I stayed at Haven’s biggest campsite — my kids said it was better than Eurocamp

It’s Haven’s biggest campsite, covering some 500 acres and nestled in one of the UK’s most peaceful and beautiful areas. I took my family to spend four nights there and we loved it, especially our kids.

Just outside of Pwllhelli and on the stunning Llyn peninsula in north-west Wales, the Hafan y Mor site was previously a Butlin’s. There are still a few flashbacks to the redcoat days on show: the platform from the land train is still there, some of the old apartment blocks too, but the cable car has long gone. But now it’s a vast, but modern site, filled with hundreds of caravans and a huge number of food options and activities.

We arrived for our break just as check-in opened and the queue of cars arriving to start their breaks was out on to the main road. But the actual process turned out to be one of the most painless I’ve ever had at similar places: no stopping for long checks of details or handover of keys because, before you arrive, you are given all that information by the app. So once your car reg has been checked, you’re given your directions and off you go. Your keys are on the counter in your caravan ready and waiting, with a security seal (and your name) on the outside door to make sure you’re in the right place.

We were staying in The Stables in a gold-level caravan. Based on the far side of the site, it’s so quiet but only about five minutes’ walk from the Dragon Lakes adventure village and probably 10-12 minutes from the main facilities including restaurants, showbars and pool.

The caravan itself, the top grade on the site, was brand new and genuinely luxurious. The living area was much bigger than others I’ve stayed in at other similar sites, with two actual sofas (not the modular ones no-one can ever get comfy on), TVs, two bedrooms, plenty of storage and extra perks like USB plug sockets and a hairdryer. The main bedroom also had an en-suite.

Before arriving, the app had been helpful in terms of being able to book activities, see the entertainment schedule and even things like a handy list of what you’ll need to pack. There isn’t widespread wifi on the site, however, and my phone provider was poorly served so we struggled at times to access what we needed unless we were in one of the main areas.

While there, you can use this app to book activities but also order food to your table in the bars, or even to your caravan.

There are lots of food options on site. None will win gourmet awards any time soon, but not having to cook three meals a day every day was a treat. On site there are chain venues like Papa Johns, Slim Chickens, Burger King and Millie’s Cookies, Haven’s own offerings including The Pizza Deck, the HMS Glendower pub and the Coast House bar and restaurant. There’s the Box Bar for sunny days and The Cakery, which serves Costa coffee and cake right next to the playground.

We ate two evening meals at the Coast House. One was excellent pub food but the other left us wishing we’d tried elsewhere. But the perk of this place was that kids eat for £1 if adults eat a full-priced meal, and you can combine it with the two-for-£18 meal deal, which meant four of us could eat an evening meal for £20. Four full breakfasts (two kids and two adults) with Costa coffees came in at under £30.

I was also hugely surprised that the on-site shops were reasonably priced, stocking Co-op items, and even the things you expect to be vastly marked up, like nappies, were sensibly priced.

There are so many activities here: trampolining, climbing wall, pedalos, Nerf battle zones, sports pitches, a huge leap of faith jump. Our favourites were the 4×4 off-roader experience and the pic ‘n’ paint pottery. You can hire karts to cycle around or Segways, and there’s a soft play and two large arcade areas if 2p machines or grabber toys are your thing.

The pool was a God-send too. With five different pools, including a smaller pool for our almost-two-year-old with slides our adventurous four-year-old was allowed on, there is something for all ages.

There’s clearly been a lot of investment. Haven was bought by Bourne Leisure Ltd a decade ago and they have spent that time, they say, investing. On the whole that’s obvious here, the only thing that gave away that this was a much older site was some of the paintwork in the pool area, but that’s me being picky.

Being Wales, even in August the weather was mixed. We had glorious sunshine on our arrival, departure and middle day, but biblical rain on the others. On the sunny days, we were off site, exploring within minutes the utter beauty of Criccieth, Aberdaron, Llanbedrog, Abersoch, Llanystumdwy and ticking an item off my travel bucket list: the Ty Coch Inn at Porthdinllaen.

The rainy days allowed us to max out the options on site. And this is why our kids would tell you it was the best holiday ever. Our four-year-old spent an hour hunting fossils in an interactive show (£16) before we saw Haven’s mascot perform her own show. Then we got to do paint a pot (£12 per person), a swim (free so long as you’ve got the play pass or £10 otherwise) and then danced at the Tots Disco (free). We also took seats in the huge showbar for the on site team’s panto (free) with fish and chips delivered to our tables for tea (£5.99 for a kids meal, including a Fruit Shoot).

We’ve previously visited Eurocamp and French equivalents, as well as Bluestone in Pembrokeshire, but the entertainment here was much more suited to our kids. In France, things only really hot up much later at night, which rules our younger kids out. The tots disco here started at 5pm and lasted half an hour – perfect for little people.

In terms of entertainment, Haven won hands down. For us adults, it was a brilliantly located base in a part of the world we’re often priced out of exploring. We not only went off to explore Llyn itself, but both my husband and I ticked off a few more miles of the Wales Coast Path, which runs alongside the park, on runs.

We never made it to the beaches alongside, but they were utterly deserted and should definitely be signposted more to show people the natural beauty of the area. But for our kids, it was the jam-packed schedule they were able to enjoy that left them shouting, screaming and smiling from the beginning of the day to the end. We left tired but delightfully happy with memories we will remember for a long time.