If you are searching for a family holiday in Devon then it’s highly likely Woolacombe Bay Holiday Park has come up in your search. It’s a family-friendly resort on the coast brimming with activities to keep all ages entertained whatever the length of your stay.
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We were invited to review Woolacombe Bay Holiday Park. But it’s a bit of a long hop from Oman where we’re currently living. So instead I sent along my friend Lauren Heath, who also writes for the award-winning Dining Devon website.
Here’s what Lauren and her family have shared about their three night mini-break on the North Devon coast:
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About Woolacombe Bay Holiday Park
Woolacombe Bay Holiday Park is one of three Devon holiday parks in Woolacombe, all owned by the same family. A perk of staying here is you can use facilities across all three.
The other two parks are Twitchen House and Easewell Farm.
Woolacombe Bay is suitable for families of all ages and sizes. There are static caravans, lodges, a surf village and apartments, as well as plenty of things to do and entertainment.
If you want to bring your own tent or caravan you can stay at Twitchen House or Easewell Farm with the same benefit of using the facilities at the neighbouring parks.
Staying in the Surf Village at Woolacombe Bay Holiday Park
We were booked into Woolacombe bay’s Surf Village in a Surf Lodge. S10 to be exact.
This is one of the holiday park’s newest accommodation options and is at the premium end of the price range. So what do you get for your money?
Bedrooms
Our Surf Lodge slept six people. There is an eight bed lodge available too.
Ours had a king-sized bedroom, a twin room, and a second twin room with 2’6 beds (these are slightly slimmer than a normal single bed).
All the rooms had good sized wardrobes and side tables.
Bathrooms
There was a main family bathroom and the master bedroom had a dressing room, which you walked through to get to your en suite shower room.
Both bathrooms had heated towel rails – perfect for drying damp towels but also swim gear – and the lodge had plenty of radiators, which we found to be really responsive to being turned up or down.
Living space
There was a TV in the lounge and all the bedrooms. There is a Blue Ray player, but you need to remember to bring your own DVDs.
Decor-wise the interior was really calm and cool, the sofas were super comfy and there was an electric fire for a bit of ambience at night.
The kitchen was really well-equipped with a full size fridge freezer, an oven, microwave, dishwasher and a washer dryer.
We found plenty of cutlery, crockery and even plastic prosecco glasses for the hot tub!
Lots of great lighting options indoors and out added to the chilled out vibe.
Outdoor living and hot tub
All the Surf Lodges have a large gas BBQ for outdoor cooking on the decking. We noticed other lodges and statics in the holiday park had smaller gas BBQs as well.
We really enjoyed having the hot tub – it was fantastic. The Surf Lodge also has an outdoor shower for cleaning off before the hot tub and when you come back from the beach.
There was picnic table and deck chairs as well.
The only small improvement we thought could be made to the lodge was a bigger mat at the door onto the decking.
As you walk in from the decking there is a coir mat but it’s not huge and we dripped quite a bit from being in the hot tub. We used a bath towel or bath mat to catch our drips.
Otherwise in the lodge price range, robes would have been really good and some hotel slippers!
Extras with your Surf Lodge at Woolacombe Bay
Booking a surf lodge comes with some added bonuses.
Inclusive equipment
Surfboard and wetsuit hire is included. We didn’t make use of this due to our short stay and the typically English weather.
Something we hadn’t expected in the lodge was the cordless hoover with spare battery. This was a stroke of genius and really useful to have a quick clean up of crumbs or mud from boots.
Inclusive welcome packs
You also get a welcome pack when you book a Surf Lodge. This includes a bottle of white wine, a large bottle of local fruit juice, Devon shortbread, Devon fudge and filter coffee.
There’s also a cleaning pack to get you started. This contains dishwasher tabs, a clothes washing liquid tab, a cloth and a small bottle of washing up liquid.
Free electric vehicle charging
Each Surf Lodge has an electric vehicle charger built onto the outside and charging is included in the cost of your break, which is amazing. There are two parking spaces per lodge.
If you are in another type of accommodation, then you can charge in the main car park for a fee. There are lots of chargers at Twitchen House.
Things to do at Woolacombe Bay Holiday Park
When you confirm your holiday you will receive emails from the holiday park to say when you can book different activities, which is useful for helping you make the most of your stay.
You can book in advance on your online account or at reception when you get there.
There is a mix of free and paid for activities.
You can also use the facilities at the other sites – Twitchen House and Easewell Farm – including indoor water slides, pottery painting, geocaching, and other nature based activities.
Free activities
Here’s the things to do for free at Woolacombe Bay Holiday Park:
- indoor main pool and toddler pool – book a one hour slot
- there’s also a heated outdoor pool (opens in the summer season)
- spa with two saunas, cold pool, 2 foot spas, jacuzzi, 2 steam rooms, ice bucket, and heated loungers (12 yrs and over, 45 min sessions)
- tennis court
- disc golf play area
- small indoor soft play in the restaurant
- crazy golf
- nightly entertainment for children and a wider family audience.
Paid activities
Here’s the activities you need to budget extra to do:
- arcade (2p machines, air hockey, racing games) the arcade was very clean and vibrant!
