Parkdean Resorts Cresswell Towers – A Family Review

We have just returned from a three night break at Parkdean Resorts Cresswell Towers, a static caravan holiday park in Northumberland. This was our second time at Cresswell Towers and this visit was much more enjoyable than our first! To find out why, hear about the park and most importantly find out The Travel Mum score for this destination, keep reading!

Our Stay at Parkdean Resorts Cresswell Towers

We stayed as a group of 6, four adults and two children, for a long weekend at the end of May and we paid £219, plus a £50 surcharge for our dog. We had a lovely, three bedroom caravan, one double and two twin rooms and there was also a sofa bed to allow for up to 8 people. The caravan was clean and modern, had a well equipped kitchen and even a dishwasher which is a real luxury for us as we don’t have one at home! 

Check in was quick and easy, we were given our keys, a park map and guide and then we were on our way. 

Money saving tip for food

We arrived late afternoon so the first stop was for some food. We had eaten in the clubhouse on a previous visit but found the options pretty pricey and the quality wasn’t that great – so we drove 5 minutes up the road to The Plough Inn at Ellington and ate there. We were only able to eat in the bar as we had our dog with us, but the menu was the same as in the restaurant and the food was really yummy (and reasonably priced too!) We paid £86 for five main meals, one kids meal and soft drinks. 

What is near by

On Saturday we took the 5 minute walk from the park to the nearest beach. Cresswell beach has a long stretch of unspoilt beach, backed by lots of sand dunes. The water is beautiful, if a bit chilly, it is the North East of England after all, but lovely for a paddle and shallow for the children to play in. There are also some good rock pools to explore.

Two must visit places that are walking distance from the beach are The Drift Cafe and Cresswell Ices. The Drift Cafe serves breakfast, light lunches like toasties and jacket potatoes, as well as a delicious range of homemade cakes and scones. Cresswell Ices, as the name suggests, is the local, family run, ice cream shop. They serve loads of amazing flavours and all their ice cream is homemade. 

No trip to the British seaside is complete without fish and chips! So we got a chippy take away from Seafare in Lynemouth on our second night. Super easy to get to, less than 10 minutes in the car and everything was cooked fresh to order and was delicious!

Along with pool activities, there are lots of indoor and outdoor paid activities available to book. The activities are all booked through the activity booking hub and there are some bundle deals available such as five activities for £32.50 which works out at £6.50 per activity compared to a starting price of £7 up to £13 per activity when booked individually. The outdoor activities include zorbing, archery and football. For the craftier kids or for rainy days, there’s pottery painting, squishy making and tie dye t-shirts to make and these take place in the main clubhouse. 

Evening entertainment can also be found in the main clubhouse. For the little ones, there is tots disco, kideoke and kids jukebox, for the grown ups there’s bingo, quizzes and a dance show plus visiting acts such as singers and comedians. To be honest, we had found the entertainment a bit too much for us during our previous visit (us being the grown ups, not the kids) so we didn’t venture in during the evenings on this stay. 

What’s Great about Parkdean Resorts Cresswell Towers?

• The caravans. Both that we’ve stayed in at Cresswell Towers have been clean, modern and had everything we needed for our stay. We preferred our second stay on Millenium Gardens (see map) as it was a quieter location further from the main thoroughfare of the park. 
• The pool, play area and sports court. Be sure to book swimming slots as soon as you arrive as they fill up fast!
• The location. 5 minutes walk from one of the nicest beaches in the area, pub and a local shop within a short drive, ice cream shop at the end of the road! 
• The grounds. The whole park is really nicely maintained and nice to walk around, there are some remains of the walls of the Pele Tower in the grounds and the tower and walled gardens can be accessed from the park via a public footpath (opening times of the tower and gardens vary, please check before visiting.)

What’s Not So Great?

• The activity booking, especially for swimming. The free swimming slots have limited spaces and can fill up fast, meaning you can arrive on a Friday and potentially not be able to get one during your weekend stay. Best bet is once you have your booking reference, log into the activity booking hub and get booked up before you get there, The paid activities are also pretty pricey so make the most of the bundle deals if you can.
• The entertainment. It just isn’t our kind of thing and whilst our kids would have stayed and done the timewarp again and again, we just wanted a drink in peace. 
• The volume of caravans on the park. This is a busy holiday park with lots of caravans that, in places, are very close together. The map gives the illusion that the park is quite big for all the caravans that are there, but in reality there are parts where it could feel a bit cramped and overlooked. We definitely got lucky with the location of our van on this weekend and would only book again in that location of the park.

Travel Mum score: 4/5

Best Place To Book And Any Deals?

• Your best bet for booking is through Parkdean directly. Caravans on their sites can be found on other websites but your best bet for a nice standard of caravan and good customer service is to book direct. 3 night breaks for the summer start at £179 and 7 night breaks from £309. Click here to book
• Parkdean currently have 30% off UK summer holidays in their big summer sale.
• If you don’t need term time breaks, take a look at Parkdean’s Tots’ Break. These toddler and preschooler breaks include lots more free activities and character appearances from their favourite TV shows like Paw Patrol and Pip and Posy. Also, kids eat completely free during Tots’ Breaks. Check them out here.