Approved Family Friendly - Hoburne Doublebois Review

I recently became a reviewer for Family trademark - Approved Family Friendly. Our first review was last weekend and set in a part of Cornwall which I love and have visited at least once a year since I was in arms! It’s set in the idyllic countryside in the hamlet of Doublebois just on the edge of Bodmin Moor, near the Eden Project and my part of Cornwall – Looe & Fowey. I’ve never driven through Doublebois as its set just off the main roads (so is incredibly quiet) but surprisingly you can be in Liskeard within 5 minutes and down at the rock pools we haunt in less than 20 minutes.

Hoburne Doublebois is a family holiday park set around a 9 hole golf course. There is a selection of modern & traditional lodges with additional crazy golf, tennis courts and gym & games room in case sitting on your wooden terrace isn’t enough. We stayed in one of the Falcon lodges and they very kindly asked if we would like the dog friendly one as they had noted on twitter we had a new dog. Although the booking was set up with Head Office we had the Doublebois centre call us up to check the details and dates and we also received a pre-arrival email to let us know what we would need to bring with us.

When we arrived, just after the storm of the century (you couldn’t see the end of the car for 10 mins!) it was 5 minutes after the park had unfortunately been struck by lightning and the power had gone out & due to the weather as well we had been delayed past reception closing. None of this had phased the staff who had guessed we’d been caught up and waited on and had also been running round for 5 minutes checking everyone & their lodge was ok.  

Inside the Lodge

Being a dog friendly lodge I was expecting a little bit of compromise on the cleanliness side (you find this in nearly all dog friendly places) but was incredibly happy to find it clean everywhere. Even under the beds & sink units which are often skimped on. They provided a little set of dishwasher tablets, tea & coffee sachets, cleaning cloths & liquid and coffee whitener. We were immediately surprised by how up to date and large the lodge was. The sofas were lovely, not squashy but firm and comfy, I could easily believe they were bought a week or so ago. (ps I did lift the cushions off too and check underneath – clean as well – does this make me a clean freak?!)  In the hall way was a smoke detector & carbon monoxide detector and each room had individual radiators to heat up to your hearts content ( I have stayed in a very chilly lodge in July before with the rain and wind pouring in only to be told the heating went off in march & wasn’t switched on till Oct!) The beds were comfy and we had an array of different pillows from firm to squishy. Each bedroom had a HUGE wardrobe (you could fit chair & table in) and the bathrooms were clean (a little mildew around the bath shower panel) and enjoyed a heated towel rail. All the lodges have a wooden deck off the lounge and dining area which have a fence and gate across so perfect and hugely appreciated for young children & dogs. You could hire for the stay of your holiday cots & high chairs etc for a small fee if you hadn’t bought your own.

Outside & Facilities

The adventure playground was being redone while we stayed but the boys adored the crazy golf and played every day and they loved the indoors games room. While it didn’t have the traditional young people’s games it had ten pin bowling which they adored, table football and old fashioned pin ball machines.  You could also buy from a machine coffee, hot chocolate & tea (good brands) crisps & chocolate, bottled drinks etc from another. There was also a free library in case the weather stayed rainy. Alongside the park was a nature walk with information signs scattered along which you could take your children & dogs for a walk along.

Our Stay

We loved it. As the weather was fantastic we spent most of the time outside either down at the rock pools of Talland Bay (taking refuge in the beach huts when the showers kicked in) or practising our crazy golf skills. It was a lovely trip for all us and the boys really didn’t want to leave (I don’t think either of the adults did really) and the run down for a long weekend was surprisingly good. It made a perfect long weekend stay and is most definitely something we would do again very soon. Out of ten for Cleanliness 10/10 Facilities 8/10 (only because the adventure playground wasn’t up & we were out of season & no pool) Friendliness 10/10 Accommodation 10/10

Disclaimer: We were representatives of Approved Family Friendly for the purpose of this review at Hoburne Doublebois and we were given free accommodation for the duration of our stay. This forms an honest and unbiased review and all words and opinions are my own.