Waterside Holiday Park Safari Tents, a review

A rare blog from me, but I thought I would give you my perspective on our recent weekend away, before T gives you hers later in the week.    Waterside Holiday Park invited us to come and try one of their new Safari Tents and T picked the first weekend in July, pretty much at random.

Well, it was after exams had finished so there shouldn’t be a reason why we couldn’t head down to the coast for fish and chips under a brolly on the beach, should there?

It turns out that this weekend is the Weymouth Seafood Festival so we felt very lucky to visit – “the town will be rammed” we were told. Repeatedly.

Heading into Weymouth, I started to get flashbacks to a Stag I’d been on there. Names and events have been changed to protect the guilty, but there was definitely beer and dancing involved.

On arrival to Waterside Holiday Park, first impressions were really good – the reception is big, open and the staff were lovely. “No, your tent isn’t quite ready yet” – we were early, “but it will only be 20 minutes”.   Supermarket? Five minutes away – easy directions provided – and we’ll call you when it’s ready.   Ten minutes later and the phone rang, so top marks so far!

We didn’t really know what to expect from the park as we hadn’t been to one before, and to be honest, the main part of the camp looked a bit tightly-packed. So, the drive up to the Safari Tent gate was a bit nervy.

Tucked around the corner were two rows of ‘tents’, each with parking for two cars (maybe three on the bigger ones).

We needn’t have worried as the tents are lovely.   They’re not like any tent I’ve ever stayed in, as they have proper beds for six in three bedrooms (and two more can sleep in the lounge if there are eight of you), two shower rooms, a fully-fitted kitchen and a hot tub each.   I won’t list all the kitchen appliances, but……wine fridge – HELLO!

First things first, we had to get a quick look around and unpacked our stuff, marvelling at the space and the fact there was also a 49″ TV so we could catch up on a bit of tennis for an hour.   Having done that, over a much needed cuppa, T was itching to explore so we wandered down the well signposted path to the beach, just a couple of hundred yards away.   The main campsite is separated from the beach by a small residential road but it’s quiet enough that you wouldn’t have to worry about crossing with small children.

To the left the beach was, to politely phrase it, pebbly, but to the right it opens out into a much sandier area.   With a restaurant and play area behind.   So if you are down here with a young family, it is the perfect place to stay because you are never too far from anything.

Heading back to the tent, obviously we sat patiently* to wait for our friends to arrive before we headed out for the evening in Weymouth.
*did we hell, we jumped in the hot tub and were sitting with an open bottle of Prosecco there when they rocked up.

There are lots of good things about the Safari Tents, but perhaps the best one, I think, is that you are in your own little world. You’re tucked away at the back of the park, almost in the country – there are even wabbits hanging around.   These were just next to our tent.

And if you follow the footpath from the side-gate, you really are in the countryside.  This was 5 minutes from our tent.

Handily, there is a bus from Waterside Holiday Park into the centre of Weymouth that runs every 20 minutes and leaves from a bus stop twenty yards from your porch. It’s about 8 seconds to get from “drinking your wine” to “paying your fare” (£4 return) – really convenient.   And Weymouth put on some great food for us in the seafood festival.

Holidays are all about location and the tent, and its connections, are really pretty much spot on.

Oh, and the town *was* rammed – they weren’t wrong – but still lovely.

We almost went for a boat trip but Mr Gull said they were all booked up so we headed back to the tent for a nightcap in the hot tub.  I could get used to this.

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