Every year The Sun newspaper runs its £9.50 per person holidays promotion in conjunction with Haven holiday parks. This is a great way to take an affordable short break in a static caravan. I personally have done this for 10years plus and I really recommend them! The breaks are either 3 nights Friday to Monday or 4 nights Monday to Friday and usually at the start and end of the holiday season (ie April,May,September&October) More recently they've added a £15pp option for the main summer season too, which is extra good value as the same caravan booked direct with Haven can cost hundreds of pounds more. The premise of the promotion is choose a selection of parks and dates for your stay, save the required amount of tokens, send off your check for the amount of people & sit back & wait to see what you get! It can be a bit of a lottery as all parks aren't available for all dates however they've started allowing you to make all the selections online now. This is much easier as you can choose your date & park and see straight away if its available. "You can't really get a holiday for £9.50 though?" I hear you cry! Well no there are 'extras' to pay. There's a compulsary daily service charge, this is for the electric & gas supply. There's an optional 'Entertainment Pass' to buy per person. I say optional but you'll need one if you want to use any of the parks facilities such as swimming pool & bars ect. You can also opt to 'hire' your bed linen too for a small charge per room, worth it if you don't want to take your own & have added laundry when you return home, then again if you're a bit particular about that sort of thing, save your money & take your own. Roughly the holiday total cost works out to about £100 for a family of 4. Still considerably cheaper than booking direct with the Holiday Park and a great value budget break. I've visited many sites over the years & stayed in some fabulous (and some not so fabulous) caravans. I've stayed in a lakeside van at Haggerstone Castle, a luxury en-suite 'bungalow' van at the Lake District & a mud-encrusted seen-better-days van on a carpark of a site near Blackpool!
Our Top 5 Fun with The Sun sites
lovely view & great walks
5 Blue Dolphin, Gristhorpe, Clifftop location with great views & links to the Cleveland Way. Near to Filey, Scarborough & Bridlington. Site has boating lake & swimming pool also bars, shop & takeaway.
4 Primrose Valley, Near Filey
Action packed holiday park with its own fun fair, swimming pool & direct beach access. There's a nice restaurant/bar, large shop & takeaways. Park is near Filey & Bridlington. Ideal for young families there's always something to do here & it gets quite busy!
3 Reighton Sands, Reighton Gap
Puffins at Bempton Cliffs
Beautiful views of Filey Bay from everywhere on this clifftop site. Direct beach access to sandy bay & you can actually walk right to Filey from the beach. Site has been much improved recently & has become one of our family favourites. Swimming pool, lovely restaurant & bar area, takeaway & shop. Near to Filey, Bridlington, Flamborough Head & great for bird spotting at RSBP Bempton Cliffs. Go see the puffins!
2 Lakeland Leisure Park, Flookburgh, Cumbria
Ideal for Lake District holidays, only about 30 minutes drive to Windermere. Site has swimming pool, horse riding, takeaway and shop. Directly on to a coastal walk (no beach) Near Grange-over-sands, Cartmel ideal for Lake Windermere & Coniston water. Its a lovely peaceful rural site.
1 Haggerston Castle, Beal, Northumberland
Haggerston Castle
Definitely our family favourite. Near to the Scottish Borders & beautiful Northumberland sandy beaches yet surrounded by gorgeous countryside. Site has large boating lake, daisy bikes, horse riding, lovely restaurant, several bars, swimming pools, shop & several takeaways. Theres something for everybody here & its a very popular site.