- cinema
- segway
- bungee trampoline
- climbing wall
- gym
- make a bear station.
Segways at Woolacombe Bay Holiday Park
We paid for the segway and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was very drizzly but this didn’t detract from it.
We had a little practice at the segway hut then off we went around the park and up the very top where we crossed the road and went into the park’s segway field.
We got to have more free reign and go for it on some paths and between the trees.
The session was one hour. Steve and I have done this twice before but Kyle had never done it. He took to it really well!
It’s a great activity for couples or those with children aged 12 or over. We loved it!
The spa at Woolacombe Bay Holiday Park
The spa at Woolacombe Bay Holiday Park is a free, bookable activity. We thought it was lovely. It’s small but perfectly formed and 45 minutes is enough time to enjoy what’s on offer.
It was great to be able to have Kyle with us as it’s suitable for 12 years and older as well.
We enjoyed a relaxing time together. There were only 10 people in our session, so everyone could use something in the spa and rotate easily.
You need a pound for the locker (refundable) but you can also put your stuff on the benches in the spa.
The swimming pool at Twitchen House
We booked a swimming session at Twitchen House as it has two indoor waterslides.
One allows an adult and child to ride down together, and the other faster one allows one person at a time.
They had cool lighting inside them and we all loved this!
The pool was a nice size and warm, with a toddler pool next to it and a viewing area.
The only downside was when you arrived and left your booked session it was pretty chaotic. This really could be improved as the changing rooms became a bottle neck.
Some of the lockers also didn’t lock so it took a while to find one that did in amongst lots of other people.
Having said that, there are plenty of changing rooms including family-sized ones.
Geocaching
We also booked geocaching at Twitchen House.
This involved a clue sheet with images and coordinates. We used this and Google Maps to find the caches within the park. Each contained a letter to make up a word.
It was a great team-building activity as a family.
Woolacombe Bay Holiday Park evening entertainment
On our first night we went along to the entertainment hall around 8pm. They had some child-friendly fun earlier than this for the young ones.
Next they had a fun session where the entertainment team encouraged families to dance or do funny moves.
We really got involved and laughed a lot. The entertainment team were great with young and old alike.
After that was Matt Grindley’s Magique show, which was a good mix of magic, illusion and jokes.
He got some children up to get involved and then also some adults including me! Why did we sit at the front?!
It was really brilliant though.
The tables in the entertainment hall have QR codes so it’s easy to order food or drinks without having to leave your children and queue at a bar.
Things to do near Woolacombe Bay
Woolacombe is a great place for a holiday with plenty of family-friendly things to do.
Here’s a selection:
Woolacombe Bay beach
You can walk down to Woolacombe Bay but be aware it is a bit steep. You have to go through fields and down a lane, so the walk back would be interesting. It’s definitely not pram friendly.
It was a five minute drive down and there is a mix of all-day or hourly parking.
In the height of the summer, the walk would be a useful option due to how parking fills up fast by the beach.
Visit Ilfracombe
We drove to Ilfracombe for a wander and had some yummy takeaway loaded fries from Slice of Devon who have a small seafood hatch next to their pizza offering.
We finished off with ice cream from Joey’s, which we highly recommend. We’ve been to them before on day trips. They have loads of ice cream flavours, all made by them!
Rockpooling at Lee Bay
We also drove to Lee Bay for a rockpool ramble.
There is a free small unmanaged car park opposite.
More things to do in and around Woolacombe
National Trust Arlington Court and Combe Martin Wildlife & Dinosaur Park are nearby.
Take a look at the Devon with Kids website for suggested things to do near Woolacombe and places to visit in North Devon.
On-site shop
The convenience store on site has literally anything and everything you need.
It’s obviously a bit more expensive than an off site shop. But if you forget anything it has it, from nappies to flip flops, and tea towels to medicine.
There’s some great local produce as well including wines, gin, beer, shortbread, and fudge.
Are dogs allowed at Woolacombe Bay Holiday Park?
Yes. There are dog-friendly accommodation options across the holiday park.
Sadly the Surf Lodges and other accommodation in the Surf Village are not dog-friendly.
Dogs are welcome across outdoor areas in the park, as well as inside in the designated pet-friendly area of Bait Ball Bar & Restaurant and outside terrace.
Dogs are welcome on Woolacombe Beach all year round, but there are some area restrictions over the summer months.
Woolacombe Bay Holiday Park review
Woolacombe Bay is a fantastic holiday park with plenty of free activities for the family as well as paid extra fun.
With access to all three sites, there is something for everyone and quite frankly, three nights wasn’t enough. You won’t want to leave!
We honestly could have filled seven days with all the activities on offer, so I think it’s excellent value for money. There is enough free stuff to keep families busy and the paid options are nice additions.
In terms of prices, there’s accommodation for all budgets.
The Surf Lodge is one of the priciest accommodation options, but it’s in line with other premium lodge holidays with hot tubs during peak season.
Disclosure: Lauren and her family were on a press trip for Tin Box Traveller and received complementary accommodation in exchange for this Woolacombe Bay Holiday Park review. All opinions and images are her own.