10:40 am, August 30, 2011
MUCH like the backstage preparations in a West End show, it was the behind-the-scenes stuff that was just as important as the main spectacle in RTOTY11.
While you read and saw much about our time on the road with some of the most important cars to have been in dealers’ showrooms over the past 12 months, what you didn’t see was where and how we stayed.
It was Haven’s Hafan y Môr site that was our home for five days – and what a home. Sitting in one of Haven’s leading holiday parks, our luxury lodges easily swallowed up all eight all of us and kept us more than entertained.
You’re probably thinking why are you now only mentioning it and how can a lodge in a holiday park be luxurious? Well, on the first point, we were worried that if we said where we were staying, we’d get mugged for the Ferrari keys. And, on the second point, our holiday lodges firmly shoved any preconceptions we had of holiday park living firmly into next week.
We were treated to a large, open plan sitting room with some top quality furnishings that included a dining area for four, and a fully equipped kitchen with a dishwasher.
Two bedrooms each with two single beds was served by a decently sized bathroom, and towards the back of the lodge, was a double bedroom with an en suite. What’s more, the lodges were spotlessly clean and immediately felt like home.
Being on a holiday park also meant that there were many things to do to keep amused. The site had two Spar shops, a Starbucks, a Burger King, a fantastic swimming pool, a climbing wall, and a go-kart track. There was even a bingo hall.
When we were there, Hafan y Môr was packed full of happy holidaymakers. That’s probably because the site is ideally situated for family jaunts to local beaches, Portmeirion, and Snowdonia.
But the best thing about our stay at Hafan y Môr was that in all of our five days there, we didn’t think twice about the security of the cars. Being in charge of more than £600k’s worth of metal could have been quite a headache, but we slept easily every night knowing that the cars were safe.
We are immensely grateful to Haven for letting us stay at Hafan y Môr, and take it from us – if you’re ever in that part of North Wales and need a home from home, make Hafan y Môr your destination.
