When you arrive at your holiday park

Each holiday park has slightly different guidelines about checking in

When we arrived at our Haven holiday park we found it had been easy to find from the map we'd got. With satnav you should arrive as easily following directions.

We'd aimed to arrive just after the start of the time allowed for checking in and found the reception parking area was quite busy but we found somewhere to park up and then went through into reception.

Depending on which park you're at you'll find slightly different routines for checking in. Usually the front desk handles it all so give them your booking reference and they'll sort out the key, wallet of information and a map to help you find the location of your caravan or chalet.

If you've got bedding to pick up then now is a good time to do this. You may be asked to pay a small deposit on the sheets - or you may have already paid this in your holiday booking fee and the beds may already be made up. Making a few beds up isn't difficult and doesn't take long but it is always nice to have them made up for you.

Getting back in the car we drove slowly watching the speed limit on the park - I think 5 mph at our park - which is slow but a sensible speed to go at when so many families are about with children.

When we got to the caravan we opened the doors and everyone had a good look round bagsying bedrooms. The kitchen was well equipped and we'd bought some milk with us in the cool bag so were able to make a cuppa immediately!
We put some items we'd bought with us in the fridge, emptyed the car of cases and unpacked the towels and beach gear and set off to explore the beach.

We'd spent a few hours on the beach before tea and then walked back the very short walk to our caravan for a snack. Haven's Holiday park at Greenacres has the beach just over the dunes which makes it ideal for a beach holiday

Working out how to work the gas fire was easy - don't forget if you find any problems with things in the caravan or can't get something to work then pop back to reception and report it as they'll be able to get someone out to you quickly to solve your problem.

Can you have a barbq next to your site? It depends from site to site - information about this is in the pack they'll give you but if you can't find it then ask the staff.

If you only have one key then you'll have to be organised about making sure you know who's got it at all time.