Bluestone: Our Accommodation: Dinas Lodge [Ad]

Part of the whole Bluestone experience is your accommodation. My last post detailed what we got up to during our week, but in this post I thought I’d share our accommodation with you to give you taste of what it’s like.

During our week at Bluestone, we stayed in Dinas Lodge; a detached log cabin that can sleep eight guests. It comes with two double rooms, two twin rooms and two wet rooms or a bathroom and shower room (we had the wet room in our lodge). The accommodation also comes with Wi-Fi and internet as standard (you can upgrade this at check-in) and heating.

There are a number of apartments, cottages and lodges at Bluestone, all varying in size, location within the park, and facilities available within. Whichever you choose, you’ll find that it’s a home from home.

Location

Similar to other parks, each area has a set number of lodges within it (apart from the cottages and apartments that are located within the village). So when you’re walking around you don’t just see the same type of building in one area. This gives the resort a real ‘village’ feel and it means that it doesn’t interfere too much with the natural landscape.

Likewise, unlike other parks we’ve been to, I didn’t feel that I had been placed in the ‘family zone’. You know the area, the one either close to the park or together with other families, assuming that you’re all going to be rowdy and a disturbance.

It very well may have been the case, but I didn’t get that feeling as the group behind our lodge, for example, were a party of just adults. Likewise, another lodge nearby only had a newborn. Whether this is because it’s a family orientated park and everyone is treated equally, I don’t know. But it was certainly noticed that we weren’t treated like a nuisance.

Arrival and welcome

After checking in at the futuristic reception desk that consisted of a drive-through-esque window, we drove a short distance (it would have been shorter if I hadn’t got lost) to our accommodation. Our lodge was a few meters up from the entrance to the village and just down the road from the bus stop. There was ample parking outside the lodge and Bluestone give you 2 hours to unload and return your car to the car park (cars aren’t allowed on site after 7:00pm).

Arriving in our lodge we were welcomed with a magazine detailing all the events happening and activities, as well as our pack that cleverly stored our keys, our Blue Lagoon passes, and, most importantly, a mini map!

Just before having a full tour of the kitchen, we also noticed a little package on the work top that gave you dishwasher tablets, a sponge, a few cloths, a tea towel, and a bottle of washing up liquid!

Now, I don’t know about you, but I like to give some things a good clean before I use them, so this helped me do this without having to rummage round our bags. It also meant we didn’t have to traipse to the shops to get cleaning stuff if we didn’t want to after a long journey.

Kitchen

As you enter the accommodation, you come into a small porch for jackets and wellies. After, you then enter the main area, starting with the kitchen. This area is equipped with all the mod cons, from a dishwasher, to an induction hob and electric oven, and a microwave, kettle, and toaster. There’s also two under-counter fridges with small freezer within. Being part of a larger group, this came in handy as were then able to separate the important things, such as the meat from the vegetarian items, as well as reserve space for the wine!

What makes Bluestone a bit different in comparison to other resorts is that they even supplied a coffee cafetière and a loose tea infuser! I also appreciated having a knife block (why do other sites never have good knives?!) as well as a good selection of utensils and cookware. There was also a bin that had two compartments; one of general waste, the other for recycling. There was also another bin in the porch for glass! (I’m very aware how boring this makes me sound!)

I particularly liked the way the worktop separated the kitchen but kept you included if friends were playing board games at the table or wanted to chat whilst you cooked.

Dining and lounge

Moving on from the kitchen leads you to the main dining area. This was a gorgeous, open space with tall ceilings. This sometimes made things a bit echoey, but once the curtains were drawn at night it wasn’t so bad. From the dining area you had the choice to go outside to the patio area (with outdoor furniture included) or to the lounge area. Included in the dining area is also a highchair (another feature that’s often not included!) and a good choice of tableware. There was also plenty of storage if you needed it, from various cabinets to drawers.

The lounge area consisted of not one, not two, but three large leather two-seater sofas. We moved ours to create a circle, thinking the kids might want a sofa each whist watching a film, but instead they ended up on one sofa every time (so cute!). There’s also a TV with Freeview, a DVD player, a coffee table, and further storage. Again, this was a lovely open space, meaning T could run a round safety whilst someone cooked.

Sleeping and bathroom

The wonderful thing about Dinas Lodge is that each party, in theory, can have a separate ‘wing’. On either end there is a double bedroom, a twin room and a bathroom/wet-room. This means that you have your own separate space if you need it. It also creates a private atmosphere, making sure you don’t feel like you’re going to wake anyone else with your… ahem… snoring.

Both bedrooms are fully equipped with a decent sized wardrobe and drawers and a separate chest of drawers, as well as bedside cabinet each with lamps. In our wardrobe, we had a safe (which T promptly locked us out of!) and spare bedding. In T’s bedroom there was the same, but with an additional travel cot if you needed it (thanks, Bluestone!). We were also given a selection a good quality towels.

Both bathrooms had the wet room function, which was a new experience as we’d never had such an open room like this before. It also meant T could splash around in the shower as much as he wanted without getting anything wet that he wasn’t supposed to. We could also quickly shower together if need be, too.

In the wet room is also a good sized heated towel rail (which came in handy on the Tuesday after our trip to Folly Farm!) as well as a decent shower and complimentary toiletries.

Communal living

Dinas Lodge was the perfect introduction to staying with Bluestone, as it invited us to see how large parties are included within the resort. Like I’ve mentioned previously, we didn’t feel like we were restricted to certain ‘zones’ because we had children or were part of a large group.

I thought the tall ceilings would cause issues with various kids and rather rowdy parents, but I didn’t hear a peep when I was walking back from the car park one night despite the lodge being in full swing!

What I liked about Dinas Lodge was that there was a wonderful mix between ‘communal’ and ‘private’. Bluestone have put a lot of thought in and created a balance that is spot on. Communal living was easily created, what with the large open dining room and lounge area, but an area soon became private thanks to segregated bedrooms at either end of the lodge.

Another example is the kitchen. On one hand you have the area cordoned off with worktops, allowing you to cook without much interruption, but on the other hand friends are still able to include you in conversation thanks to the light and size of the worktops. Space certainly wasn’t an issue here – and we’re not even including the outside patio in this.

When we attend next time (did I mention we’ve just paid our deposit for next year?), I’ll look forward to seeing what the other accommodation looks like and how it compares.

If you’re not sure whether to stay at Dinas Lodge, there are a number of other options available thanks to other bloggers who have stayed at Bluestone. From Ramsey Lodge, to Grassholm Lodge, to Caldey Lodge.

Have you stayed at Bluestone? Where did you stay? How does it compare?

Disclosure: We received a four night complimentary stay at Dinas Lodge at Bluestone, Wales in exchange for an honest review, however all thoughts and opinions are our own.