Our Holiday at Haven Blue Dolphin

As regular readers will know, I took a break from the blog to go on holiday to Haven Blue Dolphin in Filey. The last few holidays I’ve taken have been working holidays, and this time I decided it was time to have a proper holiday without any work going on (although of course I couldn’t resist still being on social media).

Caravans for sale at Haven Blue Dolphin – and yes, I was tempted

There was myself, my friend, her three-year-old daughter and her mum on the holiday and we all had a great time, despite the fact we managed to pick the only week in May that wasn’t full of glorious sunshine. At least we didn’t have any rain until the day we were coming home.

Below you’ll find my review of the site and the things we did.

Haven Blue Dolphin Holiday – The Site

On the site, you’ll find the Galaxy Bar, where all of the entertainment goes on and The Brighouse, a restaurant which doubles up as a bar with some lovely cocktails and a good selection of other drinks which are pretty similar in price to what you’d pay in any bar. There is also an adults only bar where the cash bingo takes place, although I’ve never seen the actual bar open in this room.

Jellybean Cocktail

You’ll also find a Burger King, a Papa John’s pizza place and a fish and chip place. The Burger King and the fish and chip place are slightly more expensive than you’d pay off site, but not so much as to be a big deal. There is also a shop which sells sandwiches, pasties etc. and has a Costa Coffee machine as well as selling a good range of grocery products and gifts.

The site has a small pond, go karting, crazy golf, a swimming pool, soft play, pottery making, a sports dome with various activities, trampolines, various outdoor play areas and of course the arcades.

Rory the Tiger

There is plenty to do to keep older kids amused, although for younger kids, the options are a bit more limited. There are a few day time sessions in the Galaxy Bar with the Seaside Squad, but they are mostly just a way to try and get people to pay for character photos. We only went to one day time session and it was only on for seven minutes.

The caravans are fitted out to a good standard and our caravan this year was lovely and clean on arrival. The beds were all made up too. The caravan had a good sized fridge freezer, a large flat screen TV and even a small TV in one of the bedrooms. It had a lovely, big veranda too.

The lovely view from our caravan

We were situated in the Hilltop area of the site which gave us fantastic views over the surrounding moors and was a lovely, quiet area of the park. It was only a five minute walk to the main complex which was a nice bonus. Close enough that even in bad weather getting to it wouldn’t have been a big deal, and far enough away that we weren’t disturbed by the noise from the complex (something to consider if you have a little one who will be in bed early).

In general, the site is clean and tidy and the staff work hard to make sure everyone is well looked after.

Miami Vice cocktail

The site is in a good location to explore places such as Scarborough, Filey, Whitby, Bridlington, York and Flamingo Land. There are regular buses that stop outside of the park and local taxis will come to the site too. We found that it was generally cheaper to use taxis than the buses.

Haven Blue Dolphin Holiday – Scarborough Sealife Centre

On the Wednesday of our holiday, we visited the Sealife Centre in Scarborough. This year’s new addition is the “Claws” exhibition which features crabs, lobsters etc. There are also the standard things you expect at the centres; penguins, seals, a wide range of marine fish, jellyfish and shellfish, and of course the walk through shark tunnel which features several sharks, a giant sea turtle and hundreds of other fish. There is also a sting ray exhibition.

The seals at Scarborough Sealife Centre

The tanks all look to be clean and in good repair and all of the creatures look well looked after.

We got to the Sealife Centre for 10am when it opened and it was lovely and quiet so we were able to have a proper look around. It can be claustrophobic when the place is too busy and they don’t seem to have any sort of limit on how many people they let in, so definitely go early to avoid the crowds – and try to avoid really bad weather days as the place will be heaving.

The Penguins at Scarborough Sealife Centre

There is a small café that sells snacks and light meals plus refreshments and a gift shop.

Entry is £19 per adult and £16.50 per child, but if you’re staying at Blue Dolphin, get your tickets from their reception. They have a deal where is costs £9.50 per adult and £8.50 per child. I think at £9.50, the Sealife Centre is good value for money, but being honest, I’d feel a bit cheated for £19.

More seals at Scarborough Sealife Centre

Haven Blue Dolphin Holiday – Scarborough Beach and Sea Front

Scarborough beach and sea front is exactly what you would expect – a range of gift shops, odds and ends stores, rock shops, arcades, cafes and bars. There’s the Terror Tower, which we didn’t go in but I’ve been in before and it’s worth a look for horror fans (just don’t expect to actually be terrified). At the end of the arcades and shops, there’s a small theme park with some rides for the little ones.

Scarborough Beach

The day we chose to go was a bit nippy but still decent enough to want to be outside. It isn’t somewhere that’s fun in the rain, but it’s a fab place to kill a few hours if the weather is decent.

The pier at Scarborough Beach

We had a great time popping in and out of the arcades and shops and spending some time on the beach. The beach is lovely and clean and because it wasn’t overly sunny on the day we visited, it was nice and quiet too with plenty of room for the little one to run about.

The lovely quiet beach at Scarborough

Because we only went Monday to Friday this year, we only visited the Sealife Centre and Scarborough front, but having been before, we’ve visited Filey, Flamingo Land and Peasholm Park, all of which are good days out.

Haven Blue Dolphin is quite a small site, but there’s enough to do to keep the family amused for a short break and the surrounding area has all sorts of places to go. It’s a great, central location that has a lot to offer if you prefer to get off the park and visit the local area.

Are you even on holiday if you don’t take a mirror selfie?

I would definitely recommend Haven Blue Dolphin to anyone who enjoys caravan holidays and I’m sure we’ll be returning again in the future.

Have you been to Haven Blue Dolphin? Did you enjoy it? Let me know in the comments 🙂

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Please note this isn’t a sponsored post – Haven Blue Dolphin are not sponsoring the post nor where we gifted the holiday – I just wanted to share some of the things we got up to with you.