Over the first May bank holiday weekend, we stayed at Golden Sands in Dawlish Warren. This post gives a quick overview of our experience, what we paid and things to do nearby.
Before going on this holiday, my husband had never really done a Caravan holiday before. He was pretty nervous and I think he was expecting the caravan to be tiny. Fortunately, he was pleasantly surprised. In fact, by the end of our weekend, he was actually talking about one day buying our very own caravan/holiday home!
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Why We Chose Golden Sands Dawlish
There are a few reasons we chose Golden Sands, Firstly, it’s within easy driving distance for us about an hour away. For a weekend away, I like to keep our travel time short but still feel like we’re getting away from home.
We booked our break through the Sun Holidays 9.50 promotion but chose to upgrade to a caravan so in total the break cost £170 for three nights including linen and other charges. We paid for four people even though there was only three of us as that’s how these holiday work.
Another reason we chose this particular park is that we really like the area having visited it several times before. We knew there would be plenty to do locally no matter what the weather!
Golden Sands Dawlish Review
Our Caravan and the park
The first thing to say is that I really like our caravan. While there were some small signs of wear and tear overall it was in good condition and was clean and tidy when we arrived.
The only small gripe we had was the noise from nearby caravans disturbing us in the evenings and making it difficult to sleep. Although as we have a toddler it might just be that we noticed more as it was just us in the evening after she went to bed.
The park is huge and very hilly with lots of steep inclines. While the views down into Dawlish Warren are stunning, it may not be a suitable park for those with mobility issues. Our caravan was in the furthest corner of the park, so the walk into Dawlish Warren took around twenty minutes.
Golden Sands has two children’s play parks. One is lovely, situated in a large field on the edge of the site meaning there’s plenty of room for playing football or rounders as well as picnics and taking advantage of the play equipment. The only disappointing thing here was there wasn’t a play area suitable for toddlers or very young children.
Golden Sands Dawlish does have a toddler park but it’s several minutes away in another area meaning as a parent you’d have to do one or the other. The toddler park was in a terrible state and didn’t really feel safe, the equipment was old, dirty and some things didn’t work. This is an area that needs a huge amount of improvement.
We didn’t use the swimming facilities or on-site restaurant and entertainment.
What To Do In The Local Area
Here are some things that we did locally during our stay.
Rileys Bakery For Breakfast – This bakery is situated just outside of the park entrance in Dawlish Warren (near the beach and car park) and the food is fantastic.
Visited Dawlish Warren – We went to the seafront in Dawlish. The tide was high so didn’t go on the beach but we ate lunch on the green, browsed the shops and played at the mini funfair.
Walked The Seawall to Dawlish – We also walked along the sea wall towards Dawlish. Unfortunately, part of the walk was closed during our visit so we didn’t get all the way there as the diversion was too steep to tackle with a buggy.
We also spent some time on the beach which was lovely.
Visited Paignton Zoo – We also visited Paignton Zoo which was a fantastic family day out despite the bad weather we had.
Teignmouth – This was my favourite place we visited during our stay. There is a huge park on the seafront called The Den which our toddler loved and I enjoyed looking around the quaint little town centre.
We also had some of the best Fish and Chips we’ve ever eaten from Finn McCools on the Seafront.
Overall we really enjoyed our visit to Golden Sands Dawlish and it’s a park we’d definitely visit again in the future.
