Its That Time Of Year Again....!

[Nightstalker]

Lo Y'all

It's that time of year again... time to pack wife and kids in me Rav and jet set off to...... DEVON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Due to the new cerial bar called Credit Crunch we have decided to live it up at Havons Devon Cliffs resort in... DEVON!!!! :)

Any of you fine people been there and now what there is to do around the area...

I already know of Paigton Zoo and Crealy Adventure park... and if we dare to venture further south we might even go to the Sea life Center in Plymouth... :D

Last year we went to Weymouth and found it was great... did'nt spend a day at the caravan park, just used it as a base - want to do the same at Devon Cliffs this year... SOOOO if there is a place you recommend round there let us know.... got to be child friendly though... ;)

regards

Rob

B)

[Hoovie]

Hi Nightstalker, I'll wave to you as you drive past (I live about 4 miles from Crealy on the A3052)

and right now, it is sunny and not a cloud in the sky

Devon Cliffs is just outside Exmouth I think?

OK - so child friendly places to go in the area..... Not got kids myself, but these are places that we have either taken nieces & nephews when tthey have come to visit, or places that I think should be good.

Of the places you mentioned, Crealey is very expensive IMO. Never been in there, but it would have to be amazing at the cost!! Paignton Zoo is very nice, good fun. Went there in April this year and had a fine time

Other possible places that come to mind ...

Donkey Sanctuary, Sidmouth. Place where donkeys retire. not a lot goes on other then you look at Donkeys :D, but all kids love donkeys and it is actually fun!! it is also free, which is a bonus.

Pecorama - some kind of bus/tram thing in Beer?

Beer is also a nice place to visit. very clean shingly beach where the kids can run wild and do a bit of random fishing. Also there are some Caves in Beer that I bet kids would love. Believe they are manmade from a couple of hundred years ago to do with smuggling (Beer was a massive smuggling village)

Seaton Tramway - Narrow gauge tramway from Seaton to some place a few miles inland. never been, been meaning to, looks fun.

If any more come to mind, I'll post them. When you heading down this way then?

[Hoovie]

Going a little further east from Seaton is a place you probably already visited as it is half way to Weymouth - Lyme Regis - right on Devon/Dorset boundry.

Personally I find it a little overrated and over touristy, but at this time of year things should be a lot better. send the kids out Fossil Hunting

And of course, you have the Napoli Wreck which is still in Lyme Bay and about 1 mile off Sidmouth which is an interesting thing to see as don't often have a shipwreck left (21 Months so far!) so close to civilization in this country.

And of course, there is a new sightseeing opportunity for me - see if I can spot Big Red in the flesh :D

[Nightstalker]

Ey up

Thanks for the tips...

I have read about the donkey place.... so if we run low on £s then we might go there....

Our littlen is only 2.6yrs old and the wee'en shes only just turned 6months so I think some of the places you mentioned might be just a bit out of their age group..

As for Lyme Regis... Yep we went there last year on the long way back home from weymouth... took the scenic route weymouth lyme regis and back up to Reading... was a nice drive, matter of fact is that the first pic of Big Red which I posted on the forum was on route to lyme regis... :D

So yep kinda looking forward to it...

We're off Ravvin on Monday, staying there till Friday and visiting the INLAWS.... on the way back who live in Westbury Sub Mendips (cant wait <_< ) on the way there we'll check out the Fleet Air Arm place in Yeovilton.... been told its quite good and as our eldest is into his planes at the moment, I think he will enjoy it .... as will I ;)

Regards

Rob

B)

[Hoovie]

If you have a 2 1/2 year old, she will adore the Donkeys!! - have a google for sidmouth donkeys - you can see the webcams as well. Tell you what ... those donkeys have an amazing view of the seaside as well - fantastic.

Me and the Missus go there just to wander about sometimes- its a cool place for all ages :D

depending on your schedule, if you are going A303/A30, then you pass Longleat - quite good to go to and also Stonehenge which is a nice stopover to break the journey as well.

Personally I always do Reading to Basingstoke to pick up M3 then come off next junction for A303 and just carry on - M4/M5 is too boring and M4/A34 is too busy (I used to live in Reading long time ago and family still in that area)

Post what you think of the Fleet Air Arm place - I pass it a lot and often wondered about popping in.

BTW - as you would expect, there are quite a few kiddies playground by the seafront in Exmouth and if you like Mexican Food, there is a great Resturant in Exmouth called "The Mexican" (original, huh) that does magic food - ribs to die for

[daveh_rav4]

Hi Rob...

I was in South Devon earlier in the year with my grandson (and the Rav4 B)) while I was visiting my brother who lives in Dartmouth. We spent half a day at prehistoric 'Kents Caves'... Torquay. Oh, you can stay at the 'Fawlty Towers' hotel' :P

http://www.kents-cavern.co.uk/

You get a guided tour... and it gets real scary when they switch the lights off! If you think you have seen 'black'.... think again!

