Frustratingly I forgot to take the gimble to Hendra else this blog would accompany a decent length Vlog but we didn’t, so we cannot. Our excitement in the run up to our Hendra holiday was somewhat dampened by the issue we had with our car. We needed to hire a car as my Focus gave up the ghost.
We had the stress of trying to pack for a week away whilst hiring a car, which turned out to be more expensive that hiring a van. So we hired a van, ironically a Ford Transit Custom, so I managed to get some van driving miles under my belt long before we picked Tango up. However I digress, you may look at the title of this blog and think, goodness, what is the nature of this blog but the picture will make it make sense.
It is important to note that I absolutely love the south coast, I absolutely love Devon and Cornwall and I absolutely love Newquay. So this is going to be a bit biased.
Hendra Holiday Park
Now the preamble is done I am going to start off talking about the campsite we were on and why in my opinion I think it is the best site in Cornwall and in the top 2 best campsites of the south west. The other being Cofton Holidays in Dawlish Warren, in Devon. The site that we went to was Hendra Holiday Park .
One of the great things about Hendra is its location, it is close to the town of Newquay being just a 10 minute bus trip away. There is also a McDonalds and a Morrisons just off the site as well which is ideal for all your shopping needs. And Nuggets, because who doesn’t like Nuggets. There is a really good shop selling everything you need on the site as well, if Mozzers is too far away or you are in a motorhome with a drive away kit.
I am going to try really hard to and keep this structured so for the first time in any blog that I have written I have made a list of points that I wanted to write about and will try and bullet point them as I go and why each point made our experience at Hendra, once again, incredible.
This is the 2nd year running we have been to Hendra and it is the sort of place where even though the buildings and things are the same this year was totally different to the previous year meaning the experience is just as good.
One of the great things about Hendra is never feels like they are trying to extract every possible penny from you. Everything there feels good value for money. An example of this is the land train that runs every day from by reception into the town at 9am and back at about 4pm. The train is free and is on a first come first served basis but for children it is really really good.
This year was the 50 year anniversary of Hendra so they had been doing a little firework display each week. Much to the annoyance of the locals who have kicked up a bit of a stink about it, which I suppose if they are going crash, bang, wallop every Thursday night at 9:30 is fair enough.
The Pools
We have been really fortunate this year with the weather when we went as it was 28ish degrees and Hendra is one of the few sites that not only has an Indoor pool and an outdoor pool, the Outdoor is free for people on the site and the indoor pool is heavily subsidised for people on site.
The outdoor pool is right by the outdoor pool so perfect for people who want to be able to sun bathe by a pool. The water is a bit on the cool side but once you get in then you soon acclimatise to it. The indoor pool is really good and has 3 slides, DON’T GO ON THE RED ONE!!
It is really really fast, not for me, not today, no, just no. There are some river rapids and a little pool for the smaller ones but for about £2 each it is absolutely great value.
The Food
During the summer holidays they have some incredible food stalls outside, one which does different sorts of curries and I had one pretty much every night that I was there and I could eat one every night.
They open about 6pm but from 4pm you can smell it being cooked a mile away, instantly making you hungry. Also, once you have eaten your curry there is a waffle place by where you would catch the land train from and they do the most amazing Biscoff waffles.
Even the food that is made in the kitchen is really nice as well, and to be fair the breakfasts especially are gorgeous and again, really good value, if I remember correctly the Big Hendra Breakfast is about £7 which on a campsite “down south” is amazing value.
The Entertainment
I honestly think that one of the main things that separates Hendra from other sites that I have stayed at is the quality of the entertainment and the quality of the entertainment team. There is something different on every night, and our personal favourite both years have been the silent disco and if you ever get chance to try one it is definitely worth it.
There is also an event gazebo outside as well where they have additional evening entertainment with a smaller bar if the main room is too busy/ too hot for you.
Every night there is bingo and we were lucky enough to win one of the night and my sister won £900 which was transferred into her account within 72 hours, a delightful holiday bonus! The bingo is quite expensive at £3 per book or £15 for a full strip. However, when you are winning hundreds of £££s you can either go safe or speculate to accumulate.
The range of options for keeping kids busy is vast as well, they do kids club in the day, and there are several parks for the children to play on. Our kids spent 99.99% of their time in the arcade, there daily pocket went in there and they collected millions, literally millions of tokens and cashed it in at the end for a bouncy ball.
Probably the worlds most expensive bouncy ball when you take in account the amount of money that the kids ploughed into the arcade.
The Area
On top of that you have Newquay as well where there some of the nicest beaches in the UK like Fistral. We also came across a little gem of beach, Chapel Porth Beach, which is within a National Trust area. It was stunning!
I achieved a bit of a dream of mine and did something with my nieces and nephews that I had always wanted to do (but was 100% Lisa’s idea) and that was to build a sand castle city and watch the tide wash it away.
Something that my Dad always used to with us. This was probably one of my highlights of the whole holiday. A truly memorable day. One of those days that I will be telling my nephews about it when they have children of their own.
One of our favourite beaches is by Newquay harbour and there is a fantastic beach bar right on the beach. One of my favourite things is when the fisher men come into the harbour swiftly followed by the seal of Newquay, that is something brilliant to show the kids.
But in Newquay in general as well there are millions of things to do, more than enough to fill 2 weeks. Go karting, crabbing, Eden Project, Padstow, Lands End, the Minack Theatre. The list goes on and on.
The End is The Beginning!
Literally as I was signing this blog off I thought of something else that Hendra does that is absolutely designed with consumer in mind. Given Newquay is a massive drive for most people, you can arrive at Newquay the day before your holiday starts.
There is an arrival field so you can drive through the night and get there and sleep until they let you on the next day, we arrived at 11:30pm, parked up the van and slept in the back and we were in our accommodation by 10am. Ideal after a long drive.
If you are planning your holiday for next summer, look no further than Hendra Holiday Park and Newquay! You won’t be disappointed.
Rich
