How was the food at @PottersResort?

The Garden Resturant

I know some people are not fans of catered holidays but I love how easy they make it. In my opinion holidays are supposed to be enjoyed by the cook too, so to turn up at a restaurant, get well fed and then walk away and leave the table is my idea of bliss!

Included in the price of your Potters holiday is breakfast, lunch, dinner and midnight supper and our family were really happy with what we were offered.

Most people eat in the very large Garden restaurant but during busy times the Gallery restaurant is used too and all food and service levels are the same. You will be allocated a table for your party and this is yours for the duration of your stay, this makes things very easy come meal times and my kids enjoyed getting to know the people around us. Your waiter/ess also remains the same for your stay and you can thus develop a rapport and also Tracey, our waitress got to know our likes and preferences, so tea would just appear at the table. She really was a character and a great server too.

On the first day there was a wine display and you are encouraged to book your evening meal wine in advance to help make service smooth. You can also book celebration packages in advance, likes balloons, banners and cakes and lots of the tables were decorated for the duration of our stay.

Breakfast (arrival time 8.30 -10am)

You can order tea, coffee, juice, toast and porridge from your waitress. There is a massive continental and cooked selection for you to self-serve and there are also cooked items that you can order, such as kippers, veggie sausages, poached eggs etc and no extra cost for any of it.

Lunch (arrival time 12.30 - 1.30pm)

This can be a three course affair if you are hungry or something much lighter if that suits, the choice is yours. Starters generally are fruit juice or soup and a roll. The buffet has jacket potatoes, a couple of choices of hot mains, omelette's cooked to order and a fabulous selection of cold meats and salads. There are also three main courses cooked to order, such as the salmon goujons and skinny fries I had one day.

Dinner (arrival time 6.30 - 7.30pm)

For dinner you have the choice of three good starters, a roast from the carvery, a buffet hot dish and three dishes you can order. During family breaks there are also specific children's options such  as spaghetti and meatballs or make your own chicken wraps. Children can eat what they like though, from the main menu or children's menu or mix and match as mine did many times.

Dessert is off the menu and there tended to be a hot option, cold option, ice cream with sauce or cheese and biscuits.

Here is an example days menu and the weekly kids menu

Midnight supper

I did not have midnight supper any night as generally I was tucked up in bed by then but the first night I did go by just as it was being served and it was meat or veggie chili, rice and nachos and it looked every nice but after three hearty courses just a few hours before I could not manage it. Plenty of people were though!

What was it like?

I can honestly say that I really enjoyed every meal I had at Potters, I went home absolutely stuffed and you really do not need anything in between meals. There was plenty of choice and healthier options were available. I really liked the fact that the kids were not made to have kiddie food and Miss M enjoyed her duck leg and Miss E her daily roast dinner. Probably the only thing I was not fussed on was the leek and potato soup I had for starter one night, it was just a bit watery for me. The kids did not really the pizza but dh said it was very nice, I just think they are used to a thin base and this looked like a thick homemade bready dough base. Apart from these two minor points we had fabulous food and a fabulous time and our family is really happy to recommend Potters Resort as a wonderful place to stay.

Disclosure: We were staying at Potters for three nights for the purpose of viewing the holiday resort. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

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Potters Resort - worth a visit? (@pottersresort)

Potters Resort advertises itself as Visit Britain's (AKA the tourist board) first 5 star holiday village in the UK. It has held this 5 star award for 12 years now and that speaks volumes. It is also telling when you look at Trip Advisor that you find more good reviews than bad. This site is notorious for being brutally truthful and it is good to see that in the case of Potters Resort the truth is positive.

Whilst Potters has some aspects that duplicate other holiday villages we have been to before, my overriding feeling is that it is really unique and pretty darn special too, I suppose some of that might come from it being the longest serving and still privately owned holiday centre in the UK (the Potters family built and opened it in 1920). When we first drove onto the site we were greeted with the hotel with its balconies and posh looking penthouses at the rear and then you look right and see all the bungalows and yes on the outside they are not that attractive and the paved floor is a bit gloomy but you get inside them and see the luxurious finish and forget about the outside facade.