Its well worth a visit with the family if you are in the area... plenty of parking, good food/drink and awesome views. Gets a bit crowded in Devon during the height of the tourist season... but should be easing off by now!

I hope you and your family have a good time...

DaveH

If you have a 2 1/2 year old, she will adore the Donkeys!! - have a google for sidmouth donkeys - you can see the webcams as well. Tell you what ... those donkeys have an amazing view of the seaside as well - fantastic.

Me and the Missus go there just to wander about sometimes- its a cool place for all ages :D

depending on your schedule, if you are going A303/A30, then you pass Longleat - quite good to go to and also Stonehenge which is a nice stopover to break the journey as well.

Personally I always do Reading to Basingstoke to pick up M3 then come off next junction for A303 and just carry on - M4/M5 is too boring and M4/A34 is too busy (I used to live in Reading long time ago and family still in that area)

Post what you think of the Fleet Air Arm place - I pass it a lot and often wondered about popping in.

BTW - as you would expect, there are quite a few kiddies playground by the seafront in Exmouth and if you like Mexican Food, there is a great Resturant in Exmouth called "The Mexican" (original, huh) that does magic food - ribs to die for

[Nightstalker]

Thanks guys

As for the route down and back... I know for sure we wont use much of the Motorway on the way back as the (is it a303) would take us to the INLAWS and past the Fleet Air Arm Museum... On the way there we might take the scenic route as I've heard there some road works just before the suspension bridge on the M5...

Our oldest... might like donkeys... I know he loves it when we take him to Beale Park... So Im poss that Paington zoo and possibly the donkey sanctuary will be a big hit for him...

As for the Mexican... Cheers for that - we love our mexican food.... is it more Tex-Mex IE the fake stuff or is it propper mexican cuisine?...

We visited mexico (this was pre days) 3 times... We went to Cancun twice and once to the Riviera Maya... LOVED IT!!!! IF anyone ever goes to Cancun there is a argentinian steak house called the RIO Steakhouse , it was $45 per person and it was a all you can eat place....man I PROPPER STUFFED me sel there.... they serv the meat up on swords and keep on serving you until you turn your little mat (no bigger than a beer mat) to show the red side... as soon as you show the green side they come and serv you again and again and again ALLL NIGHT LONG... well at least till closing time... ;) Smashing... would love to go back there... will see what its like in approx 10 - 15 years time once the ens have fledd the house.... ;)

Anywho in the meantime we're off to good ol Devon ... CANT WAIT! A week off with no work magic :hokus-pokus:

If you see me on me travels... giz a flash... and let us know it was you when we're back... You cant miss Big Red... there aint many of us red Ravs with tinted windows aboot.... ;)

Regards

Rob

B)

[Hoovie]

As for the Mexican... Cheers for that - we love our mexican food.... is it more Tex-Mex IE the fake stuff or is it propper mexican cuisine?...

Regards

Rob

B)

I can't really answer that question :o never been to mexico :D

I am not usually a 'mexican food' fan - usually seems to be runny hot salsa and that kind of stuff (which I think is more tex-mex stuff?). Used to go to Chiquitos a few times which I enjoyed, but the Mexican in Exmouth blows that away. All I know is I go there when I fancy a nice treat. And the portions are massive - usually take a doggy bag away. Mmmmmmmm :P

They do do a lunchtime meal so you can do a trial run ;)

http://www.eatmexican.co.uk/

makes me want to go there again just looking at the website!

[Hoovie]

PS - Wifey is after going to Mexico (we try to get away in Jan/Feb when the weather here is most 'orrible) so if we do go, I'll make sure we head to the Rio

and if you see a silvery-green RAV4.2 flashing you with extra driving lights, it's me!! :D

[Nightstalker]

OH MAN

Im so there.... CANT WAIT....

Where abouts is it again and whats parking like....

regards

Rob

B)

[Hoovie]

Gonna have to pay for parking up to 6pm most places, 24*7 some parks - and parking down here is more pricey then Reading

big car park, loads of space, within maybe a 2 minute walk Place is easy to find - if you need a landmark to ask for (assuming they don't know the mexican anyway) is the Exmouth War Memorial - or for the younger people, mention the Subway or KFC joints :D

You'll have a great time - East Devon is much less touristy and tacky then South Devon, but still loads of things to do and see

[Nightstalker]

PS - Wifey is after going to Mexico (we try to get away in Jan/Feb when the weather here is most 'orrible) so if we do go, I'll make sure we head to the Rio

and if you see a silvery-green RAV4.2 flashing you with extra driving lights, it's me!! :D

Cool... :)

If you do go (and I presume you talking about Cancun) let us know which hotel your going to... I should be able to let you know where abouts in relation to the RIO it is...

