Potters Resort Hopton Review 4 night Half Term Break

Disclaimer: We were invited to Potters Resorts for a 4-night family break over the February half term for the purpose of this blog post. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

.

Potters Resort Hopton Review 4 night Half Term Break

Half term and the chorus of I’m bored is what we parents dread, so when we were invited to spend our February half term at Potters Resorts, I knew from the off these weren’t words the kids would be uttering all week. Just looking at the website you can see just how much there is for children (and adults) to do while staying at Potters. There are activities laid on all week for all age groups, from little ones all the way up to Grandparents, to enjoy. Potters is a family-run resort and has been run/owned by the same family for 100 years.

The resort is inclusive, meaning once inside, you barely have to dip your hand into your purse at all. The price includes your accommodation, 4 meals a day (there is even a midnight meal of the day for the hardcore who are still awake then), and all activities (barring a small cost for about 3). You pay for your drinks yourself but during meal times there are jugs of water always on the table, tea and coffee are available free of charge with breakfast and dinner and fruit juices available with all meals.

Potters Resort is in North Norfolk, just a 15-minute drive away from Great Yarmouth in Hopton-on-Sea. The resort is located just by Hopton-on-Sea Beach. In fact, you can walk out the back of the resort and see the sea; you are literally backing onto the beach.

Holidaying with kids can sometimes be stressful, we all know that and Potters Resort does everything possible to remove that stress from us parents.

Check-In

On arrival there are a few spaces which are 20-minute parking only, these are for those checking in, once you know where your room is located you are able to drive around to the appropriate car park to make unloading your luggage easier.

Check-in is from 2 pm and there was barely any queuing when we arrived just after this time. There is also a children’s check-in desk where the kids receive a passport on a lanyard – the passport has pages with activities on it. Once the children complete the activities they can get their passport stamped (perfect for show and tell at school and the holiday homework of recording what you do in the half-term).

You are given a map of the resort, room keys and a timetable of the activities for your stay.

Once you are checked in and settled into your room, you can meet downstairs in the reception for a guided tour of the resort at 3.30. This is, of course, optional, but we found it very useful for getting our bearings, especially as some of the areas are used a few times a day for different activities.

Hotel Accommodation

We stayed in the Potters Resort Hotel in adjoining premier hotel rooms on the second floor. The children’s bedroom had twin beds, while ours had a queen-sized bed. Other than the bed make-up, both rooms were identical, with huge bathrooms with a bath and over-bath shower and twin basins. The rooms were also furnished with a large desk and chair, a small sofa, armchairs, and a table.

They both had balconies, too, with a table and two chairs set up outside. Our rooms had a view of the car park.

There were tea/coffee-making facilities in the rooms, mini-fridges, hairdryers and even a ceiling fan (not needed for our break but could be handy in the summer months).

The rooms were connected with two doors which we kept open at all times. We did test the noise levels by closing them, and once closed, you can’t hear what’s happening in the next room – perfect for those who have older children or multi-generations staying together.

The rooms were really large and very comfortable, and I had the best night’s sleep I had had in a very long time. The beds are so comfortable that they sell them due to the number of requests from previous guests.

Our rooms were located by the lifts at the end of the corridor, it was very quiet on our floor and we were never disturbed by any other guests returning or leaving their rooms.

Dining

On your first day, you are invited to the restaurant any time before dinner (the first meal on arrival day) to be shown where your table for the duration of your stay is located. You have the same table and the same waiter/waitress for the duration of your stay.

You have 3 meals in the restaurant: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.

Breakfast

For breakfast, you can choose anything from the menu which will be specially prepared for you in the kitchen, or you can choose the serve your-self breakfast which includes all cooked breakfast items on the hot buffet, cereals, yoghurt and fresh fruits or pastries, breads, cheese, hams etc from the tables.

There was something for everyone, and if it wasn’t on the menu how you would like it, you are able to ask, and it could be made to your liking. I loved the eggs benedict and eggs florentine from the menu, and one morning, Harry fancied smoked salmon – this is on the menu as smoked salmon and scrambled eggs now Harry doesn’t like scrambled eggs, so we asked if he could have it on a muffin on it’s own instead – this wasn’t too much trouble (nothing ever was when we asked for a few changed to the written menu).

Toast is freshly toasted for you, and tea & coffee are available, as well as juices.

Our lovely waitress, Julie, soon knew that I preferred coffee while Paul preferred tea. I liked brown toast, and Paul liked white. As soon as she saw us arriving in the mornings before we even sat down, she ordered these, and they were ready as soon as we sat down.

Lunch

For lunch, there were options for everyone: a hot buffet with a few different choices for both adults and children each day, as well as an omelette station where a chef freshly cooks omelettes and you can choose what ingredients are added to your specification.

There was also an a la carte menu of hot meals, a salad bar, and a sandwich station where, if you prefer a lighter lunch, you could make your own sandwiches.

