Product Review
Member reviews
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"Fun for Kids, Luxury for Parents"
Exasperated with holidays both in Britain and abroad since our 7 year old twins were born I had just about given up on finding holidays that would please both the children and us as parents. Most holidays although meeting the kids needs on some level failed miserably to match up to our demands as parents in the provision of sub standard accommodation passed off as luxury cottages. This meant that the facilities were not up to much and you had to work harder on holiday then you did at home! Finally I stumbled across the Baby Friendly Boltholes website which understood the idea that parents also needed to enjoy their holidays and the combination of fantastic accommodation and child friendly facilities could be acheived. Subsequently we went on two holidays through the site: the first was Domaine De la Tour in Normandy which was set in a spectacular location. The accomodation was fabulous and the kids had a great time exploring the games room and the grounds. The hosts were very friendly and were very happy to have kids in their lovely accommodation. The second holiday was Mazzard Farm in Devon. Again the accommodation was stylish, catering for all our needs and the location was beautiful, there was an adventure playground for the kids, chickens, an orchard and the hosts were extremely friendly, providing a welcome cream tea on arrival. Every member of our family enjoyed both holidays so much we have vowed to return. From now on we intend to book all our future holidays through Baby Friendly Boltholes, we have another holiday booked for next year in France and will let you know how we get on!
Member review by ZELDA - Mother of twin girls
- review date 24th August 2008
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"Tan Y Bryn Holiday Cottages Anglesey"
Tan Y Bryn Holiday Cottages Anglesey.When you know that you will be going on a self catering holiday with your children do you get that feeling of dread? Not anymore, using www.babyfriendlyboltholes.co.uk was just the start of an easy, child friendly and relaxing holiday. The website is extremely easy to navigate around and find an accomodation appropriate to your needs. There is a wide selection of cottages both in the UK or, for the more adventurous with young children, they offer villas abroad. The site contains a lot of information about the various accomodations and some descriptions also link to the cottages individual websites for more information. The fact that all the accomodation on the website is child friendly is marvellous, especially for someone like myself who dreads going on holiday to poorly equipped accomodation. I have 3 young children so even somthing as simple as going to the shops is a military operation requiring a ton of excess baggage just to keep them entertained. So if we are going away for a long weekend you can imagine what the car is usually like!! So when I was told that where we were going would be providing a child friendly cottage, I thought hmm ok, I've heard that before from a couple of well known holiday places. I have been to places and spent the whole 'break' telling the children what they could and couldnt touch, redirecting an inquisitve baby away from plug sockets and generally feeling very stressed the whole time with the safety of the accomodation. That's not to mention the lack of a personal touch that most of these places offer, a basic clean is all you can expect if you are lucky.
So I eagerly looked on the babyfriendlyboltholes website at the Tan Y Bryn cottage, Anglesey and must admit I was slightly surprised. It sounded idyllic from the site proclaiming to provide everything you needed from basics such as a steriliser to a stairgate and bedguard. They even provided things that we would usually have made do without but would have added to our stress while away. I recieved very detailed emails from Emily and Andy including lists of places where I could order home cooked meals, activities that I could prebook down to babysitting services if required. They also offered to recieve a shopping order for us so we didnt have to worry about food when we arrived. The emails were friendly and full of information about things to do and what help they could provide.
On the Thursday we informed our eldest Adam who is 3 1/2 that we were going on our holidays. I showed him the website and read out the bits appropriate to him. He was very excited and I was hoping I had done the right thing by telling him and that he wouldnt be disappointed.
When we arrived at the cottages we were greeted by Andy and Emily who were a lovely couple. The first thing that I noticed was the views, it was beautiful! Emily made a fuss over the children, much to Adams delight, and then lead us to the cottage. Emily talked to Adam the whole time making him feel very grown up and involved. We walked down a path to be greeted by a private garden with a hot tub, football, bbq, picnic bench, patio heater and sandpit. Definte bonus points there from both the adults and the children! The design of the garden was very practical to be big enough for my toddlers to run around but also very secure so that they couldnt just run off in any direction. The cottage itself was a converted barn beautifully decorated and felt very light and airy. The layout was open plan which was ideal to be able to keep an eye on the children while doing other things. There was also a tv, dvd player, sky digital and a selection of dvds for both adults and children. Emily then showed Adam to the room that he and Hannah would be sharing, at the same time she pointed out a goodie bag hanging on the ends of the beds for each of the children who of course were delighted. There was a bedguard already on Hannah's bed, and a travel cot set up in our bedroom for Chloe. The cottage itself was lovely, a lot of thought had obviously gone into the decor. There were stairgates on the 2 steps in the cottage which was great for Hannah (16months old). There was a basket full of toys for various ages up to about 5 but all safe for even the younger children.
For the adults there was a beautiful basket of local produce from jam and chutney to lovely fudge toffees. There was also a bottle of wine and even a baby rattle for our youngest Chloe (4mths) and a box of Goodies Biscuits for the children. We had arrived at lunch time, so of course the children were hungry, luckily Emily and Andy had also provided some lovely ham, cheese, croissants and milk. All exactly what we needed after the drive.There was a basket with leaflets and information about local attractions and take away menus. From a safety aspect everything was covered, there were plug covers, locks on doors with cleaning products in, door stoppers, safety gates and anti-slip mats in the bath. Cleaning products were provided along with information on how to use everything including instructions on using the integrated washer drier and dishwasher. There was also a baby bath, towels for everyone and lovely lush robes and slippers for the adults. There was also a wooden cabin out of the garden that was full of toys. Adam declared that this and the hot tub were his favourite things!! The cabin had again a great selection of toys for children of all ages. The whole cottage was just beautiful and so relaxing that of an evening we almost forgot we had children while we sat and relaxed with a nice glass of wine taking in the views! We were lucky as the weather was beautiful although was slightly disappointed as we never got to use the fire. There were only two small problems was that there was no baby changing mat/playmat for Chloe and no bedding for the travel cot which we had luckily taken blankets with us but no sheet. Although I am sure that was just an oversight on the owners behalf.
Location-wise the cottage was excellent being set in a quiet village guaranteed peace however it was not too far from attractions appropriate for the children. About a 5 minute drive down the road there was a beach that was quite quiet but great for the children to build sandcastles. There is also a little cafe by the beach that sold gorgeous strawberry scones. We had a lovely trip out to Foel Farm Park (approx 50mins drive) which was very cheap. We paid £4.95 per adult and under 4s were free. The children got to feed cows, sheep and chickens. Adam had his first ever pony ride which he adored, and they also had rides out on the tractor. There was a nice picnic area that had ride-on toy tractors and a lovely cafe for lunch. As part of the farm there was also a chocolate shop, where they made chocolates on site and all I can say is that it was heavenly! Just up the road from the farm there was also Anglesey sea zoo. It was quite pricey but the ticket was open for unlimited 7 days entry. The Sea zoo only took about one hour altogether including a round of crazy golf (that cost extra) and a play in the adventure park and bouncy castle. Although short the children loved seeing the fish and walking above the sharks in the shark pool.
We had a lovely break and would definitely return to Tan Y Bryn and also we would use the babyfriendlyboltholes website again to look at different locations throughout the UK and maybe even abroad as it was that easy!! If all their accomodation is of the same standard then there is no way you can go wrong!
Member review by michelle - Mum to Adam 3,Hannah 16 months and Chloe 4 months
- review date 7th May 2007
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