A Review Of Butlins Skegness And The Seaside Apartments

Last week I shared with you why Butlins had changed my mind about holidaying in the UK, if you missed it you can catch up and read it HERE. 

Now I promised a review of the full stay and over the last week and a bit my brain has been in a tangle as there is so much I wanted to tell you that this post maybe a little long so have split it into different parts so you can jump ahead if you wish. 

Seaside Apartments – Skegness
We chose to book into the Seaside apartments as I knew my son would adore its quirky and bright interiors. 

I have to say however this is probably one of the best family apartments we have stayed in. The attention to detail was amazing. 

Our apartment was a 2 bed, one very large master room (enough room for at least 2 travel cots in there, should you wish and still possible to move around) It has a built-in dressing table and wardrobe that was ideal for the Monday – Friday break and there was lots of space to put bags and cases under the bed too! … It also came with safe and TV in there too. 

The second bedroom was again fitted with wardrobe and bedside table we were able to move to put Jacobs travel cot in-between the twin beds. There was also an iron and ironing board stored in here. 

The bathroom was small but functional even with a toddler. The shower was powerful and accessible that we could take the shower head down and shower him on the bottom easily. There were towels and a small packet of mini toiletries in there already for you. Do be aware however of the heated towel rail, although great at keeping the towels dry it will catch you unawares if you are on the larger side, it got me twice! 

The main living area of the apartment was fabulous. It had a wonderful set up with the TV on the wall and was child proofed with socket covers in the sockets throughout. There was a super sturdy table and 4 chairs in the design of a picnic table. The curtains and blinds throughout were all heavyweight and blackout so night-time remained nighttime which was amazing! 

The kitchen area came well equipped with everything you expect in a holiday apartment and it was immaculately clean from the off. 

The apartment also came with a decking that was gated. Which I have to say was a genius move! Jacob (18 months) could come and go in and out safely which was super as we could leave the patio doors open when it was warm knowing he was safe and couldn’t escape! 

Entertainment & Facilities 
I wrote about how Butlins entertainment had changed my mind about UK holidays a little while ago. The evening entertainment is by far better than anything we had encountered on a UK holiday before now. The only thing to bear in mind is that B Line passes if you are planning on visiting the evening entertainment are a must! We waited less than 20 mins to get into the show whereas the general queue was 500 deep and had to wait for the B Line pass people to get in first .. some has been waiting a couple of hours so totally make sure you purchase them before you arrive! 

Skegness has a fantastic amount of things to do for the kids and we expected masses of queuing for all the free activities being August. However I am pleased to say that the most we waited for a free activity was one fairground ride and that was less than 15 minutes – all the others were literally 5 minutes which for a peak season I thought was amazing! 

The fairground has rides for kids all ages and Jacob got to have his first every ride at Butlins and loved it. 

There are also 2 arcades on site, one towards the fairground rides and the other in the skyline pavilion which is the bigger of the two. The one in the skyline pavilion on an evening gets immensely busy so we thankfully slotted our arcade time in with the kids during the quieter periods in the morning. 

For smaller kids there is a really lovely soft play area located again near the fairground in the same building as the arcades which both Joshua and Jacob loved and we loved letting them burn off some energy! 

During the day and evening there are masses of things for the kids to do from shows and activities to crafts and sports and in honesty there was probably enough to keep the kids busy for at least 2 weeks! 

The pool complex was another of our favourites. We expected it to be rammed with it raining on the day we visited and looking at the queue at opening time we were pleasantly surprised that inside the pool area it wasn’t too chaotic, busy yes, manic, no. 

In the pool area I experienced my only negative aspect of the holiday and that unfortunately wasn’t down to Butlins, it was in fact down to ridiculous people.

There is plenty of changing cubicles including family cubicles if you walk into the changing area instead of loitering around the entrance to the changing rooms. It seemed on the day we visited instead of using the cubicles and changing areas many people were ‘panicking’ and while Jacob and I were getting out and getting our things from the lockers people were pushing and shoving and Jacob even got bashed on the head with a locker door. 

The Butlins lifeguard did notice I was upset and she acted quickly to disperse the loitering hoard and then went on to shout to tell people where the changing cubicles and areas were located (which weren’t hard to find if people looked)

All in all however we had planned another visit to the pool as it was amazing and the kids loved it but when the sunshine did finally appear after 3 days we headed to the beach instead.

Food & Eateries 
We were really fortunate to be able to eat on a half board basis with the use of Premium Dining. As part of the premium dining package there are 2 places to eat. The Deck and The Yacht Club, both of which provide at least two vegetarian options and a wide selection of meals like the ones below. 

I have to admit that we were planning on visiting The Yacht Club but we visited The Deck and we kind of stayed there all week for each meal as we loved absolutely everything we ate.

During the week there were themed evening meals, with Italian, Mexican and Indian but we were thrilled that even with the tasty themed offerings there were still so many traditional offerings that even with a picky eater we had so much to choose from. 

The restaurant has a spacious feeling about it and it was light and airy and I have to say we wouldn’t ever consider anything but the Premium Dining package if we were to visit again. 


You can purchase meals individually from there if you don’t pay for the Premium Dining Package on an as and when basis and you will pay around the same price as a pub meal for it. 

If you aren’t dining using the half board (premium dining) basis there are tons of places to eat on site. With Fish and chips, traditional meals, pubs, snacks and even a supermarket that provides everything you would need for a meal I was pleased to see that although slightly more expensive eating on site it wasn’t extortionate which can be the case for some resorts.

Conclusion
We were thrilled with the food, accommodation and facilities and the staff were amazing. Nothing was too much trouble. 

The site has everything and more that we could have needed and even though we had our doubts about what it might be like due to the fact we hate the Skegness/Ingoldmells resorts we could easily go over a week without having to travel off site with all the things on offer.

Not to mention the beach being only feet from the resort with its own gated access.

We made so many memories this summer at Butlins Skegness and I can’t thank them enough for allowing us to try it out. 

Next year we are already planning a return trip of some sort but have yet to decide from the new fairground apartments or even the gold apartments. Of course we could alway try the Blue Skies apartments in Minehead instead! 

Disclaimer: We were given a complimentary stay including the Premium Dining option for the purposes of these collaboration. All thoughts and opinions were independently formed by members of The Oliver’s Madhouse.