Stanwix Park Holiday Centre

Now one of Britain’s premier-facility year-round family holiday parks, it’s difficult to believe that Stanwix Park originally started off as a farm buildings with old buses providing the accommodation. Today, this campsite features 140 touring pitches and a list of facilities that rank it among the most comprehensive parks in the UK.

It has an entertainment complex that houses two nightclubs, one for young people and families, the other for adults. Then there’s a bar for snooker players, another area for pool, a suite for fitness enthusiasts, two swimming pools and a ten-pin bowling facility with stunning hi-tech equipment. Stanwix Park Holiday Centre is very much a family establishment in every sense of the word – run by almost the entire Stanwix family, for families.

Particularly impressive is the stunning, BRAND NEW for 2018 four-lane bowling alley with the all new BES X scoring system - the most innovative, and the world’s only, Bowler Entertainment System from QubicaAMF. The area also boasts new modern and funky furniture and décor! Another feature that sets this campsite apart from anything you expect to find in the touring park industry. Even the swimming pool is different, having a figure-of–eight-shape pool, a BRAND NEW for 2018 spa area featuring a sauna, steam room, foot spas and experience showers as well as being open from early morning until late in the evening. The area can be easily and pleasantly overlooked from the NEW extended viewing area.

It’s not all about bright lights and noise though – an oasis of calm can be found in the snooker room, which offers a full-size snooker table. Then there’s an attractive terrace (overlooking the indoor pool) that’s popular for coffee and newspapers on a Sunday morning. As you’d expect there is plenty of choice on-site when it comes to food and drink, including the Garden Restaurant (which had tasty local-recipe Cumberland sausage on the menu at the time of our visit) and the Dunes Cabaret bar (named after the view).

This bar is impressive – all mauves and blues and not at all what you’d expect from a campsite being more in keeping with a prestige nightclub. The cabaret area has computerised lighting, with gel-colours selectable at the touch of a switch and a mouse-click library of 17 thousand and MAC lights that swivel 360 degrees. Themed entertainment takes place at various times of the year, including a Country Music Festival, Soul, Motown and Blues music weekends and ’70s weekends, plus pop and rock tribute weekends.

At the other end of the scale there’s a pool and darts bar. This is pub-character, with Spitfire and Catalina flying boat images on the walls. And finally, there are the pitches themselves. In addition to its two touring pitch areas, Stanwix also offers static caravans and a block of smart white-painted apartments that owe more to Mediterranean architecture than anything British and help give the park an international feel.

The pitches are mostly hardstanding and all have mains water and drainage - as well as power – and are of ample size with good reverse-in space. Showering and washing arrangements are housed in converted farm buildings that retain their character. Fully tiled and gleaming, there are bathrooms as well as large shower areas. The washbasin area is complete with sockets from which to power your hairdryer.

An exterior (but under cover) washing up area is available, and if you don’t want to cook in your vehicle, there is a kitchen available with electric cooker and sink. Other campsite facilities include a launderette, a shop, an adventure play area, crazy golf, tennis courts, cycle hire, solarium and a fully-equipped fitness studio.