly outside to a private veranda. This was perfect for quiet coffees in the morning and a place to spot water wildlife and birds. Due to the location of our chalet in the village, we were also able to see passing steam trains from the West Somerset Railway, which was an additional bonus.

The accommodation felt clean, fresh, light and airy and came with housekeeping – which we didn’t use – and towels included, which was valuable to us having come on public transport.

Our previous holidays at Butlin’s had been the summer of 2021 where we stayed in a Gold apartment in Plantation Quay and Christmas 2021 in a Silver Bungalow. We much preferred West Lakes Village. It was much nicer, the quality and upkeep of the accommodation was much nicer. My children managed to sleep through the night on their beds – which they described as much comfier than in other classes of accommodation.

Not only does it have generally have more space in the accommodation, but around the accommodation village so you never feel on top of other people.

Four nights at Butlin’s goes very speedily and our only sadness when leaving is that we weren’t staying longer.

For more information about Butlins, or to book, visit: https://www.butlins.com/