We’ve teamed up with Ocado to get you £15 off your first online grocery shop. Enter this code VOU4974815 at www.ocado.com/new 

Click here to see all Butlins special offers

More later

David M

I remember back to when my nieces and nephews were really little and to the times when I would be playing in the sandpit or on the beach eager to show off what a fantastic Auntie I was.  I would brag about how good I was at making sandcastles, only to tip over the bucket and for the resulting ‘masterpiece’ to simply disintegrate before my eyes.  Not really very cool!

No doubt this summer, mums and dads across Britain will also be spending thousands of hours on their hands and knees – making sandcastles for their tots and toddlers. And like me sometimes their sandcastles will slide perfectly formed from the bucket to stand briefly as works of parental art. But more often than not they’ll get stuck halfway. Or just collapse! Oh the shame….

To help parents everywhere be ’forever sandcastle heroes’ to their children, we have created a guide to making the perfect sandcastle – guaranteed to work on beaches and sandpits the world over come rain or shine.  We’ve teamed up with Sand Guru Mark Anderson and are also offering masterclasses at each of our Resorts as well as a takeaway guide.

Mark Anderson will be bringing his sand sculpting genius to Butlins Resorts on 25^th (Minehead), 26^th (Skegness) and 31^st (Bognor Regis) August. For more information on the sandcastle masterclasses or to view the expert ‘How to’ video revealing the secret art of superb sandcastle making, visit www.butlins.com/littleones.  Alternatively pick up a step by step guide from the Infunmation Point or nurseries when on Resort.

Watch Mark Anderson’s video now

We love you guys so much we want to get to know you better. Send us your ‘sparkly’ photos (you know the sort we mean – the photos you’ve taken at Butlins that have a detail that makes you smile, no matter what’s in the picture). They could be of you, your family, things you’ve seen – anything – we’ll leave it to you to choose!

You’ve got until 24^th September 2010, then we’ll shut ourselves in a dark room (with a torch) and argue over the best ones for as long as it takes us to find a WINNER!

The WINNER will get a FREE ‘all-singing, all-dancing’ family break at Butlins (no skimping here – we’ll roll out the gold accommodation – or hotel if you fancy that instead – a premium dining package – and the freedom to choose any date you want, at any resort for up to four people)! And there’s more, there might be an opportunity to see the best photos in our Butlins Magazine and Website.

If you fancy a bit of this – then send us a bit of that (your best Butlins photos) by uploading them onto our Flickr Group called ‘We are Butlins’ (Flickr account required) please name and tag your photos ‘Butlins picture this’ by 24^th September 2010.

We look forward to our long judging session in the dark room!

Get uploading!

David M

We are really excited to be teaming up with magic supremo Stephen Mulhern to launch a fantastic new magic experience at our Bognor Regis Resort.  The bespoke stand and shop has been specially designed and is exclusive to Butlins.  I even got to meet the magic man himself, check out my pic!

Situated within our Skyline Pavilion, the experience is manned daily by specially recruited magicians who will be performing short shows to Butlins’ guests throughout the day. After being wowed and amazed during the performances, you can purchase the tricks shown and recreate the experience back at home. As well as great show magicians demonstrating live magic, the experience also includes interacting – via TV – with Stephen to entertain the guests further.

So get on down to Butlins Bognor Regis now and check out the new experience – it will add that little bit of extra magic to your fantastic holiday!

Vote for us!

Butlins has been nominated for 3 prestigious British Travel Awards and the winner’s chosen by the Public. If you think we deserve to win, we’d be really grateful if you would spend a couple of minutes voting for us in the different categories.

1. Visit www.britishtravelawards.com
2. Fill in your details
3. Click “to next page”.
4. You’ll see the categories at the top, we are in “Of the year” (you’ll find Butlins in “Large Package Holiday Company” and “UK / Domestic operator”)
5. We are also in the “UK / Domestic holiday providers” (you’ll find us in “Best UK Holiday Park Operator”)
6. Click Butlins for these 3 awards, hit “submit” and you’re all done.

Thank you for supporting us!

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Butlins is proud to announce that folk legend, Donovan, will appear live at *The Great British Folk Festival, held at the beachside Resort in Skegness, 3^rd – 6^th December. 

The British singer-songwriter is famous for such haunting melodies as Mellow Yellow, Catch the Wind, The Hurdy Gurdy Man and Universal Soldier.

This month on his website, www.donovan.ie, Donovan announced he will release THE DONOVAN ARCHIVE, starting with THE SEVENTIES COLLECTION, over 100 songs, available for download starting with Open Road.

Donovan said; “I’m really looking forward to performing live at The Great British Folk Festival at Butlins, Skegness, and the opportunity to interact with my audience by the sea”

Mike Godolphin, Head of Entertainment at Butlins, “It’s awesome that a star as great as Donovan is appearing live at our Great British Folk Festival and I’m sure that both he and all his fans are going to have a fantastic time”

Alongside Donovan such acts as The Legends of Folk Rock, the Gathering, (including current and former member of Lindisfarne, Steeleye Span, Jethro Tull, Fairport Convention and Magna Carta), Sandi Thom, Acoustic Stawbs and Kate Rusby are also appearing live.

