Bluestone National Park Resort

Bluestone sits in managed woodland and rolling farmland at Canaston Wood, a few miles east of Haverfordwest and north of Tenby, in the heart of Pembrokeshire. The whole resort is inside the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, and the Preseli Hills, the source of the Stonehenge bluestones that give the place its name, rise on the northern edge. It has been running for more than a decade, is rated five-star and is run by Bluestone Resorts Ltd. For the wider county, its coast and its beaches, see our Wales guide.

The layout is easy to picture once you know the shape of it. At the centre is the Village, the social heart, with the shops, the spa and most of the restaurants around a square. Three large attractions anchor the rest of the estate: the Blue Lagoon water park, the Serendome (a huge transparent dome) and The Hive indoor play centre. The lodges are spread out across the woodland in four named collections, from small cottages in the Village to large detached lodges out among the trees.

The resort runs on a self-catering model. Every lodge has a fully equipped kitchen and cooking in is core to how it works; there’s no meal plan, so you either cook or pay to eat at the on-site restaurants and cafés. The pitch Bluestone makes is what it calls Free Range: the idea that children can roam, climb and explore the outdoors, with a parent alongside rather than a member of staff. That self-directed approach shapes the whole stay, and it’s the same reason there’s no crèche.

Once you arrive you park the car and leave it: the resort is car-free for getting around inside. You travel on foot, by hired bike or by golf buggy, the small electric carts the resort uses to move people about. Silver and Gold guests can hire a four- or six-seat golf buggy for the stay, and every Platinum lodge comes with one included; you can also hire bikes, with child seat attachments, pedal-along tags and a trailer for small children. The setting is woodland, so some paths run up and down gentle hills. A 2019 visitor pushed a double pushchair around the central Village without a golf buggy and found it manageable, but for a lodge further out among the trees a hired golf buggy makes life a good deal easier with young children.

A few things a coastal holiday park would have aren’t here, and it’s worth being clear about them. There’s no beach and no outdoor swimming pool, and the resort’s lake is for kayaking and paddleboarding rather than swimming. What you get instead is the all-weather cover, and the character families notice: campfires, parades and sing-songs in the Village square, and staff who wave to children as they pass. Bluestone is also working towards net zero by 2040, with more than 6,000 solar panels on site. Breaks run for 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10 or 11 nights; around Christmas 2026 that shortens to 2-night and 5-night breaks only, so check the calendar for your dates if you're booking over the festive period.

Bluestone treats families with young children as a main audience rather than an afterthought, but on its own terms. The model is self-directed: there’s no crèche, no nursery, no staff-led kids’ club and no babysitting, so a parent is with a child under four for every activity. The first two things a child can do without you, Nature Art and Film and Fun Night, start at age 4. If you want a genuine break in the day or an evening to yourselves, that’s the clear gap here. One thing to ignore: you might see a family-travel directory that ticks a crèche or kids’ club at Bluestone, and that’s out of date. Its own pages list no staff-run crèche, nursery or club.

Where it does well for the youngest is the setup in the lodge and the choice of gentle activities. Every lodge except the Studio Apartment comes with a travel cot and a highchair as standard, with a stair gate in the two-level lodges; the single-storey Dinas has no gate because it has no stairs, and the Studio’s cot and highchair come only on request. The Gold Deluxe lodges add a Toddler Pack. For things to do with a baby or toddler, the warm shallow Nippers Cove and the Bubbles baby swimming sit alongside Messy Play for 1 to 4s, the free Sand Play and Water Play (an adult joins in for both), woodland storytelling at Secret Village from age 2, the muddy Mud Mission and Discovery Den from age 2, a ranger nature walk (Outdoor Detectives) from age 3, the Sky Walk Mini from age 3 and the Crossbow Mini from age 4. The Mini Me Spa session is a parent-and-child treatment if you fancy a quiet half hour together.

On feeding, self-catering is the answer for the infant end: the lodge kitchen has a fridge-freezer and a microwave for storing and warming weaning food and bottles. Newton Stores in the Village is stocked for everyday essentials, but pack the formula, nappies and jarred baby food your baby needs rather than rely on buying them there. For getting about with a pushchair, remember the woodland has some gentle gradient; the central Village is walkable, and a hired golf buggy makes a lodge further out much easier.

The area and days out

The single biggest thing to plan around is that there’s no beach on the estate. For families who want sand every day, that means a drive of roughly 20 to 25 minutes each way, and it’s the clearest difference from a coastal holiday park. What Pembrokeshire gives you in return is one of the best coastlines in the UK on the doorstep.

Closest of all is Narberth, a small Welsh market town about five minutes away, with independent shops, cafés and a weekly market, plus a small castle ruin in the centre. Folly Farm Adventure Park and Zoo, about ten minutes on, pairs a zoo with a vintage funfair and is a reliable family day out. Oakwood Theme Park, Wales’s largest, is fifteen to twenty minutes and suits older children and teens. Two more activity attractions, Heatherton World of Activities near Tenby and Clerkenhill Adventure Farm, round out the local options.

On the coast, Tenby is twenty to twenty-five minutes away, a coastal town of brightly coloured Georgian houses and medieval walls, with two sandy beaches, the larger South Beach and North Beach by the harbour. Saundersfoot, about twenty minutes, is a harbour village with a sandy beach and easier parking, which makes it the simplest for a toddler. Barafundle Bay, twenty-five to thirty minutes, is regularly rated one of the country’s finest beaches, but it’s a walk in from the car park, so it suits a full day out rather than a quick retreat with a baby. Broad Haven and Marloes Sands on the St Brides Bay side are the quieter family and wilder options. For castles, Pembroke Castle, a big Norman one about twenty-five minutes off, is the standout, with Picton Castle and its gardens and the free, compact Llawhaden Castle nearby. The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park is all around you, with the coast path reachable from car parks a short drive away, and the Preseli Hills give walking and prehistoric archaeology for older children.