A walk up to the main complex takes you past tennis courts, adventure golf, an outside bar and a beautiful pool. Everything looks fresh and new and it is clear Potters have an ongoing renovation plan and a commitment to keeping the place updated.

Once in the main building we were first greeted by the enormous garden restaurant, which looks as if it should be on board a luxury cruise liner and then shortly after a small over 18's and children's amusements area and I commented to my husband we were in little Vegas as much of the decor looks a bit mock Grecian. Next up we caught sight of a Zumba class and a group of women and girls following the dance instructor and for a moment I was transported to Kellermans and Dirty Dancing. It really it is a little bit of everything.

On reflection the next day I actually think that the main complex in Potters is like an up-market David Lloyd fitness centre; you can enjoy a beer or coffee whilst watching various sports or children's activities. It was great that all the main areas link and we could allow the children to make friends and go off for short times, this definitely added to their holiday experience and Buzbys basement was particularly appreciated as this allowed them a kids only play and chill out zone.

I can't believe that anyone could be bored at Potters Resort, I understand that organised fun is not for everyone but if you are a sporty family then you can independently book for darts, golf, pool, snooker, table tennis, tennis, squash, badminton, bowls, segway, archery, football, swimming and so many other activities that I can't even recall. Oh and do not worry they are all included in the price you have already paid.

Our family is not really a sporty one but there was still loads to keep us entertained too. The kids enjoyed soft play, an inflatable assault course, the play park, laser quest, the climbing wall, skateboarding, adventure golf, meet the animals, back stage tour, village fete on the green and various activities at their kids clubs like 5 aside football, nail art, crafting and dancing games.

Everyone was exhausted on the first day so we headed home at 9pm after the kids clubs but on the second day after the back stage tour there was no way the kids were going to let us go. So we found seats to watch the show and I'm so glad we did, as the entertainment is really high end. The performers could easily have been in a West End show and after watching once we of course went back the next night too!

Potters is set right on the beach and you can easily walk down to the beach from the football field or golf course. The beach is truly stunning but I see at the moment they are redeveloping the beach to put natural stone breakers in this, this of course spoils parts of it at the moment but once it is all done it will be even better.

As we leave Potters Resort to go home my overriding feeling is one of sadness; I could just do with another couple of days here. I think this is probably JJ's best holiday ever as the park is small enough and he is now old enough that he could go off with his new mates and have so much fun. The girls have tried all sorts of new activities and stayed out for their latest holiday bedtimes ever and Miss M is now convinced that she will be a famous performer one day! And dh and I? We have done what we do best on holiday, we have enjoyed our children having a wonderful time and got to relax and chat together.

I always like to do a balanced review and to tell you the good with the bad. At the moment I'm struggling to find any bad points to talk to you about. The jolly join-in kind of atmosphere might not be for everyone but we did not find it over the top and the staff really do seem to care and enjoy their work. As I mentioned the bungalows do look quite old fashioned on the outside but from my point of view who cares, they are fabulous inside and really practical. I suppose the one thing that was the most annoying for me was the wi-fi was a bit patchy in the main building. At times it was brilliant and I could download to iPlayer at others I struggled to get connected to the cloud and I'd really of liked the option to have wi-fi in my room (but I suppose that was just because I'm a blogger).

I asked dh what his recommendations were to make our stay better and he suggested an optional welcome talk, as there is so much going on it would be great to find out all about it at the beginning of the stay and then we could have planned better and also he said booster seats in the theatre (like you get in a cinema) would have been a great addition and I think he is right.

Thanks so much Potters Resort for having us, we have had a wonderful time and as we left today the kids kept telling their friends they would see them next year so we need to get saving!

Here is just a few more memorable moments from our stay and I'll post about our eating experiences at Potters Resort next week. You can also see our intial reaction over here.

Disclosure: We are staying at Potters for three nights for the purpose of viewing the holiday resort. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

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Our first impressions of Potters Resort

For weeks our family has been looking forward to this week and being able to be a family of five with no work (well except my blogging I suppose) and a whole lot of family fun.  We left home on Sunday and have spent two rainy days in Colchester (but still had a great time thankfully) and today we arrived in Norfok to stay at Potters Resort for 4 days.

