As part of our role as Butlins Ambassadors 2013-2014, we spent February Half Term at Butlin's Skegness staying in a 3 bedroomed Gold Apartment. As any family of 5 or more will know, there is a reduced choice of options for larger families to stay together in one apartment so we were really pleased that this was not an issue at Butlin's.

Gold apartments at Skegness benefit from an early check in from midday with you being able to get into your apartment from three o'clock. On arrival at resort you are greeted and shown where to drive through for your check in. Gold apartments are situated at the far end of the resort and the apartments are built in a New England Style. On entering the apartment we were happy to see that they were comfortable and clean. We were left some welcome snacks and beverages as well as a small amount of cleaning products and a small toiletry bag. The boys were immediately happy with a large cupboard to hide in. This was particularly helpful for storing suitcases.


Things we liked about our apartment:
Flat screen TV's in the lounge and main bedroom with free view.
A dishwasher to save time washing up.
House keeping included. This was fantastic as it meant towels were changed and beds were made properly. Even better was that they emptied our dishwasher and put the plates and cups back were they were stored.
I really liked that the pictures in each room were pictures of the resort and Skegness beach. I am a sucker for personal touches like this.

Other things to consider:
The Gold apartments are a good 10 minute walk from the centre of the resort. This isn't really a problem, but with our little ones short legs the walk ended up being nearly double this.
The bed wasn't the best I have slept in, but it wasn't the worst either.
You only get 15 minutes free wifi a day, and if you are on Vodafone the 3G signal is patchy at best. O2 was fine though.


Although our apartment was self catering, we opted to have the premium dining plan. This meant that we could eat in either The Yacht Club or The Deck restaurants situated in the Skyline Pavilion. You are given dining cards on check in and these are punched at breakfast and dinner. Staying in half term, I expected the restaurants to be busy. They were. but not overly busy and you were seated within a couple of minutes. The Deck is a much larger restaurant and serves a larger variety of food, so we generally ate there. There was lots of choice with many dishes being freshly cooked for you. At breakfast there was a pancake and omelette station. Whilst there were may healthy options to chose from (fresh fruit, yoghurt, cereals) I love a cooked breakfast. These weren't full of grease and the fried egg was still runny. There was also a selection of pastries and croissants. Drinks included tea and coffee as well as juices. For dinner there were many choices including a carvery, curry or Chinese, pasta and grill. The cakes for dessert were delicious and my husband was very impressed with the cheese.



What we liked about the premium dining:
I didn't have to cook! That is always good.
There was always something that the boy's would eat.
On arrival at dinner there were often characters there to greet you such as Fireman Sam and Bob the Builder.
There was lots of fresh fruit. Middle man made sure he had a green apple every breakfast and dinner and was very pleased when he saw there was water melon.
It saves you money compared with eating out in different restaurants every night.

Other things to consider:
By having the premium dining plan, it means that you don't really get to experience the other restaurants on site.
If you want to see the early evening shows you need to have eaten by 6.30 at the latest so it can all seem a bit of a rush.
Drinks that are included are fruit juices and tea and coffee. If you want alcoholic or fizzy drinks you will need to pay for these at the bar.
I wasn't a fan of the tea and coffee from the machine. The hot chocolate was good though.
The Pasta station is a lovely idea with your meal being cooked while you wait, but in busy times it is really slow.
If you are like me and have no will power you will over eat a lot.

Staying in a gold apartment and having a premium dining plan is the most expensive option for staying in Butlin's, however, there are other apartment options available and a standard eating plan meaning you can eat in The Coast restaurant. If you choose to self cater then there is a Spar supermarket located in the Skyline Pavilion.

So our accommodation was nice and there was a good range of food to eat using the premium dining plan. However, we spent very little time in our apartment due to the entertainment on offer. I feel I can only do this justice if it has a separate post, so click here to read about it.




We were guests of Butlin's for this 4 night break as part of the ambassador programme.