I have just come back from a really fun weekend away with family and friends at Butlins of all places !!
The only reason for going was that my 11 year old daughter is a very keen footballer and her team was entered into the Festival of Football tournament which is held at different Butlins venues throughout the country.

I have never been to Butlins before and didn’t have high expectations. The rooms were really grotty just as expected and the beds in the kids rooms were terrible, they had to put clothes under the bed sheets because they could feel the springs !!
I would of complained but we were only there for 3 nights so just got on with it. Apart from the rooms everything else was better than I had expected. we bought the dining package because the rest of the team were and they wanted to be able to eat with their team friends. The food was actually quite nice and everything was clean and well organised. We actually saved quite a lot of money than if we had been buying meals in the venue.
The kids had an amazing time. We hardly saw them apart from when they needed money or when they played the tournament. They spent all of their time between the fair, swimming pool and the disco. Everything is included so they were free to go off and enjoy themselves with their friends. The parents all got on well so a lot of fun all round for everyone.
As far as the tournament went they came 3rd which didn’t please them one bit as they are very competitive and they had gone expecting to win !! This is their first tournament so I think they did really well and we were all so proud of them. We are planning now for next year so as much as I would love to get them all on a cruise ship they only do these tournaments at Butlins !!
Nevermind it is only a few days before I go on my holiday and I am really excited to be going on the Eclipse to Norway. Safe to say the kids won’t need to be padding out their beds on there !!