What is there to eat and do on the parks themselves?
The three parks are not the same kind of place, and the brochure word for all of them is "facilities". Here is what is actually on each one.
· 6 minute read
The short answer
It depends a great deal on which of the three parks you book. Marwell Court in Hampshire has a bar and grill, a cafe and shop, a gym, adventure golf, archery and fishing. Pick it if you want things to do without driving. Mill Park in Devon has a bar and restaurant, a shop, a play area and coarse fishing. The coast path and the Tarka Trail start at the gate. Beechwood Park in Derbyshire is the quietest: a shop, a fishing lake, a play area and woodland walks. Check the park page for the one you are booking.
Can you eat on the park without driving out?
At Marwell Court, yes, properly. Coopers Creek Bar and Grill is a lakeside bistro, serving from breakfast through to last orders. The Hub does coffee, pastries and a stocked grocery. There is also a wood-fired pizza oven and an Argentine grill outside, which runs from May to September.
At Mill Park there is a bar and restaurant on site, open through the season, and a shop for essentials, papers and local produce.
At Beechwood Park there is a park shop and no restaurant. It is a fifteen minute drive to dinner, and that is the trade for how quiet it is.
All three have a shop, so nobody has to go out for milk on the first morning. None of them is a substitute for one proper supermarket run on the way in.
What is there for children?
Marwell Court is the one built for them. An Adventure Barn with indoor soft play and a ball pit, outdoor climbing frames, and eighteen holes of adventure golf. Marwell Zoo is a mile up the road.
Mill Park has an equipped play field beside the meadow and marked woodland trails. Cycling starts at the gate, onto the Tarka Trail and the coast road.
Beechwood Park has a playground and an open kickabout field, plus woodland walks through a mature beech belt.
Travel cots and highchairs are free at all three parks. Ask at the park rather than through the site, because there is a limited number of each. A cot does not count against the sleeping number.
What is there if you want to do nothing?
Fishing, on all three. Marwell Court has two spring-fed lakes with carp fishing by permit, and you need your own rod licence. Mill Park has coarse fishing with permits from reception. Beechwood Park has a lake with day tickets from reception.
Walking, on all three, with marked trails on two of them. And a deck on every single home, which is the real answer to this question for most people who ask it.
Six of the twelve homes have a hot tub, serviced and filled between stays, and it is in the nightly rate rather than an extra. If doing nothing is the plan, book one of those.
Marwell Court also has the Alpha Fitness Centre, with a gym and classes. That is the opposite of doing nothing, and it is there if a week off makes you restless.
What is seasonal, and what is open all year?
The shops and the fishing run all year on all three parks. The outdoor cooking at Marwell Court is May to September, and Mill Park's restaurant runs through the season rather than through the winter.
This matters because the cheapest dates are November to March, and that is exactly when the seasonal things are shut. A quiet February week at Marwell Court is excellent value and a different holiday from the same home in August.
Ring the park and ask what is open on your dates. It is a thirty second question and it is the one that most often turns into a disappointment when nobody asks it.
What is coming that is not there yet?
A pool at Marwell Court, under construction and due to open in 2027. The park page lists it as "opening 2027" rather than as a facility, because it is not one yet. A park that advertises a pool it has not built is doing something we would rather not.
That is also why this page carries a date. By the time the pool opens this paragraph will be wrong, and it should be rewritten rather than quietly left up.
Questions people ask
Which park has the most to do?
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Marwell Court in Hampshire, by a wide margin. It has a bar and grill, a cafe, a gym, adventure golf, archery, clay pigeon, axe throwing, soft play and two fishing lakes. It is the one to book if the weather is the thing you are worried about.
Do you need to pay for the activities?
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The walks, the play areas and the decking are free. Fishing needs a permit and, at Marwell Court, your own rod licence. Instructed sessions such as archery and axe throwing are booked and paid for at the park.
Is there a swimming pool on any of the parks?
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Not yet. One is under construction at Marwell Court and due to open in 2027. If a pool is what the week depends on, do not book on the strength of that date.
Are the parks quiet or are they resorts?
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All three are closer to quiet than to resort, and Beechwood Park is the quietest of them. The homes sit near each other, so a family staying up late is expected and an event is not. Stag and hen parties are not accepted.
Can you walk to a pub from any of them?
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Mill Park is the best placed for walking out, being a short way from Berrynarbor and Combe Martin. Marwell Court has its own bar on site. From Beechwood Park you will want the car.