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Eco-warrior or Eco-worrier?
If you’re worrying about your carbon footprint recycle those long haul holiday
brochures and book a break in Britain,
With 35 family holiday parks around the UK the Haven Holidays brochure is a good
place to start …or better still, click on www.haven.com and save the paper
needed to print the brochure.
With 33 Gold Conservation Awards to boast about (the remaining two made it to
silver – which isn’t bad going!) the holiday parks look like a much greener
option than you might imagine.
The parks are committed to recycling and saving energy with loads of measures in
place from installing low energy light bulbs to collecting bottles.
It seems that Haven Holidays are hiding their eco-tourism credentials under the
more obvious delights of great entertainment, kid’s clubs and hi-tech FunZones.
So …go green. Hang up the car keys and click on train timetables.
I headed for Kiln Park near Tenby. It ticked all the right boxes. Easy to get
to. Gold Award winner. And within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. I
packed my walking boots and bought the train tickets.
You have to change at Swansea but from there it’s a direct train line to Tenby.
No messing about in traffic, no need to concentrate on the road or the
directions ... just sit back, relax and enjoy the views.
From Tenby Station it’s less than five minutes and under five pounds for a taxi
to the park.
Our holiday home was great – caravan on the outside, luxury apartment on the
inside. Best thing about it was that it was surrounded by grass, bushes, trees
and flowering shrubs…home comforts meets eco-friendly.
But was I going to feel stranded without my car?
Actually, there’s so much to do on the park that I’m quite sure plenty of people
with cars don’t bother to use them. There’s an outdoor pool and an indoor pool,
tennis courts, pitch and putt and a huge amusement centre. I could book archery,
tennis, fencing or a whole range of activities in the pool from Aquacise to
Aquajets.
And for kids there are clubs for different age groups, organised sports and
games, talent contests and shows.
You can shop at a well-stocked supermarket on the park, eat fish and chips or
enjoy a sit down meal in the Café Bar and in the evenings there’s a choice of
entertainment venues with family-orientated stage shows, music, dancing and
cabaret.
But what if I wanted to go a bit further afield?
We found it really easy. Tenby is within easy walking distance. And there’s a
bus stop at the park with buses direct to more places to visit than I could fit
into a short break. Oakwood, Wales’ largest theme park is an easy bus ride away.
Or you can go to Heatherton Country Park (where you can do a whole bunch of
stuff from paint balling to horse-riding). The bus will take you to Saundersfoot
(gorgeous beach), or local towns such as Haverford West or St David’s.
I can honestly say that I didn’t miss the car one bit.
We stayed in super-comfy Platinum accommodation but there is a range of options
available starting with the more economical Standard holiday homes.
Prices for a Spring Break at Kiln Park start at around £139 for four nights in
Standard accommodation from March 17th – but check the website or call 0871 230
1900 for the special early booking offers.
For information about buying a holiday home at Kiln Park call 0871 230 1299 or
visit
www.havenholidayhomes.co.uk
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