Jugs of water are always available on the table and you can also get fresh fruit juice. Hot drinks or drinks from the bar are available, but you have to pay for those separately (there is a reduced cost in the restaurant for these), we never bothered as the water and juice were enough for us.

Dinner

Dinner was a similar set-up to lunch, you could order a la carte off the menu or serve yourself at the hot buffet station.

There were always a few options to suit everyone. Starters are ordered off the menu and mains can be either self-served or a la carte. Desserts are ordered off the menu, too.  Water is also on the table and juice, tea & coffee are served with dinner.

All the food was delicious and you were able to have as much or as little as you wanted.

Children have their own menus but are also able to order from the adult menus if they prefer.

The kids also have their own plates, which have cartoon pictures on them and are cold. The adult plates are hot and, at times, really were very hot indeed.

Additional comments on food

I loved having the same table for dinner each day as did the children, and we really built up a lovely relationship with our wonderful waitress Julie during our stay.

Having your own table for your stay means it is always made up and ready for your arrival, so there is no waiting for it to be cleared, etc. It also means the staff get to know you – Julie, very early on, learnt that the kids loved pancakes so much that she would put some away from breakfast for them to have for dessert at lunchtime.

Midnight meal

Included in the price of your stay, a midnight meal is also available for those hardcore enough to still be awake.

Paul and Emmy tried this out on the first night and declared it delicious – they had curry.

Harry and Paul tried this on the 3rd evening and also really enjoyed it.

I haven’t tried this myself. Most evenings, I was asleep by this time, but a big meal at this time of day wasn’t something I had room for after all the food in the daytime. I could probably see the appeal should I have been kid-free and up partying the night away; it would have been a great way to soak up the alcohol.

Black Rock Grill

This is an on-site restaurant which you can book to dine in, and there is an additional charge for this of £29 for adults and £8 for children. We didn’t dine here, but you can read about it over on Mudpie Friday’s review. (Clare was also staying at the same time as us, so if you read her post, you can see what the Bungalow accommodation is like.)

Entertainment & Activities

Entertainment and activities are all included in the price of your break. You can see how much fun the children had in our video below – there really was so much to do all week for ALL age groups.

The kids were absolutely shattered by the end of our break from the activities, and they really did get to do so many. There wasn’t enough time to fit in everything they wanted to do, so we will just have to return another time. The kids are already asking when we can visit again.

You can get an idea of some of the activities they tried out in their video below – some of which were Archery, Assault course, Bungee trampoline, swimming, go-karts, climbing, mini Segways, and so much more.

In addition to all the activities, there is also a playground and an on-site Health and Fitness centre with a swimming pool, gym, steam room, sauna, and whirlpool. There is also a beauty studio, hairdressers, a full-sized football pitch, crazy golf, 9-hole golf, a shooting range, and so much more that we just couldn’t fit everything they wanted to do into one trip.

Every evening after dinner, there is a kid’s disco and party games down in the terrace bar. There are prizes to be won, and the noise levels are through the roof at times, but it’s half term, and the resort was filled to capacity that week, so it’s hardly surprising.

Everyone was having fun, and there was something for all ages. While this was going on, there was Bingo in the Theatre for the adults.

After Bingo, it’s time for the Potters Theatre Company to hit the stage, and WOW, you’ll not want to miss it – this is something you’ll usually see only on a West End stage. Never before have I seen shows of this quality outside of the big stage productions. The amount of time and effort they dedicate to the shows is amazing.

There were four shows during our stay. We all saw Potter’s Fairy Tales, and we were in fits of giggles. The mix of kids’ jokes and hidden adult humour was enough to keep all bottoms firmly glued to seats – which is a must if you happen to be in the front seats and don’t want pulling up onto the stage. Audience participation was involved throughout the show, and the kids loved the taunts of “Oh no, it isn’t” and other panto-style involvement.

After the theatre shows every night, there is late-night entertainment – Harry and I loved watching Soul Brothers and having a boogie to Motown Music.

Pricing

Down to the nitty-gritty – price.

There are various accommodation options which, of course, are reflected in the pricing.

There are premier hotel rooms, hotel deluxe, hotel suites, penthouse accommodation, standard bungalows and bungalow plus.

Brochure prices for our week away were £389 for adults, £319 for children aged 9-15 and £269 for children aged 2-8. As we stayed in the premier hotel accommodation, it adds a supplement of £20 per night per person.

This is for the Potters Resort’s 4-night Half-Term Break (5 days), which includes all food, activities, and entertainment during school holidays.

We had an absolute blast, and the kids are already asking when we can go back again – as another plus, when we arrived home, the kids slept in until 11 am on Saturday and Sunday – which proves just how worn out they were from all the activities and fun they had.

You can find further information on the website and sign up for your own brochure to be sent through the post.

A good journey is always short. In addition to carefully remembering this memory, you can also choose some Custom Keyrings to preserve the memory.

You may also like:

• Cheap holiday getaway – 5 UK beaches worth exploring in 2023
• A summer featuring lots of fishing
• Sealife Great Yarmouth Review