Prices for this amazing festival start at just £64pp for the entire weekend including accommodation, access to most of the Resort facilities and all live entertainment.  To book a Butlins break call 0845 070 4730 or visit www.bigweekends.com/folk

 * All guests must be aged 18+ years

Hi Everyone
 
Butlins is all about fun and excitement and the perfect place for your little ones to try new things for the first time and become a Butlins Discoverer.

We have introduced the Butlins Discovery Card to encourage our younger guests to explore and give a whole range of different activities a go.  They simply need to pick up a card from the Infunmation Point on resort and go and experience any 5 (or more if they want to) out of the 12 listed on the card.  Each time an activity is completed a member of our Resort Team will happily stamp the card.

With five stamps on the card, the intrepid discoverer will be able to go back to the Infunmation point and collect their very own and very special Butlins Discoverer Pin Badge (see below) which they can wear with pride. 

Happy discovering!

Andrea

Hi Everyone

I’m Matthew Macklin /BBoy Splinter I specialize in Breaking (AKA Breakdancing), one of the original (“old skool”) street dance styles from New York and I’ll be appearing at the Street Dance Festival at Butlins Minehead on 19 -22 Nov 2010.

I’ve been lucky enough to meet some great people to dance with and learn off in the years I’ve been breaking, and now I dance with my crew, Just 4 Funk battling, jamming and performing all over the UK and Europe. I also teach Breaking around the UK and I’m looking forwards to teaching at the Urban Academy this summer.

I don’t really have a favourite dance move – to me Breaking is all about flow, style and character. The thing I most want to see when I watch someone dance is that they’re enjoying themselves. I love watching people who are normally shy become more and more confident and animated as they get into dancing. I do have moves I find myself doing a lot at particular times though. This month I’ve been doing a lot of baby-mills, a special type of windmill (hard to explain – come see me at the Urban Academy or watch one of our shows for a demo).

Back at Easter when the Urban Academy (UA) was running, I met some new dancers with great potential (and a few kids who already had some great moves), so it should be a good one. One of my favourite things about the Urban Academy is the atmosphere – most people who come in are feeling excited and inspired after having seen some of the shows with great dancing in it, like Sounds of the Underground, so it’s great to watch them channel that enthusiasm into learning some moves. I’m currently relaxing in Exeter as I write this, and I’m just about to go out training with my crew. Then tomorrow I’m off to Minehead for the first UA sessions!

Matt

Editor’s note: For more details about Street Dance Festival at Butlins Minehead 19-22 Nov 2010 see here

Matt is Managed by Physical Productions, Europe’s largest urban entertainment provider. Website – www.physicalproductions.com

Hi Everyone,

I’m Rachel Holborow and I teach Urban Academy at Butlins. I’ve been invited to guest blog and I thought it might be nice to share with all what I do and how I came to do it.

After competing both regionally and nationally in acrobatic gymnastics for most of my life I started breakin in 2002. I regularly battle in events across the country more recently I have been to Edinburgh, Birmingham and London. As part of a pair I have won numerous UK competitions including;

Bonnie and Clyde battle as part of the Brighton hip hop festival (July 2008)
Welsh champs (2006)
Bristol bboy convention (2006)
Bgirl pairs battle Brighton (2005)
B girl battle Liverpool (solo) (2004)

I have also performed in the breakin convention after party in London for Puma and regularly perform in local events and shows. As well as performing I teach break dance at Schools, community settings and music festivals throughout the year. I am currently setting up a youth crew in Nottingham.

I love the freedom that breakin allows you as well as meeting and training with lots of different bboys and bgirls. I enjoy learning and sharing skills with others and have had the opportunity to attend workshops with many international b-boys such as Alien ness, Machine, Poe 1, Ken Swift and Dyzee, this inspired me to push my dancing to new levels. I enjoy creating new moves and using my gymnastics skills to my advantage.

I hope to see you at the Street Dance Festival at Butlins Minehead on the 19-22 November 2010

Rach

Editor’s note: For more details about Street Dance Festival at Butlins Minehead 19-22 Nov 2010 see here

Rachel is Managed by Physical Productions, Europe’s largest urban entertainment provider. Website – www.physicalproductions.com

Hi to all WWE Fans,

So who’s booked on this fab break? looks like it’s going to be a cracker doesn’t it?

Its all set to begin on Saturday 11th Sept at Butlins Minehead and the Sunday12th Sept at our Skegness Resort.

My favourite wrestler is Rey Mysterio, I love his costume and his tattoos, not that I have any myself but I do think his are pretty cool looking don’t you? I’d love to hear who your favourite wrestler is and why so be sure and post a comment for us all to read.

All the best

David M

If you would like to know more about this break please see here