Lakeland Haven Review – Our Honest Experience
As you know we love haven holidays, we have been coming to Haven since 2017 and you might have seen my Presthaven Sands Review and Perran Sands Review.
I decided it was time to write up a Lakeland Haven Review for you and create a YouTube video to with my top tips when visiting Lakeland. Lakeland Leisure park is located in Cumbria in the Lake District (postcode is LA11 7LT) near Grange over Sands which is a very nice location.
For this trip we took our tourer caravan (Xplore 586), this is the first time we have taken our caravan to a Haven, and I will share more about our experience with that within this blog too.
We booked this Haven trip for the week after Haven opens after the winter, we had our new caravan and really wanted to try it out as soon as we possibly could.
I must be honest, Haven actually made us love the caravan life so much so that we decided to purchase a caravan ourselves. We did look at getting static on a Haven site, but we like the idea of using our caravan to travel around rather than visit the same place over and over again.
First impressions of Lakeland
We have been to Lakeland caravan park before so we knew what to expect. This park is smaller than the others we have previously been to but still good fun.
Free Wifi at Lakeland
The WIFI is ok around the entertainment area at Lakeland, we have found that EE tends to be the best for signal. If you do have access to a mobile WIFI box and the internet is important to you I would suggest bringing one.
The Touring site
We have been told that Haven Lakeland are doing away with its touring pitches at the end of 2023 which is really sad, the touring pitches are in a great location at Lakeland, literally a stone’s throw from the entertainment and main complex.
We opted for the Euro pitch, but they do have grass pitches with just electricity without water and they do have an area for tents etc.
The touring pitch has a block with toilets and showers which were clean. They also have a help area where you can go if you need any assistance, the staff are very friendly.
Swimming at Lakeland Haven.
I must admit this is probably my least favourite pool of all the Havens we have been to so far. There is limited availability and swimming slots are to be booked in advance.
The pool was freezing, I am not sure if it was the time of the year, but we just couldn’t get warm, and we all had to get out after about 10 minutes. Had I known how cold it was I really wouldn’t have bothered?
This swimming pool is a pool only so no slides or anything. They do have an outdoor pool, but this wasn’t open when we were there.
For the changing rooms, you need a pound coin, the changing rooms are relatively clean.
They do have indoor and outdoor pools but the outdoor pool wasn’t open when we came (March 2023), it would have been far too cold.
Food at Lakeland
I highly recommend booking the restaurant before coming to Lakeland Haven, we tried to get into the restaurant twice (once on a Saturday night and once on Sunday lunch) and it was fully booked. There were still tables and chairs empty but the receptionist said they are at capacity for the kitchen so we settled for Papa John’s instead.
The only options for dining at this Haven are Papa John’s, Fish and Chips or the restaurant so there is not much choice especially if you can’t get in the local restaurant. You can go to the local supermarket and cook something back at your caravan if you prefer, the prices in the shop were a little more expensive than local shops near us, but it is very convenient especially if you forget something but the shop was a well stocked shop. It did close at 4pm on the Sunday so make sure you get your essentials before they close or you will be stuck.
On a Saturday night, we got papa john’s then got chips from the chip shop on the way home, that was lovely.
Entertainment at Lakeland
The Entertainment was good, we enjoyed it, and so did the kids. This is a big part of why we love coming to Haven and the evening entertainment didn’t disappoint.
There is a kid’s toy light shop in the entertainment, my son bought a toy, and it stopped working, so he took it back to the shop to swap. There are lots of bubble toys which are great fun but can cost you a fortune if your child gets a little trigger-happy.
The arcade was good, they have lots of machines. They have arcade games where you win tickets, and then you trade your tickets for a prize at the prize desk, my son is always obsessed with this and we do spend a fair bit in the arcades, but he loves it.
Activities at Lakeland
Family karts
Nature Trail
Kayak and Paddleboarding
Archery
Dodgeball
Aerial adventure
Pedalos
Bike Hire
Den Building
Daytime entertainment
The daytime entertainment is great for children of all ages, there is plenty to do during the day. There was lots going on in the day near the swimming pool area and also in the place where the nightly entertainment is (the live lounge).
Overall Review of Lakeland Leisure park
We have been going to Haven’s for over 5 years now, and we absolutely love them.
This park is nice, smaller than the others we have been to which to. We did really enjoy the holiday park, but we were disappointed with how cold the swimming pool was and that we couldn’t get into the restaurant to eat, perhaps that is our own fault for not pre-booking but when we tried to go for food the restaurant never looked particularly busy so it was a little frustrating.
The staff members were all friendly and happy to help with any queries,
All in all we had a great time and will give this Haven a score of 7 out of 10.
Carla is the founder of MyBump2Baby. Carla has a huge passion for linking together small businesses and growing families. Carla’s humorous, non-filtered honesty has won the hearts of thousands of parents throughout the UK.
She has previously written for the Metro and made appearances on BBC News, BBC 5 live, LBC etc. Carla is a finalist for Blogger of the Year award with Simply Ladies inc. Carla is also the host of the popular Fifty Shades of Motherhood podcast and The MyBump2Baby Expert podcast.