We are reviewing this holiday but will still do so in a completely honest fashion as I know that is what my readers have come to expect of me and to be frank from what we have seen and experienced today we are going to have very few moans and groans.

Take a peek at our first impressions of Potters Resort -

Our very first impression was a fabulous one when we were greeted by Daniel at the reception desk. He was super smiley and informed us about all we needed to know to make our stay enjoyable. We had arrived a couple of hours before the 2pm arrival time and thankfully our room was ready for us.

JJ was quick to spot that you could buy 5 drinks tokens for £10 and this means the kids can get served at the bar by just handing over their token for a milkshake or pop, he loved the idea of being independent and when we found out this would actually save us money (as the drinks are normally £2.20 each) we quickly parted with our money!

We headed straight to our room to get settled and boy were we impressed when we walked in. We had been booked into the most basic accommodation type, a bungalow and frankly it is fabulous. They had put an extra bed in the twin room so we had three full size beds and three happy kids.

After getting unpacked we headed out to explore and see what Potters could offer us during our stay and again we were a bit blown away, there is so much going on and each time we saw something new JJ would ask 'does it cost more Mum?' and I was pleased to be able to say NO. The only things that seem to cost more are ten pin bowling and clay pigeon shooting. The kids have now got super-full plans for the rest of our stay and I'll blog about some of the things we get up to over the next few days.

One of the nice little extra touches that Potters offer, which we all loved is the kids check-in. Between 2-4pm the children could have their picture taken and a mini passport made, they then wear these all week and each time they take part in an activity they get a stamp in their passport and a certificate at the end of the stay. The girls were very pleased to get to meet Boo at check-in time too.

We did so much today in the short time we have been here, we swam, we ate (magnificently), we went to kids clubs and we relaxed but I'll write about those things another day.

For now it is goodnight and I hope you have a great day tomorrow, I sure know we will.

Mich x

Disclosure: We are staying at Potters for three nights for the purpose of viewing the holiday resort. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

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If you like what you have read and want to stay up-to-date then subscribe by email for free and receive blog posts directly to your in-box - just click the link Subscribe to Mummy From The Heart... by Email or perhaps you like to keep all your blog reading in one place, if that is the case you can follow me on BlogLovin too!

Making plans for our stay at Potters Resort, Hopton on Sea

I've mentioned already that we will be heading off to Potters Resort on the coast between Norfolk and Suffolk at the end of August and like I always do I've been showing the kids the website and brochure so they can start to plan what they might like to do when we are on holiday.

I'll be honest I'm starting to get a little worried that a) we won't have enough time to do all the activities that the children want to and b) that I will go home completely and utterly exhausted!

I have been really pleasantly surprised just how many things you can do at Potters Resort and what has surprised me most is that practically everything is included in the price. They sure are packing a lot into their 65 acre resort, even a private sandy beach!

This is what we have already decided upon -

• JJ - laser quest, crazy golf, pool, rally karts, gaming zone and bowling (which does have a small charge) he is also super keen to try out Buzbys basement which is a kids club for over 8's and does not start until 9pm!
• Miss M - swimming, country fayre, 35 metre inflatable assault course, climbing wall, electric go-karts and giant swing
• Miss E - Jewellery making, playbus, parachute games, art attack and a backstage tour from the Potters theatre company
• Me - I can't wait to get my hands on a gun. That sounds terrible doesn't it?  But I love clay pigeon shooting and I want to try indoor air rifle shooting as well
• Dh - he will just come wherever we all go and enjoy joining in as he is that kind of relaxed guy, which is why we all love him

We are not a particularly sporty family in general but Potters caters really well for those who are, with sports coaching in the summer months, racket sports, bowls, football and so much more.

I've seen that the kids will each be given their own special Potters passport when they check in and this will be their ticket to great fun whilst on their summer holiday. I know the girls especially will love the novelty of this and also of having their own dedicated check-in desk when they arrive. Why to go Potters Resort, this is how you make little people feel really special!