We booked out holidays with T.C. and they were great out there... - be aware that some hotels out there are ehm.... Hedonism resorts... not to bad if that SWINGS your fancy... however if you got kids I would'nt suggest going to one of those...(Blue bay getaway is one of them)

We have stayed at the Caribean Princess (nice little friendly hotel - when we were there) this one is pretty much just kinda next door to the RIO... just have to walk down the path hook a left and you're there...

We also stayed at the Tucancun which was huge in relation to the C.P. the staff were friendly but we did find that due to the fact that the corridoors had tiled floors it could get quite loud in the early hours when all the partiers came back to the hotel... other than that the hotel was fab... right on the beach and the beach at the time was nice white powdery sand... I dont know what its like since Katrina hit, I heard that a lot of the beach was washed away....

Anywho... as for excursions - if you are into those - I recommend

Chichenitza - 3hr coach ride (but well worth it if you like ruins and historic stuff... unfortunately they dont allow tourists to climb up el castillio the main pyramid anymore when we were there we could and the view from up there was fantastic) also would recommend if you like snorkeling a trip to Xel-ha - that place is great! Oh and also the speed boat snorkeling trip is a goodn n all - this is where you get a wee little speed boat and follow the leader through the Lagoon and out to a reef just off the main beach where they tie the boats together and you hop in the blue stuff and snorkle around the reef... we saw loads of fish and a few barracudas - mean looking so n soes... Anywho.. if you go let us know and I'll give you a few more pointers... you would not regret it trust me that place is worth going to - and the weather for us was brill absolutely scorching - then again anything over 20 C is hot for us UK lot ;)

Regards

Rob

B)

[Hoovie]

Cheers Rob,

even though we don't have kids, we look for the 'non-party' type hotels, so ones where there is not door-bangings going on at 3am and people don't set off the fire alarm in the middle of the night as it is such a laugh .

The Caribbean Princess sounds like it is the kinda place that we would look for :)

[Nightstalker]

Ey up...

Im sure if you time it right ... ie when there is no summer or spring break on that it would'nt be to bad... Cancun is pretty much a party resort most of the bars/clubs are great... Senor Frogs and Paddy O'brians are great COCO Bongo aint to bad (club wise) There was a new one when we were the last (4years ago) that was more upmarket with the appropriate upmarket prices, interesting one that one was... if you went into the Gents and washed your hands you could look into where you'd expect a mirror to be but instead of looking at yourself you could see what the ladies were upto in their toilet whilst washing their hands or re-adjusting themselves... ;)

Anywho if you do go to the P.C. you wont be on the beach, the PC is lagoon side however they ran a bus service to the beach when we were there free of charge, they'd drop you off and pick you up around 16:00hrs ish.

Regards

Rob

B)

[Nightstalker]

Lo all....

we're back....

what a nice trip that was...

The haven park we were at was pretty good as far as the caravans concerned...

we didnt take advantage of the various facillities available as we were out an aboot all day....

Plymouth sea life centre... was great

Crealy adventure park... was great

Paigton Zoo... was excellent!

then on the way back via the Inlaws who live in westbury sub mendips... we stopped off at the Fleet Air Arm Museum... that was excellent n all... the oldest (2.5yr old) loved it there ( me n all.) the other half was'nt too interested as one would kinda expect, the fact that she also had a dodgie fish n chips there didnt help much she felt well rotten for the rest of the day and into the next...anywho still loved it there... And as she were'nt feeling too great on Saturday I took the littlens to the Haynes Motor Museum which was nice n all....

However we didnt have enough time to check out the Mexican in Exmouth... was a bit gutted by that but as the hols were great it didnt bother us too much in the end....

Oh and the caravan we got was right at the top of a hill with no official parking next to it so Big Red got her first taste of a bit of off roading... had to clamber up a steep bit of grass (about 2 car lengths in length) and park up overlooking the sea and the Marines firing range.... Pics to follow....

Regards

Rob

B)

[Hoovie]

Glad you had a great time - the weather wasn't the greatest in the end (par for this year )

[Nightstalker]

Nope it was'nt - however the only day it would have soaked us if we were out and aboot was the Tuesday and we were at the sea life place in Plymouth... so did'nt really bother us... other than that it rained loads over the nights or when we were in the Car travelling...

Glad you had a great time - the weather wasn't the greatest in the end (par for this year )

[Robert6920]

........she also had a dodgie fish n chips there didnt help much she felt well rotten for the rest of the day and into the next......However we didnt have enough time to check out the Mexican in Exmouth...

May have been a blessing in disguise??

[Hoovie]

The Exmouth Mexican is a treat to behold, Robert Did feel slighty funny after a meal there one time - could have been due to the two pitchers of cocktails we had as well