OK, so this is not a blog about wild camping, or helping your kids bond with nature through camping (for ideas on where to camp for a more natural experience you might like to look at our Camping in the Forest camping specialism or at our pages on Camping in the UK National Parks.) Instead we turn our attention here to a family camping experience designed to soak up some of the effervescent energy that oozes out of our kids, whilst ensuring that the adults in the party have a relatively laid back and comfortable time of it too.
It's not going to stop the little darlings waking up at the crack of dawn, we're sorry to say, or needing to go to the loo in the dead of night when you'd really rather not leave the warmth of your sleeping bag, but booking a pitch on a campsite with a pool and a children's recreational area does tend to make life that bit easier. Our rug-rats and tweeners (or even shoe-gazers, if they've actually hit their teenage years, already) can socialise and be active until the sun sets, whilst we watch on with our feet up...or that's the plan anyway! So, here we've featured some of the UK's best family campsites.
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Camping with Kids in Yorkshire
With the glorious North Yorkshire Coast providing mile upon mile of beach to explore, it's amazing that the kids have any energy to do anything more than eat and sleep back at the campsite...but, be warned - they have.
If you are heading for a holiday in the north of the region then these Family Friendly Campsites in North Yorkshire provide both children's play areas and an on-site pool.
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If you are looking for an all-singing-all-dancing site with laid on entertainment, then why not opt for an inclusive holiday park experience like the one offered at Blue Dolphin Holiday Park. Blue Dolphin is a lively camping venue where kids can enjoy both the outdoor pool when the sun shines and the indoor pool with a multi-lane water slide when the weather is less well behaved. There's also a climbing wall and crazy golf as well as a full programme of kids' clubs in high season.
You don't have to book onto a large holiday park, though, if this isn't your cup of tea. Choose to stay somewhere like Goosewood Holiday Park near York for a more sedate family camping experience. At Goosewood you still have the indoor heated pool and the adventure playground for children to burn off that ever-replenishing energy...but you also have the tranquil atmosphere provided by the central coarse fishing lake.
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Blue Dolphin Holiday Park, North Yorkshire Coast
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Family Camping in Suffolk
Rural and coastal Suffolk provide all the relaxation that adults need whilst these Family Campsites in Suffolk offer the additional bonus of indoor and/or outdoor pools and children's recreational areas.
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Stay at Heathland Beach Caravan Park where your kids (that's the big kids as well as the actual kids in your party) can enjoy a splash in no fewer than 3 heated swimming pools. There's flummage too, for those who like to be flung headlong into water and thoroughly doused. If you're more of the 'sitting in the sun on the terrace' type, then you can do that too (you spoil sport!) whilst keeping a careful eye on the littlies.
Heathland Beach also provides a number of children's play areas, including a sandpit and an area in the actual touring meadow itself, so you don't always have to leave your base to get to the activities.
It's not just kids who like to have fun, though, is it? Fling yourself into a game of tennis on Heathland Beach's all-weather court or visit the well-stocked coarse fishing lake. The lake is a big draw and, as long as you have the correct licenses, youngsters are welcome to get involved alongside more experienced anglers.
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Heathland Beach Caravan Park, Suffolk Coast
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Family Campsites in Hampshire
With the magic of the New Forest on the doorstep, you might not think there's any need for children's activities, indoor and outdoor pools and purpose-built recreational play areas on your campsite.
But, even if you have pedalled your way along twenty miles of cycle track, played hide and seek in the forest itself and seen more wild ponies than you can shake a stick at, at the beginnings and ends of the days in particular, it's great to be on a family friendly campsite with entertainment provided in the price of your pitch to keep the little ones happy.
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One of the most notable Family Campsites in Hampshire is Sandy Balls Holiday Centre set in the New Forest National Park; it's a large site with over 350 pitches ranging from static holiday homes through to standard tent pitches. However, in spite of it's size visitors often remark that they are pleasantly surprised at the uncommercial feel of the place.
Included in the price of your pitch is use of the seasonal outdoor pool and year-round indoor pool facilities, including a toddler pool.
If you fancy a family bike ride, you can set off into the forest from the holiday centre itself: pack those bikes and get exploring the cycle routes that criss-cross the New Forest.
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Sandy Balls Holiday Centre, New Forest
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Family Campsites in Devon
Wherever you decide to base yourself in Devon, be that along the more gentle south coast, in the rolling interior or along the more rugged north coast with its vast sandy beaches, it's a great county for family holidays.
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And, because there are so many Family Campsites in Devon competing with one another for your trade, the range of facilities can sometimes come as a bit of a surprise!
If you stay at Stowford Farm Meadows you won't have to compromise between the facilities that help to keep the kids engaged (and tired enough to sleep within an owl's hoot when heads hit pillows at night) and your enjoyment of the 'great outdoors'.
Stowford Farm Meadows' site is vast, covering nearly 500 acres of rolling North Devon countryside with hundreds of pitches; even in busy times, though, the sense of space is palpable. Balance your dips in the heated indoor pool, crazy golf sessions and visits to the petting zoo with nature walks on site and in the surrounding countryside.
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Stowford Farm Meadows, North Devon
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Campsite Chatter has extensive listings of family campsites across the UK. Want to find great family camping with pool and recreational play areas in a county of the UK you're hoping to visit? Then go to our Find a Campsite page, enter the type of pitch you are looking for (tent, caravan, motorhome etc), check 'Swimming Pool on Site' and 'Childrens Playground' in the required facilities and then enter either a postcode and radius or click on a county on the blue map. Happy holidays!
By Bekah Mardall, Campsite Chatter.
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