As well as loads of inclusive activities we are looking forward to the evening entertainment with times dedicated to our children and then later on there are shows from the Potters Theatre company which look to be really professional and if the reviews on Trip advisor are anything to go by we will not be disappointed.



Of course I'm sure the food will be a highlight as well. The chance to eat four meals a day is appealing, although I'm not sure how many of the nights I will be up at midnight to enjoy that feast! lol

Just look at the garden restaurant, when my kids see this they are going to be jumping for joy.  They think the Premier Inn is posh!

I found a couple of reviews from previous bloggers to share with you and now I'm even more keen to get there -
Edspire
Tired Mummy of Two

Book now
If after seeing what is available you realise you want to try it out for yourself why don't you take a look at what Potters resort are offering this summer and maybe book a break? They have a whole variety of short breaks ranging from two nights to four nights and in fact there is even a special one night break at the end of August to finish off the holiday season!

I shouldn't be wishing our summer away but the end of August can't come soon enough as we are looking forward to our break at Potters Resort.

Where are you going this summer? Do you take your holidays here in the UK or fly off somewhere with the kids?


Disclosure: Our family will spend a complimentary 3 night stay st Potters Resort in August to honestly review their facilities. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Five great family games to play in the car

I think When it comes to keeping the kids occupied in the car, a mix of traditional fun and modern technology is perfect. I'm not adverse to downloading a couple of program's from CBBC onto the girls tablets or letting them watch a movie on our fab new portable DVD player but it is also good to encourage them to interact and play.

I'll share with you five of our favourite family car games -

Eye Spy

The classic car game has to be Eye Spy as it can be played by most ages. Younger children can spy by colour, more advanced ones can use the phonetic sounds and then of course you can use the letter name too. The kids never seem to tire of this and whilst it's not my favourite, I much prefer joining in to hearing them bicker.

Tell me a story

My favourite, probably because it has us all laughing our heads off and it also encourages imagination and creativity is to make up a story. One person starts the story and sets the scene and then they stop at an appropriate place for someone else to add the next part. We take it in turns to go round each person in the car and a new twist to the tale starts with each new person. It is really good to finish your part with something like 'and then.....' so the next person has a build up and can continue the story.

Spot the...

If we are on a long drive then we will play spot the car/ animal etc. The motorway is a good place to allocate each person a colour and then try & spot as many cars in your given colour as you can in an allocated time. The winner counts up the most. Country drives are good for farm animals and villages for things like bus stops, village halls and churches.

Lists

I think some people call this scattergories but the basics of the game are that we all agree a topic, such as boys names, girls names, countries, animals, colours etc and then go through the alphabet and have to come up for an answer for all. If we all play including driver, we take it in turns to guess and there is no real winner, it is just for fun. If it is just passengers playing then they have pen & paper or whiteboard and each person guesses as many as they can & gets a score for each good guess and an extra point for any that are not duplicated by another player.

Boxes

The kids all have large whiteboards that they can use it in car, as they are firm it makes them great knee rests for drawing and colouring but it also means that the girls can play games together. Their favourite is probably boxes. You have a grid of dots and each player takes it in turns to join two dots together, either horizontally or vertically, but be careful not to add the third line to any box as otherwise the next player can add the fourth and make a box. They then put their initial inside and they have won that box. Sometimes by one wrong move the next player can claim loads of boxes by again and again putting one line in to claim that box.

These games are some of our favourites that our family play time and time again but I was really pleased to receive some new inspiration in the form of a booklet of 50 ideas for car games from Potters Resorts. At the end of August we are taking a four hour journey up to Hopton-on-Sea to stay at the Potters Resort and I am already really looking forward to it. It feels so nice to be going somewhere new that I have not explored before and also I can't wait to stay full-board - yes four meals a day are included. You can imagine how many games we might get through in 4 hours!

Disclose: I have a relationship with Potters Resorts, as my family have been invited to review one of their holiday breaks later this year. I was not instructed to write this post, I just wanted to share this good find with you.